Tennessee Part II-National Park

The second day of our trip we hiked down to the car and drove through the Great Smoky Mountain National Forest/Park. Our photos don't do any justice to the natual beauty you witness in person. It was absolutely amazing. After our difficult start at the vacation we were very excited to get things moving along, relax and destress. We ended up seeing 32 deer. Which, we have to tell you, is hilarious at the amount of ppl amazed by seeing deer from southern states. They would stop all traffic to jump out of their cars and snap a million photos. We joked about inviting them to drive up to Michigan and see them up close and personal on the side of the road haha!

Well, we had a little snafu at the park and ended up stranded for 2 hours. Again, this issue was weather related. If it were anywhere else (city traffic) it really would have bothered us, but it was actually pretty relaxing and the scenery was breathtaking. Traffic runs one way through the park and there were very steep grades in the shadows. Well, it was icy as can be and so steep that vehicles, even vehicles with 4-wheel drive, were unable to go down and get up the other side. Rangers had to hold traffic, bring in a salt/sand truck from the exit and push the vehichles up one by one. We were very lucky because it was Justin's nap time so as we sat there with the rest of traffic we shut our car off and we took a little snooze too! None the less it was a beautiful drive and very relaxing.

After our trip to the park we went to a little local log cabin restaurant in Townsend and enjoyed a delicious dinner by the fire place and from there we went back to our cabin and enjoyed a fire and some smores! And after Justin went to sleep mom and dad were able to snuggle up by the fireplace with some wine and spend some quality time together.

Smoky Mountain Sunset-Beauty & Serenity

We saw a HUGE buck in this field.

Icicles on the side of the Mts.

Awesome tunnel in the middle of the mountain.

Family pic!

Mommy & Justin creekside

Yay! We made it!

Daddy & his marshmallow.

Smores, YUM! Justin was a happy little guy!


Snuggle time for mom & dad!


Justin helping daddy build a fire. He totally loved getting firewood everyday. Every morning he would go over to the door and say "Daddy, sticks!"

Holiday 2010-Tennessee Adventure (Part I)

We apologize for the delay of blogging; the holidays were a whirlwind and included quite a bit of traveling....We spent Christmas Eve & Christmas Day here in Ann Arbor and then we ventured to the Smokey Mountains for a week. We rented a beautiful, secluded cabin nestled away in the mountains. It was our picture perfect, little slice of heaven and solitude. Though it was quite the adventure getting there we made it and enjoyed every single moment.

We departed Ann Arbor the day after Christmas and of course we were traveling right in the midst of that huge nasty storm that slammed the East Coast. Well, if you thought the ride through Ohio was boring in itself it gets a whole lot worse when all you see is snow and breaklights for hours! Once we got into Kentucky it wasn't so bad but then wham! Hello Tennessee, nice to not see you! It was pitch black and we were driving in a blizzard going about 10 mph in stop and go traffic through mountain passes. It was awful. Add on top of that a screaming toddler it was enough to make you want to pull over and walk. Well, we were super happy to get to our destination. Our cabin was 15 minutes out of Pigeon Forge and once we hit Pigeon Forge the rest of the trip was going to be easy peesy...or so we thought. We're driving 10 mph on sharp curves in high altitudes with no barriers....lovely! We get off a side road, then another and another and we turn a corner to look up at this steep grade God only himself could probably get up.....As we stood there in ahhhh a man drove down in his huge 4 wheel drive truck. He stopped, looked at our car and in his lovely southern Tennessee accents coyly smiled saying, "You ain't getting that car up here tonight....I see you got a youngin with you so I'll wait here at the bottom of the hill to make sure you don't get stuck."

Of course, it's 10pm at night; we had been in the car for 13+ hours and we were stranded in a city and state we had never been too....Mommy lost it at that point and Daddy being positive did what daddy did best...he took charge, calmed mommy down and got us back to Pigeon Forge where we got an awesome hotel for the night. By the way, Clarion of Pigeon Forge, we love you; thanks for your amazing hospitality! At this point Justin was jacked up and did NOT want to sleep after being trapped in the car forever. Daddy yet again saved the day and saved mommy's sanity. We love daddy!

Well, Monday morning we decided we would give a bit of time for the plows and salt/sand trucks to get out and we would try to conquer the mountain yet again....We were also prepared to rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle if need be but we hoped we wouldn't have to do that....Well, around 10am we packed up our stuff and trekked the mountain and some how we made it up that nasty grade from the night before and we were just about there when we got to yet another even worse grade. Defeated...sort of! We had about 1/4 to our cabin and noticed a few cars had obviously had the same problem as we did. Mommy and daddy looked at each other and said "We're walking!"

So imagine this….a mountain, pure ice, a whole car full of luggage, toddler toys, a weeks worth of groceries ect and a 2 ½ year old making it’s way to the cabin (Justin plops in the snow sad as can be and says, mama-no carry me!). We look back and laugh now, but in that moment we were such a sad pathetic site. After 4 trips up and down to our car we finally made it to the cabin; which was absolutely everything we thought it would be-secluded, beautiful & comfy cozy. It was at the point we finished unpacking and the real vacation began….Stay tuned to part 2 of our vacation diary but enjoy some photos of the winter wonderland! (Mind you, the photos do NOT do any justice to the reality of the mountain inclines!)