Ah, the Smokey Mountains! They have such a special place in my heart. I have such fond memories of our yearly trips to different National Parks along the Blue Ridge as a kid. My earliest memory was when my sister Michelle was just a baby. Back then finding the best walking stick was basically the whole point of going...or at least to me and my brother Matt. That trip I happened to find the not only the best stick, but The Greatest Walking Stick Ever Found. (Just so you know, that last part was said in my best deep, raspy announcer voice.) It made me feel like Moses, you know since he had that cool staff and all. Fortunately, I had just learned a song about Moses on one of our many Doughnut Man cassette tapes. (If you know what those are, mad props to you. It's probably a homeschooler thing.) I remember charging ahead of everyone on the hiking trail singing, "Moses led his people through the party Red Sea!!!!" And that was basically the whole song. I was supposed to sing parted Red Sea, but party is way more fun right? Who cares about parting anything when you can have a party. It's a no brainer.

I have never found another staff, stick or what have you to rival that one so long ago. Regardless, I have had so many grand adventures in the Smokies. Although my family stopped going every year once I got into high school, Jonathan's family goes every summer and has for over 30 years. Yay us! I hope our kids can have fun adventures like the ones we had in our childhoods. We still had plenty of adventures this trip, but we tried to have more relaxing than anything else. :)

Anyway, here's a few photos of our relaxing time...I'll save the adventures (one includes rain and a motorcycle) for later. :)

The owners of the house we stay in every year keeps the property beautiful. They even have a little garden out back...it's pretty and delicious! :)

This was our cute little room for the week. Can I just say that the little cottage in the photo above is my dream home. Put it in the mountains, and I'd be in heaven!!!

I loved sipping on some coffee and doing a little reading while listening to the babbling of the mountain creek. I could definitely get used to that!

Wildflowers make me happy. They were everywhere and I loved it! Of course, I had to pick a few for the house.

This field was right across the creek from where we were staying. On our last night we had a few minutes to spare before the nightly family supper, so we came over to snap a few photos. It was one of the only times we weren't in lounge clothes! ha! I'm glad we brought semi-cute outfits, because I've been dying to get some prints of us for the house! It was still really bright, but I had to take advantage of the beautiful mountains scenery!