Posts Tagged ‘Tennessee’

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SkyWatch Friday: A Wispy Cloud

June 10, 2011

A wispy cloud in the sky above Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 17, 2010.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

If you watch the skies often enough, you will see all kinds of fascinating things.  I captured this wispy cloud in a brilliant October sky last year.  It wasn’t a part of a larger cloud formation, but just seemed to be suspended in the sky.  I thought it was both interesting and pretty.

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I would like to thank each and every one of you for your kind words and prayers on the passing of my mother.  The funeral was hard for my Dad (he’ll be 99 in August) but he was doing pretty well on Thursday.  The entire family felt surrounded and uplifted by your thoughts and prayers.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Betsy and I are once again taking a blog break.  We’ll be traveling for the rest of the month.  I’m not sure what kind of skies we’ll encounter, but I expect we’ll both come back with plenty of pictures to share.

I’ll see you in July.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 11 Comments »

SkyWatch Friday: Cades Cove Sky

June 3, 2011

Cades Cove landscape, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. May 23, 2011.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

Whenever we go to Cades Cove in the Smokies, I have trouble deciding which is most impressive — the mountains or the skies.  When we were there last week I decided that both were magnificent.

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Cades Cove: The Henry Whitehead Place

June 2, 2011

The Henry Whitehead Place in Cades Cove, Tennessee, showing the original cabin in the back. May 23, 2011.

A visit to Cades Cove can be scenic, interesting and educational all at the same time.  Getting off the beaten path can be fascinating.

Betsy and I came across the Henry Whitehead Place after leaving the Cade Cove Loop Road on our way to Parson Branch Road.  The Henry Whitehead Place is really two structures in one.  The original cabin (on the right in the picture above) was built by the brothers of Matilda Shields Gregory after her husband deserted her and her young son.  Because the brothers needed to get shelter for their sister in a hurry, the cabin they built is one of the roughest in Cades Cove.  The logs were rough-hewn with a felling axe and the stone chimney was made of rubble.

In 1898 Matilda married Henry Whitehead, a widower.  Henry built one of the nicest log homes in the cove.  The home had a brick chimney, which was unheard of at the time because bricks had to be made by hand.  The cabin itself was made of square-sawed logs finished inside to be smooth and attractive.  It was also warm by Cades Cove standards since the square log construction was naturally well insulated by walls approximately four inches thick with practically no space between the logs.

The interior of the Henry Whitehead Place, Cades Cove. May 23, 2011.

Betsy took this interior shot of the new cabin, showing the square-sawed logs forming the wall.

The Henry Whitehead Place, Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. May 23, 2011.

The Henry and Matilda Whitehead place is the only square-sawed log home remaining in Cades Cove.  It is, in fact, the only one left in the entire Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

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Posted in Travels | 17 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #142: West Prong Falls

June 1, 2011

West Prong Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. May 23, 2011.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

West Prong Falls is a small (10 feet) waterfall on the West Prong of Little River in the Smokies.  It is right along the road on the way to Cades Cove, just past the Tremont turnoff.  Betsy and I stop there each time we pass to enjoy the water rushing over the bedrock.  The moss on some of the rocks gives the water a green sheen, and provides a very refreshing stop on a drive through the Smokies.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 11 Comments »

My World: Adventures With Mrs. P

May 31, 2011

Parson Branch Road, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. May 23, 2011.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Last Tuesday Betsy and I took a ride in the Smokies in our Prius, Mrs. P.  One of the seasonal back roads, Parson Branch Road, had recently been opened for the season.  Mrs. P sometimes thinks she is an off-road vehicle and was up to the challenge.

We had to drive through part of Cades Cove to get to Parson Branch Road, but that is always a gorgeous drive.  When we got to the road, we saw a big sign announcing that Parson Branch Road was a ‘primitive’ one-way road and that it would take at least an hour to make the eight miles to US 129.  (I wish I had thought to take a picture of that sign.)  The picture above shows one of the better sections.

We enjoy taking these back roads whenever possible, because they often lead to waterfalls that aren’t listed in any of the books we have.  We did find several waterfalls along Parson Branch Road which I’ll talk about in future posts.  At one point along that eight mile stretch of road I thought Mrs. P might let us down, but she managed to get up a pothole-filled stretch of road (slowly) and had no problems the rest of the way.

