We had SUCH a great day yesterday! We could not have planned more perfect weather for our day out, what a beautiful day it was!
We met Suzette and her family at 11:37 (we were both running a little behind!) and swapped out kids and drove to Cowan, TN for our first stop at the train depot.
The boys headed off to play on the trains and the girls all went to the used book store! We soon joined everyone at the train station and looked through the museum and climbed on the trains for nearly an hour!
We met Suzette and her family at 11:37 (we were both running a little behind!) and swapped out kids and drove to Cowan, TN for our first stop at the train depot.
The boys headed off to play on the trains and the girls all went to the used book store! We soon joined everyone at the train station and looked through the museum and climbed on the trains for nearly an hour!
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| She can't not touch stuff! : ) |
After Cowan, we stopped at the natural arch for a little while then we went straight to the visitor center at South Cumberland to see what we needed to do about checking in for the night canoe!
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| A very back-lit tree |
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| Grumpy old man |
Our next stop was at Dutch Maid Bakery in Tracy City where we picked up bread and a goodie each, then a very quick pop-in at the grocery store for turkey and cheese and off to Grundy Lakes!
We had a picnic beside the upper lake and chatted and the little guys climbed the tree and we shooed the enthusiastic ducks away from our yummy bread more than once!
After eating, we went over to the swim beach for a couple of hours and hopped out to get dressed in warm, dry clothes when we saw the truck arrive with the canoes!
Everyone dressed and ready, we split into groups of 3 and hopped on board our vessels, Suzette had never been canoeing before! We had a great time paddling around the lake, the water was like glass and there was no wind at all. The ranger in charge of the trip was more relaxed than our previous experience, we were able to paddle around anywhere we wanted while she cruised back and forth. The girls and I stayed out until it was full dark, what a great experience! We saw bats, heard barred owls and paddled alongside a beaver who was dragging a branch off across the lake. Wonderful stuff.
Everyone dressed and ready, we split into groups of 3 and hopped on board our vessels, Suzette had never been canoeing before! We had a great time paddling around the lake, the water was like glass and there was no wind at all. The ranger in charge of the trip was more relaxed than our previous experience, we were able to paddle around anywhere we wanted while she cruised back and forth. The girls and I stayed out until it was full dark, what a great experience! We saw bats, heard barred owls and paddled alongside a beaver who was dragging a branch off across the lake. Wonderful stuff.
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| yes, I am a dork |
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| watching the beaver! |
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| if you think this is a blurry branch in dark water, you are right! Attached to the branch is a beaver! |
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| Love this, Suzette finally gets to paddle and there's Dave, holding on for dear life! |
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We had dinner at Fazoli's in Tullahoma, which was like a round of applause at the end of a great show, I love Fazoli's! : ) We got back home around 12:20 last night, the van rolled to 100k miles while we were out yesterday and...the check engine light came on! LMAO! It was EXACTLY when it rolled to 99900 while leaving Grundy Lakes. We think it's a reminder to get the air filter changed, Matt is taking it in to Autozone today to have them run a scan. I know the AC, transmission, brakes, battery, oil...all of that is working fine. Last time it came on, the gas cap was not screwed on tight enough, so it's likely an emissions thing.
