Day 2-Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest

On Tuesday, August 20th, we decided to take a trip up to Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. This was one of the highlights of our trip. Not only because we had never been there before, but one of our oldest and dearest friends used to talk about this place all the time. I would like to dedicate these photos to the memory of our friend, Tony Long, who was killed in a semi-truck accident in Texas on Aug. 3rd. His sons will be scattering his ashes in the place that he loved so much.

 

I'll post more pictures from Joyce Kilmer tomorrow. This place was so gorgeous and serene. It had rained before we got there and while we were there. The trails were muddy, but we enjoyed every minute of our hike.

Anniversary Trip to Sky Ridge Yurts-Day 1

Me and Terry celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary with a trip to the mountains of Bryson City, North Carolina. We stayed at a place called Sky Ridge Yurts. What's a yurt you ask? Click on this link to find out more. We arrived on the afternoon of Aug. 19th to rain and cloudy skies. This is the king bed in our yurt. It was so comfortable. I don't usually sleep well in strange places, but I had no problem falling asleep here.

Our efficiency kitchen.

Another view of the front door of the yurt.

The bathroom had a very nice enclosed slate shower. That's the vanity reflecting in the shower door.

The only chair in the yurt was large enough for both of us to sit in. That's the back door to the right of the chair.

The flagstone fire pit area. This is where we spent all of our evenings on our trip. Thank goodness the weather cooperated for a nice fire each night. There was a stack of firewood provided by the owners of the yurt. We burned a lot of it in three nights. They also had these little primitive chairs which were actually quite comfortable. We took our camp chairs as well. We enjoyed listening to the sounds of the katydids which were deafening

The back door of our yurt.

Terry building the first fire of our trip. The first night we had to dodge a lot of raindrops, but we were determined not to let it spoil our fun. I don't think the temps got our of the 70's during our entire trip.

There were three yurts in all. This is the view from our front porch. Luckily we were the only ones there. We had the place all to ourselves, which was nice!

Surrounded by mountains. It doesn't get any better!

Terry relaxing by the fire the first night of our trip.

This is the view from the back deck. Now we know why they call them "the Smokies." The view was ever changing depending on the weather.

Gratuitous shot of moi enjoying the scenery.

The ceiling of our yurt. It had a retractable bubble top sky light. The skylight made it hard to sleep late in the morning.

Random shot taken by Terry laying on our bed.

Another view of the fire pit area. I'm ready to go back there.

The flag stone pathway on the side of our yurt. Terry loves to build things and he was amazed by the construction of the yurts.

The view toward the parking lot. Day 2 pictures to come!