The Great Smoky Mountains Day 3

Our last day in the park started out rainy and stormy, so we went to breakfast at a diner in town and waited out the rain a little bit.  Then we went out to try our luck on some more hikes.

It was still a little rainy when we drove up Lakeview Drive past this view of Fontana Lake.  I was glad that we had the umbrella.

Then we went to hike the Tunnel Bypass Trail and it was really fun.  First we walked through this long tunnel.  It was so dark in the middle that we couldn't see our feet.  Can you see the opening way at the other end?

The rest of the hike was so beautiful.  I kept hoping that we would see another bear, but the only wildlife we saw were some birds that were taunting us with their chirps.  At least it stopped raining!

After hiking, we went for another picnic and by the time we were finished we were surrounded by at least 6 crows.  It was a little eerie, like they were about to attack us or something.  Luckily they waited until we got in the car to swoop down on our table and scrounge for leftovers.

We went back to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center to finish out the day.  We walked around the historic farm and then found an awesome spot to skip rocks into the river.  This also reminded me very much of Waterton.

Paul was really good at skipping rocks and throwing rocks across the river.  Here he is playing a game I think my uncle Tom taught me in Waterton.  You try to throw as many rocks as possible out of one hand before your first one hits the water.  (sorry the video is sideways).

I was okay too but hit myself on the chest.

We hiked the rest of the Oconaluftee River Trail, saw some birds, and then went back to Bryson City for more ice cream and to rest from another long day.

These last pictures are for my dad.  The NC entrance to the park is on the Cherokee Indian Reservation so most of the signs have English and Cherokee on them.  Neat eh?  This and the fact that there are juncos should be enough to convince him to come for a visit!

We had such a great time exploring the Great Smoky Mountains, and it turned out to be one of our favorite vacations of all time.  Mountains really have so much to offer and Paul and I are dreaming of owning a mountain cabin someday so we can hike and bird to our heart's content.

And for those of you who are curious . . . we ended up identifying 15 birds (but hearing and spotting, like, a billion more!): Carolina Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco, American Crow, American Robin, Morning Dove, Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, Mallard Duck, Eastern Pheobe, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-tailed Hawk, Carolina Wren, Pigeon, Goose, and I swear there was a 15th.

The Great Smoky Mountains Day 2

We started out day 2 in the Deep Creek area of the park.  This area is known for its lovely babbling creek and for 3 even lovelier waterfalls, and we decided to hike to all of them.

The first was Juney Whank Falls.  We hiked up about half a mile to see this 90 foot waterfall.  We sat for a while and eventually spotted an Eastern Pheobe living under the bridge (that's a bird). 

Me hiking back down from the falls.  Do I look 23 weeks pregnant?

The next waterfall was called Tom Branch Falls, followed by Indian Creek Falls.  Both waterfalls were about 25 feet tall.

By this time my need for a bathroom was excruciatingly urgent, so we only wandered a little farther along the trail and then headed out to have a picnic.

Afterwards, we drove to the Cherokee Indian Reservation to see Mingo Falls.  I read somewhere that at 120 feet tall, Mingo Falls is one of the tallest and most spectacular waterfalls in the southern Appalachians.  Neat!  It was beautiful!

Mingo Falls was probably the best waterfall that we saw.  We had to climb approximately 160 stairs to get to it, but it was worth it.

Next we went to Mingus Mill, an historic gristmill on the other side of the park.  We watched a little demonstration of how the mill works and then took a short up-and-back hike along Mingus Creek.  On the way, we tried to find birds but all we could do was look towards their chirping for movement.  We decided that we need binoculars if we are ever going to be anything but amateurs.  

Then we decided to drive back up into the mountains to see the view at Newfound Gap.  It was once again gorgeous.

While we were up there we saw some Dark-eyed Juncos!  These made me think of home because my parents are always telling me about the juncos they see in their backyard.  They are pretty fun to watch.

My hiking buddy!  and me.

Then we headed back to Bryson City after some dinner.  Paul posed in front of the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad train for me right before we went for ice cream.  I got a chocolate-dipped waffle cone with two scoops of ice cream and for a minute I thought I was in Waterton.  I can't wait to take Paul to Waterton someday, because I just know he would love it.

