"10" For Tennessee!

We visited the Great Smokey Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee during the long Columbus Day weekend last week and had a blast. We were able to use our accumulated sky miles for the flight and our stay was free for three nights because we attended a Time Share presentation. The "Time Share presentation" does demand that we share our time during our vacation, but we have been finding that it is a more economical way to travel and we have gotten better at getting out of them more quickly. In addition, our hotel gave us a free buffet breakfast and free lunch was provided during our presentation the next day! We have been fortunate enough to continue to travel during these difficult economic times.

Ironically, as much as we have traveled, Uday has still not gotten over his fear of flying!! But we managed to have a safe round trip flight after just barely making it to the airport on the way home with only one minute to spare!

On our first full day we decided to take the most strenuous short hike so we could climb some rocks at the peak of the mountain. Rock climbing has been Uday's dream and he was finally able to make it come true on this hike called, "Chimney Tops". The hike was about 2 miles each way. It was very scary climbing the rocks with no safety equipment but it was also exhilarating!













It was a great feeling to have accomplished the climb and the view from up top was worth the risk! It was spectacular and breath taking!









Over the next two days we hiked two different trails to see waterfalls. These hikes were not as easy as we thought they would be, as they snaked through the mountain's narrow pathways. The first waterfall we hiked to was called "Grotto Falls". During this hike we saw the weirdest thing! A herd of "Llamas" that were being used to bring supplies up the mountain. We thought this was strange because Llamas are native to South America and we did not expect to see them in Tennessee.









The second waterfall we hiked to was called "Abraham Falls" which was in "Cades Cove". "Cades Cove" was my personal favorite place in the Smoky Mountains and we ended up going there three times during our trip. The drive there is 25 miles each way and is a long windy road. Many times on the way we got distracted by the beautiful scenery and pulled over to take more pictures. We enjoyed the fall foliage, which I haven't seen in person in years now, and it was Uday's first time seeing it. What I loved about "Cades Cove" was the graceful deer we saw at sunset in their natural environment and the gentle looking black bears, who seemed to be more afraid of us than we were of them! Uday loves nature but is afraid of bears!













We have been experimenting with our new camera and have not quite learned how to use it to the best of it's ability, but we did capture some good pictures. We also took extra (modeling) pictures of each other while experimenting with our new camera. We hope that our photography skills will continue to get better for each trip we take!









Click on the picture below to view more pictures of the natural beauty of the Great Smokey Mountains:

One of the nights, after having a nice meal at a restaurant called "Cherokee Grill", we dared to go into the "Mysterious Mansion". We bonded with strangers quickly while waiting in line and while holding on to them throughout the haunted house. It was wicked!! That night we also took the Sky Ride which gave us a beautiful view of the little town at night and led to a romantic night!

Click on the picture below to view more pictures of the quaint town of Gatlinburg:

We also enjoyed our visit to "Ripley's Haunted Adventure" at night and "Ripley's Aquarium" during the day. "Ripley's Haunted Adventure" had cool effects and "Ripley's Aquarium", although small, was really soothing and felt like it was out of this world as we walked through the tunnel of different kinds of fish and sharks. There we also saw the most beautiful jelly fish where it was impossible to take a bad picture of them.

Click on the picture below to view more pictures of Ripley's Aquarium:


As usual, we were on the go the whole trip and we loved every minute of it!! I would recommend Gatlinburg, Tennesse to anyone. Beautiful mountains and nature, good food, a lot of family entertainment, candy, stores, and just something for everyone!!

Stay tuned for the video of our trip that we hope to post soon!

My BOO !!

I know Halloween is coming but this is not a blog about Halloween yet this is about our dog Riley, who I call Boo. I got Boo from the Peggy Adams Animal Shelter, in West Palm Beach, Florida on Valentines Day in 2003. Boo and I became very close and she also accepted and took in Uday whom she knows as "Buddy"! Boo loves and trusts me like her mommy and loves and lusts Buddy! Together, we all have a lot of fun being silly and we all go to the park on average once or twice a weekend when Uday and I are not traveling. At the park we enjoying running and Boo loves to chase birds and squirrels. Boo is especially obsessed with kitties and squirrels and has a disappointing weekend if she does not get to see any. We see her running in her sleep while she is sleeping in her bed and we know she is dreaming about chasing those squirrels. The park hardly has anymore squirrels left since she has chased them all away. Now where ever Uday and I go, we also try and take pictures of squirrels out of respect for Boo.

Boo has a great sense of humor and seems to really enjoy making us laugh. She knows that all she has to do to get attention is put her bum in the air with her face flat on the floor and she gets laughs and pats on her "tushy" as Uday calls it.

Boo doesn't like baths but likes to swim in the pond. She also loves to ride in the car with the wind blowing in her face, but doesn't like it when we blow in her face. She always has to have the front seat. People drive by and think Uday is awful because I am in the back seat and Boo is in the front, but I prefer it this way otherwise Boo is standing on my lap.

When we leave the house we tell her, "we'll be back...", and she puts her head down and she sadly walks to her bed and lays down with her chin flat on the bed with her big brown eyes looking up at us as to say, "please take me too". Some times when we come back she gets so exited that she runs from one room to another throwing herself on her bed in the living room and then running to the bedroom and throwing herself on her bed in our bedroom. She also changes this pattern up by sliding across our King Size bed. She's a funny Boo!

Another thing to note is that Boo actually smiles especially when she knows she has done something she is not suppose to do or did not do something she was suppose to do. When she smirks she has a smile like Kermit the Frog. I call it the "Kermy smile" and she also knows this by name. Check out her Kirmy smile in some of our pictures. It is very cute!

We took some pictures of some of our times together and set it to music. It gives a good idea of the fun we have with Boo but there are too many memories and experiences to really give Boo and her personality justice.
Boo is awesome!!

Click on the picture below to get a glimpse of Da Boo!


Click on the picture below to see the adventures of Boo with a Rat!