Our Trip Back East, Part 2

After spending a day wandering around the Land Between the Lakes, we drove to Gatlinburg, TN.  Wow, I did not know how touristy that town was going to be!!  The Ripley's guy must be from this area, because we saw several Ripley's attractions on the main street.

I'm not much into tourist traps, so we didn't spend any time in town. 

We spent all of our time in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Wow is this place GORGEOUS!  Hubby and I were poking fun at the Appalacian Mountains - being from a Rocky Mountain state and all.  But they are so different from the mountains back home.  MUCH greener and I do love all the deciduous trees, and streams you can actually walk/swim in because they're not ice cold!

We took a couple of hikes to pretty waterfalls - Laurel Falls and Abram's Falls.

 Laurel Falls

Dipping our toes

Abram's Falls

Another toe dunk

I think this is E's last year to ride in the baby backpack.  She's getting HEAVY!

We drove to the top of Clingman's Dome - the highest point in TN - to see the view.  We were going to walk up to the observation tower, but 5 minutes after we got there it started POURING rain.  I forgot rain gear, we only had an umbrella.

We took a hayride around Cade's Cove and took a look at some of the historic buildings.  We also spent a little time at another 1850s farmstead, but the one at Land Between the Lakes was MUCH cooler.

Another highlight of the trip (for me, anyways) was getting to hike on the Appalacian Trail.  I read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson several years ago, and I have been wanting to backpack at least some of this trail since then.  Backpacking with a 2 year old is a bit difficult, so we settled for a quick hike.  I'll be back someday!

Next stop: Charlotte, NC!

Our Trip Back East

Well, I think I am done with all the post-vacation chores.  I'm caught up on laundry, the litter boxes have been completely emptied, and my fridge is stocked with food again.  And I have all my pictures back from our trip, so I'm ready to share them with you!  I hope I don't overwhelm anyone - we took 4 rolls of film, plus 350+ digital pictures!!  Yes, we are "that" family who is always taking pictures on a trip.  Not too touristy, though, I hope!

After visiting family in Kansas, our first stop on our trip was the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee.  What a pretty area! 

We visited a nature center where they had local animals - hawks, owls, turkeys, even a bobcat!  And hummingbirds everywhere.  E really liked the kids area - she did ALL the puzzles, saw the butterfly crysalis and tree frogs, and made Daddy read her The Lorax a couple of times.

One of the highlights of the trip was here: a living history 1850s farmstead.  This was so neat!  We got to walk around in all of the houses and buildings, and there were people (in the AWFUL heat and humidity) dressed in period clothing doing chores around the place.  There was a girl quilting, a man chopping wood, and another man playing the banjo.  There were also a few animals running around: hogs, horses, and chickens. 

Back in the museum, E got to dress up like a little pioneer girl!  Isn't she cute!

Next up, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park!  And, just because I can, I'll leave you with a crazy horse picture.

A Mini-Vacation (Part 1)

Yay for summer vacations! This year we took a trip in our own backyard, just 1 hour away to Estes Park. We often go up during the summer to hike Rocky Mountain National Park, but we hardly ever stay overnight (unless we're backpacking!). We rented a cabin outside the park with Grandma and Grandpa - which is just perfect when you have 6 adults and 1 toddler needing to spread out!

We got up there on the 4th of July and immediately it started POURING rain! Not a mild shower - a deluge!! It stopped long enough for us to get to our spot to see the fireworks at the lake, and then started up again with a vengeance. Poor little E was miserable! I took her back to the car in the rain to take a nap and when she woke up the weather had cleared. We even got a rainbow out of the deal. It was still pretty cold, but the fireworks were nice, as always, and E did great! No crying or being scared.




We are working on our colors right now, and I was telling her what colors the fireworks were. After a while, I heard this mumbling from her. When I listened, she was saying "blue, purple, red, green, yellow, purple . . . " with each firework that went off. It was so funny! I don't think she got too many of the colors right, but hey, points for trying! Here we are all bundled up and trying to stay warm - silly Mommy forgot socks for baby and for herself! Guess who's feet got to be covered by the blanket!










E and I both had snazzy new outfits for the 4th of July - but both were too summery for this chilly day up in the mountains and had to be covered up with jackets. I finally got around to making the spring top from Sew, Mama, Sew for me - I really like it and am planning on making at least one more before the end of summer. Emily's outfit was an A-line tank top with a button closure on the back of the neck and a pair of capris. The tank is in a cute red and blue bandana pattern, with a red ruffle on the bottom. I'm happy with it because I had to do some alterations to make it fit correctly. She's just so skinny and tall! I ended up having to make it 1/2 toddler size in the chest, but 3T in the length for it to look the way I wanted. The pants, too, were supposed to be long pants but they would have been too short, so I chopped them off a little more and made them capris. Hopefully I will have a picture of both outfits soon to show off.

More on our vacation tomorrow or whenever I get the film developed. I have a good shot of a moose on there that I want to show off.