Cades Cove

This past weekend, I made a trip to TN to visit my beautiful lady and she had a very nice surprise in store for me. All I was told was that I was to be ready to leave by a certain time, and that I wasn't driving my car on the trip.

We went to a state park called Cades Cove State Park http://www.cadescove.net/ and it was amazing. A ver nice leisurely drive thru the Smokey Mountains and the park itself is basically based around a mid-1800s settlement that peaked and faded like many small towns thruought the US at that time.

While out there, we read that there was alot of wildlife out there including deer, and black bear. We Ended up seeing both! As you can see from the pics I got relatively close to them. With the zoom maxed out, that was the best I could get and that was from about 50-75 yards away.

It was a wonderful day together. We had a nice lunch that was packed, a sunny day in a convertible and some very great history and insight into just how tough our ancestors had it back then. It's amazing what they all endured and had to overcome to make a life for their families. Walking around the various churches it became evident of how hard it was. Many children didn't survive long, sometimes seeming as many parents tried unsuccessfully to keep a family growing. It was quite sad and at the same time it was a reminder to me of just how lucky we are that we have what we do, and that we as a people are able to thrive and make a life.
Makes all the 'little things' seem that much smaller.

Now we have 4 weeks apart and that is NOT something either one of us are looking forward to. Hope it goes fast.