Smoky Mountain National Park: Bears, Waterfalls, Relaxation

Back in May we took a long weekend getaway to one of our favorite places, Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee. Other than sitting on a stunningly beautiful mostly-deserted beach on Kauai, I've never felt more at peace than in the Smokies. There are rivers everywhere, and this time we stayed in a historic cabin that was directly situated on Roaring Fork River. Falling asleep to the rushing of the water every night was such a treat. I meant to post these pictures a few months ago, but better late than never!

 

We were lucky to see a black bear happily minding his own business while we were hiking back from Grotto Falls. It was the most exciting part of our trip by far! Last time we visited the Smokies we glimpsed a bear in the middle of the night when he was attempting to raid the trash can at our cabin, but it was thrilling to see a bear during the day, not that far off the trail.

 

Roaring Fork Motor Trail and Cades Cove boast tons of historical structures.

 

Cades Cove. We like to bring a picnic lunch and find a scenic spot to stop and eat while we're driving around the beautiful loop.

 

I was hoping to spot some wildflowers on our trip. We didn't see a ton, but I was thrilled to find this pink lady's slipper. What a cool flower!

 

We did the 5-mile roundtrip hike to Abrams Falls and I definitely recommend it. The falls, while only 20 feet tall, are stunning in their pure volume of water.

 

One of a couple old grist mills in the area.

 

 

 

We rode the Gatlinburg Sky Lift -- what a fun time! While I wouldn't suggest bringing dogs or infants on the lift like some people did (!!) it was a fun and relaxing little diversion. The views from the top are great.

 

 

One of Jarrod's goals for the trip was to catch a rare brook trout. Rainbow trout are stocked weekly and are fairly abundant, and brook trout are all native and much more elusive. Jarrod ended up catching four or five -- and of course he let them all go. They're such pretty fish -- I love the red and yellow speckles!

Hello, Philadelphia!

Last weekend Jarrod and I went to Philadelphia. Jarrod had to go for work on Saturday so he just extended his trip by two days and I tagged along. I had our little getaway all planned out -- particularly what I was going to do to occupy myself on Saturday when Jarrod was away -- but Mother Nature had other ideas and decided to dump non-stop rain on the city all weekend.

I don't normally mind rain, but let me tell you: Philadelphia is NOT a city meant to be seen in the rain. And also: walking around in the blowing, pouring rain is miserable and exhausting! Thirdly: even more miserable is wearing leaky boots while walking around in the blowing, pouring rain.

Still, we got to visit some historical attractions, compare cheesesteaks and explore the food vendors at Reading Terminal Market (soft pretzel dog... yum!). I also had my first taxi ride and checked out a cute little yarn shop. And we stopped at Hershey's Chocolate World on the way home.

Many of my pictures are marred by raindrops on the camera lens, but here are a few decent ones that sum up our trip:

 While wandering around in the rain on Saturday, I stumbled into a Macy's seeking refuge and warmth. And I found this Secret Garden display -- a stunning set-up of live flowers inside Macy's. It was gorgeous. (Excuse the poor cell phone photos.)

 

 The grand old building housing the Macy's was beautiful too!

 

 Saturday night we pitted Pat's against Geno's in the great Philly cheesesteak rivalry. We got two "whiz wits" (Cheese Whiz and onions) -- the authentic style, apparently -- and split them in half. While I liked the softness of the bread and the amount of meat on Pat's sandwich, Jarrod and I both chose Geno's as the winner. The next day we tried Sonny's Famous Cheesesteaks (we got provolone and onions) and both liked our sandwiches there even better than Pat's and Geno's.

 

 Day 2: The Liberty Bell and its famous crack.

 

 Jarrod in front of Independence Hall.

 

 An original copy of the Declaration of Independence.

 

 Inside Independence Hall: The room where the Declaration was debated and signed.

 

 The first Senate chamber. Some of that furniture is original!

 

Beautiful old building, though damned if I remember what it was!

 

 Cobblestone street (watch your ankles!).

 

 Day 3: Sun (and wind) -- no rain!!! City Hall (topped off by a huge statue of William Penn) with Liberty One off to the right.

 

 Taking a picture with the famous LOVE sign was high up on my to-do list. In non-winter months, there's a fountain behind the sign, but I like seeing all the cool buildings in the background.

 

 Buildings lining Rittenhouse Square. I thought the tiny four-story building sandwiched between structures twice its size was hilarious and sort of adorable!

 

 We headed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art after lunch, which it very sadly turns out is CLOSED on Mondays! I was devastated (and rather appalled that Ms. Ultimate Planner forgot to check the museum hours!), but we still got to take pictures with the Rocky Steps (the steps of the art museum that Rocky trains on in the movie) and a statue of Rocky (where a homeless man will take your picture together for a small tip).

 

 The roofline of the art museum. Absolutely stunning. So sad we didn't get to explore the inside!

 

Hershey, Pennsylvania, is not far off the interstate so we stopped in on our way home. It's not an actual tour of the factory but there's a fun ride that explains the chocolate-making process. We also created our own candy bars and got to watch them make their way downa mini assembly line. It was a fun little diversion!

Furry Friday

Happy Friday! I couldn't resist sharing this picture from the other day, in which Conan and my husband devised a doggie monk disguise using my brown sweat pants.

