Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Smoky Mountain Majesty

If you're looking for this week's Hodgepodge Questions you'll find them here.

Hubs took a couple of vacation days at the end of last week and we spent the holiday weekend in one of our favorite spots-the Smoky Mountains. We hadn't seen his parents in several months and his brother kindly let us use their cabin with the spectacular views so we loaded up the car and drove down on Thursday. In the pouring rain. Surrounded by trucks on all sides. Ugh. The left lane is for passing, not loitering!

Oh let's not get sidetracked with a rant...moving on...


It's a long drive, almost twelve hours, but its worth it. About the time we crossed the Tennessee state line the skies cleared. We had dinner 'in town' near the folks then wound our way up to the tip top mountaintop and settled in to the cabin for the weekend.


We had our pup with us too and let me tell you, she was in her glory. She's a mountain girl at heart-


Friday was absolutely gorgeous with temps in the mid 50's. We ate lunch on the deck and didn't need to wear a coat. In the middle of February. High on a mountain. Ca-razy! But oh so nice. The sky was that gorgeous color I love too which is just icing on the cake when you're in a setting so lovely.


Friday afternoon we drove a little further into the park to a place known as the Y-


Not sure if that's the official name but that is what everyone calls this picturesque little spot...it's a good place for skipping rocks-


Or sitting on one...


Someone may have taken a dip...


We spent a fair amount of time this weekend sittin' and rockin'...


because that's what you do when you have scenery like this staring back at you-


We chatted with the parents, cooked dinner, and played Dominoes.
We exhaled.

Saturday dawned bright and beautiful and was once again mild. The day managed to get a whole lot brighter when, just before lunch, Daughter2 arrived. She drove over the mountain from uni to spend the long weekend with us...what a treat to see this sweet face in the middle of February.


She's grading papers.
If you knew her at age ten you would understand how much fun it is to write that sentence.

We took advantage of the weather and spent the afternoon in Cades Cove. I'm going to save that bit for a separate post on Thursday because I may have some pictures and this post is already long. ahem. I will post a photo here in my efforts to catch up on the February Photo Challenge prompts I missed-


I'm counting this as Day 21 with the prompt-a favorite photo of you. For me, photos are more about the memory than the composition. Perhaps that's why I just snap away and don't pay enough attention to light and detail. My father in law took this one. For the record this is not THE favorite photo of me but it is A photo of me with my favorite boy so I think that counts. Plus, you really cannot have a bad picture when the Smokies are your backdrop.

We made a big pot of spaghetti Saturday evening, played more Dominoes (Hubs won. He'd want me to say that) and talked on into the night.

It poured rain all the livelong day on Sunday. We headed down the mountain to church and then to a fun lunch where we met up with a few peeps. Mary (Life in a Small Town) and her hubs joined us and it was fun to catch up with her in person.


We have real life connections-she went to high school with my hubs and college with both of us, although hubs and I are 'older'.


Monday dawned too soon, too fast. There was just the lightest dusting of snow on the mountain and then no snow to speak of the whole way home. I rode with daughter2 for the first hour until the place where the road splits and she heads south and we head north. My heart splits a little there too. Sigh.

We didn't get home until after 10 last night and we were pooped. Hubs drove the whole way but still, being the passenger wears a person out too. Course he got up and went to work this morning and I got up and am still in my pjs drinking coffee.

I'm going to wrap this up with a picture for the Day 19 photo challenge prompt-'something you hate to do'-


...leave this view behind.

20 comments:

  1. I figured you were off an adventure. :)What a completely gorgeous place - looks like a perfect weekend.

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  2. oh what a beauty place. Love the cabin.

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  3. Really! What a view!! Amazing. I can understand it was hard to leave it. So glad you had such a good weekend catching up with the folks and that your daughter was able to join you.
    Sounds like a long ride there.

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  4. I love the Smoky Mountains! It's so beautiful there!

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  5. welcome to our end of the country...
    so glad you got to our end of the Blue Ridge...
    what a beautifaul home/location...we're hoping to have a home on a lake in the mountains ;) one day...

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  6. I love the Smoky Mountains! Hubby and I are talking about going sometime yet this spring.

    You have some really beautiful pictures here. Glad you were able to take a weekend together and share with your family like that.

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  7. That sounds like the absolute perfect weekend. Ahhhh. I could hear your exhale. :)

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  8. Wow! How beautiful view! To wake up to that every morning.......
    So glad you got away and had such a good time.

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  9. We used to live in Knoxville..that's where we were married. I always loved it there because it was so close to the Smoky Mountains. One of the prettiest places on earth, as far as I'm concerned!

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  10. Beautiful pictures, love the next to last one the most. Glad you had a good time and were able to store up a bunch of good memories.

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  11. Okay, your pictures are so beautiful, they inspire me to paint!! Wow. I'll let you know how my "views" turn out--or not. The Lesson Plans/grading papers picture looks so familiar;)
    My daughter graded 60 this past weekend. She has offered to pay me NEXT weekend!

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  12. You got some beautiful pictures! It was really good to catch up with y'all! And, I'm glad you pointed out that y'all are "older"! :D

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  13. Absolutely beautiful! Your pictures are georgeous. We drove thru the Smoky Mtns on our honeymoon, but I would love to go back and really enjoy them. Thanks for sharing! And glad your daughter was able to join you.
    until next time... nel

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  14. Lucky you to get to meet up with Mary!

    I would love to spend a couple of days in the Smoky Mountains ... so far we've driven through them on our way to Hilton Head (when we take the long way, bypassing Atlanta). Your pictures have made me even more anxious to spend some time in the Smokies.

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  15. What a lovely place to spend a long holiday weekend :)

    (Kathy)

    (still having issues commenting under wordpress)

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  16. Gorgeous pictures and a wonderful post. I live in the Smokies and any time I head to town, I am facing the entire mountain range through the drive and it is so awesome. I can't wait for your Cades Cove pics. I love going there. We drive through the loops many times throughout the year. I love living here.

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  17. Cades Cove is my favorite place in the whole world! Can't wait to see your pictures! We always stay in Townsend. I love that little town.

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  18. The Great Smoky Mountains are an amazing and beautiful sight. I wish I had the opportunity to visit there more often. I fell in love with that area when we were there. sigh.

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  19. What a gorgeous cabin, I love it! Now that is a very beautiful setting. Looks like you had a wonderful weekend.

    YOUR MEET MARY, THAT IS SO AWESOME!

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