Vacation: Eating and Hiking

I don't want to sound like a broken record but we did have many adventures while in Tennessee.

This is another post of several different days that I have joined

together because they are the same in nature. No pun intended.

One of our goals for this trip was to do some hiking.

We did get to hike some.

We are already planning on more for our next trip. :)

This first set of pictures wasn't from a hike but it was still beautiful.

This was the quilt shop hop day without the boys.

It was almost magical with the changes in light and water spray from the small rapids.

Truthfully, the pictures don't do it justice at all.

There was an ample supply of moss and a few mushrooms too.

I even found a snail!

Dan and Cheryl, best tour guides around!

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Another outdoor adventure was a picnic lunch in the Smoky Mountain National Park.

It's interesting all the different bear signs that are around.

This is the sign that's on all the picnic tables in this particular area.

Beautiful spot for a picnic.

Then it rained. It was still an awesome picnic!

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I just like this picture so I threw it in this post. It's my blog I can do that!

Actually, we grilled out before we decided to go hiking.

After much searching, we decided on a hike to Hen Wallow Falls.

2.1 miles, that's not bad.

The only problem was it was late in the afternoon early evening.

We ran in to some other folks on their way back from the falls and asked them how long for the hike.

Let's just say we didn't have enough daylight left to make the full hike.

This picture is very deceiving.

It looks like a relatively flat trail.

It's not.

It was all up hill.

This out of shape flat-lander got a little winded.

If you look closely you can see a creek between the trees.

It's hard to read but it says Hen Wallow Falls 1.7 miles.

That's only 0.4 miles and a long way to go.

Using the time stamps on the photos, it took us almost 15 minutes.

There was no way to make the round trip in the daylight.

We decided to go a little farther.

I'm so glad we did.

It was not a disappointment!

Although we didn't make the falls this little spot was very picturesque.

I took a lot of pictures!

How cool is this bridge?

This was as far as we went.

Just beautiful.

You can see the light is getting dimmer under the forest canopy.

Proof I was there!

I found more mushrooms!

I don't know why I like mushrooms, but I do.

On the way home from our hike we came across this rainbow.

Despite my best efforts, this was the best photo I got.

It was really bright.


So that concludes the adventures in the Newport area of Tennessee.
Before we left we took a group photo.

Well, we tried to get a group photo!

That's better.
Thankfully a neighbor was willing to help us out.
We had so much fun with these dear folks.