I woke up to enjoy breakfast with this guy!

Ahhhhh Toast!

We woke up on day one and really didn’t know what we were going to do. All the girls wanted to go shopping. The guys wanted to play golf. Not being a big golfer myself, I decided to go for a hike. My good friend’s grandson asked if he could join me. We sat around trying to decide which trail that we wanted to hike and I finally found one that was not too challenging for an out of shape 34 year old and a 9 year full of energy. We choose to go to Laurel Falls which is about a 2.5 mile round trip hike. The trail was great but was crowded. The waterfall at the top was even more crowded.

My hiking partner.

The weather was great and we had a great hike.

On the second day all 13 of us woke up and went to Clingman’s Dome.  It was about a half mile walk to the observatory. At 6643 feet, Clingmans Dome is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was really cloudy/hazy day and visibility was cut way short.  It had to have been at least 15 degrees cooler at the top.

John and KK walking up to the top of Clingman's Dome

Just a little cool at the top!~

John and Beth Walking to the Top!

Clingman's Dome

Not much of a view.

We didn’t stay at the top long. Visibility was poor and we weren’t dressed for the cooler weather. We got back down to the parking lot and took a few more photos and then headed to Cherokee.

JJ and Mr. Ray

Would have been a cool photo if I would have picked a better BG


I spent awhile trying to clone everything out of the background but it just looked too fake. This would show the importance of getting right in camera.

The next couple of days were filled with more adventures. I will post more once I have gone through all the photos.