where i finally climb that f#@&ing mountain and see the cascade

the last time we were here in gatlinburg, i took a group of adventurers (max, jimmy, kelsey, and liam) on a 4-mile (each way) hike to see the ramsey cascade, the tallest waterfall in GSMNP (100 feet). the cascade is deep in the park, and just getting to the trailhead required driving 5 miles into the interior, most of it on unpaved roads (and no cell signal, as max kept lamenting). long story short, due to a slight (major) logistical error on my part, we parked about 2 miles from the actual trailhead, which resulted in excess hiking and us having to turn around with 2.5 miles still to go to reach the waterfall. fortunately, matt and katie (those guys again!) happened to be hiking up the trail behind us, so max, jimmy, and kelsey continued back up the mountain with them and got to see the ramsey cascade. i didn't get there, to my great disappointment, and i vowed that if i ever came back to GSMNP, i would climb that f#@&ing mountain and see the cascade.

and now, here we are. bright and early wednesday, max and i dropped holli, liam, and henry off in front of a pancake place in downtown gatlinburg (after breakfast, they were going to spend the morning/early afternoon using the golden ticket to check out all the stuff on the main drag), and we headed to the greenbrier park entrance. cell-phone service predictably faded as we drove to the trailhead, to max's dismay, and off we went.

the first mile and a half were not bad, with some moderate hills mixed with long flat sections. the trail follows the little pigeon river (or small tributaries thereof), so the sound of water running through rocks and rapids was never far away. not too long into it, however, we reached the 1.5-mile mark, which is as far as i made it two years ago. everything from that point was new to me. it was old hat to max, who just wanted to get on with it already.

after that point, it got hard. the ramsey cascade trail is listed in the various literature (hiking books, online, etc.) as "rugged," "difficult," or "strenouous" (or some combination of all those), and with good reason. the trail gains over 2000 feet in elevation over its 4 miles, and due to erosion, roots and rocks were constant obstacles. still, it wasn't so bad, and we made good time and passed several groups of hikers along the way.

shortly after the 1.5-mile mark (2.5 miles to go), we encountered the first (of 2) narrow bridge over the adjacent stream. max and friends had told me about how rickety and alarming the bridges appeared when they did this hike 2 years ago, but they either exaggerated the danger, or the bridges were rebuilt in the meantime (my theory, as the first bridge was completely moss-, lichen-, and algae-free).

mother nature was against us, at least a bit. several large trees had fallen over the trail, but they didn't slow us down too much. it became a joke, as we expected mother nature to eventually say, "my previous obstacles haven't stopped them. send in the bears!"

the area around the ramsey cascade trail includes large sections of old-growth forest that have never been logged (according to several sources, the national park designation was due in part to protecting old-growth forest in the face of excessive logging). we progressed into an area with big oaks, maples, and hemlocks, as well as several immense poplars.

while taking a break and photographing the huge poplars, i realized that i had put my backpack on a log with some interesting fungi. they looked like a pancake stack, which seemed appropriate considering my pancake-loving kids.

after that, the trail really started living up to its "rugged" and "strenuous" description. constant uphill with roots, logs, rock piles, and more, with nary a flat section to give us a breather. someone (park personnel, i would assume) helpfully constructed crude rock stairs in several places, which made things slightly less taxing.

finally, we made it to the top of the trail and received our reward: the ramsey cascade. it was very impressive, and i'm glad i was finally able to make it up here. supposedly there are salamanders in the pool at the bottom of the falls, but we didn't see them. after relaxing for a long while, taking about a million pictures, and eating some oranges and granola bars, we reluctantly headed back down the mountain. this turned out to be much easier than going up.

onward to gatlinburg

My mom, Loni, and Jack decided to join us in Gatlinburg for a couple of days, which made our visit here all the sweeter. We didn't do much on Monday other than get here and get settled in ... and enjoy the sensation of not being confined to a single hotel room with three kids and a dog (or in Mom and Lon's case, one kid and no dogs). We got pizza for dinner, and the boys all hung out downstairs playing pool and air hockey and running around. Jack loves spending time with his cousins, and we love it because it seems like they fight a little less when all of them are focused on the cuteness that is Jack.

Tuesday morning, we headed to downtown Gatlinburg to visit Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. Side note: My sister-in-law Megan lives here with her family, and I got to see her and the girls for about 30 seconds on their way to school. They were dropping off a VIP pass to area attractions that Megan had gotten somewhere and wasn't going to use. They also worked their magic to get all of us passes to the aquarium, for which we are super grateful.

Anyway, the aquarium. It was fantastic! I was so excited for them to see the moving sidewalk through the huge tanks, and they did not disappoint. Jack loved almost everything ... he most emphatically did NOT love the wax statue of FDR in the Pearl Harbor/WWII exhibit. He cried every time Lon took him anywhere near it! (We think he thought it was a real person, and he wanted nothing to do with that guy.)