Image from the internet.

But our adventure wasn’t over when we reached the paved highway US 129.  We came onto the road along a stretch known as The Tail of the Dragon.  As the poster above states, there are 318 curves in 11 miles of road.  Obviously traffic doesn’t move at interstate speeds along this stretch of road.  It’s a favorite of motorcyclists, however, and people come from all over the country to ride The Tail.

All in all we had a very interesting, adventurous and scenic day in the Smokies.

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Watery Wednesday #141: Cane Creek Falls

May 25, 2011

Cane Creek Falls, Fall CreekFalls State Park, Tennessee. April 21, 2001.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

Fall Creek Falls State Park here in Tennessee contains six major waterfalls.  Cane Creek Falls can be seen from the side at the Nature Center, but did get this view it is necessary to either cross a swinging bridge or hike over from Fall Creek Falls.  Either route gives a pleasant hike through the woods.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 15 Comments »

My World: Cumberland Mountain State Park

May 24, 2011

The restaurant at Cumberland Mountain State Park, Crossville, Tennessee. May 15, 2011.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

On Sunday, May 15, Betsy’s youngest son, Jeff, came up to the Glade for a visit.  It’s been a while since he was up here (he lives in Chattanooga), so we took him to Cumberland Mountain State Park near Crossville to celebrate Mother’s Day (a little late) and his birthday (May 14).

Cumberland Mountain has a wonderful restaurant (pictured above) and they serve a delicious buffet.  As you can see, the restaurant has many windows that offer beautiful views of Byrd Lake.

Byrd Lake, Cumberland Mountain State Park, Crossville, Tennessee. May 15, 2011.

Byrd Lake was created in the 1930s when the park was established.  The CCC built the dam on Byrd Creek which formed the lake.

Byrd Lake Dam, Cumberland Mountain State Park, Crossville, Tennessee. May 15, 2011.

The Byrd Lake Dam is the largest masonry dam built by the CCC.  A unique feature of this dam is the seven arches that support the road crossing the dam.

The bird’s-eye view of Cumberland Mountain State Park shown above is taken from Google Earth.  This picture can be made larger by clicking on it.

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Posted in My World | 13 Comments »

My World: I Promised Her a Rose Garden

May 17, 2011

Roses in front of our house, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. May 13, 2011.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

I promised Betsy a rose garden about five years ago, when my job ended and I retired.  That first year we planted some roses in a flower bed we had built at the side of the house.  It quickly became apparent that that location was too shady for roses, and so we built new flower beds in front of the house, which is the sunniest part of our yard.

The picture above, which Betsy took on Friday, shows how well I’ve kept my promise.  You can see three rose beds (one near the road in the foreground, and one on each side of the driveway near the house.  In addition we have roses in containers along the sides of the driveway.

We have a total of 57 rose bushes — 55 different varieties.  All are hybrid teas or grandifloras.  We have roses of just about every color imaginable, and many of are also fragrant.  A beautiful rose that has a delightful fragrance is about as perfect as anything can be.

Crescendo Rose, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. May 14, 2011.

The rose above, Crescendo, is one of our new roses for this year.  The light wasn’t very good (it had been raining) when I took this picture on Saturday, but I couldn’t resist the temptation to snap away.

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Watery Wednesday #137: Piney Falls

April 27, 2011

Piney Falls, Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee. April 21, 2011.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

Piney Falls is a beautiful waterfall in Fall Creek Falls State Park here in Tennessee.  Unfortunately the waterfall is practically inaccessible.  This photo was taken with my long lens from the overlook about half a mile away.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 13 Comments »

Scenic Sunday: Back to the Beginning

April 24, 2011

Fall Creek Falls, Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee. April 21, 2011.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

This past Thursday Betsy and I went to Fall Creek Falls State Park here in Tennessee.  Fall Creek Falls is one of our favorite places to visit.  We had our first ‘big’ date there on April 21, 2001, and we’ve gotten back there on the anniversary just about every year since.  The picture above shows Fall Creek Falls, one of six waterfalls in the park.

Betsy and George at Cane Creek Cascade, Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee. April 21, 2011.

It was this first date that got us started ‘collecting’ waterfalls.  We’ve visited over 430 different waterfalls in the past ten years.

I also got my first kiss on that day — a tradition that I’ve happily continued.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 16 Comments »

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