This year the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is 75 years old. That is one thing I remember about being a small child, the trips to the Smokies. Going to the Deep Creek Campground and the smell of the campfire. My Grandmother cooking an amazing breakfast over that fire and the thick Black coffee that we were (as a treat) allowed to have a little taste. The fishing in Deep Creek river, I remember the fishing because we all cried about having to eat the fish we had caught.
The chilly morning air would wake us up and we would sit around the fire shivering and trying to get going for the day. While my Grandfather planned out the day's adventures and packed up the car with the items we would need. Bathing suits on and hiding under our perfectly matching shorts outfits just in case we ran into a swimming hole. We also had on our snow white Keds. Everyone knows once you had on your Keds, you were ready for the day. We always had some fun and unexpected adventure while on vacation. Crossing a swinging bridge with wasps chasing us because we had stirred them up with the movement of our walking. Now three little children trying to out run a pack of angry wasps will always make a lasting memory. This was a time before Dollywood and big amusement parks. This was even before Six Flags over Georgia opened its doors. Times were simpler and looking forward to the Smoky mountain vacation was just part of being a kid. When I took my children to the Smoky Mountains many years later, I had my children stand on the same wall that my sister and brother and I had stood on as children as I snapped their picture. We, guided by my memories of vacations past, traveled over the top of the mountain over to Maggie Valley Ghost Town in North Carolina and saw the bears that were at the small village near Maggie Valley and yet another chance for Deja vu. We saw the old western town that when I was a small child had looked so large and complex, which now had been built up into an amusement park. When I was a child it was a more simple Ghost Town. It was one of those rare moments in time when you actually could go back and relive a part, a very important part, of childhood. So congratulations on 75 awesome years of being the best place to take a family to see bears and pristine woods, mountain rivers and streams and thank you for taking this time to make sure we have a place to visit and continue the family traditions.
Thank you Great Smoky Mountain National Park for 75 awesome years!
The chilly morning air would wake us up and we would sit around the fire shivering and trying to get going for the day. While my Grandfather planned out the day's adventures and packed up the car with the items we would need. Bathing suits on and hiding under our perfectly matching shorts outfits just in case we ran into a swimming hole. We also had on our snow white Keds. Everyone knows once you had on your Keds, you were ready for the day. We always had some fun and unexpected adventure while on vacation. Crossing a swinging bridge with wasps chasing us because we had stirred them up with the movement of our walking. Now three little children trying to out run a pack of angry wasps will always make a lasting memory. This was a time before Dollywood and big amusement parks. This was even before Six Flags over Georgia opened its doors. Times were simpler and looking forward to the Smoky mountain vacation was just part of being a kid. When I took my children to the Smoky Mountains many years later, I had my children stand on the same wall that my sister and brother and I had stood on as children as I snapped their picture. We, guided by my memories of vacations past, traveled over the top of the mountain over to Maggie Valley Ghost Town in North Carolina and saw the bears that were at the small village near Maggie Valley and yet another chance for Deja vu. We saw the old western town that when I was a small child had looked so large and complex, which now had been built up into an amusement park. When I was a child it was a more simple Ghost Town. It was one of those rare moments in time when you actually could go back and relive a part, a very important part, of childhood. So congratulations on 75 awesome years of being the best place to take a family to see bears and pristine woods, mountain rivers and streams and thank you for taking this time to make sure we have a place to visit and continue the family traditions.
Thank you Great Smoky Mountain National Park for 75 awesome years!
