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For summer vacation this year, my family spent a week in Sevierville, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. This is our third vacation to the Smoky Mountains in 6 years. We rented a cabin for our stay and enjoyed the scenery. This year we had a very big surprise while hiking in the Smoky Mountain National Forrest (see below for more details). Here are a few pictures of the trip.
Here is the front porch of the cabin we stayed at this year. Part of this cabin is actually a 100+ year old cabin that had been in the owner's family for generations.
Pictures Below: We had a great of the Lake from our back porch looking onto the lake. Jack is eating breakfast at the Kitchen Table. The kids enjoyed boating one day and we ate the the #1 Pancake Restaurant in the Smoky Mountains - the Pancake Pantry.
The first year we went to the Smoky Mountains - the transmission on our minivan broke down -- this year we rented a suburban for the trip - to make sure there were no unexpected suprises on the road.
One day we went hiking in the Smoky Mountain National Forrest. Here is a picture of the Jackson and Addison with their grandparents getting ready to hike Basking Creek Trail. About halfway through the hike we encountered a HUGE Black Bear about 35 yards away from us. We slowly walked away from the Bear until we were around the corner of the trail and couldn't see the the Bear anymore - then we hustled back the beginning of the trail.
After our encounter with the Bear - we learned that the Smoky Mountain National Forrest has about 1500 North American Black Bears roaming through the park, including one that we encountered on the Trail. One of the locals asked us if we had our "Bear Mace" - I didn't know there was such a thing -- next time we'll know to bring it.
This article is a service of Attorney Chad A. Ritchie and the Ritchie Law Office, Ltd.
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