Camping at The Cove

One of my favorite places is Cades Cove. Only an hour from home, it's an easy weekend or week-day getaway!







These are some ugly animals .. but boy, they taste good!!


Ok so I've been to Cades Cove a million times and have never seen a bear! But this weekend was a first! We were in the 4Runner a ways back and saw the Rangers stopped up ahead. We knew there had to be some bear activity.

I was so excited. I was hanging out the back of the 4Runner trying to get the camera set up.



And then it started running towards the car, while I'm yelling 'Holy Crap' over and over (or so I am told). I couldn't get the camera to snap the pictures fast enough. I got just past the car - you can see it over the bicycle seat here ...

This deer was in the campsite across from ours.

Our campfire - even if it's the middle of the summer and 90 degrees outside, you still have to have a fire!!


Greg cooking Brats for our appetizer.

Greg and Joy tending to the seasoned deer meat on the grill. It was yummy.

Nancy, Luke and Joy

A pileated woodpecker at our campsite!

Proof that Joe biked the entire 11-mile loop with me.

We saw a bear on our bike ride.


Two more pileated woodpeckers on a post, while we were biking.

There was so much venison left over that we had venison sandwiches the next day!!

Mr. Hot Stuff in the back of the 4Runner

My little monkey climing a fence.

More deer!


I talked Joy into hiking Abrams Falls with me. Roundtrip is 5 miles and it's really not all that strenuous. It also says 3-4 hours, but we did it in 1 hour 50 minutes!

Abrams Falls

Luke and Grampa Joe playing catch.

A grasshopper.

That was a fun trip!!