Not so early morning but it is foggy and overcast. The forecast has changed to include more rain which we need but it might put a change in our plans for today. We shall see. Buddy is on the back porch and looks to be feeling more like herself in many ways. She still isn't sleeping too much with me at night and truthfully, I think we both get more sleep that way. When we came home last night she way happy to see us. We made it home just before the heavens let go with rain. Sometimes heavy rain. Roy and I were on the phone and it suddenly dawned on me, the Chewys delivery was sitting on top of the delivery box by the gate. Quickly I went out to fetch the box with a small hand truck and when I placed the box on the hand truck, it popped up and hit me on the side of my face, knocking my glasses off. Hard rain, plus blind person, having just been knocked in the face doesn't equal strong foundation, but I found my glasses, got the box in the garage, came inside and returned to Roy's call. What a mess!
Beth and I took off to the mountains in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The day was perfect for the trip. The only time thing we had going, making our 4:15 reservation at The Cherokee Grill in Gatlinburg. The grill is only open for dinner. We made our way to the scenic, most popular national park and surprisingly it wasn't crowded right before a long weekend. We stopped in at the visitor center and toured some of the farm site recreated there. It was too warm for the elk to be out, so they were staying cool tucked back into the tree cover. We did some national park shopping and then hit the road for Clingmans Dome. There was a good crowd of people but the least amount I have seen while being there. License plates from so many states. We took pictures and looked around a bit. I am unable to climb up to the observation point but Roy told me his best pictures he took last year came from the view in the parking lot. One of the park employees mentioned the construction going on as you came to the TN side of the road. We made a stop at Newfound Gap and then headed toward The Cherokee Grill. Our delay due to construction wasn't too bad. Our timing was good so that we were moving just after a few minutes of waiting. Since our time hadn't been eaten up by waiting, we were able to get to the Sugarlands Visitor Center to look around. It has always been too crowded to go there. Found a few more national park shopping treasures and then we were off for a delicious meal. We were not disappointed! We both did the steak, salad and potato thing and we split a blackberry cobbler. Yummy. Our waiter was such a joy and from Iota La. He'd say bet you don't know where that is and I had to remind him that one of the ways to get to TN or NC is on I 10, through Louisiana. His name is Byron, ask for him if you eat at the grill. You will be entertained and delighted. The skies were graying up when we left to return home and by the look of the radar, everything was heading north as we headed south. We encountered rain and that dampened our plans to taking sunset pictures along the way home. High School came up in our conversation and I totally missed getting on the Smoky Mountain Expressway but with the help of Google Girl, we found our way back but we did see some scenic landscapes and for me an old bridge. Note to self, bring Roy back so he can take pictures of the bridge.
Once home, we caught up with our honeys and watched the rain. It is good we have some easing into the day this morning. We have been on the go since Beth arrived. We went to Stoney Knob for lunch on Wednesday and did the Marshall shopping trip but we came home empty handed. We took a drive toward Big Sandy Mush and stopped at Payne's Chapel for photo ops. With all the convertible riding all that fresh air makes for good sleeping.
I'll have to wait till next week to get the results from Buddy's bloodwork. The message didn't sound urgent but more so to be informative. I am happy to see Buddy moving better and getting back into her cranky meows and way.
Beth wanted to hear Lisa P sing, so Lisa and the HFBC choir accompanied us through the park. Lisa introduced me to The Cherokee Grill and we sat just one table away from where she and I sat in 2019 before all the Covid junk.
Well, I think I need some toast. Until a later catch up.....
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