Terrific Time in Tennessee

I hope everyone is having an amazing Spring Break! I know I enjoyed mine! After a three-year gap, my family finally headed back down to Tennessee to visit my grandpa. The trip down took about 12 hours (11 hours, 53 minutes, 30 seconds, and 32 milliseconds to be exact), but I played games, read, drew, watched movies, and kept my parents (who had to take turns driving) awake.

    When we arrived, Papa had a nice hot meal waiting for us. What was it, you ask? Well, if you remember my last post about visiting Papa, you’ll be able to give a pretty good guess. If you said chili, you would be correct! This time there was a bit of a twist, too, as the chili came with (*gasp*) spaghetti! Crazy, right? All joking aside, the meal was delicious, and Papa’s still a darn-tootin good chef.

    Over the course of four days, we participated in plenty of exciting activities. Mommy, Daddy (kind of), and I ran at the duck pond while Papa walked (and Daddy too!) and enjoyed the beautiful view of the lake while doing our best to avoid stepping in goose poop. Wanna know a secret about this particular duck pond? (Leans in and whispers in ear:) It has ducks. No, I am not going off the deep end, I realize that is sorta the point of a duck pond. The problem was, this pond had nothing but ducks (and geese). Ducks in every shape, size, color, and age you could imagine, but no other life (no, bugs do not count)! I brought all kinds of critter catching gear (thank you, Auntie A! :D), but the only thing I could catch (without sticking my net over a duck) was my dad!

    Aside from being disappointed by the Tennessean wildlife, Mommy, Daddy, and I also went on various hikes. We saw some bee-you-tee-ful waterfalls with sprays so strong, you could feel it a good 15 feet away, taking some very pretty pics. One hike involved a dangerously steep, very muddy, buggy, path going down, and a sweat-inducing climb (not for the weak of heart) on the way up.

    On another hike, I had to make a dramatic jump just to avoid stepping on an adorable, tiny snake (I named him Rupert). See pics below:

Nope, no filters. The sky was really that black.

     On another interesting note, we also visited Uncle Bill, Aunt Mary Lou, and Cousin Tyler again, some very fun relatives who were great hosts and have an AWESOME basement!

     After that, we went to see more family members, and I got to meet Aunt Glenda and Cousin Kendra for the first time. They made us feel right at home, and I even got to complete a coloring page for Aunt Glenda. :) 

    We also took another ride on the Tail of the Dragon, a huge, extremely twisty, headache-inducing road that Mommy, Daddy, Papa, and I had visited on our last trip down to Tennessee. We took pictures at the rest stop again to show the growth of three years, even posing with the new metal dragon statue. Among other things, we drove through a river, visited the local "Piggly Wiggly," saw some amazing scenery, and took boatloads of pictures.

Doggy takes a ride on a flying motorcycle.

    With Papa, we played tons of poker and enjoyed his chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies. Mommy and I were accused of teaming up and cheating since both boys were doing so badly (In poker, not cookie eating. They were amazing at that). Sore losers.

Happy Easter to everyone, and a big thank you to Papa for being an excellent host! Also, much appreciation to the other family members we visited for being so welcoming and awesome. :) It was an amazing trip, and thanks to tons of selfies, I won’t be forgetting it anytime soon! :)