Great Smoky Mountains National Park

In spite of the rainy, foggy weather, we trekked out to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for the day. It was still a beautiful drive, and again it was so nice to have a change of scenery!

 Welcome to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

First stop....visitors center!

 Cuties

 Mingus Mill

Peeking at the forest

 Cheese!

 The old aquaduct

  Beautiful fall drive

 Shhh....nature!

 Selfie!

 A walk in the woods

 Old and new

 My baby and baby bear

Rushing river

 Rainy day ladies

Lil' explorer

Tranquil waters

Troublesome cub

 Panorama just below the clouds

Color explosion

Around Asheville

While visiting Biltmore and the Great Smokey Mountains, Asheville, NC was our home base, and it was a great little town! So many good restaurants and fun things to do!

A delicious breakfast monstrosity at Biscuit Head

Beautiful fall colors

We thought this grocery store "Ingles" was "inglés" as in English in Spanish, 

but it was really pronounced Ingles as in Laura Ingalls-Wilder.

It seemed funny at the time....*good story*

Awesome Tex-mex!

Autumn's cutie

Family photo at the "Most photographed view in the Smokey Mtns! - 50¢"

Foggy mountain morning

Don't feed the bears!!

Biltmore Estate

For our first day in Asheville, we headed over to Biltmore Estate, "America's Castle." It was nice, but we've been to quite a few castles / humongous mansions / palaces in our travels, and it was kind of a let down! It was probably that it was raining, and all our guidebooks really hyped it up! Expectations were high, we were trying out a new stroller (not a winner with anyone, especially Kylie), and naps were missed! Here's the day in photos!

 Ta-da!

 Artsy pic by Autumn

 Kylie's favorite part - being out of the stroller!

 Fall colors!

 Panorama on the patio

 K's best cherub impersonation

 

 Yay! IT'S OVER!

 ROAR!

 Twisty old tree

Autumn splendor

Majuro to North Carolina!

Kylie and I tagged along with Autumn to DC for some training and a quick family vacation. After 24+ hours of traveling, we made it to Virginia! The first day was a whirlwind of buying warm clothes for the trip and catching up with V&S. The next morning we drove through Shenendoah down to the Smokey Mountains in North Carolina (a state that I love more each time we visit). It was a long drive, but totally worth it for the beautiful fall foliage! After being in Majuro, everything seemed HUGE! I'm pretty sure that the Capitol Beltway is bigger (and wider) than the whole island!

 Cupcakes with V&S!

 If there's a carousel, Kylie will find it!

No matter how tiny!

Stopping in to the Southern Inn for some southern food!

First glimpses of fall foliage

 

Say family vay-cay!

Last days of Fall

Our trip went by way to fast, as always, but it was so great to catch up with friends and family that we hadn't seen in months! It was so nice to have a break from the heat too. The weather was so perfect, we didn't want to go home.

 K's new rig

Fall.

Fakesgiving II

Since we are never home at real Thanksgiving, we had Fakesgiving II out at the farm! Everybody pitched in and brought a dish, and it was tots amazing as usual! 

Foraged grapes!

 Three amigas!

 First fig newton with Grandma Cathy

 Horsing around with dad

 Wheee!

 Oh! Doggies!

 Hi

 Not sure if I like this...

 OK, I LOVE it!

I'm ready for my dinner!

Four generations

Together again!