Pining for the Fjords

Don't sleep on Part 4 ! Hooray, Dollywood! Although the rain held off during our Tuesday hiking excursion in the Smokys, the news wasn't great for Wednesday, with scattered showers forecast for most of the day.  However, when it's your last day in the area and you've already bought your tickets online, you grab your raincoat and head to Dollywood anyway! Full disclosure - although I'm not really a country music fan, like many people in the USA, particularly those with ties to this area, I'm absolutely over the moon in awe of Dolly Parton.  She's not only funny with a "greatest quotes" list that would rival Mark Twain ("it takes a lot of money to look this cheap" is my personal favorite), but to call her a prolific songwriter and singer would be an understatement (I think most people know that she's the original writer and singer of the smash hit, "I Will Always Love You," made most famous by Whitney Houston - in case you did...

Wait!  What about Part 3 ?!?! So.much.nature! Us on the Trillium Gap Trail, in front of Grotto Falls Tuesday morning dawned a little foggy (we were in the Smoky Mountains, after all), but the rain had mostly abated.  It was a great day to go for a hike! My Mom's side of the family is from the greater Knoxville area (Dad's is actually from around Lexington, Kentucky so I was hitting all of the ancestral stomping grounds on this trip), and growing up, we took several trips to the Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg, and Pigeon Forge.  However, this was Chris' first trip to this national park, and I wanted to ensure he saw some of the best parts, including a great stroll through the woods. One of our bucket list experiences is to hike up Mount LeConte and stay at the LeConte Lodge ; the only way to get to the Lodge is to climb up the mountain, and even though we weren't able to get an overnight reservation for this trip, I figured we could somewhat duplicate the experience by hik...

Don't miss Part 2 ! Family time! Chris and I with (from left) Uncle Bill, Aunt Mary Alice, David, and Katie We slept much better on Sunday night than our evening in Lexington (aided primarily by a much nicer bed), and didn't wake up until the sun started streaming through the top windows of the cabin.  After starting the day's rituals (coffee, tea, and breakfast), we moved outside to sit on the front porch of the cabin and enjoy the morning.  While it wasn't as cold as we would have liked (we tend to prefer cold weather vacations), it was still much nicer than the weather at home, and we zen'ed out, sipping our beverages while listening to the misting rain. My steaming cup of MUD/WTR Enjoying his delicious Jefferson Street coffee Eventually, we got ourselves moving to prepare for the day - we'd be meeting family for a late morning wander and lunch - including once again getting a pleasingly negative result from our rapid COVID tests (hooray!).  My mom's aunt...