Escape from it all....

We managed to get away for a much-needed, long weekend this past weekend. When we left, we had no specific idea where we were headed. Samuel, in the picture below, is our backseat driver, checking out maps for us.


He "directed us" toward Chattanooga, so we decided that would be a lovely drive for the foliage. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of autumn foliage on the drive, but it was still nice as usual. We wound up on Lookout Mountain and that was more colorful. We stopped at Point Park and Samuel enjoyed walking around......

......and around........

......and around.......He found this monument fascinating. He never got to where he was going......just round and round.

We left Chattanooga after a few hours and headed further up the road. We stopped for the night, and the next morning, headed for the Smokies. That was definitely a good idea ! It was much more crowded than when we went for our annual LeConte hike in September (those pictures still remain to be posted), but it was so amazingly beautiful, it was worth it. The pictures below still don't do it justice.

Since we were still worn out from our hike a month ago :>), we decided to forego anything strenuous. We just stopped occasionally and gave Samuel a break from his carseat (the only miserable part of the trip).

He loved tromping through the leaves.

He was very much Mr. Independent---didn't want his hand held at all, which resulted in the occasional "trip" over roots and rocks.

We saved Cades Cove for Sunday afternoon, hoping the crowds would lessen, and they did. It was also lovely and Samuel got to see some new things on that drive.....

....many deer, around turn after turn. Of course, to get him to look at them, since he was otherwise-occupied, we told him to look at the "big dogs". That seemed to work ! (We took a lot of video too and that's recorded on there, so years from now, we hope Samuel knows that his parents really knew those weren't dogs !)

....a big bear (that dark blob in the middle of the picture.....really ! ). We finally gave up on the camera and actually have better pictures of him on the video camera. He lumbered along through the woods for quite awhile and then crossed the road and left us.

......and best of all, Santa Claus ! When we pulled into this visitor's area, I pointed him out in the parking lot and said "look, Santa". While I was in the restroom, he came up to Samuel to talk and gave him a card with his picture that said "I met Santa". So, we had to take a picture, of course. All the little kids at the area got a big kick out of "Santa". As usual, Samuel warmed up to him AFTER I took the picture. (Doesn't Mark look much more excited about it than Samuel does ?! I guess Mark's been a good boy this year....)