We spent ten days in the Appalachian Mountains, and indeed, they were a blessing.
Our fourth stop brought us to Waynesville, North Carolina right next to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
On Saturday we took a leisurely drive through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We stopped at many observation points along the way to gaze at the layers of mountains with their unique hazy air, making each distant ridge seem darker than the one before.
At the Newfound Gap summit, we took our own photo with our tripod, and then a fun serendipity happened.
Sue was approached, at random, by a young woman who had just received a promise ring from her boyfriend, and she was wanting someone to take their picture. Little did she know… that she just asked a wedding photographer to help her… and Sue was eager to do her thing with them, thoroughly enjoying every moment of this impromptu photo shoot. Two dozen poses later, and with them both loving all the attention, the young woman looked at the pics on the back of her nice SLR camera (that she had bought just yesterday for this day) and she teared up with smiles and joy. It was a lovely grace-filled moment!
On the western side of the park, we stopped at the Gatlinburg Visitor Center as well, but moved as quickly as possible through the town of Gatlinburg, which is way too ‘tourist-y’ for us. On the way back to Waynesville, Sue used Yelp to find the Haywood Smokehouse for amazingly terrific BBQ food. Yes!
Waynesville was one of our best camping sites of the trip, as our trailer was backed-up to the bank of Jonathan Creek. We took advantage of our camping spot all three days, and spent hours sitting in our camping chairs only six feet from the creek reading, reflecting, and praying.
Sunday was a relaxing day, and we found a church to attend that was one of the more welcoming churches that we have experienced. The worship band music was really good, the people were very friendly, and the message was inspiring. We had expected something conservative, and instead got an open, honest, and helpful message without any political overtones – Yay! The church’s high school youth were away working at a soup kitchen, and with youth group attendance of 66, they account for 10% of the 606 in worship attendance. Their nursery is growing from 3 to 4 rooms during worship, and impressively 40% of their members are high school or younger!
It was a great weekend at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and a wonderful ten days in the Appalachian area. On Monday, we will head to South Carolina to visit our sixth National Park of this trip.