Part 2~Tennessee, In The Smokies

The Great Smoky Mountains first captured my heart almost 25 years ago. That's when I first met hubby Geo, and we ventured through their glorious beauty on a motorcycle trip to the Honda Hoot in Asheville, NC. 

We always look forward to spending some time in these stunning mountains when we're in the area. 

🚙   🚘  🚙   🚘  🚙

Driving into the park's Chimney Picnic area.

Fun Fact: 

It's never above 80 degrees in 

the Smoky Mountains National park.

Ooo-La-La! 

I love that!

🐟 🐡 🐢 🐟 🐡 🐢 🐟

Streams are abundant here to say the least!

According to the blog, 

10 Things You Need to Know... 

on the Park's website, 

there are 2900 miles of streams 

zig zagging through the park.

For all you fishing folks, 

fishing is allowed in ALL the streams. 

The website also informs us that: 

"About 20% of the streams are large enough to support trout populations. Other angling experiences range from remote head water trout streams to large coolwater smallmouth bass streams."  

You might want to give it 

a whirl if you're an angler!

🌳 🌞 🌳 🌞 🌳 🌞 🌳

I always love an upshot!

Grab your sunglasses and take a 

gander at that radiant sun peeking 

through those tall treetops.

A lovely blue sky and cotton ball clouds!

🌲 🚘 🌲 🚙 🌲 🚗 🌲

We also drove up to Clingman's Dome.

The road along the way!

At 6,643 feet, Clingman's Dome is the 

highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains.

There's quite an abundant view of the Smokies
looking straight out from the parking lot.

Another direction.

And another direction!

Last year, we hiked up to the observation tower 

which is behind where these pics were taken.

No hiking this year though!

🐕  🐶 🐾  🐕  🐶 🐾  🐕

Chewy & Elmer on a rock 

by the shallow stream.

I learned how to get a good pic of 
the dogs when distractions abound.

Just ask them if they want a treat!
Click!


😊
Smiles,
D~~~~

Part 1~Tennessee Aquarium of the Smokies

We recently spent nine glorious days in one of our favorite places--the Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Great Smoky Mountains area.  One of those days, we went to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. 

It's a pretty cool place!

We enjoyed it!

Coral Reefs are quite beautiful!

The lion fish is 

a pretty thing and very interesting!

Rather unusual, isn't it?

The area for the Glass Bottom Boat 

was small but fun for the kiddos!

I wonder if sharks were

visible from the Glass Bottom Boat?

Maybe.

Jellyfish!

One of God's most unique creations!

Speaking of unique!

Love him dearly❗

I suddenly have an urge 

to don some black & white.

And waddle!

Can you hear the Jaws music?

Yikes!

A creepy creature!

Lots of delightful color 

here amongst the whatnots!

The busy street outside the Aquarium.

Okay, I cry "Uncle!"

"Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!" 

I worked on a short, two minute vid for a couple of afternoons to add to the bottom of this post but I cry "Uncle" and give up that idea.  The vid is finished but getting it into this post, well that's a very ugly, extremely sad, life-altering, traumatic story. 😢😢😢😢😢

 (Oh, and I never, ever, ever, 

ever exaggerate 😂😂😂!)  

Seriously though, I give up because I have other things to do right now!  Life is too good to sweat the small stuff! 

If I decide to tackle it another day though, and I actually succeed, you'll be the first to know when it shows up as another post. 

More from our recent trip soon.

Take care y'all!

Smiles,

D~~~~

 

A Beautiful Sight!

We've met five different neighbors for a total of 10 people in our soon-to-be neighborhood. That's more than we knew the entire time we lived in our last neighborhood, and we were there for 18 years! 

They're all very nice and helpful! One neighbor across the street, Tony, texts pics to Geo when there's action on our lot. We head that way ASAP if we can to grab some pics, and see what's going on. It's only 15 minutes or so from the RV park.

After many days of rain that had just stopped, we were surprised to get a pic from Tony earlier this week. 

We'll take it!  

Thanks Tony! 

We arrived to see a trencher digging

 ditches for our water, electric and sewer lines.

Woo-hoo!

Mr. Trencher in action!

It was a beautiful sight to see! 

😍

The next day, we returned and no one was there. It was an opportunity for Geo to more closely check out the dig on our future digs. 

The lot was a mud hole of sorts but

Inspector Geo maneuvered his way around.

PVC plumbing sticking up!

There's plenty more work to be done before it's ready for the concrete to be poured but we're just happy to see the digging! 

Geo's assessment: 

So far so good!

 👍  😀  👌

Aerial Views

For awhile now, Geo's had a hankering for a drone. He finally gave in and bought one!  He's a newbie at it but took some drone pics of the lot. I think he did great!

    The front of the house is 

at the bottom of this pic.

They pulled a board away in the front to get the trencher in. That's where the garage will be. The lot is pie shaped and the large part of the pie is in the front which you can probably tell.

Here's a view with the back 

of the house at the bottom.

Here's the road in front & our truck.

The dogs and I are inside the truck.

