Carol'sBlog: Cades Cove Easter 2011

For Easter weekend, Gary and I took our camper to Townsend, Tennessee for a little 4-night get-away. It is right next to the entrance to Cades Cove. We had a blast! It was so much fun and so relaxing. We camped right beside the river and we could hear the water even inside our camper. It was so peaceful! We rode our bikes for hours one day. Townsend has paved bike trails running all through the area. We drove into Maryville for the closest LDS church, about 25 miles away. We slept 9 to 10 hours everyday. We cooked wonderful meals and ate too much. We read books, took walks, and drove leisurely through the cove looking at all the beauty of the valleys and mountains. It was a wonderful mini vacation!

This one is my new phone screensaver!

There are so many beautiful horses at Cades Cove. They are so friendly but I was afraid to pet them...

We saw lots of deer in Cades Cove. They jumped the fence and crossed the road right in front of us.

This was probably our favorite part: right outside our camper was a resting spot for the migrating Monarch butterflies. We discovered them early one morning gathering on one little clump of grass on the ground beside the river. We watched them for hours. They were fascinating the way they all landed on top of and nestled in beside each other. There were hundreds of them.

The water was cold but crystal clear!

I would never try this! Gary walked the whole thing easily.

This bear was right beside the road in Cades Cove. We watched it for about an hour. We saw it lunge twice at people who got a little to close! Very scary!

Notice that Gary is getting a little too close!!! The bear looked at him with a warning look but didn't lunge at him like it did the other people.

This is right outside our camper. People were swimming, tubing, and cliff jumping every day in the river. We didn't even take our swim suits. We should have because it was 85 degrees.