The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

-


So... we (I 😇) made big plans to come to the park and go to Clingman's Dome, Cades Cove and downtown Gatlinburg to walk around.  I also wanted to go on the Skywalk in the day. I walked on it at night and it wasn't very exciting because you couldn't see anything.

Did I tell you I love the Smokies!?

My trusty sidekick following me to make sure I don't kill myself trying to get a good picture. 😍

As we drove toward Pigeon Forge,  we quickly realized that everyone else had the same idea. Traffic through Pigeon Forge was hectic.  We took the Scenic Bypass to the entrance and it was also crowded. There was no parking at the Sugarland Visitor's Center. The road toward Clingman's Dome was at a complete stop.  

So we turned away from the crowd and headed toward Cades Cove. Now, Cades Cove is best early in the morning or early evening. That's the best chance to see animals roaming around and eating. It was approaching noon by the time we got there.

Cades Cove was also packed. It took a couple of hours to drive because of all of the people. There were no animals to be seen except for one exasperated looking deer. It was a beautiful drive and the weather was gorgeous. 


My husband was teasing me because I stood up through the sunroof to get pictures. He kept joking I was going to get a ticket from a forest ranger. Luckily,  I didn't!





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 13: Vow renewal and adventure photography

-
Image
The reason for this vacation is to celebrate our 20 years together.  I hired an adventure photographer before we left to take some pictures of us because we haven't had professional pictures made since our wedding.  I just wanted to have fun and I didn't want it to be a traditional vow renewal.  So Curtis and I made a list of promises on the things that we might improve upon in our relationship.  For example, Curtis promised to finish home improvement projects in a year.  I promised to try to clean up my computer files and not leave my hair bands all over the house. We probably should have thought about our promises more because Curtis has already asked John for a few addendums. Our friends, Trish and John, came to help us with our vow renewal.  We really appreciated them flying all the way to Glacier to help us celebrate.  Those are the kind of friends you keep for life. Trish made John read a wonderful verse from Proverbs at the end...to make it official. John was our o
Read more

The Badlands of South Dakota

-
Image
We drove to Badlands National Park today. I wasn't sure what to expect.  I heard of them and saw pictures online, but what I found was really surprising. We stopped at the first boardwalk to go exploring. One of the first things I noticed was how straight the sedimentary layers are and all of the beautiful colors!  And the wind! It was so windy that it wears you out! We went into the canyon and started exploring. We had so much fun wandering through the rocks to see how the water has carved them into their shapes. It seemed to go on forever!  I texted my boys that it was an awesome place to play hide and seek!   Curtis and I really enjoyed each other's company. This is our first real vacation by ourselves. ..no kids to worry about...just each other. He kept shaking his head at me (every now and then I'd hear him mutter "Woman!") because I kept wandering off and climbing around. I had a blast!  A part of me wished my boys were there. 
Read more

Day 15: Remington Carriage Museum & Many Glacier

-
Image
We enjoyed a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant before we set off for the day.  A nice older couple sat down at a table next to us and we found out they were from Dothan, Alabama!  They told us about all of the changes the hotel had made since they visited last.  Poor Curtis was the only Alabama fan in the mix.  The rest of us were Auburn fans, so we gave them a nice War Eagle before we said good-bye. We headed to the Remington Carriage Museum in Cardston, Alberta first.  The museum was started by Donald Remington with an agreement with the Alberta government that he would donate his collection of carriages if they promised to open a museum.  The government agreed and expanded the museum, gathering more carriages and restoring them.  The museum currently has over 300 restored carriages from all of the different time periods.  Curtis and I stopped by the restoration workshop and spoke to some of the volunteers.  They told us that they try to use modern equipment whil
Read more