Another Memorable Memorial Day

Memorial Day Weekend is the anniversary of our Mountain Home ownership. It's hard to believe that we've been here two years now. We've certainly packed a lot of fun into our short period of time here. This weekend was no different. 

Keith and I arrived on Thursday and spent the day putting some finishing touches on the deck and cooking for the weekend. 

Jeff arrived on Friday afternoon and after dinner we went to the Smokies game. They lost the game but the Friday night fireworks are always spectacular!

On Saturday, we went to Metcalf Bottoms for hiking and a picnic. We saw the Little Greenbrier School and the Walker Sisters Cabin. 

Going in the school reminded me of Little House on the Prairie! Just like on that show, the school house was used for church on Sundays. The fenced in area out back is a cemetery. 

Jeff took a very interesting picture in the loft of the cabin.

On Saturday afternoon we went to Dollywood for Bluegrass & Barbecue. The featured celebrity was Vince Gill, but his show was a little bit of a disappointment since he only sang two songs and The Time Jumpers did the rest of the show. But Carson Peters made up for it with a great show. He's developed into quite a performer at the ripe old age of 10!

On Sunday, Keith & Jeff hiked on the Forney Ridge Trail to Andrews Bald. Jeff took some great shots of the incredible view. 

I stayed home and cooked Bobby's Birthday Pizza and got ready for our big Surf & Turf dinner. 

Jenny & Bobby got there just in time for dinner. I did all the prep and Keith did all the grilling!  Jenny said it was the best salmon she had ever eaten!

After dinner we christened the new deck with what I like to call The Great Bubble Adventure. I've been reading about soap bubbles that glow in the dark. Apparently there are three different methods of making glow in the dark bubbles using glow sticks, neon highlighters, or fluorescent paint. We tried all three methods with very little success, but we had fun playing in the dark under a black light!

After making a big wet bubble mess we went inside for some Netflix. 

On Sunday, we had a big mountain breakfast of Omelets, bacon, biscuits, and blueberry waffles with fresh blueberries. After breakfast we went to the Island to walk off our meal and check out the new puzzle store. It's a pretty cool place. They sell a $350 jigsaw puzzle that has 36,000 pieces!  Next month they are going to set up a table and let walk-ins help them assemble "the world's largest jigsaw puzzle". They will glue it together and hang it on the wall after it's finished. They estimate that it will take  6 months to complete it!  I'll have to drop by and see that sometime!

After our stroll around the Island the kids decided they needed to cool off.  Snow Cones!

We love the rocking chairs on the Island. Jenny told us about a place in Wears Valley that sells them so we went over to check them out. I think there may be some new deck rockers in our future!  We also passed by an unusual store called Goats on the Roof. Guess what?  There are goats on the roof!  There's one behind that crane thingy. The others were in the shade. We joked about going back when they finish their goat coaster!

We stopped at the Visitors Center so Jeff could get medallions for his hiking stick and then we went back home to grill Ranch, Bacon & Cheddar and Brat Sliders for lunch. 

After lunch we watched some baseball and napped until time for the kids to head home. Another mountain holiday weekend in the books!  Counting the days until our next adventure. 

Double Decker

One of our favorite places to be is on the deck. We spend a lot of time on the upper deck watching bears, grilling out, or just enjoying the view.

If we're on the lower deck we love soaking in the hot tub, sitting by the fire pit, or reading in the swing. 

So we have lots of deck space, but one thing that has always bothered Keith is the fact that the lower deck was L-shaped instead of rectangular. In other words, there's this great big gaping space that begs to be decked!  Of course that space came in handy during our couch moving adventure. (See previous blogs). But filling in that space has never been far from Keith's mind. So this year he did it!

Here's the "before" photo.  The plan was to move the rail in the forefront to the far side, eliminate the other rail and deck that entire space. 

First, Keith spent an entire weekend hanging support brackets and figuring out how to remove the rails. 

Then he ordered his lumber and called on our new best friends, Chris and Andrew, to come help with the heavy lifting. In go the support beams!

Then they removed the rails and put down the floor. 

Then they replaced the rail on the end. 

And, voila, we have a new great big sturdy deck!

Thanks a bunch Chris and Andrew!  

Now for the finishing touches - I think I'm gonna need more furniture!  I know we are going to create even more wonderful memories on our newest deck.