Friday, October 29, 2010

I Left My Heart in the Mountains

It's been a long while since my last post, but I finally have something blogworthy: Our recent trip to the Smoky Mountains. We have some wonderful friends who invited us to spend the week with them at their cabin in Tennessee, and so the boys and I set out on a great adventure last week. (Unfortunately, Jerry had to stay back and work. I can't tell you how many times I wished he could see what we were seeing!) Our first stop was to the Creation Museum in Kentucky. We had been there before, but it was great to visit there again and see our views and what we know to be true about the God of creation held up and respected so beautifully. That night, we stayed with a dear friend of ours in Cincinnati. It was a blessing to see her and her family and to catch up on all that God has been doing in their lives.

The next day we set off for the mountains. After a beautiful drive and lots of meaningful conversation, we arrived at the cabin. On our first day there, we went to Greenbrier which is one of my favorite places to visit in the Smoky Mountain National park. The boys played in the creek and we hiked up as far as the little ones were willing to go. On our way, one of them spotted a snake, which we quickly learned was a copperhead! We then spotted two more of them and figured we'd found a snake den!

The next day, we went to Clingman's Dome. After a very long ride up, up, up, we parked and walked up, up, up to the tippy top.It was O so beautiful. There was a 365 degree look-out point and it is one of the highest points on the mountain range where you can see for miles (I think someone said you can see three states from there). Below is one of the views from the top.

We also did something new this time that we'd never done and that was to take the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. The views from the lookout points were beautiful there as well...and proved why they are called the Smoky mountains!
The colors were breathtakingly stunning. I've never seen Autumn in full color like this.

One of our other favorite places to go is Greenbrier. There, you can hike, climb, and wade. It is heaven for little boys (and big ones too!). Here's Cody as the sun started to set and the fog came in. He loved skipping stones on the water.

Below is a picture the reflection of the colors on the water.

Beautiful colors abound!
Picture-perfect: My two boys taking a stroll.

It was a trip I'll never forget and always hold near and dear to my heart. I hope to return next year...but this time with Daddy! Hope you're all doing well. Happy Autumn!