The Great Smokies!

The Great Smoky Mountains!
Copyright (c) 2009 Wendee Holtcamp

I promise to write more about the trip and post more pics soon. These are the first batch of photos, from our short exploration of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We mostly just drove through the park, starting at Gatlinburg and going first towards Cade's Cove (which was closed at the end of the road because they were treating for the Woolly Adelgid, an insect affecting the hemlock, if I recall correctly. We actually met up with Bob Miller, a Park Ranger, in the morning. Then we drove through the park. After going towards Cade's Cove we turned around and drove the other way, down Newfound Gap Road towards the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. We stopped a lot and took some photos but sadly didn't have time to go on a hike. It was a gorgeous day, if a bit cold, especially in the morning! After we drove through the park we spent some time in Gatlinburg and I'll post some pictures from that part of the trip tomorrow!

This and the photo above and below are the view of the Smoky Mountains I see in every brochure! It's taken along Newfound Gap Road, which runs from the park entrypoint near Gatlinburg to the southeast.

And another!
A view of one of the rock tunnels in the park

A lone maple leaf overlooking Laurel Creek

My shadow as I take photos of the creek.

Another view of the same tunnel.

We saw some whitewater kayakers in the park. Looks like fun!

We saw two white tailed deer and a fawn! This is the fawn, she's already lost her spots. We didn't see any elk or any bears, and I was very disappointed about that especially since there are like 2 black bears per square mile!

Laurel Creek
The Mountain Farm Museum near the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

Water droplets over the creek.

hello from PA!

I'm sitting at Smoothie Joe's Juice & Java in Mechanicsburg, PA - the town my boyfriend Doug grew up in - drinking a Milky Way frappucino. Mmm. It's not a chain but a locally owned cafe, and it's very good! I had a grilled veggie sandwich too. Mmm.

We flew out Thanksgiving morning from Houston at 6am (meaning, we woke at 345am, caught a cab at 430am). Our flight to Newark was uneventful, where we had a 2 hour layover, then we got on a puddle jumper to the Harrisburg airport. Dougs lifelong friend Al picked us up from the airport, and brought us to his mom and grandma's house where we had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the fixins! It was so nice to meet his family.

Yesterday we just hung out at the house, went for along walk, and then in the eveing we went out to downtown Harrisburg with Doug's childhood friend Lance. They've been friends since like 3rd grade. Harrisburg is about 20 minutes from Mechanicsburg and is the capital of PA if you forgot that little fact since 5th grade when everyone had to memorize all that info... We went first to the Brick Haus, an upstairs pub, and then to this Ceoltas Irish Pub/Restaurant that was really cool looking. Then we ended up home by about 10pm. You know you're getting old when you're home by 10! :)

Today we picked up the rental car (a nice trusy Toyota Corolla) which we'll use to drive home starting tomorrow. Well technically the long drive starts Monday. Tomorrow we're leaving in the afternoon to go visit Doug's friend April who lives outside Hollidaysburg. We're staying the night there with her and her family, maybe doing a bonfire, and then leaving about 8am the next day for Gatlinburg, TN where we'll stay at the brand new http://hiltongardeninn.hilton.com>LEED certified Hilton Garden Inn for 2 nights, guests of the town. Gatlinburg is right outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The next day we'll explore the national park! Hopefully the weather isn't rainy like I think it might be...

Sorry I can't leave you with any photos yet - I am using the wifi at Juice & Java and haven't downloaded any pics from the camera! :)