4th of July weekend Papa and Nana were going to go the mountains for a couple of days.
We decided to invite ourselves and pile in! lol! Jamie has off on Fridays for the summer and with Monday being a holiday he had Monday off as well. We left early Friday morning not thinking about all the holiday traffic. It took us 13 hours to get to Pigeon Forge Tennessee, oh were we ever so glad to get out of the car, get a bath and lay down in a soft bed. Well, about 8:30 Nana was dressed and ready to get going, she had even been down to the continental breakfast and got coffee and orange juice. Hurting all over, we got up and got ready to go eat breakfast at the Old Mill Restaurant.
Caroline saluting the flag!
I love being patriotic and love the 4th of July.
It is one of my favorite holidays.
I love Quilt shops!
The moment I knew we were going I started searching for them.
I found this one in Sevierville Tennessee
I loved all of the quilts!
After the quilt shop, TJmax and some outlet shopping we went back to the hotel picked up Papa and headed out to Cades Cove.
Caroline got hot! Can you tell?
I love old churches, I think this was the Methodist church.
Caroline had the best seat in the car!
I loved Cades Cove, the next time we come back I want to pack and picnic basket, blanket and chairs and stay for awhile. It was so peaceful and so relaxing.
Sitting on the fence watching the bears!
The black spot is a bear! We had been telling Caroline that we might see one and we were almost out of the park before we spotted one. Thank you Lord!
You couldn't really see him good because he was digging a hole for some reason and all you could see was dirt flying. Caroline thought that was funny, she kept saying "Is he digging a hole to hockey in" lol
Watching the bear!
How it that for getting a close look on the bear?
I did something a little crazy....I jumped out of the Tahoe and ran up five cars ahead of us to see why everyone was stopped. Now usually my nickname is "Safety Franne" well not today, I ran back to the car to grab Caroline so she could see the black bear cub too. Okay I will admit after I made it back to our vehicle (5 cars back) I realized that wasn't the smartest thing to do. What if the mama bear would have thought I was a threat to her baby and well I don't want to think about what would/could have happened. Jamie informed me not to ever get brave again. I agreed that was probably my first and last time I would get out of a car and run up to a bear.
My baby girl go to see her black bear up close even if I put her life in danger.
Notice the sign is blurry? Yea well Jamie was hungry and ready to go eat! lol
Our last day of our mini vacation to the mountains.
We missed and wished Lauren could have been with us, she was at her dads and we had just got home from Mississippi with her. We are definitely planning a trip to come back for several days with her. She would love Cades Cove and all the wildlife! Some of the plans when we come back are...
1. A picnic in Cades Cove
swimming in the streams on the way home
2. Dollywood
3. White Water Rafting
4. A Dinner Show
5. Go Cart Racing
6. Putt Putt
7. The Old Mill for breakfast every morning
8. The Apple Barn Restaurant
9. The Pear and Partridge Restaurant
10. and a little shopping for me (shhh)
We had a great time and a lot of laughs along the way!
We took back roads home to avoid the crazy traffic which, might I add was winding and I got car sick for some reason. Not really sure why?
On our way home we went through a lot of beautiful old southern towns and I loved getting to see the flags on the porches and downtowns. Everyone was so patriotic in the Tennessee and Georgia. I love Southern patriotic people!
While we were on a winding road I saw the funniest thing ever! I had to ask Papa and Jamie if they saw what I saw? Close your eyes and try to picture this...A brick home with a long, white slide on top of a roof that went to the pond in their front yard. Really??? You have got to be kidding me? As we discussed this further down the road, Nana and I came to the conclusion that apparently NO mother lived in that house! Jamie and Papa's conclusion was it would definitely make a good "YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK" joke. We all laughed and wished we would have some how turned around and took a picture.
We also drove by a couple of beautiful home having 4th of July parties.
I wanted so bad to crash the party and pretend to be a long lost relative.
Nobody else was up for the adventure! Ha!
We made it home safe early Monday morning! (1:30 am)
(We would have been home a lot earlier but Nana and I had to stop in Dawsonville Georgia to check out the Pottery Barn outlet)
Thank you God for the traveling mercies and for keeping us safe!
We love you and thank you for all of your many blessings.
~Franne
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