Gatlinburg trip, part 3

We hiked the Laurel Falls trial in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park because it was listed as being wheelchair and stroller accessible. It was paved, but it was a lot steeper than we expected, and the trail didn't have guardrails on the side where there were some pretty steep drop-offs. The scenery and waterfall were beautiful, though.

Gatlinburg trip, part 2

The town was decorated for fall.



Scott had a hankering for something deep fried, so we bought deep fried Oreos to share with everyone.

Gatlinburg trip

On the way to Gatlinburg, we stopped in Asheville for lunch. A potter had set up a table outside the store where he and a bunch of other artists and craft people had booths. He showed us some pottery techniques and talked about working with clay. We went inside to see all the arts and crafts for sale.



On our first full day there, we explored the resort. We found a picnic area near a stream.



We brought the Wii along, and it was very popular during downtime at the condo. The grownups got their turn after the kids were asleep.



Audrey wanted to have her hair done like Kristi every day.



Our first stop in Dollywood was the booth selling biscuits and fresh apple butter. Then it was on to the carousel.



I figured I'd better get a picture of this, because it would probably be the only ride Chuck went on all day!



The Country Fair section had a lot of fun kid rides. It also had giant vegetables.



The girls got in a little target practice while Nancy shopped for a hat for Nicholas.



Nicholas threatened to shoot anyone who made fun of this hat.



Here's the other ride Chuck went on.

Fall colors

It's fall, at least according to one branch of this oak tree.

Japanese Stilt Grass (Microstegium vimineum)

The goat lady told me what this was called. It was introduced to the United States around 1919 as packing material for porcelain and escaped and flourished. It's considered very invasive. Fortunately, it's shallow-rooted, so it's easy to pull up. I know because I pulled bags and bags of it out of my garden. Maybe I should just hire the goats to come eat the rest of it. They think it's yummy.

1. Poison ivy
2. Virginia creeper
3. Wild blackberry
4. Lamb's Ear
5. Great laurel
6. Fireworks Goldenrod
7. Orange Jewelweed
8. Blue Anise Sage
9. Sage
10. Greek oregano
11. Rosemary
12. Azalea
13. Stilt grass

Master bath

Here's the master bedroom and bath with the walls framed out.

Bridge building challenge

This week's Think! challenge was to build a bridge using 2 sheets of paper, 6 sticks of spaghetti, 2 spoons, 2 cups for supports, and 15 inches of tape. The bridge was supposed to span 9 inches and hold as many pennies as possible.

Audrey's design used only the cups and tape. It didn't quite span 9 inches, but it held 69 cents.



Mary used the spaghetti inside a folded piece of paper, and used the tape to keep the paper shut and to hold the bridge onto the supports. Stacking pennies on top was like playing "Don't Spill The Beans" so we had to build another contraption to test the bridge. It held 150 pennies before the supports collapsed.