Townsend, Tuckaleechee, Lager and Dogs

The OHR Gang headed east to the Smokies again this past weekend, enjoying a beautiful weekend of fall weather with OHR Gang in Training.....Chris, Jim, Mandy and Adam! 

We stayed at the KOA in Townsend, self proclaimed "Quiet Side of the Smokies".  Townsend is definitely quieter than nearby Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.  Not much going on in this town!  Our campsite was right along the Little River about 2/10 of a mile from the border of the GSMNP.  Awesome! 

We spent Saturday afternoon at nearby Tuckaleechee Caverns, becoming spelunkers!  Well, sort of.

 

We saw some cool cave formations and underground waterfalls.

One of the neatest things about the tour was the underground river which flows at a minimum rate of 900 gallons per minute....and usually much more!  And this is Spring Water!  99% pure in fact...and really tasty! 

After caving, we headed back to the campsite and sat on our riverfront deck.  We enjoyed beer, had a fire, and grilled Sahlens hotdogs and chicken. 

 

I wish everyone could have joined us...we had such a nice time!  And like any good camping day, we ended it with smores around the campfire.  Sorry...no pics of that.  We were too busy eatin'! 

Halloween....Boo!

Well, Halloween 2009 ended up being one of the best yet for the OHR gang.  We stayed home and enjoyed the company of Chris and Jim, Dave, Dawn and Luke, and Dave and Kay.  We had a fire, ate chili, enjoyed Leroy's Ghetto Guac, and put down a few beers and chocolates. 

Halloween at Berry's Apples

Gwen’s Birthday!!

Everyone came over the OHR Base Camp on Saturday to celebrate Gwen’s 12th birthday.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day in Middle TN, so we celebrated camping style, with a campfire, beer and lots of food.  After enjoying a dinner of pizza, grilled wings, stuffed peppers, and sausage sandwich, we moved the party indoors for Shirley’s gorgeous homemade and hand decorated cake.  Just look at those flowers!

We all serenaded Gwen, and she then blew out (or attempted to blow out) her “trick” candles.  Those never get old!

We all had a great time!

Great Smokey Jellystone

Well, fall is here and the OHR gang is back into the camping swing of things.  In late September, we headed to Rock Island State Park in TN for a weekend of rain filled fun.  It was SO wet that we didn’t even get any pics.  We enjoyed a peaceful weekend of playing Uno, the Blizzard of ‘77 board game, and sleeping to the sound of rain hitting the roof, but not much outdoor activity. 

Well, a couple weeks later, the weekend of October 9-12th, we headed east to the Great Smokey Jellystone Park, just east of Gatlinburg.  And guess what?  It rained again!  But we did get enough breaks in the weather to get outside, have some nice campfires, go on a Hey Hey Hay Ride with Yogi Bear, and walk around Gatlinburg. 

The girls enjoyed craft time at the Jellystone pavilion.  They made scarecrow picture frames magnets:

At night we enjoyed a concert by this guy:

Our site was right next to a beautiful creek, with a nice fire ring creekside: