Bound for Birmingham for an 80th Birthday

Instead of heading over to "The Ridge" this weekend, we wound up in Birmingham, AL to attend a pre-celebration of Pa Pa Neal's 80th birthday.  His actual birthday is November 1st, but we meet up with the majority of the family to eat out and celebrate on Saturday night.  Some of us started the celebration early on Saturday by going to thrift stores, while others rested and saved their strength for the party and meal later in the evening.

Conley, aka "Strawberry Shortcake" was able to squeeze in a Halloween Party in the afternoon, in between the thrift stores and the 80th birthday party.

We are heading over to "The Ridge" this weekend where the party will continue with two (2) additional participants, as the girls will head over from UT on Friday.  Part of the crew will hit "The Ridge" on Tuesday, while the remainder of the Birmingham crew will join us on Friday.

Conley, aka "Strawberry Shortcake" is dressed and ready for the party.



The birthday boy gets a balloon.  Happy 80th Dad.



Stella and Grandmother get the celebration started with the birthday boy.



JoLynn, Tommy, Rebecca and David await the entertainment.



Thomas and Becky encourage the birthday boy to drink the beverage with the umbrella.




Brent tells the birthday boy to ease up on the umbrella drink.

With a loud applause Conley steps up to the grill and throws the egg for the enjoyment of the crowd.  I think our group is up to the challenge of eating all the rice.



To increase the difficulty of the challenge, Grandmother attempts to throw and catch the egg with her eyes closed.   Our "Asian" chef was from Mexico.





To all who competed in the egg throw (which also included Thomas and Brent), only David was successful in catching the egg on the side of the spatula.  It was a great time.



Preparing for Winter Fires in the Fire Place

We headed over to the ridge on Friday afternoon for another weekend on Mount Harrison at The Ridge.  We did not have any encounters this weekend with bears, but Cookie did find us a young raccoon in the tree just off the deck.  JoLynn awoke to the alarm raised by Cookie and spotted the young "bandit" around 2:00 am.

We had a good visit with the Martins on Saturday night.  They were our neighbors and Sunday School class mates from Cypress, Texas.  They had been in Gatlinburg all week, so we grilled some chicken and played a board games.  The girls came over from UT on Saturday afternoon to visit with the Martins and spend the night.  They stayed up late watching movies and baking and decorating "pumpkin cupcakes".  They used a new cupcake pan that we purchased in Evansville, IN last week.

During the weekend, we did cut up three (3) trees for firewood.  The logs have been stacked but Brent will need to split them later, but the hard part of getting them to The Ridge is complete.  We will be able to have numerous winter fires in the fire place this upcoming winter.  As expected, the leaf peakers did create traffic jams all weekend.  The color was great and we now look forward to the upcoming winter.  Driving over Newfound Gap on Friday, we did see some snow in the grass on the side of the roads.  Looking out the family room window from The Ridge on Friday, the top of Mt. LeConte was covered in snow.

We continue our quest to find a "Maw Maw Conley" quality coconut cake.  We stopped at a local barbecue joint in North Georgia which had a very promising looking entry.  Don't judge a cake by its frosting.  One bite in and the rating was a 5.5 out of 10.  Please understand that the cake was good, but the bar set by Maw Maw Conley may not ever be reached.  We also tired their butter pecan cake which was excellent.

An example of the "pumpkin cupcakes".  They were good.

Another Weekend at The Ridge.

We were in for the weekend at the Ridge.  The girls and Brent went to the Tennessee football game on Saturday, which was a loss.  The game was a night game (which we do not like) so the crew did not get home till around 2:00 am, but that did include a stop at IHOP.  We did some yard work and a little shopping but not much else due to the game.  A large bear did make an appearance on Sunday afternoon.

The nights are cool and there is some color starting to show on the North Carolina side, so we expect a full color show in about 10 days.

We are headed to Evansville, Indiana next weekend to see Renee and Greg.

Weekend at The Ridge

Before we headed to the Caribbean, Greg and Renee came down from Indiana and spent the weekend at The Ridge.  Renee was wanting to take her first hike in the Smoky Mountains so we suggested to Greg, the usual Laurel Falls or Grotto Falls trail.  Both are easy and would be a good first introduction hike in the mountains.  Oh, but Greg is his father's son.  Greg takes Renee on Chimney Tops.  Not a long trail but very steep and a very strenuous hike on loose rock.

Thankful Renee enjoyed the trail and is looking forward to some more hiking.  They had a great time and enjoyed the relaxation.  When they arrive around midnight on Friday, we had a bear waiting to greet them.  We scrared him off just as they pulled into the driveway.



Renee at the top of Chimney Tops.




Greg resting on a log over the creek at the bottom of the trail.