Camping in Pigeon Forge

The Wings of America show at Dollywood was excellent. It was our second trip there this summer - thanks to our season pass. We took in the Dixie Stampede too on this trip and what a hoot that was.

We clapped along with the Smoky Mtn. String Band music at Dollywood on Thursday.

One of our favorite shows is the Kingdom Heirs' gospel music.

the very "smoky" mountains on Sabbath morning

We biked Cades Cove loop Sabbath morning in Smoky Mtn. National Park. About 40 feet off the road was this mother bear and her cub! Then just another 2 or 3 minutes down the road another bear ran right across the road in front of us! I prefer to see bears from the safety of a vehicle. . . but since we lived to tell about it, it was kinda' cool - they were the first bears we've ever seen in Cades Cove.

The shade felt good since it was a very hot, humid morning.

After our picnic lunch, we cooled off in the creek in the park. It's been unusually hot in the Smokies this summer too. It was mid-90's there these last 4 days that we spent there.

We found a nice private campground in Pigeon Forge with lots of trees, and bigger campsites than most private campgrounds. We like having AC and power for summer camping we decided over camping in the national park with no power like we did in June.

So our summer of welcoming Claire into our lives on May 24, several fun short trips to see family, and a couple long weekends of camping in the Smokies has been wonderful.
We go back to work tomorrow ~ we are so thankful for our great jobs at CA.