Great Smoky Mountains Trip May 09

Today we returned from a 5 day vacation to Gatlinburg, TN. It was a great trip! The whole family had a really enjoyable time. We usually go to up there to the Great Smoky Mountains about once a year, sometimes twice. Most of the time we do the same stuff such as shopping and sight-seeing, but time we tried to do a lot of different things. We got to see Cade's Cove, which is an old homestead from way back. What you do at Cade's Cove is drive on this scenic loop around the cove and see the beautiful mountains, old cabins, and wildlife (of you're lucky). We got to see some deer, turkey, and.....(drum rolls please!).....black bears! Ha! It's a quite humorous story....We were fixin to leave the park when the cars started to back up and there was a ranger directing the traffic. Dad immediately said that there must be some bears (we had all been anticipating the sight of a real-life black bear) and to get our cameras out. Sure enough there was a black bear! No wait, there were three!! And they were litte cubs! It was a rare sight. But it happened so fast, and it wasn't on my side of the window so it was hard to see. Also, the ranger kept telling us to move on and not to stop because of the traffic. Well, the funny part was that Dad handed over his 35mm camera to mom (because it was on her side of the window) so she could get a picture....but she didn't know how to use Dad's camera! It went something like this: "Gena take a picture! Hurry! The ranger wants us to move!! Hurry Gena!" "I don't know how to work this thing, Tim! What do I do?!" "Hurry Mom!". I tried getting a picture, but Brooke's hand was in the way......I have no idea why she couldn't get a good one either. Oh well. Mom will never hear the end of it. LOL.

One day we decided to go into town to walk downtown Gatlinburg. Right when we got there it started pouring down rain. It was hilarious! And I had a new umbrella in the car! lol. Well we got caught in a gun shop with this Asian-looking guy (sounds like a bad movie doesn't it? Well, he was real nice to let us stay in his shop while it rained lol). And he sold two umbrellas to us! (one of which turned out to be extremely cheap). We got to talking him, and turned out he was from New York, he just got out of college and was trying to make a living with his little business, and he was a Muslim. Brooke gave him a track, and he said he'd read it. After it stopped raining, we went to the car and got our umbrellas (would you believe that it didn't rain after that!). We walked, and looked....I don't think anyone bought anything though. On our way back to the vehicle, we saw the Muslim guy again. He said he gave the track to a guy and pointed to him. It was a middle aged fellow sitting on a bench just a reading that little track lol. It was good to see that he passed it along even if he didn't believe in what it said. Then, mom and Brooke asked him if he had any questions. They talked with him for a little while....I went with Dad, Amber, and Jeremy to the car so I don't know what all they said. The best thing we can do now is to pray for him.

Something that really ticked me off about this trip was that I forgot my book bag! I was so mad...and quite sad. I had all these books that I have been meaning to read, but left it on a bench by the door on accident. The most thing that disappointed me was that it had my Bible in it. We were just about to get out of Atlanta when I asked Dad frantically, "Did you get that book bag on the bench?". Well, he didn't and it was completely my fault. It was in a place away from where all the other luggage was. My heart sank. I wanted to spend time with the Lord on this trip, I really did. For a few days, I pondered whether I should go ahead and buy a new Bible. Wal-Mart had a few, but they were too high. Later on, Brooke found a little pocket Bible that I could borrow from her! I was so glad to at least have that (even if it was only the NT lol). I was talking to Mom one morning about how it was hard reading it, just because it was small and not my own. I told her, "I know it's the same words, but it's not the same as my own Bible." Well it was hard at first, but after I got to reading it, I realized that I needed to get over it. I had God's Word in my hands (even if it was so small I could hardly see it), and I shouldn't allow any distractions. I was having a hard time digging into the Word, so I got to talk to two of the wisest people I know (one of which was through text messaging ). After that I realized how blessed I am to have people who love me and will talk to me about spiritual matters whenever. I got to spend some blessed time with my Heavenly Father. I want more! And now that I'm back home, I can read my very own Bible again!

One day we got to go and play "Ripley's Davy Crocket Mini-Golf". Dad had some tickets from last year, so we all got to go free of charge!It was pretty fun! The whole family was stunned at how good Mom was. She got like three or four hole-in-ones! We think she has been secretly practicing or something. lol. Mom won the game, Brooke came in second, then me, then Dad....then the kids. Jer came came in last. lol. It was his first time and it was so cute....and funny too.

On our way up to the smokies, Dad came up with a game/competition. It was a photo competition. Throughout the trip, we all would take as many pictures as we could, and when we got home Mom and Dad would judge which one is the best. Motivation: $20 top prize. Yeahya. Well I got to snappin right away, buddy. lol. Then later on, Dad suggested that there be a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place! Well, we haven't looked at the pictures yet, so as of now I don't know who is gonna win. It's between us people who had a camera: Me, Brooke, Amber, and Dad. Amber has been quite competitive, and even got Autumn to be her side-kick. They took it off the deep-end a few times. Like a couple times when I wanted to get a picture of one of them, they would act silly and make funny faces because I might have a chance of winning. One morning at breakfast, I had a left over biscuit and offered it to Autumn and she told me, "No I don't want it cause I don't want you to win". I couldn't help but to laugh and pronounce her crazy. I even heard Amber tell Autumn that if she would help her take the winning picture, she'd split the money with her. I guess that's why she decided to attack me like that. lol.

One of the more unpleasant things that happened was getting an awful sunburn on my back. We all were out on the porch getting some sun. It was really cloudy so I thought I was getting much sun, but oh yeah....I sure did. I can't remember ever having a sunburn so red like that. It's a painful thing to get sunburned (of course this wasn't my first time getting sunburned, but one of the more extreme experiences). I couldn't even get in the hot-tub because it would only make it all the more painful. But, the good thing was that I got to get a massage from Amber. That made me a feel somewhat better :) Even now, two days later, my back is still sore.

Even the trip home was fun! That was a first! Well, except for the part of being really car sick going down the mountain on the winding roads :/. We got to stop in NC and get out picture made with a real Indian! I know, that sounded weird...but it was neat cause he was dressed up like an Indian in a movie. We were going to see some "Live Bears!" but it was like 5 bucks a person. That's $35 for our family just to see some bears (I told dad that they were probably sleeping anyways). One dumb thing that the sign said was, "kids in diapers are free". Mom said, "Let's put Jeremy in a diaper and see if they would charge us for him". Good grief. lol.

Have you ever seen goats on a roof?It was the funniest thing! These goats actually lived on the roof! And people could feed them and everything. It was a fun place to stop on that long drive home. Haha!

Well, looks like I am a real big chatter-box tonight. I can't remember the last time I wrote a post this long. It was just such a fun trip! I can't wait until we go back again :)