Yesterday was so epic, I really don’t know where or how to start this post!

The day before had been horrible with my back, then on top of that I had either a touch of food poisoning or an episode of diverticulitis. So if you’re wondering about why the step counting stopped, now you know. I needed a day or two to rest and start getting these things into motion.

How wonderful to wake up to a better day yesterday. ☺️ We had made plans, Anne, her grandson, and me-to take a trip to Cataloochie to find some elk. Dave wanted to stay home and work on his trout fishing (something new for him) and daily he is getting closer to snagging a trout! So when the time came, I was ready.

Before that however, I had been doing my stretches and back and core exercises to ease my back pain. It’s going to take a while, because I’d let my abs go and now have to do the work to get my core strength back. Anyway, I digress. While walking brandy, I noticed that the leaves that had fallen after the rain were stunning. So I gathered some pretty ones and made my own art work on our picnic table.

Anne and her David picked me up at the agreed on time, and off we went into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I’m not sure how big this park is, but Anne said it’s the most visited park in the world.

As we drove, I relived the twisty, curvy roads similar to those we drove while in the motor home, yet David knows these roads and took them at a much higher speeds. Our first stop was at a scenic over look and I was amazed at the view.

Returning to the car, we saw a big box and Anne asked if I knew what that was. I did not, so she explained that it was a bear proof trash receptacle. When we finished our trip, we went back to see how it worked.

As we made our way to the park, I took in the views. I love a tree-lined road.

Arriving in the part of the park David had seen them before, we were amazed to see 10-15 there already and a small crowd viewing them.

I took way to many pics to show, and a lot looked similar, so I’ll just pick a few. I thought this was as good as we were going to get, but then came the surprises.

Before I get to that, I was fascinated by this old house bearing my family name of Caldwell. So we toured the whole thing and I just have to share!

After touring the house and cold house, we started to make our way back across the creek when we saw elk much, much closer. We decided to wait and watch.

I had taken videos of the closest one to us, but they apparently didn’t load yet. He was literally 10ft away, but didn’t mind us watching. We saw no aggression from any of the elk, and some people got dangerously close, yet all stayed quiet. I think they are so used to seeing people around, they aren’t bothered by them.

Of course, we weren’t tempting fate. We waited a proper amount of time before crossing the bridge. Next, we explored the elk hanging around the barn and got closeups of horned elk on the drive out.

On the way back, we stopped at the foot of the overlook again to see the trashcan and how it works for people but keeps the bears out. I went over to the info board while Anne and David studied the workings of the trashcan.

So much history here and such beauty, it’s all breathtaking.

It was a wonderful day and Anne treated us to one of their local eateries. We forgot the pictures but it’s ok. We were enjoying each other and the delicious meal we were eating. It’s finally time for church, so I will see y’all later on. I can’t wait to check in with the family and see what’s happening with them this week.

Chris sent pictures of an accident he had and I need to hear what happened, Josh and Shari are moving to a new city and I must hear the details on that, and I have no idea about what’s gone on with Sean lately. So hopefully all will be doing dinner at Kevin’s tonite and I can catch up with everyone!