Let the games begin! The road trip has officially begun, and we started it all with a trip to my hometown stomping ground of Sevierville/Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We arrived at my parents’ house on Friday evening after an eight hour trip up from Fernandina Beach, FL. Coming home is always an interesting experience because although most things at home are the same, everything else in Sevier County is different. Sure there are many of my favorite, small-town treasures still standing like Gatlinburg-Pittman High School, Rafting in the Smokies (my old job), Mountain Lodge Restaurant, etc., but along with that there is now a plethora of brand new hotels, chain restaurants, t-shirt shops, novelty rides and museums, and even a new gigantic water park. Every open space along the main parkway I remembered is now occupied by the latest development intended to entertain the millions of people who vacation in the Smokies every year. What happened to enjoying the Great Smoky Mountains for their natural beauty and maybe making a side trip to Ober Gatlinburg, Dollywood, or catching a traditional bluegrass dinner show? I guess it’s a double-edged sword…on one hand, the tourism industry brings in billions of dollars into the area and creates all kinds of jobs for the residents. On the other hand, it has cluttered the main Parkway to the point of distracting the eye from the gorgeous mountains that loom in the distance.
All that aside, Craig and I managed to get out and experience a few things the area is known for. Saturday we headed to the Big Pigeon River to do a little whitewater rafting. A huge thanks goes out to my old boss from Rafting in the Smokies, Claudette, who hooked us up with some hugely discounted tickets. The BPR is about a five-mile trip with mostly class 3 rapids and a couple class 4’s. We ended up in the same raft as a very good old friend of mind, Sarah McCloud, and her family. Not only did we both go to G-P high school, but we also worked for Rafting in the Smokies together back in the day. Talk about a trip down memory lane… or in this case, memory river. Here are some pics from the trip:
Floating along in the water Saturday night we celebrated my niece Genesis’s fourth birthday with a cake and presents. She is way too cute for her own good:
And Sunday, we made it up to the park to do a couple hikes. The visibility was pretty much zero, so we opted to hike to a couple of beautiful waterfalls: Laurel Falls & Rainbow Falls.
Laurel Falls
Rainbow Falls (can you spot Craig?)
Sunday evening we said our goodbyes and headed to Chattanooga to spend the night with my sister, Heather. We met her at the Riverfront area as she was finishing up a photo shoot for her friends’ engagement pictures (she is really getting into photography these days). I can tell she really loves it because when we pulled up to the Riverfront and spotted her, she was wearing the biggest smile! Later that night Craig, myself, Heather, and her boyfriend Matt ate at Taco Mac (one of Heather’s faves) and spent the night catching up and laughing about funny, family memories.
So, Tennessee, it is goodbye for now, but we will meet again in September. I will leave you with a few pics of my parents’ backyard which has been transformed into a huge vegetable garden and chicken pen. Now that is good ‘ole Rocky top at its best.
Chickens
Corn
Zucchini
Okra
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