April 21st---SPECIAL DAY for US

Read  this post first (click HERE)  ---unless you have been reading my blog faithfully for several years...  OR--you may just want to read it again in order to see some OLD pictures of us!!!!  AND--- Click HERE  to see last year's post about this same day.  Amazing how the park and waterfalls can be so different from one year to the next. 

April 21, 2001 is when I got my first KISS from George.  We started dating on March 29, and our love grew very fast... On April 21 that year,  he took me to FALL CREEK FALLS STATE PARK.  This is where that first kiss happened, and it is also where our mutual love of waterfalls began.  Fall Creek Falls has several waterfalls --and we like to visit them all several times a year.  This is also the place where we told each other that we loved each other on that same day...

SO--we revisited Fall Creek Falls this past Saturday ---and relived those wonderful memories once again.  The weather didn't cooperate much --since it was misty, very cloudy,  foggy and quite cold.   This may have been the coldest April 21 we have experienced since 2001...  In most of the old pictures,  we were wearing shorts... WELL--not this year!!!!  In fact,  after our first little hike to the Cascades,  we even put our jackets on since it felt so cold!!!!

Needless to say,  the pictures are not as good as some we have taken in past at Fall Creek Falls (due to the dreariness and lack of alot of water in the waterfalls)... BUT--today,  I'll share with you some pictures from our day this past Saturday.  Above is a picture of the gorge.  You can see the fog in this photo...  Please click on the photos to see larger pictures.

This area of the park,  appropriately named after my Sweetheart (ha ha),  is where I got that first kiss..... Of course,  I got another one in that spot on Saturday!!!!!   WOW!

There is a grassy area at George Hole which leads to the creek.   The rocks on the other side are so interesting ---and full of holes,  where many birds make their homes!!!  Isn't the reflection in this photo great???

Of course,  we take our tripod wherever we go so that we can get pictures together.  Here is a picture of George ---trying out a new filter which he bought.....

Before we went to the George Hole area,  we stopped and walked down to the Cane Creek Cascades... At that time,  we didn't have our jackets on --but immediately put them on when we got back to the car... Did I mention that it was COLD?????   Why does colder air feel MUCH colder in the spring?????  Do I look cold in this picture?  I WAS!!!!!! ha

We took a nice hike and here is a picture of George on the trail...  It was a nice walk,  and in another blog,  I'll show you a picture of some Mountain Laurel beginning to bloom.

Our hike took us to an overlook across from two other waterfalls,  Cane Creek and Rockhouse.  This is a picture of me with Cane Creek Falls in the background.

Finally,  here is a picture of us --taken near the little dam in the George Hole area.  I don't know what one of us said--but we are both really laughing when that picture was taken.

After taking the hike and checking out the waterfalls,  George took me to the Lodge Restaurant for dinner....   Glad I had hiked that 3.19 miles (9657 steps) ---since I splurged and had some delicious Banana Pudding for dessert.... YUM...

Hope you all had a good weekend--like we did!  We're going to the Smokies today --so don't know when I'll catch up with blog reading...  I always try to do what I can --but life sometimes gets in the way!!!!

Hugs,
Betsy

Funny Birds!!!!

In my last bird post (click HERE) ,   I promised that I would show you some of the funny bird pictures I have taken through the years...  SO---today you get those pictures... Hope you enjoy them as much as I have....

Can you figure out what bird that is above????????  It's a ROBIN----a baby one!!!!  The hair on top which looks like bushy eyebrows makes him look like an OLD MAN..... ha ha

I love this picture of a CAROLINA WREN.  It was in the dead of winter ---and he was perched on top of a Rhododendron bud,,,  Bet that poor little guy was COLD!!!!!

I love this photo of the Baby CARDINAL ---as he tried to come to a screeching halt on the deck... Daddy Cardinal always brings his babies (who are bigger than Daddy now) to the feeders to teach them to eat.... When they are very young,  they'll just shake all over and make a tingly sound--which sounds like a little tiny bell...  They are begging Daddy to feed them --but he wants them to learn to feed themselves.  I love watching this process.

Have you seen birds do this? When I first saw this,  it scared me.  I thought there was something wrong with the bird.  However, since that time,  I've seen many birds do it... They do it in the HOT SUMMER --when the deck is VERY hot... They spread out and get the 'mites' off of their tummies---or at least,  that is what I was told....  Interesting, huh?  This bird is a TUFTED TITMOUSE.

I have several 'funny' pictures of our PILEATED WOODPECKERS.  When they are young and try to fly up to the suet feeder,  they don't quite know how to do it... I'll show you some more pictures of the different poses of some of our Pileated Woodpeckers in another post.    I love this picture of this woodpecker telling me to "butt out and leave him alone"!!!!!!!   Cute,  isn't he???

Finally,  here is one of my favorite photos of any bird since I have been taking their pictures... This is a MOURNING DOVE sitting on the birdbath.... Isn't this one just a HOOT????

Birds are so much fun to watch... This week,  I sat on the back deck,  watching Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird going in and out of the nestbox... They have a little growing family in there... Isn't that just special????

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Here's another flower blooming in our yard now,  our gorgeous RHODODENDRON.   I love Azaleas,  but Rhododendrons just take my breath away... Wish you could see all of the blooms covering our big Rhododendron now... Wow-Wow-WOW!!!

And finally,  here is another beautiful ROSE blooming in our yard now.   This is ALEC'S RED.   George brought one inside for me---and you should smell it...  Another WOW!!!!

One More Thing:  I've been on Blogger since 2009... As of this week,  I now have 500 Followers... Amazing,  isn't it???  How many Bloggers do you know who have this many followers without doing memes,  or giveaways,  or tags or awards?????  (That is the way that most people get more followers, which is fine --but I just don't choose to do that.)   THANKS to all of you for coming to my crazy 'waterfall/flowers/birds/travel/hiking' blog!!!  Have a fabulous weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

Hugs and THANKS again for stopping by!!!
Betsy