We kicked it off with a Friday night baseball game between the TN Smokies and the Huntsville Stars. Huntsville won the game, but at least the fireworks were great!
On Saturday we drove over to explore Cades Cove. That was such a great adventure that it got its own blog so you can read all about it in a prior post. We want to go back in the fall and see the Mill and the other cabins that we missed. Don't think we'll be hiking Abrams Falls again anytime soon though!
After our long day we had an impromptu Cheese & Wine Party in the hot tub. Sometimes the unplanned events turn out to be the best! (No photos of that!)
On Sunday we went to Dollywood for Bluegrass & Barbecue. We went to 2 shows. Ricky Skaggs and The KY Thunder were great. As a child, Ricky was a neighbor of ours for a short period of time. He and my brother were friends and classmates. His family sang at our church once. So it was awesome to hear him talk about singing with his Dad and growing up in the church. I've never been a particularly big fan of Bluegrass music, but he won me over! He sang about Jesus and he sang about The TN Stud. And we learned that "You Can't Hurt Ham!" His show was just too short. I could have listened a lot longer. And I was also glad to hear Andy play the fiddle. Andy Leftwich plays fiddle and mandolin with KY Thunder. I've heard about what a good fiddler he is ever since he started playing. You see he's my brother-in-law's nephew. Well, he's really good and he's living his dream!
We also went to the Valerie Smith Show. She kinda made me doubt my newfound love for Bluegrass. She was a little zany and not anywhere near as good as Ricky! I'm still trying to figure out how "I'm Not Lisa" is a bluegrass song?
After Valerie we headed for the Barbecue stand because we were hungry and the aroma was torturing us! For $10 it was pretty good eating!
After lunch we headed back to the hacienda to rest up and get ready for our evening cook-out. We grilled steaks on the deck and of course that aroma brings out the wildlife. We kept hearing something thrashing around below but couldn't see anything for the trees. Earlier in the week we thought we heard a bear, but it turned out to be a great big groundhog. But this wasn't a groundhog because I heard tree limbs snapping as it wandered around. I told the others: "A bear sighting would make this a perfect holiday weekend!" We ate our steaks and finished off our meal with Peanut Butter Pie!
After dinner we settled down in front of the television. Keith and Jeff went outside to water some plants and before you know it Jeff comes running back in yelling: " Bear Cubs! Bear Cubs! Bring the camera! Bring the camera!" We all jumped up and ran out with the camera and saw Mama Bear. Keith said, "There's two of them." But when I moved a little closer, I whispered, "No there's 3 of them. No wait, there's 4!" WOW!! Finally I got the shot and my weekend was perfect!
Our neighbor's trash can cage has a screened top so the bears can see and touch the trash bags, but they just can't get them out! But boy did they try. It was fun to watch.
After all the excitement, we settled down and watched The Avengers.
On Monday we discovered that the bears came back and figured out that trash can! Somebody sure has a mess to pick up! I hope the owner will break down and by a sturdier cage with a solid top.
After our late breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, pancakes, biscuits and Smoky Mountain Cherry Butter, we headed over to the Sugarlands Visitor's Center. There is a nature trail there that leads to Cataract Falls. It's a nice, flat, easy short (less than a mile round trip) walk. I can't believe we've been here a year and are just now finding out about that!
After our hike we went back to the house to snack on pizza and chicken wings. Cassie was watching closely, hoping we would drop her a few crumbs. We also discovered that Papa Bear came to visit the looted trash can. I was glad that our trash man came today and hauled off all of our trash.
We wound up our big holiday weekend with hamburgers and hotdogs on the deck and then the kids all headed home so they could get back to work tomorrow. I don't know about them, but I'm already looking forward to our next big holiday gathering!
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