Over the River and Through the Woods

There's just something so wonderful about the mountains!  It reminds me of that song..."Over the mountains and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go..." Except, of course, we weren't going to Grandma's.  Ha!  In the mountains, things seem quieter, calmer, and refreshing.

Russ and I certainly took advantage of our mountain trip.  We walked the lit streets of downtown Gatlinburg.  I love how the Christmas lights are still up everywhere, people are walking around, everything is open until 10 or 11 at night.  It's just a nice little village in the mountains.

We enjoyed coming back to our cabin-like hotel.  We grabbed drinks and watched some bowl games by the giant fire in the lobby.  Such a cozy feeling!

During the day, the village was just as fun.  The freezing temps and big winds made it impossible to leave without being bundled up in a good coat and a great scarf.  The fountains were even frozen!

I stay paranoid about bears when we walk through the mountains.  It's silly, I know.  But, don't you remember?  Even the candy shop had a bear intrusion!  That's reason enough to take second looks.

There were several days that we drove through different roads in the mountains looking for great photo ops for my photographer hubby.  The river running through makes such a soothing sound as we explore.

We made a last minute decision one day to ride the tram up to Ober Gatlinburg for a little ice skating.  Actually, the snow skiing was open too!  If we had known ahead of time, we would have dressed appropriately to participate.  But, alas, we did not.

I forgot how weird ice skating felt!  I will admit, I needed a walker to help me glide across the rink.  Too bad they didn't offer that!

Russ, however, was a pro!  He raced his little skates around the giant rink with no problem.  So, I solved my problem.  I held his hand and allowed him to basically pull me around for an hour or so!  I skated solo occasionally.  But, I found it was more fun skating with Russ. 

We certainly got our money's worth!  We exercised parts of our bodies that I had certainly not worked out in quite a while! 

After ice skating, we walked around looking in the various shops.  Russ found the perfect toboggan for his snowmobile trip!  I begged him to buy it, but he just couldn't do it.

The ride to and from Ober Gatlinburg on the tram was breathtaking.  We had a big snow the night before, so the mountains were covered in snow.  This is a picture we took from inside the tram, so it's hard to see.  But, the mountaintops are white!

After ice skating, we decided to drive around to see the snowy landscape.  Russ wore his furry hat proudly, and took his tripod and camera to the scene.  He found the perfect spot for pictures.

This log cabin was isolated from everything else.  We walked from the road to the cabin for Russ to take a few pictures.  Of course, pictures don't mean much to me without people in them...so I talked him into taking a few with us in the actual picture. 

The following day, we decided to "hike" up to Laurel Falls.  It's more of a walk than a hike, but hiking sounds more adventurous.  If you remember our last trip, we did HIKE.  This trip, we took it easy.  Ha!

When we got to the falls, I was determined to climb to the top and get our picture.  I'm not the most graceful climber, and the icy patches proved a little bit of an obstacle.  But we got the shots nonetheless.

What do you think?  Do I look like a professional hiker

Well, if I don't look like a professional hiker, I'm sure I look like an amateur "poser" for such a picture!  Ha!  At least it makes me look active!

Russ in front of Laurel Falls

Me in front of Laurel Falls

Riding the sky lift in Gatlinburg is like eating at Pancake Pantry...it must be done!  And the only reason one would pay $13 per person to ride a sky lift to an itty bitty souvenir shop is to get a picture like this...

On the day we were supposed to wake up to snow, we didn't.  We took a full day to drive up the mountain toward Chimney Tops.  During our ride, Russ stopped a few times to climb down the rocks and snap some shots of the river.

We began seeing a few flurries during his "photo shoot" and I got excited!  Russ, on the other hand, was near suffering from frostbite.  Can you believe Dr. Russ came to the Great Smoky Mountains in January WITHOUT a single pair of gloves?!

By the time we reached the overlook, we were in blizzard-like conditions!  The wind literally took my breath away the second I stepped out of the car.  This picture doesn't do it justice, but the snow was blowing sideways and you couldn't even see the mountains behind us because it was almost completely white.

This creek was completely frozen over.  The temperature was 17 degrees at this point!  I was giddy with excitement!  Russ was cautiously driving up the mountain.  I'm sure my dad would be appreciative of his caution.  I was ready to drive as high as we could.  Russ, however, thought it not so smart.  And he was right.  The ride down even gave us a good taste of icy patches and difficulty seeing past the snow.

Our trip over the river and through the woods proved to be very fun indeed!  I am thankful for the playtime and rest time Russ and I had together!  If this is our last vacation as a "Party of Two," it was well worth it!  If not, I can't wait for our next trip!  I certainly have some ideas on my list!