Weekending: A Happy Birthday Surprise

Well, we actually pulled off a surprise party for Daddy! And he never suspected! We had a surprise dinner for him at the Gondolier in Athens featuring balloons, gift cards, pizza, spaghetti, cake balls, Gigis cupcakes & a little munchkin! We were so happy that we surprised him, he never suspected, and it went so smoothly! Kourt & Brian did a GREAT job with the decorations & Mama did a GREAT job with the excuse to get him there (the aides at school were eating Gondolier pizza yesterday & it made her crave it; even threw him off by saying she wished they had eaten at Western Sizzlin after they left a retirement party there). It was so fun! I'm so happy we got to do it!

Chimney Tops: October 2012

We were planning a return trip to Gatlinburg before we even made it out of town on the way home last time.  Hiking Mount LeConte just made us eager to try all of the other hikes in the Smoky Mountains.  We decided that the Chimney Tops would be our next conquest.

We were both off on Friday, so we planned to leave early and drive up to Gatlinburg and hike the Chimney Tops that afternoon.  Daddy planned to meet us. Unfortunately, traffic was terrible and even though we left at 8 a.m. (Tuscaloosa time), we didn’t get to Gatlinburg until 5 p.m. (East TN time).  Daddy met us at the hotel and we took the convertible to the trailhead.

We didn’t get started until 5 pm, but we knew that the entire hike was only 4 miles, so we felt confident that we would be back before it got dark. The first part of the hike was fairly easy.  Then, we began to climb.  It was SO STEEP.

As we got closer to the top, we realized that we were hiking in the clouds!!

You can see that the last part of the hike requires you to scale the rock face.  It is really hard to capture the way it looks in person in a picture.

This picture (taken from the top, by Brent), gives a bit better perspective of the rock-climbing requirement.  You can see me waaaay back down there.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it all the way up.  Physically I could have done it, but mentally it wasn’t working.  I was terrified that I would either: a. fall off the mountain or b. get to the top and not be able to come back down.  I finally sat down and scooted back down (face first), then backtracked and found a different way to the top.  (It was actually a trail that is now closed, but I did it anyway).

Meanwhile, at the top, Brent & Daddy were taking the following photos:

I finally made it to the top.  I did have to do a bit of rock climbing, but Brent came down, met me, and helped me with the rock climbing.  Unfortunately, when I got to the top, a cloud had rolled in and there was no view to be seen.   We were completely enveloped in a cloud!!!

Group picture!!!

We started to head back down around 7 p.m. (sunset, although of course we didn’t see the sunset for the clouds).  Brent was nervous because he knew there was no way we would be back down by dark.  He was right!!!  THANK GOODNESS Daddy had a flashlight!!!  But even with the flashlight, I was absolutely terrified on the way down. 

The woods got darker and darker and darker.  We saw bats (one flew into Brent’s face – I should have trapped it in a garbage bag over his head) and I imagined that there were lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) watching/stalking us, waiting to strike.  The flashlight helped, but it was still very scary for me.  We didn’t see anyone on the way back down – just the three of us in the pitch black woods.  I got to carry the flashlight, but especially towards the end, it was still hard to see.  I was SO RELIEVED to get back to the parking lot!  I am so glad that #1 we didn’t get attacked by a wild animal (besides the bat incident) and that #2 I did not fall down.

One day I will return to the Chimney Tops on a clear day (very early in the day!) and I will scale the rock face!  For this time, though, I was pleased that I made it to the top.  Overall, it was a great hike, even though it made me seriously reconsider my ability to do the 4-day rim-to-rim Grand Canyon hike.  We’ll see!!

What Goes Up Must Come Down: Mount LeConte, Part III

We made it!

This bridge is the very last part of the trail.

Overall, I was really impressed with everyone!  Brent did great!  He doubled-back so many times to wait on people and take pictures.  I don’t think he even got winded.  Arlis & Thelma did great also!  They smoked us on the way up!  And Talitha hiked the whole entire hike during an asthma attack.  Hardcore!

After we left the park, the plan was that Brent would go to his parents’ house and I would go to Mama & Daddy’s. So me & Daddy drove out of the park, through Gatlinburg and into Pigeon Forge with the top down! It was just a beautiful day. We stopped at the Apple Barn & then stopped at Ruby Tuesdays for supper.  I could barely hold my eyes open on the way home.  When we got home we had warm apple fritters + vanilla ice cream!  We earned it!

The End!!!