Another Birthday, Another Wild Excursion

(Note: Sarah wanted to name the post "On Top of Ol' Smoky" and add snazzy musical notes, but my birthday, my rules).

Last year, for my 30th birthday (this is Cory talking), we took a soul-searching journey through my past. Well, this year, for my 31st birthday, we decided we should bring our two children with us. I speak of Sophie, of course, and our hairier, smellier, slobberier child: Calvin.

Because we had our kids with us, and needed frequent stops for "waste management", we decided to stay closer to home. I insisted that we still incorporate an element of my ancestry, my "genealogy" into the trip. Some of you may know of my deep Native American roots - I have strong ties to the Mohawk Tribe and the lesser well-known (but significantly more vicious) Penobscot Tribe. Thus, we spent the night in the city of Cherokee, in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.

We stayed in a cabin that was basically on top of a roaring river. I need to mention that we stayed there the same night as a huge thunderstorm, thus, the river was quite high and ominous. Sarah feared that we would go to bed in the cabin next to the river, and wake up in the cabin in south Georgia somewhere. Here's what the mighty river looked like:
This is a view of the porch - you can see how Sarah may have thought the porch might just fall into the raging rapids and disappear forever. We saw some huge logs floating in the river, thankfully, no bodies of anyone or anything.
Here's Sophie checking out the view from the bedroom:
Here's another view of the river from the cabinSo, we left the cabin in the "early morning" (that's 11:00 in Sarah's world) and headed for Clingman's Dome, one of the highest peaks in the Smokies. From the parking lot, it was a grueling, and Sarah wants to add, steep, 0.5 mile trek up the hill to the top. Sophie wanted to crawl up the trail, but in the interest of time and her knees, we opted for this snazzy backpack carrier.
Sophie had the time of her life, laughing at the wind blowing in her face and trying to eat whatever part of the backpack she could fit in her mouth.

We made it to the top. Eventually. You see, I was carrying three people, and Sarah had only herself. (I had me, Sophie, and my ginger-beer belly).Here's Sarah, after a rough climb.Sarah, on the observation deck, as if defying gravity.Calvin, pondering a way to break free and live forever as a wild dog, roaming the Smokies and causing mayhem wherever he may go.
It was the longest car ride we've taken with Sophie and Calvin, (3 hours), and they both did great. As long as they both have something interesting to chew on, they're usually happy.