I saw a bear finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Part 2 of our fabulous trip
After the rally with 40+ people we were tired. Debby and Bob invited us to go with them to Cades Cove, TN and enjoy the scenery.

We followed them all the way from Waynesville NC to Townsend TN. Rather boring watching the back of their towed vehicle, but we were very impressed with how Bob managed that 40+ foot behemoth.

Debby and Bob were great hosts. They have been coming to this area since the 80's and I think they have been in every restaurant and shop in Sevierville. 

Once again we stayed in a very nice big campground, KOA Townsend. We highly recommend it. Usually we stay away from KOA's but this one was big, clean and nice.http://koa.com/campgrounds/townsend-great-smokies/

We had to deal with some dumb birds trying to build a nest in our hitch box and dive bombing us every chance they got. I found out how slow my reaction time is as I tried to take a picture of the little varmints. We had to put a bag over the hitch and tape it shut to keep them out.

We shopped til we dropped in Sevierville,TN and ate at the Old Mill in Pigeon Forge.Oh my at the food....Then on to Cades Cove for a day.Erwin was thrilled that he did not have to drive and could just sit back and enjoy.

There is an 11 or 12 mile loop that you follow around the cove. In some areas there are buildings and roads to turn off on.

The visitors center is great with  lots of gifts to buy, books to skim, and buildings to tour.

We did it all. Then the wild life! I have been going through the Smokies, the Blue Ridge and the Appalachians since I was a child. I had never seen a bear. We were either too early or too late or too hot or too cold, you get the picture right? But this time not one bear but three bears

, one turkey

, a herd of deer

and beautiful flowers

. What more could I ask for?

Flowers, animals, and scenery from Golden Colorado

Yep, we are still here in our premier site at the Elks Lodge in Westminster, a suburb of Denver. Erwin is getting a lot of his little chores knocked off his list and I am....well what I am doing is going through our pictures and deleting the duplicates and organizing them and playing WWF and a bunch of other things too mundane to mention. Our anniversary was yesterday, Flag Day. So we celebrated by going on another long ride into the mountains. Love it! That is not a dirty camera lens. It is the smoke from Black Forest and Colorado Springs. First we went to the shrine of Mother Cabrini because I gave him the wrong turn, but it was peaceful and lots of pretty wild flowers. As we were leaving I looked down into a gorge and there was an elk. Now that was something we don't see at home. I made him stop, pull over, turn around, go back and get out with me, cross 2 lanes of traffic, take pictures, and act excited. What a guy! We went on to Lookout Mountain and talked to the docent there who told us how to get good pictures of the bison herd. Just as we were going down the mountain a deer appeared on the side of the road. Yep, she stood right by our truck and peed.A sight captured by Canon T1 Rebel in glorious color...... On we go.... up hill and down, just not over the side and no left turns Bless that old man's heart, not Erwin...the docent....we had a private viewing of the bison herd and the babies. We could not get too close and that is the strongest lens I have.

Those camel colored blobs are babies....... As we were leaving we spotted this UFO? on the side of the hill. No, it is really a $5000000 house. Whatever...........