Saturday, June 23rd - Deep Creek Family Reunion Day

We have moved locations to our cabins in Bryson City, NC near Deep Creek. Today is the official day of the family reunion. Before we all get together, I head out for a trail run in the Deep Creek trail area. This is Juney Whank waterfall, which was really pretty.

I ran about 5-6 miles and got rewarded with seeing 2 deer.

Here I am at Indian Creek falls. This was by far the most beautiful of all of the falls in Deep Creek.

I'm wearing my Running Shop shirt - advertising for them in North Carolina!

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Attending the family reunion:
1. My mom, Judi

Mom holding Caroline (with my brother Ken in the background)

2. My brother Ken, his wife Carol, and their three kids, Conner, Brandon and Caroline

Conner and Brandon getting ready to fall in the creek...

Conner and Brandon falling into the creek!

3. My sister Theresa and her husband Billy

4. My sister Lisa, her husband David, and their two kids, Andy and Erich

Erich, Lisa and Andy

We are missing my sisters Andrea and Jennifer. Andrea just moved to Tucson and had a little too much going on and Jennifer and her husband Erik are expecting twins in July, so they couldn't make it. They were very missed.

Thursday, June 21st - Bryson City, NC

We arrived at our place to stay outside of Bryson City, NC last night. We are staying at Lakeview at Fontana, which has a beautiful view of Lake Fontana.

http://www.lakeviewnc.com/

Today is our 'down day' before the family comes in on Friday for the family reunion this weekend. They upgraded us to a 3 bedroom suite, which was lovely. The place is also a spa, but we didn't do any services - just relaxed! Here is Ken doing a little of that. He is getting a little well needed sun.
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While Ken relaxed, I went for a trail run in the Tsali recreation area, which is about 10 minutes from where we were staying. It is a 'mecca' for mountain bikers, but the trails can also be run, hiked or done on horseback. I did about 6 miles on the Tsali trail.

The trail was through the forest, sometimes on a ridge, sometimes along Lake Fontana (which is huge!).

I saw a deer, but he was too fast to get a picture. Lots of not quite ripe raspberries everywhere! I fell in love with the area and vowed to come back some day. A fairly easy trail, but lots of small hills. I have never run in such a beautiful place.

Thank you God for the mountains and the trees and the beautiful blue sky.
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That night, we went on a hike near our lodge. It was about a mile and a half and up and over a ridge. My legs are now officially 'trail tired'!

Wednesday, June 20th - Smoky Mountains

Kenny and me are driving through the Great Smoky Mountains (GSM) today. We stopped at the highest point of the GSM - Clingman's Dome-which is 6,643 feet. We had to hike up the last .5 mile to get to the top. You can see for miles. Very pretty. This is the first official day of vacation. We flew into Nashville yesterday, spent the night and now we are driving to Bryson City, NC today.