spontaneous maturity

We listened to Dennis happily singing to himself and his toys for two hours this morning, sweet wordless tunes expressing his delight at being reunited with his playthings. Many Lego creations were spawned. Daddy and I slept late. Bliss!

Dennis and Gran and I visited Gigi's place at the lake to admire the progress and enjoy a visit with her and her cats. Dennis developed a relationship with his new toybox there, and we all had a great visit. The DirecTV installer came to get her all hooked up, and Dennis dubbed him a superhero! We stayed very late, and once home, Dennis told us he was going to go and get ready for bed. He reappeared in (matching!) pajamas and told us "I know how to brush my teeth, so I'm going to go do that now." A few minutes later he was back with the bag of flossers, asking for help opening it. He stood there in the kitchen with us and flossed his teeth all by himself. His Daddy thanked him for being so responsible, and Dennis picked up a stick of beef jerky from the leftover hiker food and brought it over to present to David. He said "in honor of you thanking me nicely, I'd like to present you with this special gift!". Then he headed to bed, requesting a bible story and some tucking in, which we were happy to do.

On our vacation, Dennis chose a dreamcatcher for himself, something he'd decided to get before we ever left to go on our trip. He had heard that Indians believe they will catch bad dreams before they get to you and he wanted one. He chose a simple, small one at Ely's Mill in Gatlinburg, and we hung it over his bed last night. He told us that it worked, that he could pray for Jesus to keep away bad dreams AND have a dreamcatcher in case some tried to sneak through, and that he had only good dreams last night.

wild ponies!

And we're home. So glad to be here! And I'm so exhausted from our long day of driving that I'll keep it brief. We left Ruby's Rest this morning and had breakfast in Damascus before driving to Grayson Highlands State Park. There we hiked up the Rhododendron Trail to the point where it crossed the Appalachian Trail. David and Brother Larry stopped well short of the AT--they could look and see it, but they were not anxious to set foot on it again today. We looked all around the meadow and saw evidence of recent visits from wild ponies, but we saw no ponies. We turned back. We saw one running in the distance and stopped to admire it only to see it circle back and walk on the AT right in front of us. It stopped and looked at us, whinnied, and raced on down the trail. We were enchanted, glad we'd hiked the half mile incline to see it. We were halfway down the trail, stopping to take pictures of the mountain views, when the same pony poked her head out of the brush right beside us. She walked right into the group of us and we fed her the apples we'd picked from a tree by the Creeper Trail. Dennis LOVED this. We all did! After she'd eaten the apples, she gazed at us as if to confirm that was all we had, then turned, snorted (as Gran tried to pet her) and trotted back up the hill. We were almost all the way back down when two more ponies and a foal came trotting up to check us out, but they didn't stay too long (we were out of apples). Back in the meadow at the base of the trail, Dennis befriended a very young colt standing beside the gate, offering his hand for licking (and laughing delightedly when his offer was accepted). He asked me if we could come back and see his new pony friends someday--he said "I'm sure going to miss them--and I bet they'll miss me, too."

So, we hit the road after this for a very long drive south, stopping to eat at the same soda shoppe in Abingdon where we ate before (the hiker guys were very appreciative and our meals and Coke floats were again super-delicious). Aside from various bathroom stops and food stops (the last a run to Krystals for sackfuls of miniburgers), we drove straight home. What a wonderful trip, so adventure-filled, such breathtaking scenery... I don't think we're done with the Virginia Highlands--we might indeed go back one day in the not-so-distant future (especially if the weather in July is always that pleasant!).

trails day

I am delighted to discover just how adventurous Dennis actually is. Today we took him on the Virginia Creeper Trail, a 14 mile/2.5 hour bike ride. Instead of opting to cruise in a bike trailer for the ride, he chose to ride a half-wheeler, a kind of pull-behind bike that attached to mine. He rode and pedaled without complaint until just before we reentered Damascus, when he informed us "my bottom hurts and I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY hungry." He seemed fine when he realized that sore bottoms were the norm for Gran and me as well and that we were pedaling straight to In The Country to have a post-ride meal. We parked our bikes there, in fact, and ate before returning them to the rental place. I'm so proud that he could handle this without whining or complaining or crying--he's just amazing!

