The family truckster arrived in the driveway yesterday afternoon, marking the end of our spring break trip to The Smokies.

The house was still standing, the dogs were excited to see us, and it seems like everything is in order.  All cool things to find upon arriving home.

Over the next couple of days, I’ll be doing my daily trip summaries — watch for ’em!  I’ll also get back to working on getting the photos up from the trip so all my fans… both of you…. can enjoy them.

It’s good to be home.

We’d been dodging construction events at the cabin all week.  From giant cement pouring devices blocking the road to jack hammers and other noisy tools interupting the silence and peacefulness of the mountains, the weekdays were filled with reminders of progress.  They are building the heck out of the ridges around Pigeon Forge, and are, frankly, ruining it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad there was a cabin up there to go crawl into to get away from the world, but I’d have been much happier if someone wasn’t building another line of them just below me.  Today’s incident was the most intrusive.  About 9.30 this morning, one of the workers asked us to move the truck up to the top of the hill so they could lay asphalt… right up to the porch of the cabin.  This made the outside areas of the cabin pretty useless, so we packed up our stuff for the day, and headed out to look around the arts community area of Gatlinburg.

Of course, getting to the truck now meant tiptoeing around the edge of still-hot, freshly-laid asphalt.  Not fun, and kinda silly that we had to deal with that.

The arts community area was great though.  This is a many-mile loop of little shops with everything from pottery to photography to musical instruments to tea houses.  Really nice.  We spent the biggest part of the day wondering through shops of all kinds, finding all kinds of goodies to oogle.

This was a nice end to the trip — a little touch of the country before heading back to the city and our day jobs.  This really was a relaxing trip, despite trying to cram too many things in a short week.  Next time, I’d like to take more time, less schedule, and more excursions into the park.  I need to get in better shape for that though!  🙂

We’d decided early in the trip that we’d take a day and drive to Asheville NC to visit Biltmore House.  This was a destination Beck badly wanted to see during the trip to the east coast last April, so we wanted to make sure to get there this time.

The drive down there was uneventful, pleasant and beautiful.  However, once we pulled off I-40, I suddenly felt like I had gone back in time.  The buildings, right down to the McDonald’s, all had a feel of late 19th century architecture.  We hit the front office, gasped at the price, handed over our C-note, and then drove on to the parking lot.

From the lot, it was a ten minute walk to the grounds of Biltmore House.  The grounds were amazing to see, as was the house.  Unfortunately, they don’t allow photography of any kind inside the house, so we weren’t able to grab any shots inside the house.  We took the walking tour inside the house — about two-and-a-half hours! — and it was amazing.  There’s so much history, art and architecture… so much that it defies description.  After lunch in the stables, we drove around the property, and just enjoyed the views of the countryside.

Visiting Biltmore was well worth the trip and the cost, and I would definitely go back again, with designs on spending more time on the grounds than the house.  It would definitely be worth it!

Today’s trek was into the park for a little bit of driving, and then a plunge into Gatlinburg.

The park was great again today, and we enjoyed watching an especially treacherous waterfall for a while before heading into Gatlinburg.

Our goal today was to hit the Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies. Sio badly wanted to see this, so we ambled up to the cage, and forked over a whole lotta cash to get us in the door. It was worth it though. This aquarium has a people mover that scoots you in front of, through and under some aquariums with loads of cool things floating in front of you: sharks, sawfish and loads of other sea-worthy fish. Very cool indeed.

They also had several hands-on areas where you could put your hands on a horseshoe crab or a ray. I hadn’t handled a horseshoe crab since I was a boy visiting in Florida many, many years ago. It was cool to share that with Sio, and to bring back those memories. I would’ve loved to play with the rays, but there were dozens and dozens and dozens of parents and kids waiting to touch them. With only one aquarium worker in place, the wait was colossal, so we opted out.

Like many of these places, they funnel you through the exit…. at the far back side of the gift shop. 🙂 We didn’t see anything we had to go home with, although I did have to explain to Sio what Sea Monkeys were.

We again walked the streets of Gatlinburg, and this time down the street, Sio decided she wanted an airbrushed “tattoo”. We found a nice shop to do the work, and a few minutes later, she was sporting a Japanese emblem of “peace”. Cool enough, and designed to only last a week or so. That’s plenty long enough for me! 😉

The highlight of today’s journeys was a hike to Laurel Falls.  This is the easiest waterfall to visit in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, and was our first foray into the park during the trip.

We drove in via a little road into the park that lies near the cabin.  A short distance into the park, we  found a roadside waterfall, and stopped for a view and a little lunch.  This is when I realized that I forgot my cable release at the cabin.  (Note to self:  NEVER change camera bags!)  I figured out some ways around not having it, and made the best of the situation.  This was a good stop, and there was plenty to see.

We continued on to the trailhead for the Laurel Falls Trail, gathered up all our gear, and started on the hike.  This was only 1.5mi each way, and was considered an “easy” hike, probably based on the trail being paved.  It was moderately easy, but the grade of some parts of the climb were definitely rough on the knees.  The walk was really worth it though — Laurel Falls is beautiful, and is like an oasis at the end of the trail.  The trail opens up about midway up the falls, and there we found dozens of folks tromping around, playing in the pool of water there, and peering up and down the falls.  This was a nice location, and I would’ve loved to try more long shots here.  I took nowhere near enough photos, and didn’t capture enough of the essence of the locale.  I would’ve enjoyed being up there on a less crowded day too.  I had to work around too many little kids splashing and parents letting them run amuck.  Oh well!

