The Circle of Life: The Great Smokey Mountain Getaway

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack! We've been in the mountains on a camping trip. I absolutely love the mountains, especially Smokemont Campground. It's very special. Our friends, the King's, were already there and we met up with them on Wed. in the early evening. Going back just a bit - Wednesday I kept Brie b/c Mark had a training session and Andrea was sleeping from her night work. I had not done all my prepacking prior to getting Brie and it was my fault. I kept Brie until around 2pm. She did not have much of a nap, so we played most of the day. But when Tom came home around 1:45, he probably thought I'd have most of my "stuff" done and be sitting ready to drive down the road. Nope. At 2:15 I was at the drive-thru getting me some lunch before diving head first into the packing mode. Believe it or not, we drove out of the driveway a little before 3:30. I was impressed with myself and Tom for our quick packing.

We didn't get far down the road before I realized I'd forgotten to pack some magazines to read. Abby & Matt were driving up the next day so I called her and asked her to pack some of her magazines for me to read. No problem. Then Tom & I began to talk about the fun, long weekend we had before us. That's when I called Abby the second time to ask her to please drop by my house and get me sheets for our air mattress. Here's how the rest of the day went:
Call #3 to Abby: Please bring me several bath cloths and towels.
Call #4: Pretty please bring me my blanket that I like to snuggle with around the campfire.
Call #5: Darn it, Abby, I forgot the two desserts that are sitting in my refrigerator. Oops.
Later, and afraid to call her again, I realized that I'd forgotten a huge garbage bag full of paper products for our trip, I'd forgotten to pack my jar of facial cleanser and I had no warm jacket. I probably shouldn't pack in a hurry again for the rest of my life. Poor Abby paid the price, but she was most gracious and actually laughed every time I called. Good girl.

Back to our trip. We we arrived, we immediately set up our campsite before dark arrived. Here's how it played out . . .

The King's Palace

The Pauper's (Rucker's) humble abode

Thursday we walked around the campground and took lots of pictures that are at the end of this posting. Smokemont is such a beautiful place whether winter, spring, summer or fall.

Abby & Matt arrived Thurs. night around 6:30. We helped them pitch their tent and, after eating supper, we started a great fire.

On Friday we headed to Cherokee apparently trying to get a sugar high. Our first stop was the traditional treat of a Blizzard.

Go, D.Q.! Choco-Cherry is the best!

Then we stopped and bought some boiled peanuts. We enjoyed them all weekend. Then we went on a desperate search for Abby & Matt's pralines!

A current obsession of the Ivester's

We drove to three different candy stores and no one had pralines that were up to their standards HA. However, Saturday morning those two drove to Gatlinburg (about 35 miles away) and came back with plenty of pralines. Although, I don't remember them offering anyone a large sample. But at $14.95 a pound, I wouldn't have either.

As we were walking around the campground property, we found a tree that had received a thrashing from perhaps a beaver.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood?

One day just a few steps from our campsite, we saw a huge group of butterflies. They were flying all around us and it was beautiful.

Abby in Butterfly Conservatory!

Dozens and dozens were grouped together on the ground and in the air.

Food is a huge part of our camping experiences. We live from one meal to the next snack! I did learn one important lesson during this camping trip. Bi-Lo has begun to package eggs in cardboard containers which I dislike, instead of the styrofoam I'm accustomed to. Now I know why I hate cardboard egg containers.

In an ice chest, they become like a wet noodle! (The other half tore off)

Tom & Matt both received several new camping items for Christmas and they were anxious to use all of them. Both "boys" have new ovens.

Matt, cooking biscuits. They were yummy!

Tommy Boy is proud of his new oven

Saturday there was an 80% chance of rain. But we were blessed b/c the rain didn't come until after 8 p.m. that night. However, it rained all night and all our camping things were wet. So when we packed up today, everything was damp and/or wet. But that's just part of camping. You gotta take the bad with all the good. Here are some other pictures from the weekend: