We took the same trail trail back down Mt. LeConte. Even though there were several trails we wanted to explore all of those ended up in a different parking lot and we didn’t want to have to hike or hitchhike back to our car.
Welcome to Alum Cave Trail, Part 2. This time in reverse – from summit to trail head.
From LeConte Lodge, go right on the trail behind the cabins and in no time at all you will pass through the enchanted forest that looks even more more magical with a thick blanket of fog.
For some reason I’m dreading the day when the time my dad has been gone exceeds the time I had with him. It seems an illogical benchmark, but still it makes me feel heavy-hearted thinking about it. As if at that point I will lose everything about him forever.
It’s encouraging to know that even though he’s been gone for eight years, it still feels like he’s here. Like he’s still alive and we just live in different cities. He’s here as long as we remember — when we laugh about all the silly shenanigans and share all his ridiculous stories, songs, and Dadisms.
My dad was a weirdo, like me. He laughed easily and he laughed hard. He loved getting a reaction out of people by doing things like eating ‘gross’ food or posing in tropical plants. He danced little jigs in grocery store aisles and ran after us kids spraying bottles of sample perfume. He always preferred to sit at the “kids table” during family gatherings. But my favorite thing about my dad was that he was just unapologetically himself: he never ever put on airs or tried to portray himself as better than anyone else. He never worried about what others thought of him or cared if people stared at him funny for he was always in on the joke. My dad was definitely one-of-a-kind.
Miss you, Dad.
^^ our cabin is the one in the middle with the windows open and curtains blowing in the cool mountain breeze. ^^
We had a lazy weekend. Catching up with chores. Organzing the pantry and finally our extensive spice collection. Running errands. Trips to the grocery store, the library, and the cobbler. We poked around antique stores and discovered an awesome middle Eastern bakery. Sly stayed up late working on hobbies. Reading. Daydreaming. Creating more lists of things to get done, to tackle to explore. Cleaning up my email. Planning for a capsule wardrobe. Washing cars and researching stereos. Buying sweatshirts. Falling asleep on the couch watching Dr. Who surrounded by warm kitties. I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies – now that our pantry is organized. We were mostly too lazy to cook and, even after swearing off anything but lettuce and water, we found ourselves eating out, trying new neighborhood places, and eating bad stuff we don’t normally eat. It was so hot and then it rained really hard on Saturday evening. The trees were bending as if touching their toes. We hunkered down and ate cookies and washed them down with mugs of hot tea. Sly watched Dance Moms with me and I’m secretly happy to report he is on a first name basis with all the characters in the show. We slept in, something we never do. We window shopped. I got all dressed up in my leathery looking leggings and we went to Fuddruckers bc we hadn’t eaten a burger in forever and maybe we were sorta missing home the tiniest bit. There was a coolness to the air. A sign, like our weekend of getting things ready, that the seasons were on the verge of handing off the baton. And I finally flipped the calendar to September.
It’s possible that we have a drinking problem.