And here's Conan last night after getting chased around by a mama duck protecting her slew of ducklings before the whole gang waddled off into the tall grass. "But... but... where'd my new friends go, Mom?" Conan seemed to be asking.

Can you spot the cat among all the dog toys? Lily loves all the huge windows in our new house and spends a lot of time keeping an eye on the backyard wildlife.

My Week in Pictures

1. I ordered these adorable Christmas ornaments as baby gifts from LittleWeeShop on Etsy.

2. Jarrod and I both got off work early on Wednesday so we went down to Waikiki for surfing (him)/lounging on the beach with a book (me).

3. Thanksgiving turkey! I was so proud of myself for FINALLY making perfect gravy!

4. We went to Sea Life Park yesterday and I couldn't resist taking some sea lion pictures. They always remind us of Conan.

5. We did the Dolphin Adventure at Sea Life Park, so we each got a dolphin kiss and a belly ride. It was amazing! I was fascinated by how strong and smart the dolphins were. And they didn't feel anything liked I'd imagined -- they weren't slick like a fish at all but almost rubbery-feeling.

6. We saw "Breaking Dawn Part 2" last night and I LOVED it! I thought the big twist was a great idea.

Aloha and have a great week!

Close Encounters of the Shark Kind

We crossed a major to-do off our Hawaii list on Sunday when we took a shark cage tour with North Shore Shark Adventures.

 

We got to see dozens of Galapagos sharks. I was crossing my fingers that we'd hit the jackpot and see a really cool shark like a hammerhead or a really dangerous one like a blacktip but I wasn't even disappointed that we didn't, because being surrounded by a multitude of any kind of shark is pretty darn awesome!

 

I thought for sure they'd put chum in the water to lure the sharks over to the cage, but I was pleasantly surprised that wasn't the case at all. Apparently crab fishing began booming off the North Shore in the '70s and the sharks quickly learned they could score tasty treats, like old bait, if they hung around the boats. The shark tour boat uses a diesel motor exactly like the crab fishing boats have, and the sharks swarm around in hopes of getting a snack.

 

 

 

Here's a look at the floating cage we were in. It was such an amazing experience to see an 8-foot shark swim just a few inches away from my face. Sure they weren't great whites, but I certainly wouldn't want to fall in the water with these guys nearby!

My Birthday in Pictures

I celebrated my "golden" birthday on Saturday -- 27 on the 27th -- and had a fantastic weekend. I worked at the library all day Saturday (where I stuffed my face on birthday cake), so Jarrod and I went out to dinner afterwards.

On the way home, we learned that Hawaii was under a tsunami warning following a moderate earthquake in Canada, with the first wave predicted to hit in two hours. We got home and turned on the news, then I promptly stuffed my face with a second birthday cake. (This was our third tsunami warning in three years, with little effect on Oahu the previous occasions, so we weren't too concerned.)

Yesterday we went parasailing over Waikiki. It wasn't as thrilling as I had imagined but it was really fun and the views were gorgeous. I'd say this birthday was a success -- I got to devour two cakes and cross something off my Hawaii bucket list, and Mother Nature even decided to spice things up with a tsunami!

Hawaii Bucket List Update

I've made a good amount of progress on my Hawaii bucket list recently! My best friend Katie was here for a visit and I dragged her along to some of the activities I've wanted to do for ages. I don't think she minded too much, though!

This is Sacred Falls, which I hiked back in April. The trail is actually restricted but I've been told lots of locals still do it. The trail and the falls were stunning, and I'm still kicking myself for forgetting to put the battery back in my camera after charging it. I was forced to take all the pictures on my cell phone (although I'm grateful I had that)!

Katie and I got up way too early (4:50 a.m. -- major yawn!) to drive over to the east side of the island to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately, the one day I finally went it was a bit of a dud compared to the brilliance I've seen in everybody else's pictures. Still, it was an experience. We went to Starbucks afterward to kill some time before the restaurant where we planned to eat breakfast opened, and I was aghast to see so many people up and about and so totally awake at 6 a.m.!

I didn't actually write this on the bucket list page of my blog, but I've been looking forward to breakfast at Cinnamon's, a restaurant in Kailua, forever. I got the guava chiffon pancakes and promptly removed that gigantic pile of nasty whipped cream. (I'm really not a whipped cream fan, strangely.)

Whenever we go to the North Shore, Jarrod and I always get ice cream at a little place in Haleiwa called Scoops of Paradise. It's soooo amazingly good that it's hard to pass it up in favor of a different dessert. But I had heard Ted's Bakery at Sunset Beach has the best pies and I finally (begrudgingly) drove past Scoops of Paradise to find out! Sure enough, the chocolate-haupia pie was delicious! (Haupia is a Hawaiian coconut pudding.) We ended up buying FIVE pie slices -- two to eat there (haupia-chocolate for me, haupia-pumpkin for Katie) and three to take home (another haupia-chocolate, macadamia nut cream and strawberry guava). By the way, I did actually eat the whipped cream atop these yummy pies.

Katie and I also did the mai tai sunset cruise on the Mai Tai Catamaran. I love sunsets and I love mai tais and I love hot shirtless bartenders!

This is Iolani Palace, the only royal palace on U.S. soil. We did the audio tour of the palace and it was so fascinating, especially since I've lived here nearly three years and have a small bit of knowledge on Hawaiian history. Apparently Iolani Palace had electricity before Buckingham Palace or the White House!