Yes there is still color in the Smokies

I arrived at the gates of Cades Cove before sunrise and joined the line that had already begun to form. I wasn't complaining; there were only about 10 cars ahead of me and last weekend a friend was here and there were 80 cars ahead of him. Later I headed to the Roaring Fork Motor Trail near Gatlinburg and it was a riot of color. The towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are just awful, congested tourist traps. It took me forever to find my way out of them. Townsend by contrast is just a normal country town. It has everything you need and it is very conveniently located to Cades Cove. Sparks Lane, Cades Cove

Middle Prong Little River near Tremont Regan's mill, Roaring Fork Motor Trail
Roaring Fork Motor Trail

Fall in the Smokies

I always try to get up to the mountains sometime during fall, and it's not easy trying to schedule a trip around a time when the color is expected to peak.Last weekend was the peak fall season for the Cades Cove area, but there is still some nice color around, and seriously, there is no bad time to visit. I did a brief survey this afternoon and one thing is for sure, there are still a lot of tourists in the area. Hopefully most of them won't be up and about as early as I plan to be. Looking forward to four days of wandering without any time and place restrictions.

Longing to get to the mountains

Every fall I just can't wait to get to the mountains and witness the wonder of the changing seasons. This weekend I will be photographing Lindsey and Robbie's wedding on Saturday evening, and Sunday morning I will hit the highway, headed for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I see that cold weather is forecast to move in, but I'm hoping there will still be pockets of color to photograph. It doesn't matter, there isn't a bad time to be in the Smokies. In the meantime, here is one of my favorite images of Dan and Ashley from last weekend.

Riot of Yellow

I passed this house in West Ashley yesterday and was struck by the mass of yellow. Today I drove by again and this time I had my camera with me. Why is it that yellow is such a cheerful color? Hard to feel sad looking at this.

Scene Stealers

Dan and Ashley got married in a wonderful garden setting on a perfect fall afternoon. I will post images on my website once I have had sorted through them, but in the meantime, these were too good to wait.

Dawn over the St. Helena Sound

This is a scene from yesterday morning's time on the St. Helena Sound. I will post more on my website as soon as I can, but just wanted to get this one up in the meantime. See the dolphin following the boat? Very cool.

Happy Birthday Cosmo!!

In classic goofy pose - happy birthday my friend.

Sunday Shoe Saga

Last week I went to church wearing two completely different shoes. I grabbed what I thought was a pair of sandals from my shoe shelf, strapped them on (yes, they were not slip-ons, so you’d have thought I might have noticed something awry at this point) and off I went. When I got out the car, my feet felt a little funny, like one was cooler than the other, and also that one leg was a little shorter than the other, but the thought didn’t go any further. As I was standing in line for a cup of coffee, the feeling struck me again, so I glanced down and started laughing. There was nothing to do at this point but keep wearing them, since probably more people would have noticed bare feet in church than would have noticed the mismatched pair, but of course Leigh, Josh and my friends got a generous dose of merriment at my expense.

Gideon turns one year old

Time sure flies and next week Gideon will be one year old. We took a few photos this afternoon for fun.