Vacation in the Smoky Mts... Part 1

Greetings!

After much procrastinating, I'm finally getting my vacation pics posted. I am not going to promise to have them all in chronological order (for those of you who are reading this and also accompanied us on the trip, um, yeah, it's a mixed up world here), but I am going to try to capture the bulk of our events.

First, if you aren't already aware, Mike's parents graciously rented two condos in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, for his entire family to stay in during our week. Mike's sisters and their families stayed in one and we stayed with kids and grandparents next door. The condos were awesome. Plenty of space and a great location. We are so grateful for Mike and Joyce's willingness to organize this trip, I know it must have been a challenge to coordinate so many people!

Our first day there we just hung out around Gatlinburg. I think we were all in agreement that Gatlinburg is quite a peculiar city. Imagine Bagnell Dam, but creepier. Yes, even creepier than Bagnell Dam. As Mike stated one day, "this place is a cardiologist's worst nightmare." Lots of trucks that could have won the Mater look-a-like competition and the highest concentration of tattoos we'd ever encountered.

Luckily, the bulk of our trip was spent in the actual mountains. Our first foray into the wilderness was to drive into the national park and hike up to Clingman's Dome. This is the highest point in the Smokey Mountains.

On our drive to through the mountains, we stopped to take pictures and breath in the air. It is absolutely gorgeous there. We started out early in the morning because it made sense for the kids, but that's definitely the best way to do it because by afternoon it gets unbearably hot.

Abe rode with Papa in his truck, of course, and refused to hold anyone's hand except Papa's. If Papa was somehow absent, then Dada or maybe Jack or Earnie (pronounced Jacque and Eeeern) were allowed to hold his hand. But not me. NOT ONCE. Seriously, I was in chopped liver territory during the entire trip.

Sometimes it was difficult to distinguish between where the mountains ended and the sky began. It was almost like the layers of clouds could be mistaken for another peak. Truly amazing.

In case you don't believe me with the hand-holding issue, here is some photographic proof:

Thankfully, Anna still loved me!

When we finally arrived at Clingman's Dome, we hiked and hiked and hiked up this VERY windy concrete path to the observation tower (which was an additional hike on top of original one). We were exhausted and to top it off Anna insisted on being pushed in her stroller. Delicate constitution, I suppose. They had park benches set up so you could rest and, boy, did we take advantage of them. Talk about a work out.

When we got to the top, we stopped for provisions and observed the gorgeous views. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy that day and our views were limited, but it was still amazing to know we were up that high and that we'd all made it without any heart attacks.

The hike up there leads you through a point on the Appalachian Trail. If we hadn't had any kids with us, Mike and I would have hiked it a bit, just to have the experience. I have always been a little fascinated with the Appalachian Trail and was excited just to know we were close.

My pictures are a little out of order here, but there are some nice small rocks you can climb when you first arrive at the Dome. Mike and the kids played around on them before we headed up the mountainside.

Anna, our intrepid explorer. She fell and slightly scraped her knee and then cried and cried and told me that I should have remembered to bring band-aids with us AT ALL TIMES.

Sorry, kid.

Abe decided to collect rocks, stuffing them in his pockets and then handing them to every adult willing to accept them. We were finding rocks in all our pockets the entire week.

Oh yeah, here's the best shot of what we hiked (walked, really) up...

Next we drove over to the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina. You essentially just keep driving over the mountain and then suddenly you're in North Carolina. The reservation has a small village that has been recreated for tourists. You can learn about the traditional crafts and skills of the indians and also see huts and dancing. It started raining during our tour so we didn't quite get the full experience, but it was definitely fascinating to see the small huts with just a couple of small beds to sleep in and realize that people lived quite well on far less than we do today. In fact, that's what I kept coming back to during the entire trip.

The settlers that made their way into the mountains are really a fascinating bunch of people. Mike's mom bought a couple of books on the topic and I'm eager to borrow them. When you think about how completely self-reliant these folks (Indians and settlers) had to be, it just blows your mind. I can't say that I've ever found historical stuff like that interesting until recently. Lately, I just seem to be obsessed with examining the ways we (Americans) live and how much it differs from the rest of the world. This trip offered lots of opportunity to reflect on the ways we have lost true practical skills. But, I digress...

Gorgeous, eh??

Stay tuned for more...