Husky Branch Falls

Today was an unexpected vacation day.  We were supposed to be headed home today but they offered us another night at a discount and we were not ready to go.  Our last hike was an easy one.  We hiked almost 5 miles but it was flat.  The fall was not magnificent but nice.  We hiked on a little further and were able to hang out in the river and play. 

We finished out the day by driving through Cades Cove.  The views were spectacular and we saw a mama bear and her 3 cubs.

Anakeesta

Today we stayed in Gatlinburg and enjoyed time with friends.  We took a visit to Anakeesta and enjoyed the views and the mountain coaster.

The kids watched this guy make candy through the window from start to finish.  Someone even ran them out a handful of candy for their perseverance. 

Baskins Creek Falls

Today, we knew exactly where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do and guess what, there was no parking anywhere close to where we wanted to be.  We were on Roaring Fork Road, though, so we just decided to drive until we could find somewhere to park and just hike that.  We found a spot at Grapeyard Ridge Trail.  It's a 14 mile trail so we agreed to hike out for one hour and then turn back.

It started with this, Bales cemetery.  There were graves from the early 1900s.  The trail was not consistently steep although there were spots.  Before we reached the hour mark we came to the sign you see below.  Remember, I don't like to hike just to hike, I want to see a fall or a view so I was very disappointed until we reached this point.  BASKINS FALLS?!?! Does it really say FALLS?  God really spoils us.  Not only did we get to enjoy these falls, we hiked alone the whole way there and back.  We were the only people at the falls for a bit then 3 other people came.  But compared to the day before when we shared the falls with about 100 other people it was such a treat.  A gentle reminder that God's plans are so much better than ours.  Such a timely lesson for all of us.

Lillian built this really cool tower of rocks and then we learned that it is prohibited since it messes with the salamanders and their eggs.  We did not do it again!!!

Rainbow Falls

I love the mountains.  It's cool and there are waterfalls!  I really enjoy hiking but ONLY if there is a breathtaking view at the top or a waterfall.  We knew we wanted to hike to a waterfall today but we didn't care which one.  I read about some family friendly hikes and looked up which was closest to us.  Rainbow Falls won.  We didn't really check out the important facts like how long and how steep we just went.

Rainbow Falls was a busy trail, we had to be creative to park.   It was a little over 5 miles in total.  It's pretty steep, we climbed 1,617 ft in elevation.  We were pretty exhausted when we reached the top but we rested up there quite a while.  The kids were able to climb the rocks to get close to the waterfall.  I stayed back with the pack.  When we did start the trek down it was not as easy as we had hoped.  Isaac ended up on Bruce's back at one point.  We did make it down though and were grateful for the day's climb.

When we got back to the hotel I looked up the trail and realized it was rated "hard."  I'm glad we didn't look it up, we wouldn't have tried it and it was a great day!

Greenville, SC

From Ocala, we drove north to Greenville.  We met a good friend for dinner and it was so good to sit and chat in person. On Saturday, we were able to explore the downtown street market.  So many goodies but we chose to walk away with Banana Manna bread.  This woman sang and danced as she told us all about her different types of bread.  And it was so yummy.

As if the street market was not enough we kept walking until we reached the park downtown.  They have a waterfall in downtown!!!  How cool!!  From there we walked on to the zoo.  It is connected to downtown via the Swamp Rabbit Trail.  On the way home we found the llama mural and had to take a pic.  

We walked 8 miles today.  It was hot but we did it!!!

Ocala Visit

 We left Ocala in March to visit family and head to training.  We didn't think we would be able to return to Florida before we left for our new country BUT things did not go as WE planned and we are overjoyed we had more time to spend with our "family" here.  

A swampy evening at the park.

A gorgeous beach day while the guys played golf.

A sweet time of worship with our sending fellowship.

Time at the park with a school friend.

Lillian was able to surprise a friend on her bday!!

We were able to visit Montanna🥰

Scalloping

We have talked about scalloping since we moved to Florida five years ago but never went.  When we started this way to visit Bruce made a phone call and set up a charter for us.  It did not disappoint.  We had so much fun hunting and gathering scallops and the weather, it was gorgeous.