He fell asleep as we drove to the top of Whitetop Mountain to admire the views (and the cool mountain air), but he didn't nap too long. Pretty soon we were driving back to Elk Garden to pick up the AT hikers. First we hiked up a short summit through a cow pasture that was across the street from the parking lot (dodging cow patties on the Appalachian Trail). Then we had the idea that we'd hike to meet them on the trail (back across the road), but Dennis was too tired for this (understandable, given that his legs had already had a giant workout today). So we hiked in about 10 minutes and then hiked back out to let him sit in the car. And then I hiked in again, and about 15 minutes down the trail, just when I'd gotten my rhythm and was enjoying my first bit of solitude on the trip (and had just started to think about bears maybe liking all the berry bushes I was passing), I met up with David and Brother Larry. I was so happy to see them and was happy to accompany them on the short hike back to the van. Dennis crowed delightedly from the open van window when he spotted his Daddy. Tonight we find ourselves reunited, six of us sharing the tiny space at the guest house, all comfortable and cozy. Dennis told the hikers all about his adventure on the Creeper trail ("I rode a tow-behind bike all the way down the mountain! And it was AWESOME!"). What an incredible vacation this has been! Here's hoping we all get a good night's sleep tonight before doing a little sightseeing tomorrow and then heading home.

another perfect day of vacation

We are having the most incredible summer vacation! Today, we briefly toured the town of Abingdon, stopping in a few antique shops. Dennis didn't love this. In fact, he sat down in a chair and said "I'm nervous in here, Mommy--this kind of store isn't fun for me because you have to tell me 'no' so many times!". He was right! He wanted to touch EVERYTHING, and we couldn't let him. He liked the soda shoppe, though; we started our meal with chocolate Coke floats and enjoyed some yummy food afterward. We came back to Damascus then, and after his nap, Dennis played outside in the yard with Ruby in her kiddie pool and on her swing, and they spent lots of time shooting water guns at each other. Then, the Buckleys took us to a parking lot up the Virginia Creeper Trail, and we hiked a short walk to a great place to play in the river. We waded in a real mountain stream, playing in the cold water, looking for (and finding) crawfish, seeing a rare trout swimming by... This was SO much fun! Dennis and Ruby went exploring together through the stream, and we all played around. Dennis shot us with his water gun pretty much constantly. What a great thing to do on a hot afternoon!

Resting at Ruby's

Tonight we're in Damascus, Virginia, at a delightful little guest house called Ruby's Rest. We met Ruby today--she's just 6 months younger than Dennis, and he immediately walked up to her and announced "we can be playmates!". She took a bit longer to warm to him, but they had some great adventures running around in the truly awesome yard this afternoon.

We enjoyed sitting outside until dark, sharing some apple peach wine from Gatlinburg and watching the chickens running around. There are just hundreds of fireflies here, and the birdhouse right on the front wall of the cottage has a family of baby birds in it. We watched the mother bringing them some worms.

It was so nice to meet up with the hikers today and hear their stories. We all did a bit of sightseeing together and then shared a delicious supper. They are spending tonight in a hostel and will head out again in the morning for 2 more days of hiking.

