Green – Valerie's Voice

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The weather predicted for our time in Great Smoky Mountains National Park was rain. But our plans were set and we were going to stop there for three nights on our way to visit our son and his family in North Carolina.

So when we had beautiful, mostly sunny days while in the park we were grateful. We stayed on the “peaceful side of the park”, as Townsend, TN boasts. And the cabin we rented was less than a mile from the park entrance. We liked the location.

The lookout at Clingman’s Dome, the highest point in the park.

The GSMNP is busy, one of the most visited parks in the US. There is no entrance fee, which is unusual for a national park. There were a limited the number of people allowed in the visitor’s center so we never did get into one because of the long lines.

The park is lush green this time of year…so many shades of green. The road through the park follows the Little River and that added to the beauty.

We did some hiking in the park…to Clingman’s Dome (the parking lot fills by 9 am) and to Laurel Falls (same deal for parking) and other smaller hikes.

One day we ate lunch in a wonderful picnic area, and drove through Cade’s Cove (an 11-mile loop through an 1800’s farming community in the park) at twilight on two different nights.

Gary and our car in the background for perspective of how tall the tree are.

The first night in Cade’s Cove we saw some deer, but on the second night we saw one owl and five black bear. One bear was in a tree, a mama bear with two cubs crossed the road in front of us (we were third car back) and the fifth bear was walking into the woods. The Barred Owl was sitting on a tree branch. They were all exciting to see.

On our last evening, as we drove out of the park back to our cabin, it started to rain.

Pretty in the mist…leaving the park…on our way to North Carolina.

Thirty Years

My friend and I celebrated our 30^thannual “girls get-away” this week. We were more like girls when we took our first trip together in 1989, to Seattle. We didn’t know then that this tradition would continue thirty years, without missing a year.

A rabbit sculpture on a river walk along the Mississippi.

She lives in Indiana, I live in Minnesota and at least once a year we get together to catch up on life. We always have a great time; we share stories of our sons (and now grandchildren) and bring each other up to date on our lives, while shopping thrift stores and antique shops, strolling along a river (or being near some type of water), and visiting botanical gardens and/or garden centers. Those activities make up our criteria for where we meet.

A wonderful flower pot in a store front.

We met 37 years ago at church during greeting time (she lived in Minnesota at that time.) I had an infant and she was pregnant with her first child. After her son was born I offered to bring her lunch. I brought tuna fish sandwiches in a brown paper bag! But, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. On almost every trip someone asks if we are sisters…and we have begun to say yes.

May 2019. The Mississippi is to the left.

We were near the Mississippi River this year and the spring greens and blooming trees were spectacular.

A train rolling on tracks along the Mississippi River.

Out the window of a restaurant where we ate dinner one evening.

My attempt to capture the beauty and perspective of this sweeping view of southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

We enjoyed sitting on a bench along the river at twilight…this robin stayed with us, first on the ground and then in the tree.

The Color Green

Green…spring greens…such beauty…everywhere you look. It’s dazzling.

And there is not just one color green but many shades of green.

Just think if everything green was the same color, tint or shade of green.

Of course the same can be said for the color blue and red and purple and other colors – they all have different shades, but shades of green surround us and are so pronounced, especially in spring time.

Shades of green are on display for us all to see just by going outside.

My camera didn’t capture the shimmer in the tree tops.

Green is an amazing color.

When my boys were little and coloring with crayons I explained that God created all the colors before Crayola made crayons. What fun to look inside a fresh box of crayons.

I love color…our brains like color…but right now I’m partial to green.