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On April 21, 2001, Betsy and I spent the day at Fall Creek Falls State Park here in Tennessee. This wasn’t our first date, but it was still very special. For one thing, that was where I got my first kiss. Another thing was that it began our twenty-year quest to find waterfalls.
We’ve managed to get back to Fall Creek Falls on April 21 almost every year since then. We visit the waterfalls — the picture above was taken this year on April 21. (Fall Creek Falls is on the left and Coon Creek Falls is on the right,) We were happy to see that in spite of the drought that hit this part of the state last year and earlier this year there was water going over both falls. We’ve seen less water on other visits.
That first year we hiked to the base of the falls, which is something we are no longer able to do. I do, however, still try to get a kiss when we visit there!
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Betsy and I consider “Christmas at Biltmore” to be our main gift to each other. We’ve been attending their Candlelight Christmas for nine years now, and always find it to be delightful. We were not sure what to expect this year because of all the damage caused by hurricane Helene, but everyone at Biltmore did a superb job of cleaning up and repairing the damage and getting the decorations in place for Christmas.
All of the rooms in Biltmore House are decorated for Christmas, with each room having one or more decorated Christmas tree. (The were 69 decorated trees in the house all together.) This is the Breakfast room on the main floor, pictured in a photo taken two years ago,
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Christmas at Biltmore is always amazing.We’ve been going for several years, and we always enjoy it. The house is always beautifully decorated with one (or more) Christmas trees in each room. Even the Palm Court just inside the entrance to the house gets made into a winter garden for the season. There are often musical attractions (you can almost see a choir through the palm fronds) which just adds to the beauty of the setting.
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Betsy was treated like a queen on Mother’s Day this year.
Her sons Mark (left) and Bert (right) along with Robin, Mark’s significant other, treated us to an adventure along Citiico Creek in the Cherokee National Forest. They provided a delicious picnic lunch, and found a perfect picnic spot along the bank of the creek.
Good food, great company, and a couple of hammocks made for an ideal day. Since Mark has a jeep we were able to go back into the “boonies” and to have the place pretty much to ourselves. It would be an understatement to say that we had a wonderful time.
Of course, when Betsy gets together with her sons, just about anything can happen — and it usually does.
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Twenty years ago tomorrow Betsy and I had our first ‘big’ date. We went to Fall Creek Falls State Park here in Tennessee and had a wonderful time on a beautiful Spring day. We saw all the waterfalls in the park, but the greatest thing about that day was that I got my first kiss while we were there.
That day was so special that we try to make it back to Fall Creek Falls every April 21. (Yes, we plan on being there tomorrow!). We’ve missed a year or two over the past twenty, but I think we’ve done well to keep the tradition alive.
But the best thing about our visits is that I can still get a kiss from MY Beautiful Bride!
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i had forgotten about taking these pictures until I saw them on my phone a couple of days ago. (I’m still getting accustomed to the idea of thinking of my phone as a camera). But since I found them, I thought I would share the story behind them.
January 2, 2021, was the first day people 75 and older were able to get the Covid vaccine in Cumberland County. Since both My Beautiful Bride and I qualified, we decided to try and get the vaccine that day.
The notice said the gate to the fairground would open at 8am. Since there was road work between our house and the fairgrounds we decided to leave early to make sure we got there in time.
We had no problems with road construction, but traffic came to a complete halt when we were little over a mile from the fairgrounds. Evidently many other people had the same idea.
It took a little over an hour to get into the fairgrounds where we directed to a parking lot and told to wait for further instructions. The parking lot is where these pictures were taken. Please remember that most of the people in these cars were 75+ years old. Oh, and another thing — there were no bathroom facilities open in the area where we were waiting.
So we waited … and waited … and WAITED. Finally, about 2 o’clock we were directed to the line leading to the vaccination station. For the most part this line kept moving (slowly), but it still took close to an hour to get to the stations where we received our shots. The shots were given while we were in our car, so that part worked out very well.
After waiting to make sure we didn’t have a bad reaction we were free to leave the fairgrounds and seek out a rest room as quickly as we could.
Clearly the county did not anticipate so many people turning out on that first day. We got shots 631 and 632, so there were a lot of people in front of us. We later learned that 981 doses of the vaccine were given out that day.
I’m happy to say that the county quickly got it’s act together and began scheduling times for shots. When we got our second shot, we were in and out in less than half an hour. The shots were still being given at the fairgrounds, but there were Port-a-Potties located all over the place.
All in all Betsy and I have to give Cumberland County high marks for the way they’ve handled the vaccinations. That being said, we hope we don’t have to go through anything like that again!
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This past September Betsy and I, along with Betsy’s son Mark and his girlfriend Robin, visited the Gatlinburg Skybridge for he first time. The Skybridge, which opened earlier in the year, is the longest (680 feet) pedestrian suspension bridge in North America.
The Skybridge is located at the top of the Skylift in Gatlinburg. Robin and Mark rode up the mountain in the chair in front of us.
The Skybridge is even more impressive when viewed from the top of the mountain.
There were quite a few people on the Skybridge, but we were still able to enjoy the views of the Smokies above Gatlinburg.
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As many of you know, Fall Creek Falls State Park is a special place for Betsy and me. We had our first ‘real’ date there on April 21, 2001, It was there that we began our waterfall ‘collection’ and, more importantly, it was there that I got my first kiss from the wonderful woman I was with. For these reasons we go back every year on April 21 to celebrate.
Things were a little different this year. The park is undergoing some major renovations and health problems kept us from doing the hike we normally do when visiting the park, We were, however, able to visit Cane Creek Cascade. The picture above was taken near the top of the cascade.
Because of the work being done, a new trail was created from the parking area to the swinging bridge above the cascade. We were treated to a new (for us) waterfall along this trail. It wasn’t very big, but we were still delighted to be able to add it to our collection.
The trail followed Cane Creek for a short distance, and we were able to enjoy the beauty of the flowing water.
Passing under the swinging bridge, we can to a place where we could watch the sparkling water tumble down to the pool below.
But I still think the loveliest sight in Fall Creek Falls is my Beautiful Bride.
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Betsy and I had ringside seats for the solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. Crossville was in the zone of totality, and it was a very big deal as you can see from the t-shirt My Beautiful Bride is wearing.
Clouds were forecast for the afternoon of the big event, but they fortunately stayed away enough for us to enjoy the show. It was quite an experience to see the moon start to block out the sun.
In some ways I wish I had better camera equipment, but I was delighted to get the pictures that I did get.
It was truly amazing to see the sun becoming a smaller and smaller sliver of light.
Then the sun was completely covered. It became night as solar lights came on and birds stopped their singing. I was able to capture the sun’s corona shining around the moon.
As the sun began to emerge from behind the moon I was able to capture a ‘diamond ring’. That was really a special moment for me.
As the moon continued to move away, a sliver of sun appeared in the sky.
As the moon moved even more, the sun became a crescent.
Our world got lighter as more of the sun became visible. Soon the magical once-in-a-lifetime event was over.
Senior Moments 