Thursday June 25th

DollyWood

Here we are!

We got there early, it was so nice...

We got to walk around the whole

park before it got crowded.

I got a lot of really good photo's without

having to wait on folks to get by.

This water wheel works the clock

and the other instruments there.

A replica of the old church Dolly use to go to
when she was a little girl.
The "Preacher" gave a pretty good lesson.

Does anyone have $15,000 just laying around?
If so, will you buy me this Carousel??
PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!
lol all kidding aside, I wish I had the money!
I would have bought this!
The person building it still has a while to go
on it, this has taking him 2 months so far.

Russ and I had such a long but fun day!
We went into every shop,
saw almost all the shows,
and rode almost all the rides.
We even took the train here.
If you are going to Dollywood,
make sure you bring a change of clothes!
(if you want to ride the 3 or 4 water rides)
If you have little ones, bring them a swimsuit.
(Lot's of water activity for the little ones)
Tomorrow we are going to go to the river and hang out.
So there might not be but a few if any photos at all.
Till tomorrow!

Wednesday June 24th

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Oh, I just love my Daddy!

What little girl doesn't!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

See you on Sunday!

Russ and I didn't do much today.

Well, I should say

I DIDN'T DO MUCH TODAY!

Russ got up early this morning

and went for a 40 something

mile bike ride to Cades Cove

and then around it twice!

I tried to get him to take his phone so that

he could take a few photos. Well, He didn't!

And WHAT DO YOU THINK HE SAW!?

A BEAR! And, now I have No photo

to share of it! errrrrr I am gonna get him

When he got back to camp and got all cleaned up,

he took a very LONG nap.

I even took one! I never take naps!

When we got up we went exploring Townsend.

There are more places to eat

than I thought there were!

There isn't much shopping though.

We went to the IGA and bought some

food for lunch and dinner.

When we got back to camp we had hamburgers.

Then later on that evening

(as you can see) I am cooking again..

After dinner we watched a movie.

Nothing to exciting today.

Dollywood is tomorrow!

Tuesday June 23rd

Pigeon Forge, TN

For our Anniversary we decided to do the Dixie Stampede.

Before the show, we were entertained by this group of talented
and semi famous men. Russ nor I can remember any of their
names, not even the name of the group.
But, they were very good!

This is what you see when you first come in the show room.

Isn't this pretty!? This was behind the big curtain.

I got caught taking pictures,

But I did manage to get a shot of the ending!

On our way back to camp we made a stop at one of our favorite

road side water falls. This is the most water we have seen

from this water fall in the 3 years we have been here.

I should have a picture of it in one of

our older post, try June 2008.

We had a nice day. It was a lot warmer in Pigeon Forge

than it is in Townsend. But, it was a nice day.

HAPPY 20th ANNIVERSARY Russell

I LOVE YOU!

Tuesday June 23rd

Cades Cove

The reason this is called

THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS

Deer with their velvet

wild Turkey everywhere!

The river, on our way out of the park.

Well, as I said in the last post...

And the story continues....

We have been so excited to hike to the falls in Cades Cove.

Well, we get there this morning and..

IT IS CLOSED!!

We hope to find some water falls that are open to hikers

tomorrow. With all this water, there should be

some pretty good water falls this year.

Oh...Did I mention that today is...

OUR 20th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!!

We went to breakfast this morning at one

of our many favorite places in town,

The Carriage House!

Tonight is dinner at Dixie Stamped.

till then....

Monday June 22nd

Townsend, TN

Well, We made it!

Little River

If you go and look at our post last June, you will see there is

WAY MORE WATER this year!

Also,

WE UP GRADED!!

How do you like our new BIG TENT?

This trip started out GREAT!

Then we get to Maryville...

We took a wrong turn to find our favorite place to eat,

there was a BIG thunderstorm that came through and blasted us for a few minutes,

Russ went into Walgreen's to get some things we needed,

the lightning took out their power and it was going to be a while for the computers to come back on, so he put his stuff down and left. Next door was a Target and I had a $5 gift card I won at work, so I used that for some of the things we needed and then we were back on the road.

We get to camp, Not the spot we thought we had reserved! This isn't a bad spot, but there was suppose to be GRASS!!! We took a mental note last year and thought this one had more grass then what it does. AND... the spot is just a little to small for our new tent!

Well, that's not all... We are putting up the tent and guess what??? IT BRAKES!

I had to go to the family dollar store and get a sewing kit and a hammer!

That will stay in our camping box we have started a few years ago.

So, I fix the tent, we get it up and then we get everything out of the car and into the tent...

We borrow an air bed from Michele (Russell's sister). Her words were...

"Do not poke a hole in it, we have to use it at Scott's graduation."

Well, guess what?? NO WE DIDN'T poke a hole in it..it was already there!!!

Good thing I brought a patch kit with us, or we wouldn't have had a bed.

We would have had to sleep on the cold tent floor!

Needless to say, we had a very LONG DAY!

and the story continues.......

Monday June 22nd

Fall Creek Falls

Russ and I take a different route every time we go to the mountains.

This year we drove through Fall Creek Falls State Park.

The Lake

The swimming hole.
There is a sign that says NO DIVING! Do you see this ding dong ding-a-ling
in the picture? He jumped off into the water from there. YES, There was a BIG rock close to where he landed in the water!


A man made dam at the swimming hole

A hanging bridge at the swimming hole.

Ahhhhh... Lunch!

UNO Chicago Grill. Russ and I eat here every time we head to Townsend.

It is in Maryville, if you ever make it this way.

Last year I told the District Mgr (who was there at the time)

They need to open one of these in Huntsville.

A Gift of Love for Alison!

Ms. Virgina Miller from our Church made this

beautiful quilt for Alison.

It matches perfect with the colors in Alison's room.

Thank you Ms. Miller! WE LOVE IT!!

Alison will love it too!

After Church today we took Ms Miller to the

new Mexican place on the square in Athens.

"Maria Bonita" Oh my goodness...

If you have not been, you need to go.

It was AWESOME!!

We hope it sticks around for a long time

it will become one of my favorite places for dinner.

I will catch you all up soon on our life.

There has just been so much going on

these past few weeks.

Till next time....

Lisa