Day #199 - Leisurely Stroll - Porter Creek

Gatlinburg, TN
Guest Blogger - Lori

Note from Suzie:  We welcome guest bloggers.  Over the weekend, Beth and Lori visited with us.  If you ever want to join the fun, just let me know!  The leisurely stroll took place on the Porter Creek Trail in the Great Smokies National Park (http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm).

Who likes to play games?  We do!  If you do too, let’s see how many 4-letter words you can find in this entry.  Bet your total will be off by just one or two.

(Have you ever heard the old folks talk about how they had to walk to school in the snow uphill both ways?  Here’s my version.)

Friday was a very warm, humid, beautiful day.  Kelly and Suzie had suggested we (Beth and Lori) go for a leisurely stroll in the Smokey Mountains; one they had done in the past and enjoyed.  WARNING!  DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS UNLESS YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL!  Unfortunately for us, we had no one to warn us, so we agreed.

They suggested we each take a hiking stick they were offering.  That should have been our first clue.  We both turned them down at least once, maybe twice, before we acquiesced and gracefully accepted one of their sticks.  Clue number two should have been they both took two sticks.

When we arrived, we saw several folks walking toward their vehicles with smiles on their faces as they greeted us.  How bad could it be?  We started out at a bit of a brisk climb but stopped here and there to take pictures of the beautiful foliage.  Kelly, can you say “shutterbug?”

Suzie and Kelly gave us a little bit of a history lesson about the families who once owned the land in the area.  We visited a family grave site and sadly viewed headstones of children who died before experiencing the joys of life.  We saw the remnants of numerous stone walls and parts of a very old vehicle – a Model T perhaps?

As we continued to climb on this leisurely stroll, the perspiration was starting to make itself known in a foul way.  Have I mentioned humidity yet?

We were urged on by the promise of seeing a very old, interesting homestead that is in remarkable shape, along with some other smaller buildings, and an outhouse.  As we approached the area, we overheard a person in a group already there telling more of the history of this particular area.  As it turns out, one older fellow in this group was a descendent of the family who once owned (and donated) the land and the buildings we were about to appreciate.

Let me tell you a bit about the outhouse.  It was that – in every sense of the word.  After Kelly and I gingerly crossed a creek, we saw a wooden shell.  Kelly approached first and saw the wooden door was open.  To our surprise, it was a two-seater.  Instead of going in and sitting side-by-side, I let Kelly have dibs; I didn’t want to leave her with memories of smell as well as sight.  Humidity at this point would have been the least of her worries.

Heading back to the trail again we were tempted by a new carrot – a really cool bridge made from a very large log, overlooking water tumbling over rocks.  How could we say, “No?”

Here’s where the age difference kicked in – or so I thought.  Kelly and I, the younger folks in the group, forged ahead of the not-so-young Suzie and Beth.  Even with Kelly stopping often to take pictures, we were well ahead of the oldies-but-goodies.  Later I realized it was probably planned that way – to split up Beth and me so we couldn’t compare notes about just how far ahead this cool bridge was.

I don’t know how Kelly did it, but somehow she got these folks to cross our path periodically and when asked, “How much further to the bridge?” they replied, “Not much further.”  Did I mention humidity yet?

Finally we arrived at the bridge and the scene was magnificent!  Kelly and I used our hiking sticks to climb down some huge rocks to get to the cold water to cool off.  Eventually Beth and Suzie arrived and although they appreciated the view, Beth’s vertigo prevented her from going more than a few steps on the log bridge.

The leisurely stroll back down the mountain went reasonably smoothly with help from the hiking sticks; our legs and backs were straining a bit.  All in all, it could have been worse.  (It could have been snowing!)  When we arrived back at the vehicle, we spoke to a man standing next to a vehicle parked near ours.  When we asked if he was okay, he replied with a sigh, “Yeah.  Did you happen to see a set of car keys on your hike?”  Poor guy!

Okay, so how many 4-letter words did you count?  A bunch I’ll bet.  Whatever number you came up with (No, I’m not going to give you a specific number.), add this to your sum.  If you take the phrase, “leisurely stroll,” and add up the letters and space between the words it equals 16.  Now divide that by the number of us who took this so called leisurely stroll – there were 4 of us.  So, 16 ÷ 4 = a 4-letter word.  Beth and I each now have a special 4-letter word for the phrase “leisurely stroll.”  If you don’t heed my warning and someday accept their offer to go on a “leisurely stroll,” I’ll bet you too will come up with your own 4-letter word.  (hehe)

As we were heading to hopefully see some black bears in their natural habitats, we opted to stop at a Subway to grab a bite to eat.  How fortunate that they were located next to a liquor store!  Can you say piña colada?

When we arrived at the park where we hoped to see the black bears, Suzie and Kelly set up chairs in the back of their truck for Beth and me to sit in so we’d get a great view.  I think it had more to do with our odiferous body odors, but I’m sure they’ll deny that if asked.  We drove for miles and miles and miles and although I got some great shots of deer, we didn’t see any black bears until we were near the exit of the park.  We did get two glimpses of black bears and that was kind of exciting.

I suggested looking for a BBQ place. We weren't sure if anything would be open that late but we happened upon Corky’s BBQ (http://www.corkysbbq.com). Even though we all "pigged out" on their BBQ, we had enough food left over for dinner on Saturday. Our waitress was a hoot. For those of you who are carnivores, we all HIGHLY RECOMMEND this place.