Parson Branch Road in the Smokies--Part I

Where do you go to see a beautiful waterfall like this one above?????  This is Triple Falls on Parson Branch.

Or---to see the Mountain Laurels blooming all through the mountains????

OR----to see a gorgeous little creek like this one????  (This one is Forge Creek. Doesn't this just make you want to stick your toes in there??)

WELL----you go halfway through Cades Cove (in the Smokies) --and turn near the visitor center, onto Forge Creek Road.   Stay on this 2-way gravel road for a short distance and then turn right onto a rough and rugged 8 mile one-way gravel road (see picture above)--which eventually comes out on Highway 129 (at the Tail of the Dragon).

To see a Smokies map (showing Parson Branch Road) click HERE.  Look at the west side of the Smokies (on left) --and find Cades Cove.  Just follow my directions and you'll see Parson Branch Road.

George and I had never gone on Parson Branch Road before ---so this was a new experience for us (which we had on Monday,  May 23, 2011).  To say that we didn't know what we were getting into is a true statement... There was mud and potholes and sludge everywhere..  The rangers had put down more gravel in spots---but  even that didn't stop us from skidding in at least one spot.  NEAL would love this road ---but GINNY and SANDRA  would NOT--and would be "BWAKKING" the entire time!!!!! ha ha

The one-way road is only 8 miles---but it takes about an hour to drive it.  We also stopped all along the way since it was so gorgeous WAY back in the mountains.  The road goes up and down --over mountains,  coves and hollows.  This area was home at one time to several mountaineer farmers--- but is now part of the Great Smoky Mountains.  There are lots of great hiking trails all around this area.

For waterfall lovers like us,  this is a wonderful road to take.  There were creeks following along, going back and forth from one side of the road to the next, all along the way ---which made for some very interesting water crossings for us.   We had no trouble crossing all of these creeks ---but they say that, after a big storm,  there's no way to get over some of them.  Above is another picture of the road ---showing one of the water crossings at the bottom of the hill.   See it????

I have another set of pictures to share sometime.  We saw FOUR new waterfalls on this trip!!!!! Yeah!!!!   My advice:  don't go on this road unless you have a Prius and George as your driver!!!!!! ha ha... (We LOVED it!!!)

Have a wonderful June 1st.  It's hotter than hades here now....  What's up with that?  GADS!
Hugs,

Our Home --Season by Season

I love going back through old pictures...  Needless to say,  I have ALOT more now than I used to!!!!! (Maybe that is a good thing that I didn't have so many old pictures to go through!!!! I have too many to go through now.. Ha).... Anyhow---I wanted to show you our little home in different seasons.   One thing which I absolutely love about Tennessee is that we get all four seasons --but we don't get the extreme heat nor the extreme cold...It's no wonder why so many people retire here.  We are also 2000 feet UP --on the Cumberland Plateau,  so that is nice (especially when the temperatures in Knoxville and Nashville are in the 90's and we are only in the 80's).   Seems like the best of all worlds,  don't you think????

Anyhow here are four pictures of our home in all four seasons.  I'll begin with Summer of last year (August) which is pictured above.  As you can tell,  there's not a huge amount of color around although the roses still bloom until frost.

Here is a picture of Fall  (taken last Fall)--and the gorgeous colors we get up here.  It's a beautiful time of the year and a busy one for me --since I am in charge of raking and blowing tons and tons of leaves!!!

Here's a picture of late Fall/early Winter ---after the leaves were gone (almost)... I do have to rake and blow many times before they ALL come down.  As you can see (since the roses are still blooming),  we haven't had a frost yet.

I just have to show you my all-time favorite Christmas Snow picture --taken last year in December.  I've shown this before (the others also I'm sure) --but this one makes me say "AH" each time I see it...

We didn't get too much snow last year --but what we got all came at the end of December and beginning of January.  It was a hard winter for most --but we've had worse!!!!  One way I know that is because our Fall Pansies made it through the winter and are still blooming and showing off NOW.

And now--we are to Spring of 2011.  Since we've had lots of rain the past couple of months,  our yard and flowers have really put on a show for us.

NOW---check this out!!!  This was our yard in 2006.  (Compare it with the picture above.) There were no roses yet in the front and no big road flowerbed.  We did have the 3 little round beds by then --and we had our big side flowerbed (which is where we had roses planted at that time).  The roses struggled on the side because there's just not enough sun there... So-- George started moving them to the front in 2007... This year we have over 57 different rose bushes.

Finally, here's one of the first pictures we took of the outside of our 'new' home... OH--how much we loved it.  You can see me (this was in Fall of 1992)  inviting everyone to come in!!!!!  The little elderly couple who had lived in this house since it was built in 1985 was having to move to Arizona to be with their daughter.  The husband had had a stroke and the wife just couldn't take care of him by herself.  They were the sweetest couple--but were NOT yard people.  I think they had a lawn service to mow it --but that was about all they did.

We didn't actually move in until June of 2003--after I retired... George continued to work until 2006---so we didn't begin too much yard work until about 2005-06.  Since then,  we have stayed very busy.. It's WORK ---but oh how wonderful the results are to one's soul and heart once those little buds pop up out of the ground/dirt... AND then to give us the blooms they do----well,  you know how fabulous that is!!!!!

Hugs,