Vacation - Part 1

By popular demand, I'm going to do a little recap of our trip down south. Since we fit so much in, I'm going to split this into 3 part...one part for each leg of the trip.

We started out with a beautiful drive (all 11 hours of it) to Pigeon Forge, TN to visit the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The few days we were there the weather was not tremendously cooperative so there were many things we would have like to do but couldn't because of the rain. We made the best of it, though. During the times that it didn't rain:

1. We took a ride on a sky lift (scary!)

2. We hiked up to Grotto Falls (a less traveled hiking path). We didn't see any bears while hiking but we saw plenty of evidence (very fresh) that they were near! And, of course...Grotto Falls...And a few other things along the way. 3. Then we decided to head up to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the Smoky Mountains, where there's supposed to be a terrific view. But the weather showed up before we got there and this is what we saw:Notice the bottom half of the picture shows what we should have seen! Here are a couple more from Clingman's Dome. 4. The next day we went to Cades Cove which was a beautiful drive! The highlight were the mama bear and her cubs. See my bear post from last week for the pics. And we ate lunch at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. -- yummy food!!!

5. We went to the Ripley's museum and saw the longest gum wrapper chain which stretches over a mile.

Here's one for the road:

Okay...I just couldn't resist...it was there just begging to have it's picture taken!

Wordless Wednesday - Bear Hunt

Now back from a bit of a break because of vacation, over the next few Wordless Wednesdays I'll be posting pics from vacation to Tennessee and Alabama. The theme this week is our hunt to see the black bear in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park!

Here's the first one we saw...a "cub" about 1 year old high up in a tree:

Here is a pic of the largest bear we saw. It was in this tree literally breaking off branches and eating from them. I didn't get a great picture of him because I wasn't about to get too close!

And the highlight...a mama and what we initially thought to be 1 cub, but turned out that there was a second cub in the tree that came down later. This family of bears was about 20 feet from our car. No, we did not get out of the car like some of the crazy people in cars behind us!!!

Join in the fun on this Wordless Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday - OOPS! Almost forgot!

Venturing out this weekend, "B" and I found a butterfly house. Look at the beautiful monarchs!

I didn't know butterflies were part of the circus...

Close up...

Picture taken by Em on 7/27/08!

Join the fun on this Wordless Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday - Summer Beauty

Picture taken by my Mumzie...I so DID NOT inherit her green thumb (bummer)!

Join the fun on this Wordless Wednesday!

Beautiful Bougainvillea

I've read many books that are set in the southern United States. Many of these books mention the plant/flower bougainvillea. Growing up in the Northwest, I didn't have a clue what these books were referring to until I saw a plant in a conservatory, at which time I was taken aback by the unique characteristics of the "petal" and the sheer beauty of the plant.

Notice that the "petals" look like leaves. I'm not sure whether to call them petals or leaves!?!

When I was in Florida I saw an enormous bougainvillea plant and it made me happy to just look at it. If I didn't have such a brown thumb I might take a stab at my own plant in New Jersey, but I guess I'll just have to visit the south a bit more often.

Visit to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary

This weekend my close friend "B" and I went up to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania.

I was there with my boyfriend in the fall, late in the migration season and, unfortunately, didn't see many raptors. However, at the time I knew I would be back for the exceptional hiking and boulder-climbing that the mountain has to offer. Well, I can tell you that I certainly wasn't disappointed this weekend!

"B" and I took a hike totalling approximately 6 miles. I'm not talking a nice easy path to walk along...no siree! This was all out HIKING! Steep hills, crossing large boulder fields, climbing boulders, and a few gentle paths...but not many.

We started out on the "River of Rocks" loop, which was our intent all along. This is 4 miles in total and descends 700 feet going down one side, around the end of the river of rocks you see in the picture, and up the other side (yes, UP 700 feet!) After the "River of Rocks", we went on to the end of the "Escarpment Trail" to the "North Lookout". The "Escarpment Trail" was pretty much boulder climbing at it's finest. While on the "Escarpment Trail" and on "North Lookout", we saw loads of raptors, mostly black vultures, with a few hawks and what we think was one osprey. At one point we saw 12 raptors soaring above!

We finished off with a short jaunt to the "Sunset Overlook" and hiked the relatively easy path on out, some 6 hours after we had set off on our day's journey. All in all, a great day with no real injuries, lots of good times with a great friend, and great exercise. Oh, and I'm still experiencing the sore muscles!

Purple mountains majesty

Okay, so it's not purple, but it sure is majestic! This is a pic of Mt. Hood (in Oregon for those of you who didn't know that already)...the mountain I grew up with, camping and fishing on. I call it "My Mountain".


Thanks Mom, for sending me this beautiful reminder of home (sniff).