Smoky Mountains 2013-14

We made it to the Smoky Mountains! could have been the caption for this year's trip... Andrew and I were both sick with the flu only 3 days before we were supposed to leave for the near 11 hour drive. Thankfully, he got better before we left and I was feeling somewhat better - at least well enough to sleep during the ride. It was so wonderful to get to spend time with my family. We make this trip once a year and have since I can remember. We had a wonderful trip and even got some snow! Since snow can make driving up and down mountain roads kinda tricky, we did stay in a lot but we had a cabin with the most incredible views so we didn't mind :)

Ober Gatlinburg tram (view from our front porch)

And we also made the annual trip to Cade's cove where the wildlife is protected and the deer will literally let you walk right up to them.

And a few family photos - smiling and shaking in our boots because we are standing out in 12 degree weather so my mom will have a picture of everyone together.

Andrew and I have ridden the Sky Lift together on the last three trips over these past few years. I love that I have these pictures to look back from each trip. This year we rode in the daytime - apparently we aren't as brave as we used to be to ride up with temperatures dropping in the teens.

2011

2012

2013

We ended the trip by watching the Saints win in a Wildcard match-up against the Philadelphia Eagles! We got to watch the game on the big screen since there was literally a theatre in the cabin we were staying in. Sorry for the poor quality of this picture - it was taken on the reverse camera on my cell phone :) But I couldn't help but sharing - this was probably Andrew's favorite part of the whole trip. And I found it amazing that I remembered to bring my jersey along since I packed in a flu-induced stupor.

We were so blessed to get to spend such quality time with each other and with our families this holiday season. It was so hard the leave the beautiful snow covered mountains (and the beautiful bathroom I had with a fireplace over the bathtub :) but back to the real word we must go!