Uh yeah, I slipped away on vacation, sometime between checking on my sister and cleaning the small fish pond. Six and a half euphoric days which were uninterrupted by news of broken hips or impromptu visits to the emergency room. So, there was one visit to the emergency room, but my mother thought it best not to disturb the sanctity of vacation, and send the announcement in the form of a letter instead. Thoughtful, isn’t she? Grandma is recovering from her tumble, albeit with a black eye, and she is using her walker for the moment. Growing older is a real bitch.

So about the vacation? Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Yearly visit. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Of course, there was hiking. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Local color. Yadda, yadda, yadda. No wireless. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Decent food. Yadda, yadda, yadda. And good weather.

In brief:

200, Number of deer spotted at Cade’s Cove.

41, Number of wild Turkeys spotted.

30 Miles hiked.

8 Games of Miniature Golf played.

7 Bears spotted.

7 Mullets viewed when we chose the incorrect restaurant.

5 Number of stones gathered.

2, Number of felines that will not allow me ten seconds of privacy to myself since having returned.

1 Number of bites my better half received while illegally feeding wild life.

1 Number of books I finished reading on holiday.

0 patches of moss transplanted

*To see photos from the trip, click here

Oh and Bob, I snapped a photo of a little something for you. It has a relatively new paint job. I’ve seen it parked out side the pancake restaurant for a few years, on our continual jaunts to the Smokies. She’s had little body work since I first saw her, but it looks as though the effort paid off.

Last week when the weather was cooperative, we packed a picnic and took a trip to Cloudland Canyon. It’s a nice state park located south of the state line. The trip was of an experimental nature. My husband’s knee has been a little bit wonky, and we needed to re-access his hiking ability before we started planning longer hikes.

Both of us grew up in rural areas. As people accustomed to fields, forests, and creeks, we have a less stringent sense of geographical boundary. Kids don’t observe barbed wire fences, they squeeze between cables. What appears to the casual observer as a flagrant disregard for trespassing, is usually nothing more than casual exploration, and the juvenile desire to mark territory.

I like Cloudland, but they have so many rules.

I don’t want to destroy the natural habitat, or damage fragile ecosystems, but I miss climbing, rock collecting, and stick hoarding. My husband misses blazing trails, and gaining better access to creeks and overlooks.

I want to preserve habitat for future generations, but I also long to collect moss and rocks to create a more natural setting within my own yard. In the past, I may have harvested these items, but only for the purposes of propagation, never destruction.

In spite of al the rules, we managed to have good time.