A Break for Fall...

I think Fall Break is a wonderful idea. How did I go all the way until my senior year of high school without knowing about this concept? It is certainly a welcome rest in the midst of quite a crazy semester.


And what better place to spend a Fall Break than in the Great Smoky Mountains? My family along with Josh Crute and his family have rented a cabin in Wears Valley, TN (which is just outside of Townsend, TN, which is just outside of Pigeon Forge, TN), and boy, does it have a view! The valley just opens up beneath our cabin, which has an entire wall of windows looking that direction. The sunsets are spectacular.


Josh and I drove up here on Friday to meet my parents (who have been here since Monday). My grandparents were here too, briefly. They left Saturday morning, and Josh's parents drove up Saturday afternoon along with his brother Jeremy, who is a freshman at Covenant College.

Saturday we did a couple short hikes and ate dinner at the Bear Camp Grille here in Wears Valley. Ole' Smoky Burger = delicious.

This morning my dad made his famous scrambled eggs with ham, and then he and I along with Mr. Crute and Josh and Jeremy headed out to tackled the 8 mile round-trip hike to Charlie's Bunion. (An odd name for a outcropping of rocks with a fantastic view).


Tomorrow, we'll be getting up early to do the drive around Cades Cove and see all the wildlife...deer, turkies, maybe even bear! Then we'll head into Pigeon Forge, do the whole "tourist thing" and ride go-karts, and then have dinner at the Apple Barn. This place is amazing! I've only eaten there twice, (high school senior trip and freshman fall break), but oh my goodness...I can already taste the apple fritters with fresh apple butter. MMM. That will be the highlight of the trip, but really, since when is the food not the highlight of my trips? :-)

We'll be headed back to Samford on Tuesday, which will be nice. Not getting back to classes, of course, but getting back to friends, etc. Also, I'll be co-leading the Sr. High guys Bible study at Faith PCA with the Faith college minister, Martin Wagner, and that will start on Wednesday night. I'm really excited about that. It'll be a great oppotunity. I'm loving Faith more and more each time I go. I have plenty of reasons why, but that's for another day's blog post about the Church... :-)

Well, time to go. The sun is setting behind Wears Valley, and dinner is being served. As you know, this blog will always play second-fiddle to supper.