So here's hoping . . .
About 2 weeks ago, give or take a day, David and I had the opportunity to take a trip. And this trip came about because David was not paying close attention to the man on the other end of the phone conversation. As he was booking reservations for another trip we took, the man on the other end talked him into committing to a timeshare spill. Yup....just give us two hours of your time and look what we will give you! Um...yeah.
Regardless of THAT part of the trip...we had the most amazing and wonderful time!! So sit back and come along and enjoy our trip with us won't you. :)
Tuesday morning came bright and early - we saw the sun rise as we traveled - something I never see. Such an awesome thing to see how God orchestrates this world He has created! As we traveled, we saw many weather conditions. The chart topper of the day - RAIN. As I mentioned in a previous Blog, rain seems to be the order of the day when we are making a big trip. In fact, there was a stretch of 145 miles of almost solid heavy rain at one point....never seen anything like it. Even our cell phones were sounding off the Emergency Alerts of flash flooding! I decided not to tell my Mom how our drive was going until the next day when all was well....much better that way. :)
So God washed our little Green Ark safely into Pigeon Forge, Tennessee at 11:58pm, after traveling all day for 17 hours! All of 950 miles!! What a trip! As I've said....David loves to drive and I love to ride....but 17 hours IS a really long time.
Wednesday morning was upon us and guess what else was too? RAIN. This was the day that we had planned to hike. Our options were to stay in town and decided on a show or activity there OR go ahead with plan A and hike. Plan A it was!! We traveled to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Rain or not we were determined.
Once in the park, the Ranger was surprised, when David told him we were going hiking, due to the rain. I would say most of all the people there, at that time, were there to only go on the car tour of the historic "Cades Cove" loop. O we were too....but hiking was in our agenda as well. :) We like to be different.
Below, is some of our first sights of the park. How little did we know that those sights would only become much more beautiful the farther we traveled and hiked!
We entered the "Cades Cove" 11 mile loop. This National Park was once a home to many early settlers long ago and there stories and homes have been preserved through time. History is a chart topper for David and I!
There were stops along the loop that you could get out and walk up to the homesite. Many cars were passing that opportunity up due to the rain. Not us! That just meant I got to try out my new raincoat my sweet husband bought. I didn't understand WHY we needed to buy me a raincoat before we left home on this trip.....and now I did! He's so good......
He also made sure we had stay dry hiking clothes and hiking boots.....which all came in so very handy! :)
This was the home of the very first white settler. He lived there 200 years ago! Can you even imagine being the very first white settler on a giant mountain?! We were the very first settlers of our cul-de-sac almost 19 years ago....I'm thinking this was just a littttle bit different. Ha!
And on we traveled......
Next stop? One of my favorites! Old churches and graveyards! Of course!
Someone had a really NICE green Camaro there...I'm just sayin'. ;-)
I found these old tombstones to be interesting. They were so old no writing was visible whatsoever. But they represented a life that was once here. A life that was loved by another.
And on this mountain....if you weren't Baptist then you were Methodist. Here lies the Methodist.
We arrived at our destination of the day and set off for our much anticipated hike to Abram's Falls! Two things to see 1. the great and mighty falls. 2. BEARS! What an adventure to run into such a wonderful creature!! But first, it was lunch time and my David had prepared a wonderful lunch. He found us a wet log to sit on....but he covered it first with a blanket....and then he fixed our lunch. It was the most delicious peanut butter and banana sandwhich I had eaten. We also had fruit, chips, cookies, and coke. Couldn't have asked for better!
Now....we were ready!
We walked across these streams and the water was AWESOME!
The sights were becoming that much more beautiful with each step we took! But what waited ahead would even be so much more!
Along the way, I took various pictures of plants and flowers I found.
I did this also in memory of my dear Auntie....who also loved to take pictures of flowers along the way of life. :)
And after a hike of one hour and thirty minutes, straight UP a mountain, we arrived at the mighty and majestic Abram's Falls! Absolutely powerful as well as gorgeous!!
