On Top of Old Smoky

Summer is in full force and I have been the biggest blog slacker. We have been out of town since school let out and I am just now getting a second to post about our trips. I am hoping it hasn't been to long and I can still remember some details....so here is my best attempt. Over Memorial Day weekend we made our annual camping trip to the Smoky Mountains. And yes, we really camp in tents, with sleeping bags, and a campfire. This is real deal camping or as real as it will ever get for me. Granted we are in a campground and there are bathroom facilities...but no showers mind you! :) And yes, I willingly went this year, pregnant and all. We made the long trip up Friday morning and arrived at our site around 4:30 that afternoon and spent most of the afternoon and evening setting up camp.

You may notice, that there are more coolers than tents and that is because we eat better camping than any other time all year....seriously! I don't know what it is (maybe the sticks of butter, cream and salt) but campfire food cannot be beat. And the other great thing about it was that Sue and Ash usually did the cooking. I tended to be the sous chef or clean up crew.
















Landon and his cousin, Jackson aka 'the boys' decided they wanted to camp by themselves this year, or sleep in their own tent. We all abided and helped them pitch their tent. But we all thought they would give in and be in ours our grandaddy's tent by morning. They were so excited!








I had a fit that night, when I heard an unfamiliar sound. I woke Ashley up to ask him what animal it was and he replied an owl and I believed him. But then it kept on and on and I could hear it moving all around the campground and proceeded to pitch a fit knowing that Ash was lying and then I went on to crying. I could not calm down and Ash got somewhat irritated with me. But I quickly reminded him that I was a pregnant woman camping in a tent! To top it all off, I needed to use the bathroom and was scared to death to leave the tent. But when nature calls (no pun intended) you have to buck up and do what you got to do. In my case, I grabbed both flashlights and a lantern and had Ash walk me over to the bathrooms! :) When we finally made it back to the tent, I was so worked up, I felt sick and spent the remainder of the night trying not to throw up. It was only 3:30 am.




I was awakened at the crack of dawn not only by birds, but by the boys too. We were all wrong...they made it through both nights, sleeping in their own tent. And they were oblivious to the drama from that night. (Mom, I know your having a fit, but our tent was mere inches from theres...they were safe) And that was that. The coyote did not return for the rest of the weekend.

The boys had a blast doing what boys do...exporing,






looking for water creatures,






finding crawfish,






climbing trees,






and finding snakes, (I was too chicken to go over and take a pic)


We drove over to Cades Cove and saw a coyote (they are rather small and not at all what I thought they would look like, in fact had we not been in Cades Cove and had someone not told me it was a coyote, I may have thought it was a stray dog) We got stuck in a traffic jam in the middle of Cades Cove...







...and Landon proceede to tell us they "needed to add some more animals" But in all honesty, they had more fun riding on the back of a pick up than seeing any animal.






Two days/nights of camping, sleeping in tents, smelling like campfire and no shower is my limit. I am ALWAYS ready to go the minute we wake up on that third day and this trip was no exception. Since it was a long weekend, we left the campground and went into Townsend, a small town at the entrance of the park and got a hotel for another night. I have no pictures from our hotel stay but it was just as much fun. The boys swam, adults showered and rested, and we all got a good nights sleep in a bed! This was our 4th year of camping and just as fun as the rest of the trip.s I couldn't help but look back over the past 4 years to see how much Landon and the other kids have grown up. I love this tradition and know Landon will look back and treasure his annual camping trip with the Neese clan.