The First of Two

 

My wife had schedules two separate weeks off this summer for vacation and we didn't have any definite plans for either week since they have to be scheduled a week in advance. So when some of my wife's relatives from the east coast said they had books a rental house in east Tennessee and asked if we would like to join them, and we saw if fell at the start of one of those weeks my wife had filed for, we said heck yeah! So that is how we found ourselves in a mountain top rental a mile outside of the tourist mecca of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee last week. 

Most of our time was spent doing family centered things so I don't have a lot of pictures that aren't personal in nature. We did go for a hike in Smokey Mountain National Park one morning taking some of the family who had never hiked before with us. We did a short trail up Porter's Creek to see the waterfall you see above. 

The younger folks went into Dollywood one day but I stayed back and spent a relaxing day reading, napping and taking care of their left behind dogs. I really had no interest in Pigeon Forge so let them have their fun. Later on, I did go in late one evening for them to try out some go karts and even was persuaded to race one of the races. But my long legs make is so uncomfortable that I was happy to hand my kart ticket back to someone else and watch from the side lines. 

Another big adventure was ziplining which some of our party did after riding in the below military machine that hauled them up a mountain to the start of seven lines stretched out for a mile down the mountainside. The older adults waited at the bottom for their return. Being an engineer, I have never enjoyed suspending myself from single strands of metal cable that can corrode and fail over time. 

Besides the big adventures we had, we did a lot of cooking, eating, playing games and talking with a side of my wife's family that we don't get to see often enough. It was a good time and we all have resolved to try to do this again next year in a new location. We'll see if it pans out.