First of our 50th Anniversary Trips to see Zach Graduate from Villanova

May 1 to May 10,2015

May 11th

Pictures Only Uncorrected

May 4th through

May 4th and May 5th Branson, Mo.

Our day began early with a frantic call from our youngest Granddaughter, Portia, ( She is on externship at the Isle of Lakes Country and Golf Resort in Conn.) who had just been scammed by a computer scammer.

 We had her call her bank and tell them everything and they took care of her. Then she had a master cylinder on her car go out. We helped her find a national automotive chain and had it replaced.

We took care of these small issues on the telephone while driving from Wichita to Branson, Mo.

In Branson we began a two night stay by having a wonderful dinner at Landry's Seafood Resturant. We then went to the Presley's evening show and thoroughly enjoyed the evening .

On Tuesday we got up and went shopping but ended up going to an eye doctors to have John's good eye checked because it was red, swollen and very itchy. His eye was having an alergic reaction to something and the Doctor gave him a prescription for eye drops. We bought some very nice charms at a rare Pandora outlet. We finished this evening by attending a

murder mystery dinner theatre. While the food was only fair and the acting ok, we had a great time as

 John was given a part to play.

images\zach trip\video branson\00000.MTS

images\zach trip\video branson\00001.MTS

 

At the end of the 2nd act people voted to decide who the killer or villain was for the night and of course, John was the one selected. We ended the night by getting a custard sundae and all in all it had been a very good start to this trip.

 

May 6th To Clarksville Tn.

 Jefferson Davis Monument

We drove to Clarksville,Tn. where we stopped for the night. On the way there we revisited a place we only had dim memories of visiting over 35 years ago. The Jefferson Davis Monument! His monument looks almost like the Washington Monument.  We took the elevator to the top and took pictures from there. It is the 4th tallest obelisk in the USA.

 

On the way there we took pictures of beautiful yellow canola fields.

We also took pictures of an Amish Farmer plowing his fields with 5 huge horses and an Amish buggy drove past.

 

May 7th -Day 1 Gatlinberg - Cades Cove

We got up and headed toward Nashville where we had hoped to visit the Parthenon but there was such an inversion of smog and the traffic was horrible - LA bad, we decided to go on to Gatlinberg.

 

We arrived and got our motel and then took a long one hour walk down town.\

 

That evening we braved the weather - fierce thunderstorms, and traffic to visit Cades Cove. We took pictures and on the way back to the motel Linda spotted and I took a somewhat blurry picture of a large tagged black bear.

Day 2 - May 8th Gatlinburg

We got up and drove across the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It was a beautiful day and a deliberately slow drive.

We stopped often and took many pictures.

We drove to the top of Clingman Dome where we took pictures of clouds above and below mountain tops.

We visited  a mill in an idyllic setting and of course took more pictures.

We also saw and took pictures of an incredible motorcycle!

That afternoon we took the tramway up Obergatlinberg. The views were great going up but way too commercial and busy and just not our kind of place at the top.

May 9th - - Trip up the Blue Ridge

We left early and drove through beautiful hilly - mountainous country up the Blue Ridge Parkway. The views and the pictures are awesome and we stopped early and went to a movie.

 

May 10th - Mothers Day in Gettysburg

What a nice and special day. After a reasonable drive to Gettysburg , we visited the newly restored Cyclorama at the nice large new visitor's center. it was a fine way to begin our day.

We then toured the battlefield and once more was deeply touched by the magnitude of what had taken place on this hallowed ground. We also could not help but reflect on how we treat each other today as a result of that battle.

We finished the day with a wonderful dinner at Dobbin Tavern - a wonderful place to eat that was built in 1776 and had been a part of the Gettysburg Battle.

All in all this was a wonderful day and one of our many highlights of this fabulous trip