It may have not been the tallest waterfall, but it certainly was the most powerful. It had more water rushing over at greater speeds and power than the others.
Yes....it was worth the hike in everyway!!
As we came down the moutain, we got to encourage a man on his way UP the mountain. I had written about this encounter in my most previous Blog. "we were on our way down the mountain and a man was hiking alone up the mountain. He was growing weary from the hike and wasn't so sure his efforts were even going to pay off. He questioned us as we were in passing saying "Is there really a waterfall ahead?? I keep going and can't find it!" We both assured him "Don't stop now, you're almost there! It's just a little farther ahead. Keep going." Later....as we had taken our time coming down off the mountain, we see this man once again. He was SO HAPPY! I asked him "Did you find it?" He excitedly replied "YES! and my friends are never gonna believe I did this! But I got proof....there was a girl there and she took a picture of me on my camera!!!" It was so awesome to be able to encourage this man to "Keep keepin on!" when he could have easily given up and not reaped his awesome reward! In much of life we can apply this mentality - - one step at a time. And in that one step at a time, you know what happens? You get closer and closer to all that God has waiting for you ahead!! We know that our ultimate reward will be when we see Jesus' face and he wraps his arms us around us welcoming us home! But there are many "rewards" here on this earth as well. Keep keepin on, my friend. Don't stop....you're almost there!"
While on the way down the mountain, I got my hiker husband to stop and pose. Something he doesn't care for, but was pretty darn sweet about it.
The temperature was only 60 degrees, and amazingly it was NOT cold at all!! This girl would have been freezing to death back at home....but thankfully not so here! We noticed that even though we had kept a good pace on the way up the mountain as well as on the way down....we STILL got passed! We chalked up with the assumption that.....Texans must just be plain ole slow. They take their time to take it all in I guess. Ha!
Although, we weren't "fortunate" enough to see any bears....dad-gum-it!! I did take a picture of a picture of one!
We returned back to our car and resumed the car tour of "Cades Cove". We got to see some more beautiful history.
After our tour, it was getting late and dark. We still had to come the rest of the way down the mountain. As we twisted and turned through the paths of the mountain....it began to get dark and foggy and raining again. It made for another nice adventure! :) Back in town....we ate at Big Daddy's Pizzeria << very GOOD! with Baskin Robbins for dessert! Yummy!
The next morning, Thursday, we were off for another hike. Today's hike would be an "easy" hike. We found sunshine after leaving house 3 days ago....Yay!!
Such beatiful scenery we encountered! If only a camera could truly capture it!!
And we arrived to the beautiful Laurel Falls!!
Note to my Mom:: Don't look at this picture. Or the next one.....
Still keep your eyes shut.....
Laurel Falls was absolutely gorgeous!! And now it was time to come back down the mountain.
I love him SO VERY MUCH!!!!
Mom, the true Mountain Woman!!
Now it was time to get the 2 hour presentation back in Gatlinburg.
Note to self: I do NOT like 2 hour time share presentations and find them HIGHLY a GIANT waste of our time. But we did what we had to do and it was done.
While in Gatlinburg, we found ALL the many tourists!! It was far too crowded for our liking and left quickly!! Back to the mountains for us!!
We were headed to our last and final hike to the waterfalls. This would be Grotto Falls.
I love some of the beautifully twisted and mountainous paths we traveled by foot to get there.
And finally we were there!! It was so freaking AWESOME to actually walk behind this waterfall and stick my hand in the powerful water coming so forcefully down!!!
Ok.....I can NO longer continue this Blog.
There are more stories to share to finish up our grand adventures, but my computer is totally UN-cooperative. You see....I've been working on this Blog for a continuous 5 1/2 HOURS. No lie. I'm ending this Blog and will finish it ......later. I'm pooped!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for reading thus far!!!
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