New Friends and A Quick Tour of a Small Part of Smoky Mountain National Park

Today was HOT from fairly early and very humid. Heidi and I went for walk which was very enjoyable. It's so quiet and peaceful around here.

We had a challenging morning working on expectations and respect. No discipline at the time seems pleasant... but we stuck it out and came to a workable and ultimately peaceful solution.

We met a couple on a Facebook group this week who is hoping to become a fulltime family. They are from Mississippi and are vacationing in Pigeon Forge this week celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Their names are Penny and Phil. We agreed to meet in Pigeon Forge tonight at a Cheddar's to have a chance to talk a little bit. Their kids are older than ours, the youngest is 16 and will be traveling with them once they get started, but the other two will be staying in their home in Tupelo, as they are adults with jobs. They just got their rv this past Saturday and are really looking forward to getting to know it. They are hoping for Phil to retire sometime in the next few months and they are looking forward to their first few trips close to home as they get used to their RV. Once again it was refreshing to get a chance to visit with new friends.

After dinner, we parted ways, wishing them well, and decided that instead of heading straight back to the trailer, we would take the long way back through Gatlinburg and then the "bottoms"Smoky Mountain National Park. Gatlinburg is a little "village" absolutely jam packed with touristy stuff everywhere your eye can see and crawling like a disturbed ant hill with people. The kids were so excited from the back of the Yukon at all the Ripley's stuff and Celebrity Cars and Earthquake Experience and Jurassic Golf and what not. I was just so thankful that we weren't pulling the trailer. We just drove straight through Gatlinburg without stopping anywhere. It was amazing how less than a half mile out of the "strip" we passed into the gorgeous, green forested and windy river area.

It was an absolutely gorgeous night, close to sunset.

And we saw a little black bear on the road who must've just come out of the river judging by the splatter patterned foot prints he left as he ran away and climbed up a steep hillside in retreat. It was brief and exciting to see. I didn't have the camera on and so didn't have time to focus for a better shot.

The rest of the way home we started to see mist rising off the water....

and the lightning bugs started to come out...

and back at the trailer the kids went to check for frogs in the drainage ditch and Brighton came to the trailer with the teensiest frog I've ever seen. It was so cute!