Welcome to JOYFUL REFLECTIONS. Also welcome to MARCH!!!! My header picture this month is a photo I took of the pretty Crocus blooms in our yard... The Crocuses and Daffodils are the first signs of spring here in Tennessee. I am definitely ready for SPRING...

Monday, July 1, 2013

Celebrating our Anniversary

Celebrating 12 Glorious Years together (6/23/13)
Hope all of you have had a great couple of weeks since I have been gone.  George and I celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary on June 23, 2013... We took a short trip north of where we live to Kentucky to do some hiking,  see some waterfalls --and just have a good time!

We visited the Cumberland Gap area to do some hiking and photography.  We stayed a couple of days at one of our favorite state parks,  Pine Mountain State Park.  While there we did ALOT of hiking and exploring that beautiful area.  Then we spent two nights in Corbin --and visited Cumberland Falls State Park and did a hike at Yahoo Falls which is near Whitley City.

We had a great time --but the highlight for me was seeing the Super Moon and the Moonbow (rainbow at night) at Cumberland Falls.  And of course,  we enjoyed a fabulous buffet dinner at the Cumberland Falls Lodge Restaurant on our anniversary.

Today I will share some pictures from our anniversary dinner --plus a few more of the highlights of this trip.  Above,  you will see a photo of us taken on our anniversary outside of the lodge at Cumberland Falls... Be sure to click on all photos for enlargements.  Hope you enjoy some of our MANY photos from this trip!




This is a photo of the lodge at Cumberland Falls State Park.




Here is a view from our table in the restaurant (taken through a double glass window).




Here is a photo of George at the table getting ready to eat!!!!!  Their Sunday buffets are fabulous (with lots of choices of salad items, meats, veggies, breads, desserts, etc.). 




And here I am getting ready to chow-down... Oink Oink!!!!!!! ha  (By the way,  my roast beef was terrific!)...  Don't you love our Mt. Rushmore shirts?

My Anniversary Gift from George
George gave me another one of his great photos on canvas (I now have 3 of them) for our anniversary.  This one was one of our favorite photos (which he took)  from Pikes Peak last September--showing the snow-covered mountain peaks  and the clouds in the distance.   Pretty,  isn't it? I love it!!!



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HERE ARE SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR TIME AT CUMBERLAND FALLS STATE PARK:
Gorgeous Cumberland Falls  (showing off lots of water on 6/21/13)--68 feet high and 125 feet wide (known as the Niagara of the South)

Beautiful rainbow at Cumberland Falls--which we saw the morning of 6/22/13


That glorious full moon (Super Moon) --taken on 6/23/13 right after midnight at an overlook near the state park


Moonbow (Rainbow at night) at Cumberland Falls, KY-taken on 6/22/13 at 11:30 p.m.
We had tried a few years ago to see the Moonbow --but the weather didn't cooperate that year.  This year,  it was perfect.  However,  since it was a Saturday night (6/22/13) in Summer --and since there was a Super Moon,  about 500 million (it seemed) of our best friends joined us at the falls to see the Moonbow.  We did not have a good vantage point due to the people --and were lucky to see the moonbow at all.  However, we found out  that the human eye cannot detect the colors of the rainbow at night.  It looks all white/silver.  But--a good camera CAN..... George set the tripod up (which kept getting kicked by people nearby) --and set it for a two minute exposure.... Even though he is not satisfied with the picture,  I think he did well, under the circumstances.  SO--we left very pleased that we had seen it AT ALL.  The waterfall is out of our view (to the left) --but the spray/mist from the waterfall is what causes the rainbow... We WILL go back sometime --during the off-season, during the week (when there's a full moon), and will go about 2 a.m. Yawn!!!!!!!  SO---next time,  we may get something that looks more like the rainbow photo above (which was taken during the daytime at a good vantage point).....

All in all,  we loved seeing the Moonbow --since we had never seen it before --so there are no complaints from either of us!!!!!!   Can you see what a great anniversary we had?

Us on the Blue Ridge Parkway (6/27/13)
I'll close with a photo of us taken on our 2nd trip during those two weeks.  We took a trip to North Carolina to see George's son and family... AND--on the way there,  we just HAD to check out Craggy Gardens and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The reason I'm enclosing this photo is to show you our new Moonbow t-shirts which we got at Cumberland Falls State Park before leaving that day.  Aren't they pretty ---along with the mountain views behind us in this photo????

Hope you had a great couple of weeks...  I'll begin checking your blogs as soon as I have some free time... IF there are any specific posts you want me to see from these past 2 weeks,  please let me know so that I won't miss them.  Thanks!!!!

Happy July 4th to ALL and God Bless America.  Be sure to check out my Photo Blog  (click HERE)  on Wednesday for a beautiful patriotic photo.  

Hugs to ALL,