The best part about Tennessee was the accommodations and dining therein. We had two massive cabins, each with three stories and many bedrooms and bathrooms. Katie and the kids and I got two bedrooms and our own bathroom downstairs. Each room had queen size bunks. Kate and the girls slept in the bottom bunk closest to the bathroom, while Booch and I took the corner room with the patio. Outside our rooms were the movie room and the air hockey table. Ryan, my cousin from Houston, was in the rooms across from us. Mavis and her three had the "master suite" on the ground level, off the living room. All the 2nd generation (sons & daughters of Jack, Dave, and Phil) were in their own cabin next to us, while all the grandkids and their kids (us) were in the crazy house.
Tom organized everyone into groups to make dinner each night. I was in charge of dinner on Wed. night. Becky and two of my TX cousins and I went to the store Wed. morning to pick up chicken and few other ingredients, but we decided to use the leftovers from the previous two nights to make some caseroles. Turned out great. We all ate together, which made for some great conversations and lots of noise. You bond so much better living and eating together.
After re-tooling and stopping at a gas station for snacks, Uncle Jack navigated us to a different hike, one which Tom had actually did some volunteer work on. It was a good three or four miles up a small tight valley in the mountains that had previously had some homesteads in the early 20thC. A creek ran down the middle, and it was raging full with all the rain. This is us to the left starting out, nice and dry. It was all the Dave clan: my dad, Uncle Jack, Aunt Mel, Aunt Susan, Becky, Mavis and her kids, me and my kids, and Katie. Olivia (pink shirt) from the Jack clan joined us. It was one of her first times being away from her parents, and I'm sure it was quite memorable for her.
That cemetery was pretty neat. Lot of little kids' graves. Hikers a few decades later built one of the structures below, while one was a barn also built later.
After this point, we decided to keep going up the valley to a waterfall about a mile away. It started to rain lightly, then heavily, but we pushed on. We had to cross that creek I mentioned earlier, ragingly full, on a semi-flattened but slipper log. After I walked over, I looked back and saw the girls by themselves walking it and realized how treacherous it was. If they had fallen, they probably would've died from getting bashed on the rocks, or maybe drowning. Aunt Mel was right with them and yelled at us for making her watch the girls.
We kept going, determined to make the waterfall, even though it was raining hard at this point. Eventually we made it, stopped briefly for a look, then headed back down the trail. The second time we crossed the log bridge I held each girl's hand. Of course they were fine. Booch on my back was fine as well. Olivia had a hard time and broke down at one point, but Uncle Jack sang to her, which probably numbed her senses. We all made it back to the cars drenched and armed with a new legendary Paul hiking/wilderness story.
Tuesday we set out on a hike under Uncle Jack's navigation, and we got off track in the Great Smokies. After driving for so long looking for the trail, we just stopped in a pull-off and played in a creek. Owen was the last one down but he eventually caught up to all the girls and T-stan. It was a pretty slippery trail.
Even though it wasn't our destination, it was still a pretty cool stop. With all the rain, the creek was really up.
Monday, on the drive to Gatlinburg, we stopped at the Cumberland Caverns. It turned out to be a fun visit, even though Owen was kind of a pain, for some reason. They took us back pretty far in, and it was nice & cool & dry. There was also a huge chandelier, that changed colors, over the stage area where they stage bluegrass concerts.
After a long day walking around, we were ready for a good meal and drink. We cruised down to Broadway, where there's a bunch of bars and music joints. We found a cool place and piled in, all dozen of us. Afterward we walked back to the capitol and watched the sun set. Somehow T-stan got a ride most of the way from his Grandma.
We took on Nashville Sunday, with the whole day to explore the city. Started out well with a nice drive around the Vanderbilt campus, then a wonderful Mass at the Cathedral of the Incarnation nearby. We then met the Okies at a farmers market for lunch, which was very tasty barbeque. Grandpa bought ice cream afterward.
The Okies and Katie decided to visit The Hermitage, while the old man, my 3 kids, and I walked around the Tennessee history stuff around the state capitol.
There was a bit of rain before we got going, but it was an awesome day checking everything out.
Back in July, my extended family had a reunion in eastern Tennessee. Bobbins was too pregnant to travel, so it was just me and the three kids. My dad and sister joined us. We flew into Nashville and spent a day there before driving eastward to the reunion. The flight out wasn't full, so we had our own row in the very back of the plane. Of course Owen didn't fall asleep until the last half hour.
My dad rented a mini-van that worked out pretty well. I also purchased a travel bag for the girls' booster seats and Owen's carseat on the airplane, so we had no problem setting up the kids and Kathryn, who joined them in the back. I got to navigate the old man around.
We got to the hotel and linked up with the Okies. A few of us hit a nearby restaurant. My dad and Aunt Mel love Hampton Inn's but not paying a lot of $, so we ended up in a Hampton pretty far out of town. The girls loved playing with Leebree & D Shea (and T-stan).
