Another Aunt Jodi Gatlinburg Weekend

 Last year we stayed at a great place and Aunt Jodi decided that we needed to go to the same area again so we changed up a few of the people, added a day, and continued our Aunt Jodi Hiking Weekend tradition :)

My sis and me

Tom, Laura, Robert, and I headed over to Gatlinburg after work on Thursday - Jodi had driven down from OH earlier in the day and got the fire started, the wine opened, and was ready to help us unload a FULL truck bed.  As usual, I was in charge of all the meals - it's amazing how much you need for a long weekend with 16 people :)

These three headed out to Mount Le Conte early Friday morning.  They packed sandwiches, snacks, lots of water, and bundled up - it was COLD.  

They texted this picture to the group that still had school/work on Friday :)

I had an online forum Friday morning that I didn't want to miss so Tom hung around with me, then we headed out to find something to do that didn't include hiking up mountains :/

We started here. . .and found the coolest ruins along the path:

We couldn't tell if they were trying to restore the one house out there or trying to save what is still there.  It was interesting to look at these fireplaces still standing and we could make out a lot of the foundations.  True confessions:  once we walked past all these ruins and headed up the hill we didn't make it very far - we both decided walking uphill for "no reason" does not bring us joy - ha.

Once we decided to give up we thought we'd go back to the car and see if we could find another hike that might be a bit more interesting.  Instead, we ran into this. . .

It was once a resort area - the train came through and dropped families off to get out of the hot cities during the summertime.  All these houses were opened up to walk through - the earliest one (that we could tell) was built in 1810 (the little one-room cabin in the lower right corner) and it seems that were inhabited until the 1980's.  Daisy Town was a fun discovery!

In the meantime, this beauty and her newest little one showed up for an afternoon walk/hike with her mother, friends, and Laura.  

Tom and I found a local BBQ place and had a late lunch together.

Almost everyone else showed up for dinner that night - shredded chicken rice bowls.  Believe it or not, it was (mostly) devoured before I even thought to get a picture.

We are a game-playing family. . .at the table, sitting or standing, and we're also good at relaxing :). Some of the kiddos got in the hot tub after those of us that don't stay up past 1030 and it sounds like the last kiddos found their beds around 1:30 a.m.

This place also has an awesome game room with pool, table shuffleboard, Guitar Hero and couple other arcade games. . .it was pretty chilly in that room so I didn't really venture out there for pictures or anything this time.
Sisters taking care of one another at breakfast

And then our hiking captain showing her brother what she was looking at for the day:  

Saturday morning they were supposed to leave at 8:30 - I took this picture at 8:47 - ha!  And still there were two in the house not quite ready to walk out the door.  

We had one still on his way to the cabin - he had something else to do Friday night so didn't join us until lunch after this hike.  

 On this outing the crew went to Rainbow Falls.

Let's talk about where everyone came from to make this happen. . .Cincinnati, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis, Pittsburg, and Virginia - four people in this picture were new to this adventure weekend.  Four people who were invited were unable to make it at the last minute and they were all missed.  

"The Fosters" (even though no one in this picture carries that last name - just descendants of that family) minus me - I get to stay back to clean up and organize the next meal. . .usually a couple of hours of quiet - this time I read a book and played with the puppy.  It was way better then being out there in the SNOW!!!

The only picture I got of a meal. . .oh well.  It was by far the favorite (poor Aunt Jodi took a shower and missed out on the broccoli) with the only thing left from that table was some of the chicken and salad mix.  Well, the Crown wasn't ingested at this meal either ;)

Devouring lunch and the view from the balcony :). It was a cloudy weekend, but the snow-capped mountains were beautiful.

After lunch, some downtime, a few games of cards (we mainly play Euchre and Rummy), some of us headed back out for a "Mom" (me) hike.  Laura led us to one we did last year, which was fine with me.  Apparently there are 150 different hiking trails in the area but we didn't want to drive too far for a 3 mile hike.

See the foot in the photo with the five of us???  This is called the Cosby Horse Trail.  I would love to trail ride here!

A little after-dinner Euchre (can you see that Noah and Laura are "in the barn"??)  We are so glad the kids have a friend who was "raised right" and knows how to play these games!!

Jodi helping Corbin learn Euchre. . .While the other end of the table played Code Names

Of course the TN game was on. . .

And then the fire was lit again for S'MORES :)

Sunday dawned early but bright - it was the first bit of sunshine we had had since Thursday.  Some people had to get back on the road right away, but the Nashville/Memphis/Pittsburg/VA crew, Jodi, Laura, Tom, and I headed out for one more hike (walk) on the way out of town.

"The Girls"

And these two girls too :)

As I sit here and put this together one week later, again I cannot express in words how full my heart is to be living the life that I do with the people I have in it.  I don't take a single day for granted and hope that the children who we spent this time with - ours and those our kids brought - also store these memories in their hearts.  It is a privilege to have the time and resources to make this a priority in our year.

Happy Friday - happy LAST WEEKEND OF FEBRUARY (already!!).

Love,

Jenni

Linking up with Erika and Andrea for Friday Favorites - click on their names to head to their blogs and everyone else linking up too.