On the Road Again With My Sister For LOADS of R&R!

Because of COVID, I have a backlog of timeshare usage and I'm trying my best to use it up before it expires.  So I traded in a week for a trip to Gatlinburg and dragged my sister along with me!  We ALWAYS have a good time together.

We crammed a HEAP of fun into one week!

Bud Ogle Cabin

Naturally, we spent a lot of time in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park since we were pretty much right there.  We hiked some trails, explored some old homesteads, nosed around some campgrounds, and got our National Parks Passports stamped!

We drove the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.  Our first stop was at the Bud Ogle cabin, where we decided to hike the 0.7-mile, 30-minute, "easy" loop nature trail. 

Well...!

 

We got our fill of hiker's R&R (Roots and Rocks) on that trail.  And we had to clamber over fallen trees, cross streams on either log bridges (where there WERE bridges) or teetering rocks.  My sister actually fell (gracefully) at the last crossing.  The rock rocked one way and she went over the other way.  Luckily I had packed a couple of hiking poles for us and we used them, or it would have been harder on us.

It was NOT an "easy" trail.  I'd call it a moderate trail.  At one point we (I) missed a turn and we had to backtrack a little.  And the "30 minutes" turned into 90 with picking our way through the R&R, which seemed to be most of the trail.  

It was beautiful and QUIET, though, and we enjoyed it.  A bit of a challenge when you're not used to doing that sort of thing, and challenges are good for you - they stretch your horizons!  Right?

Newfound Gap

Our stay overlapped with the 72nd Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in the Park, which a couple of my friends, one of whom is a presenter, attend every year.  So before they arrived, we had our own wildflower extravaganza - they were everywhere!

Geranium

We visited Newfound Gap where there were banks and banks of wildflowers along a stretch of the Appalachian Trail which crosses the road there and continues on to Clingman's Dome and Charlie's Bunion.

Fringed Phacelia

Spring Beauties

White Trilliam

Bluets

Appalachian Trail
 

Iris

Fleabane

Yellow Trillium

It's often rainy in the Smokies in the spring, but we lucked out with the weather that week.  Every day was dry and beautiful except for one, which we used as our day of R&R (Rest and Recovery) before going out and doing it all again!

We did much more in and out of the Park, but I'll stop here for now.

It's Really Spring! (I Have Proof!)

I wandered around the yard today to survey the ravages of winter.  Instead, I found SPRING!

One of the 98 daffodils I planted in the fall.
They actually came up!

Violets in the grass - love that color!

I caged the peonies before they get
out of control.

The first dandelions - oh me.  The fight starts.

The daylilies are up!

The buckeye tree has real leaves.  And look at that sky!

I cleaned last fall's leaves out of the flower beds.  I caged the peonies.  I picked up sticks.  I cut down old hosta stalks.  I searched for the first asparagus stalks - no luck.

The thing is, I GOT OUTSIDE.  

At last.

Ah, Spring at Last!

It finally feels like SPRING!  Not that the winter was so terrible.  We had hardly any snow.  There were no ice storms.  The temperatures weren't anything to get excited about.  But winter in central Indiana isn't pretty.

Winters here are an ugly dark gray/brown, wet, and cold, with an occasional frigid day or week.  Snow makes things look bright and cheery for a bit, then it melts in the late afternoon and refreezes at night.  Or it rains during the day and freezes overnight.  Or there's freezing rain.  Or the ever-popular "wintry mix."  UGH.

Mostly it's hypothermia weather - wet and cold-ish.

Then there's the precursor to spring - rain and wind and mud - oh my!  Still not pretty.

But this past week - suddenly SPRING!  The grass glows with the color of a green crayon. Dandelions and violets have invaded the yard!  Daffodils and tulips bloom in their beds!  Peonies, day lilies, and hostas poke up from the ground!  Asparagus begs to be cut in the garden!  Fuzzy ducklings and goslings block traffic at the marina!  Tree frogs sing in the evening!  Magnolia, dogwood, and redbud trees bloom in a riot of magenta, pink, and white!  All at once!

Nature has had enough of winter, and as my dad would say, "Spring has sprung!"