Roach Family Road trip Day 2

Day 2

Well... we've settled in here for a few days in White Pine, TN.  My hometown. It's an interesting thing with hometowns.  When you've been away for 15 some odd years you begin to realize what a neat place it is. The beauty and simplicity has been way too easily taken for granted by me.

In perhaps our last trip to the store for camping supplies (highly doubt it though), we decided to go to the Coleman Outlet and Lodge Outlet store outside of Pigeon Forge.  We needed to pick up a "lid lifter" for our Dutch oven that we forgot at home and propane (a full canister to be on the safe side).

From there... we decided to drive through Gatlinburg (more on this in a bit) and head on to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We visited the Sugarlands Visitor Center so we could buy a National Park Passport for Lily.  The other two had one so of course Lily needed one as well.  These things are pretty cool.  I didn't really know about these things until I met Juli.  She shared with me her experiences with traveling with her family and visiting National Parks and getting stamps / stickers in her and her brother's "passport" (which sadly at the moment we cannot find Juli's).  One of these trips even included Bob taking a multi -hour side trip so they can get their stamps.  Apparently, these things are pretty popular.  So we are carrying on the tradition.  I'm looking forward to watching the kids receive their stamps from all the NP's we visit!

Gatlinburg - 

I've not visited Gatlinburg since the wild fires hit sections of the town in late November.  Going back home we took the Cherokee Orchard Rd. to Hwy 321.  We passed the Log Cabin Pancake House that I bussed tables at for a summer.  Along this road we also some of the devastation left behind due to the fires.  There is a little rebuilding but we mostly saw concrete foundations and the lonely chimney here and there.  

On the way home, I told the kids that when I was in high school a popular thing to do was to... well...

Me: "Guys when I was in high school what a lot of people did... myself included... was to drive up to Gatlinburg and drive on that same road at about 4 miles-per-hour... and when we got to the end... we would turn around and do it again... we were cruising."

Eli: "Why!?!"

Me: "We were cruising."

Eli: "Again... Why would anybody do that?  Sounds like a waste of time!"

Hahaha... I just left it at that.  

Well... our trip has begun.  I am beyond excited.  Although we may experience Eli's smelly feet, Mom cutting her eyes, my frustration at whatever... these things will pale in comparison to the experience of everything else.  Did I mention that I am excited?  Excited to see new things, experience new things, meet new people, eat new things (ha... let's not get carried away!).  But most all... to wonder at the glory of our Creator God's creation and roll it all up into praise.  I am very blessed to be able to do this with my wife and kids.  

Aaron