Smoky Mountains

Our family vacation this summer is to the East Coast, with specific emphasis upon sites important in American history. We will visit places related to America’s settlement, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War. We also plan to see friends along the way. I am going to see what I can do in chronicling our travels day by day. I ‘ll probably let photos do most of the talking.

Yesterday was a long hard drive from Dallas to Knoxville. Kelli thought this was just a logical place to drive for the first day, but my plan was that it would set us up for a beautiful morning hike to the place where we were engaged in the Smoky Mountains. I tried to keep the hike a surprise but was never really sure that Kelli hadn’t figured it out. But it was only when we drove into the parking area for Rainbow Falls that she realized that the first stop of our vacation was a place unknown in American history but very important in our own.

The Smoky Mountains are a National Park for a good reason. Their beauty attracts travelers from all over the country. The trail to Rainbow Falls is popular because it leads to the highest single-drop waterfall in these mountains.

We, however, had no interest in the waterfall, since on a late afternoon in December 1991 we halted on a bridge and I asked Kelli a most important question.

The first time, we were all alone and there was no one to record the moment. This time one of our children took a picture of our reenactment.

And here is our tribe, standing together on that bridge where Kelli said “yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.”

Tomorrow is our 19th wedding anniversary.