After a yummy breakfast out on the deck, we decided to head out to Cades Cove. We had planned to do some hiking, but ended up stuck in Cades Cove's infamous traffic. So, we settled for enjoying the scenery and wildlife (we saw 3 deer and 7 wild turkeys) and taking a few short walks to cabins and churches and such. It was a lovely day and, as a bonus, we got to take this family photo in front of the spot where Corin and I got engaged just over 10 years ago (Memorial Day weekend of 1999).
For those of you unfamiliar with our engagement story, the reader's digest version is this:
Corin decided to take me to the Smokey's to get engaged because it is one of his favorite spots in the world and because the year before we got engaged, we had a lovely, romantic, memorable afternoon in Cades Cove. We found a similar spot (I think it was not the exact spot, but Corin did not have the patience to find the exact spot that day, what with the ring burning a hole in his pocket and all...), and set out for a picnic. On the way out the tree line in the photo above, we met a bear. Because I had already invested in hiking through this tall grass and I was not eager to hike through different tall grass, we decided to swing out around her instead of going back. After Corin popped the question, we discovered about 10 tourists surrounding our blanket with cameras. Turned out the mother bear had 3 cubs who had climbed a tree about 10 feet from our proposal site. We decided it was best to pack up our picnic and head out, but that tree line (and the bears) will always have a special place in our hearts.
Sooooo, Saturday evening while we were cooking supper (and the steaks were on the grill), Kerry and Pressley were out on the 3rd floor deck and saw an amazing sight. NINE bears right outside our cabin. NINE! (And we had already seen one a couple of hours earlier. She was contemplating checking out our trash can, but when she saw our 6 heads peering through the opening of the front door, she must have thought better of it. I didn't get a photo of her, so in my mind, she doesn't count. But, if you count her, there were TEN in all!) Two of the NINE were full-grown bears and the other seven were cubs. The cubs were just the cutest thing you've ever seen. I took about a million pictures of them, separated only by the terrace-level deck railing. I'm guessing my sense of safety and separation was extremely false and that I will look back on that as a pretty stupid move... but, I lived to tell the story and got some fabulous shots.
The kids thoroughly enjoyed all the bear-seeing, rock-hopping, stream-"swimming", dam-building, picnicing, and general merriment. I know it warmed Corin's heart to see his kids enjoying his Smokey Mountains. It was just a lovely family weekend and we are all looking forward to making this a summer tradition.
1 comment:
LUCKY!!!!!! We love the Smokies as well- know that you had a great time
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