Our Beloved Smoky Mountains

Well, Teresa and I were able to take a much deserved vacation for about a week and a half in September that was quite interesting (beyond the norm actually). First of all, it rained constantly the first week and for the 1st time in 10 years of going, we had just an OK cabin versus some of the great ones we've had in the past (when the weather was always great and we were NEVER in them). Figures, but that's how it goes sometimes.

Just getting away from the mind-crushing jobs I've been experiencing at work for quite some time was wonderful no matter what the weather threw at us. (sidenote: why is it that you work twice as hard before you go and 3x after you return?). LOL

Anyway, when the weather did clear up during that first week we were off to the park (Cades Cove, or by the rivers) reading or hiking and taking pictures (some of us sneaking photos while others are asleep).

That weekend we start at Jo & Gene's (Teresa's parents) and had a fantastic time with a big fire going a huge part of the night on Friday. We loved having David and Dana there as well. A lot of funny stories got told that night! Fortunately Saturday was college football day (which we watched a lot of) since we started to build a boat due to the constant downpour all day! Teresa and I had breakfast with Bethany and Shali and had an absolutely wonderful time! This will have to be a tradition we carry forward, at least as long as we can as it's really a great opportunity to get to know our nieces better. We appreciate them making time for us early that morning. Then Teresa and I went back to the house so we could have lunch at the country club and were glad that David and Dana could join us again.




Sunday was the most beautiful day we had seen for 8 days and we were fortunate to be able to spend the day together with everyone at Cherokee Lake. Teresa, Shali and David swam for a while and enjoyed it although it wasn't as warm as it had been just a few days earlier (a cold front was starting to come through).





We enjoyed our time on the lake with our snacks and wonderful stories. Shali's story about school was particularly touching and funny. Dinner was also special as we watched the sun slowly set and how beautiful the lake was as dusk approached / arrived.




Early Monday morning Teresa and I packed up for our hike up to Mt LeConte Lodge via the Alum Cave trail. It's about a 3,000 ft climb (reaches almost 6600 ft when we got to the lodge) and 5 - 5.5 mile hike with a very steep ascent. I hurt my knee (by slipping on a wet tree root) about a third of the way up and wasn't sure I'd make it the rest of the way but I did, even though Teresa had to wait for me more than once. It was very foggy when we reached the top but later it cleared up and we had a beautiful sunset and views all evening.





We had so much fun that evening playing cribbage with some young friends we met, singing as a group (even the rangers joined in ... they were there hunting down a rouge bear that literally broke through a Plexiglas window on one of the workers cabin at 4:45am that morning). Rob was so funny when he described his "adventure" and we had to educate some other women (about 12-13) from Knoxville who climbed up that day as well to spend the night and had a TON of food in their cabins!!






They wound up putting it all in the proper containers for the evening and even though the bear was seen wandering around that next morning the rangers couldn't catch up with him and had to hike down with us that day.













It got down to 30 degrees that evening so it was quite cold at times and the gas heater in the cabin wasn't turned up enough to keep us very warm. But it was a very special memory, as always, and I didn't worry about sweating on the way down the mountain. :-)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures; they are a wonderful and very special reminder of the absolutely GREAT time Teresa and I had together again in our beloved Smoky Mountains. We hope we get to return there soon.