Tonight, Dennis ran around outside, frolicking in the cool evening breeze and pretending to be a superhero. He told us "we are on a mission to save the world." And then he said "I have a new weapon--guess what it shoots!". We couldn't guess correctly. He told us "it shoots CHIPMUNKS at bad guys!". Hard to beat that!

tourism at its best

Today we took Dennis to the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail in the national park (which has always been a favorite of ours). He LOVED touring the old farm homesteads and seeing the mill, but I think his favorite thing was standing in between the front seats of the van with his head out the sunroof, looking at the scenery through his binoculars. He would periodically shout things like "MILL HO!" or "WATERFALL HO!" as if he were a ship lookout. He once warned "CAR HO! We need to pull over to the side!". We let lots of other cars pass us on the one-way route. We hiked a bit at the Ogle place at the start of the tour, spending a good hour on a short walk because we took time to observe the wildlife (lots of different mushrooms, tulip trees, hemlocks, ferns, mossy logs and rocks, a really neat snail, spiders, inchworms), something I had never taken much time to do before I had Dennis in tow. We saw a deer on the road, watching her as she watched us pass. We are leaving tomorrow and I still have never seen a bear in the park. That's probably a good thing--it's one thing Dennis did NOT want to see today (because he paid attention during the ranger lecture).

Tonight we went swimming at one of the pools near the cabin, also something we've never done before on a trip here. There's a gorgeous two-level pool, surrounded by rocks, and for 45 minutes, we had the entire huge thing to ourselves. We stayed in the lower pool because it's uniformly 4 feet deep (and larger than the upper one). Dennis asked if he could take off his floaties, and I let him. He surprised us big time with his amazing swimming ability! He jumped in and swam to the ladder, then swam to the side, then swam to me and then to Gran. He did this for 45 minutes, increasing the distance he could go. He swims with his head down basically under the water, face down (unnerving to watch, but it's what he learned in class and it's the correct way to do it), and he was learning to roll onto his side or onto his back and take a breath just before we decided to get out. He swam without his floaties for 45 minutes, and we were SO proud of him! He practiced his back float some, but mostly he wanted to swim back and forth to us and to the ladders or the pool walls. He would occasionally swim to the side with the boulder wall and climb up and rest on one for a second before resuming his training. He was so proud of himself for being able to do "real swimming" as he called it.

What a wonderful day we had! Got 2 text messages from David, one that they were rained on all day yesterday and were just soaked, and one that they stopped for lunch today at a shelter not too far away from Damascus where they would lunch and dry out some gear, and they planned to hike a couple more miles and then camp. They are planning to be in Damascus at noon tomorrow and we hope to be there not too long after that.

It has been so wonderful to have a Smokies vacation that was concentrated on the national park rather than the touristy towns and shopping. It makes me want to come back soon and explore more and more (though we never come here without spending at least a day in the park, I'd like to spend some time there every day of the next trip!). Though Dennis wanted to shop and shop (he said) for toys, he loved playing outside on the trails more than anything. I hope we have more of the same coming up in Virginia.

call me Ranger

Dennis earned his second Junior Ranger badge today, this time at Great Smoky Mountains National Park (my favorite park). He completed some activities in his workbook, hiked a short trail, and had to do two other tasks to earn his badge. He picked up a bag of litter from the trail to Cataract Falls and then we attended a ranger program called "Whose Poop?". We saw examples (actual poop examples) of scat from bear, elk, fox, otter, and deer, learned how to identify their tracks (by footprints and footprint patterns), and saw several animal pelts. We even sang two "poop" songs. Dennis had a good time and didn't want to leave!

Tonight, we had a Pajama Party at the cabin, playing card games (tonight was Memory Match), and baking cookies. Dennis loved every minute of it! He was a bit wound up before we took the time to play with him, telling me that if I didn't do what he said, he was going to "whack me with my broom!". Earlier today, we pointed out one of the Gatlinburg Trolleys to him and he said "you mean it's a trolley BUS, right?". He wasn't fooled by its fancy appearance--he knew that was a bus under there.

He really did some rangering this morning, leading us to the falls, greeting the other hikers we passed, welcoming people to the Smokies. Every time someone commented on what a cutie he was or called him "precious" (because he was super cute in his uniform), he got frustrated and said "call me RANGER!". He got out a map and directed us, pointing out where we were on the map (map was upside down), and telling us to stay out of the mud. I think he feels like he did some good work today, and when we got in the van to come back up to the cabin, he asked "so when can we go to another ranger program, Mommy?". We will see!