Can you see us?

If so, you have impressive vision!

👀 😁 👓

A side view.

You might notice that our 

house is on a slight curve. 

Can you see the drone in the pic below? 

It's the black dot almost 

in the cloud-covered sun.

I cropped it a bit to be more visible.

Here it is again after dropping closer.

No cropping on this one.

That's it for now.

Be back soon.

Big Smiles,

D~~~~

Two Surprises in Two Days!

On Wednesday, May 5th, we drove on over to our lot and found it had been excavated! 

Surprise #1

Woo-hoo!

Even Fred, the Porta Potty is happy. 

How do we know?

Because his door is slightly ajar saying, 

"Welcome workers!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Two days later, we discovered 

Surprise #2--foundation forms!

This is a close-up view of the house front. 

The garage will be on the left.

A pic from the back left side...

...and from the back right corner.

Another front view taken from

the middle of the street with

Geo happily sizing up the situation. 

The house above (on the far left) is almost completed. That's the back of their house. It will face the side of ours. 

Two more houses are being built next to it. They're a little farther along than ours but don't have the concrete poured yet.

As you might imagine, these surprises are 

very encouraging and exciting for us!

We hope and pray that this process 

 moves swiftly and smoothly along.

😃 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Elmer & Chewy always enjoy trips out to the lot. Actually, they like going anywhere except the vet. Elmer isn't crazy about the groomer either and he is due to go!

Here's Elmer delighting in a pretzel stick!

And Chewy napping on Geo's arm!

We love our boys!

Be back soon.

Big Smiles & Warm Hugs,

D~~~~

We're Somebody Now!

Yesterday, we rode over to our lot to check for any signs of building-like activity. We were thrilled to discover a porta potty on our lot!

WOO-HOO!

GREAT BIG YAY!

See him below! 

He's on the left side of the lot.

Yes, the porta potty is a he. 

We see all men working on the construction

so that makes him a men's room.

Isn't he handsome all decked out in his 

red-door decor and dapper blue side?

He needs a name!

How 'bout Fred?

I think that'll work.

What do you think?

Look at Fred sitting there all alone 

and cattywampus on the curb.

OR 

Maybe the neighborhood is cattywampus. 

Hmmm?

😂

Doubtful!

Hopefully, Fred won't be alone for long!

If all goes well, Fred will soon see 

a flurry of activity all around him!

Below is a distant view of Fred 

taken from the street behind us.

He looks fabulous from all angles!

When we first spotted him, 

Geo noted, 

"Crap is about to happen!

I added, 

"We have a porta potty! 

We have a porta potty!

We're somebody now!

(Think Steve Martin in The Jerk.)

Next, we're hoping to see some lumber to keep Fred company, as well as some dirt being pushed around. That would make Fred very happy, and whatever makes Fred happy... well, you know... makes us happy! 

As you can tell from the pics, it was a gloomy day. (By the way, I did try to brighten the pics but it didn't help much.) We've had lots of rain and might have more over the next few days. I don't know how much dirt pushing they'll do if it is rainy, but of course, we're hoping the rain leaves NOW so it can dry out. Be back soon.

Smilin' About Red-Door Fred,

D~~~~

Throw Back Thursday & Canine Cuties

How about a Throw Back Thursday post? 

This one doesn't go very far back though. 

In our Covid 2020 travels, we were always looking for safe things to do, and downtown Wichita, KS offered the perfect adventure--a self-guided tour of the murals throughout their downtown area.  Woo-hoo!  

We found this online map. 

We didn't stick to it though 

and we didn't see them all. 

Below are some of the ones we did see:

A very cool postcard.

The murals were painted over a period of time and during various events as you can see from the map. 

This guitar is located outside a music store.

The names of the murals are on the map too. I just went through them but could only find some of the names.

This one is named, Sound of Summer.

Hope it doesn't bug you!

If you're interested in all the names, challenge yourself to find them on the map. It'll be an eyeball adventure and a finger clicking workout!

Looks like there are various aspects  

of Kansas represented on this mural! 

This fun one is called,  

Sheriff of Flavortown.

It's just outside a BBQ joint!

Here's a pretty mural. 

It seems to tell an interesting story.

I wonder what the name is!

I saw that this one is Untitled.

There are quite a few 

untitled pieces on their map.

I like the way this one looks a bit wrinkled.

These are interesting too! 

This one is my favorite!

I don't know why but I love it!

It's name is, Take Your Pick.

* * * * * * *

Oh and by the way, in my last post, I mentioned how much our canine cuties enjoyed riding around with us every day. I meant to put a pic of them in that post but forgot so here they are:

Our sweetie pies,

Chewy & Elmer

riding in their beds in the truck.

* * * * * * *

Also mentioned in the last post, we're waiting for some activity on our lot. We were notified two weeks ago that they're looking to start doing something toward the end of the month. That deadline is close so we drove out there two days ago and we got nothin'! 

Nada. 

Zero. 

Zilch. 

Still as can be. 

So we continue to wait...

Still Smiling,

D~~~~