I’d like to get back up there again someday.  It was a nice hike, and with a colder day, I expect there’d be fewer folks on the trail, and less rugrats in the water.

With storms on the horizon, we called it a day, ate dinner in Pigeon Forge, and headed home to await the storms…

The world works on electricity.  My cameras are no exception.

This morning, we cleaned up, and started planning our day, only to realize…. I left all the camera batteries at home!  Ugh!  🙁

While the cabin has a broadband connection, we had no laptop with us, so it was off to the cabin office to see if they knew anyplace where I could get a few batteries for the cameras.  We sat there for about thirty minutes, listening to the plight of two couples who had been robbed the night before in a different set of cabins.  They had walked in on the burglars, and were then “threatened at gunpoint” as the bad guys made their escape.  They lost everything in the cabins — clothes, computers, a bag of diapers — and were railing on the poor clerk behind the counter.  The cabin office is just a management company for the the privately held cabins, so the gal behind the desk was desparately trying to get in touch with either the cabin owner or her food chain.  Interesting to listen to.

So, once our turn came up, we started on the quest for batteries.  Believe it or not, there appear to be no camera stores in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge.  I think I know what business I’d like to open up there!  I know folks go there to shoot, so I have to think there would be some call for a decent camera store.

Anyway, we headed to Knoxville, and got the only battery Best Buy had and the last two that Circuit City had.  There were varying prices for each of the products, and a C-note later, I had three batteries for the cameras.  By the way, once these are united with the batteries at home, I will now have eleven batteries for the cameras!  Success is success, so we rewarded ourselves with Krystals for lunch.  Mmmmmm….. chili cheese pups……..  🙂

We decided to head to Gatlinburg to end our day, and wandered around the streets for a while.  The shame of Gatlinburg is that it is turning in to a Vegas-like atmosphere, with every third storefront offering show tickets and cash for your time to sit through a high pressure sales pitch for a timeshare.  In my mind, that’s a blight upon this beautiful neck of the woods.  However, the rest of the strip is fun, with small rubber-snake shops and plenty of things to do and see.

This morning, we were awakened around 3am by a huge thunderstorm. Fortunately, this wasn’t fortelling of the trip to come later this morning!

We took off early, heading southeast. Sio told us later in the night that she thought we might be headed to the beach. I think she was very confused when in Nashville, we headed toward Knoxville, and I was ok with that. 🙂

We made a stop in Maryville and saw Grandma. She’s doing well, and we had a nice visit with her, albeit a little short. We had to make the cabin office by 8pm, so we cut our visit with her a little short, and headed toward Pigeon Forge.

Once we got to the cabin office, we had Sio convinced that we were camping in the woods, and kept embellishing that. Even the cabin office staff started playing along, and added to the mystery. We made the twelve mile drive to the cabin, creeping along in the dark on unlit and unfamiliar mountain roads, finally arriving at the cabin.

The cabin is great. It’s huge, will sleep nine folks, has a pool table, foosball table, hot tub, jacuzzi, kitchen, big screen tv, and a very open layout vertically. We couldn’t see the view well since it was dark, but there are windows everywhere, and I expect the view will be great.

After some exploration in the cabin, it was time to sleep, and we did.

If you see my daughter, or talk to her, between now and Saturday morning, please don’t repeat any of this — it’s a surprise for her.

As I alluded to last night, we decided yesterday on what to do for vacation.  Unbeknownst to me, Beck was looking for someplace to go next week, and found this nice little cabin in nestled in the Smokies.  It’s only 1400 squares, with a pool table, foosball table, sleeps eight, has a hot tub, full kitchen, loads of tvs, decks…… I think we’ll survive.

So bright and early Saturday morning, we head for The Preserve Resort (we’re staying in one of the Appalachian Villas) and a week of no internet connectivity — just me, Beck, Sio and nature’s glory!

After 5723 miles over the last 18 days, and more than 95 hours of driving, I am home to roost for a while. The dual-journey was a once-in-a-lifetime (well, maybe once-in-a-decade) experience, and I’m happy about every moment of it.

Are there things I would’ve changed? You bet.

I would’ve spent more time stopping and smelling the roses. Darla’s job is to ensure I do that, and since she wasn’t there for the big part of the journey, I didn’t do enough of it, especially on my race through the desert and back to St. Louis.

I would’ve spent more time exploring Yosemite after DLWS, and seeing what it had to offer. The weather situation was getting dicey (at the time; ended up not being an issue), so I didn’t chance it.

I would’ve probably planned the two excursions during separate timeframes. Lingering somewhere would’ve been easier to pull off without another schedule I had to hit. Don’t get me wrong — I was really glad to go home for Thanksgiving, but lining up those travel schedules was tough.

I wouldn’t have lugged nearly as much stuff on the trip to Yosemite. I waaaaay overpacked, on both supplies and gear. Live and learn, I guess.

All things considered though, I had a great vacation. I learned tons at Yosemite, and I saw my family. How could it get much better than that?