That night we sat out on the porch in an attempt to improve our birding skills.  We saw a cardinal that pooped on our car and we named him Pete.

The Great Smoky Mountains Day 1

We thought that we would NEVER see San Angelo again, but Paul has been sent here on a TDY (temporary assignment) and now we're here.  For 7 weeks.  But, like we always do, we took advantage of the long drive (24 hours) to see some of the country we've never seen.  This time it was the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.

Our first day was a half day so we only had time to see a little bit of the park.  We stopped at the visitor's center and the ranger said it would be a good idea to go up to Clingman's Dome, the highest peak in the park, to see the views before some clouds rolled in.  So we did.  The views were spectacular!  Of course they would be at 6600 feet.  We got caught in a little bit of fog but were still able to see pretty far.  Mountains are awesome.

On our way back down to the parking lot from the observation tower we saw a black bear and her baby cub!  They moved behind the bushes before we could get a good picture though.  We also started our search for birds . . . we bought a birding book at the visitor's center and spent the next few days pretending to be birders.  Birding is so nerdy and so fun.

Then we drove to Bryson City, NC to check out our cabin.  We found this gem on VRBO.com and it was exactly what we wanted.  The views from the deck were gorgeous!  Paul sat out on the deck every morning reading and watching for birds.  It was basically paradise.

That night we went to dinner at Jimmy Mac's in Bryson City and got huge hamburgers and key lime pie.  We planned out our next day and went to sleep.

It's a boy!

and I totally had Paul convinced it was a girl.

and we no longer have to call the baby "it"!

The ultrasound was more fun than I expected.  He (hehe) was positioned with his feet up by his head so we got a clear shot of his tiny baby feet (that will soon wear tiny baby socks.  baby socks are SO CUTE).  He was also holding his tiny hands in tiny fists.  He has all his fingers and toes.

We also saw his heart (all 4 chambers) beating at 150 bpm, his brain, spine, stomach, and yes, his parts.  We also got a nice view of his face and he looked like a creepy alien.  I'm sure he'll turn out cuter after a few more weeks.  He is 15 oz, so a little ahead of schedule, but everything looks good!

I feel very lucky and super excited!  Hopefully 19 weeks will be enough time to pick out a name!  In the meantime I'm painting his room blue!

moives

Hello!  Let me tell you about some movies!

The Hunger Games.  Very good!  I liked how they adapted the book for film, by adding scenes with the gamemakers, for example.  I also liked that the acting wasn't horrible.  Except maybe Gale, but he did have that whole gloomy/jealous face down when he didn't have to talk.  (on a semi-related note: I went to a Hunger Games party and won a Hunger Games cookbook because I unscrambled the most Hunger-Games-related words.  There are some good looking bread recipes in there but then there's also some squirrel recipes . . . I think I'll skip those).

The Big Year.  Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black are all birders trying to set the record for the most birds seen in 1 year.  It was funny and oh so wholesome.  It makes me want to be a birder, and I would recommend it if you are craving something PG.

Pirates.  Ya know, the latest one.  Last week when we went to get a movie I suggested this one and Paul told me that we had already seen it.  Ha, it was that good, was it?

This Means War.  We went to this in Virginia instead of The Vow.  I still haven't seen The Vow, but I kind of wish we had seen it instead because it couldn't have been any worse than this one.  and I even like Reese Witherspoon.  Not worth the money.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  My only problem with this movie was the ending.  I was hoping for some kind of world take-over where the apes kill off the human race, so when they all just run away to the forest I was a little disappointed.  The rest of the movie was good though.

Moneyball.  Super interesting.  Paul read the book before we saw it and offered a little more insight on the characters, which made it fun . . . do you still call them characters even when they are real people?  Baseball is a very complex and fascinating game and I enjoyed the new perspective this movie offered.  Too bad it didn't snag any Oscars.

Downton Abbey.  Not a movie, but an awesome mini-series!  British scandal and British accents, what more could you ask for?  It did take me a while to really sympathize with a lot of the characters, but by the end of the second season I was hooked.  Oh Mary and Matthew.