A Good Vacation

Well, it has obviously been a while since my last post; I have been on vacation (see pictures below) and have not had access to the internet. Yes, that is still possible - and is quite refreshing once you make yourself go without. So, while the rest of the world argued over supreme court justices, President Bush, and the situation in Iraq, I enjoyed my absence from those very topics in the hills of East Tennessee.

As you can see, part of my vacation, and definitely the highlight, was a hike up Mt. LeConte, capped off by a night's stay at LeConte Lodge, located on the top of the beautiful mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The lodge is amazing, and has been in existence since the early '30s. Click on the link to find out.

I was accompanied by my mother, who makes the trek on one of five trails ranging from 5.5 miles to over 13 miles up Mt. LeConte twice a year, and also A, who was a LeConte Rookie. We had a blast, and along the way were greeted by various animals from Boomer Squirrels, deer, and mice to nagging gnats and spiders' webs. It was definitely a relaxing trip and was absolutely wonderful to get away from everything and enjoy a quiet mountain top with no electricity (except for limited solar power in the Kitchen), cell phones, emails, nor any other technology.

Taking the entire week off, I was able to enjoy 10 entire days without having to work. I made the eight-hour drive home Saturday. Saturday night I hung around Knoxville with ol' college buddies and went to Barley's, where we enjoyed entertainment by the Goose Creek Symphony This band is way fun and awesome. As a result of their performance I am definitely buying up all I can find of their music.

Sunday morning my father and I enjoyed a wonderful round of golf, then my grandmother had us all over for a cookout Sunday night. Great food, fun golf, a family dinner, and all in all a great way to kick off a vacation.

Monday through Wednesday I pretty much kicked it at home with mom, and spent my afternoons visiting my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew Aiden, who is also pictured below doing one of his favorite of three things he can now do. He's just beautiful - good job sis!

Thursday I headed back up to Knoxville to meet up with A and head into Gatlinburg for a night's stay before the hike up LeConte on Friday. Saturday we hiked down the mountain and made our way back to my mother's house and visited my father and grandmother.

Sunday we made the trek back west and along the way decided to make a road trip out of it. We weren't very successful. The 'outlet mall' we stopped at was not much more than a warehouse with a few stores in it, and the Shiloh battlefield we wanted to visit was 51 miles off the interstate - so much for the road trip.

Despite the road trip failure, the vacation was absolutely awesome, and I've posted some pictures below in an attempt to document some of it, although that probably isn't possible. At any rate, vacations are great, and now I'm all relaxed and ready to get back to the grind. Yesterday was my first day back and it was surprisingly bearable. What's up with that?