 

After the aquarium, we took a jaunt on the Motor Nature Trail to give them a taste of Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We made a couple of stops along the way too. That's one of the things I really love about this park: There are pull-offs along the road at regular intervals, and you can just get out and explore the scenery without having to commit to a giant hike. We took full advantage of that because our guests had limited time.

It turned out to be a pretty full day, but we got to spend the morning at the aquarium, the afternoon in the park, and top it all off with a delicious late lunch at an Italian restaurant before Mom and Lon had to pack up and head back home. I would say their visit was a success: Before they left, Mom kept talking about how much Dad would love it here and wondering if we could all come back next year.

matt & katie

Matt and Katie's wedding was beautiful! They chose a spot up in the mountains, overlooking more mountains, and the ceremony was simple and heartfelt. Kent (funny enough, acting not in his capacity as judge — because he couldn't work out the logistics — but as newly internet-ordained minister) did a great job as always, for which we take all the credit because OURS was the first wedding that he performed. The wedding and reception were great fun, and I made the most of the opportunity to take pictures of relatives from near and far so I can use them in the annual Jeffirs calendar.

Congratulations, Matt! And welcome to the family, Katie! You already fit perfectly with us.

 

meanwhile

While Max and I were exploring Biltmore with my mom, Mike and Liam and Henry, along with Loni and Jack, had a fun morning of their own. They dropped Pluto off at the dog sitter for the day/night, and then they headed to the Asheville Botanical Gardens. They had fun exploring, until Jack fell in a stream, then they made their way back to the hotel. But all was not lost! Mike found a "retrocade" nearby — an arcade filled with old-school video games — so they all went there and had a blast playing the rest of the morning away.

biltmore

Greetings from Asheville, North Carolina! Matt, my youngest uncle, got married this weekend, and he was kind enough to plan the festivities around our fall break schedule (I'm only mostly kidding — "our" fall break is also fall break for Laura and Janis and their families, so that makes it quite convenient for a lot of people), so we got to celebrate AND embark on a new adventure. Anyway, we got in Saturday afternoon, just in time for the rehearsal picnic at scenic Carrier Park. It was a fun, if hot, event, and so nice to catch up with everyone. Pluto was with us, and he was a little nervous about all the people, but once he got to hang out with some other dogs, he perked right up.

 

Yesterday morning was basically the only tourist time we had, so we decided to split up. Max came with me and my mom, and we headed off to tour Biltmore, the largest private residence in the United States. The tour was really well done, and we had a great time exploring the many, many, MANY rooms. I still have questions, though, including: Why do you need a breakfast room right next door to your dining room? Why does one man need 175,000 square feet of house for himself and his mother? That's right, most of my questions are of the "why" variety. It was all quite excessive. We explored the winter garden and common rooms on the first floor (the library! oh my), the bedrooms and sitting areas on the second floor, the guest quarters on the third floor, and the servants quarters, kitchens (yes, plural!), pool, and bowling alley in the basement. We took a break for some shopping and refreshments, then took a brief drive through the gardens. A morning well spent!

 

we're still here

Friends, being an adult kind of stinks. Right now, it feels like one side of the country is on fire and the other side is flooded — literally and metaphorically — and in the middle are a bunch of people just trying to get by in a world gone mad. I would say I haven't written because I've been busy, and that would be true enough, because there's always work and kids and routines and schedules and unexpected things that have to be dealt with, but the real truth is that it's been hard to find any kind of inspiration lately. The nightly news is (almost) always bad, and the routine sometimes grinds me down so much that by the end of the day I feel like there's not much me left, and certainly not enough to find something to write about.

But today it occurred to me that this blog is for the boys, and part of what we hope to accomplish is preparing them to be adults, and part of being an adult is slogging through all the sadness of the world, all the days and all the things that grind you down, and then getting up the next morning to slog through it all again. Boys, it's not all vacations and family parties and outings to the botanical garden. That stuff is wonderful, but sometimes getting to it is ... not necessarily hard, but overwhelming and unrelenting. But you get up each day, and you get through it, and eventually you get to a day where there's a vacation, or a family party, or a trip to the botanical garden, or a glimpse of the ocean. And if you're smart, you'll understand that those days make getting through all the other ones worthwhile.

And while I'm giving advice, boys (and all the rest of you dear readers): The best thing you can do for yourself in this life is to find someone good to go through it with. It doesn't matter if that person is a friend, a romantic partner, or someone you don't want to pin a label on but couldn't live without (or, in the case of your dad, all of the above). What matters is that you have a person who will support you. Who will listen to your ideas and ask how to help make them happen. Who will match you silly for silly, nerdy for nerdy, serious for serious. And most importantly, who will be right next to you through all the days, and make them all seem just a little bit easier.

So yeah, we're still here, and we'll get back your regularly scheduled program of funny anecdotes and visits to exciting places soon. In the meantime, thanks for slogging with us.