The last of the pots and pans are clean and the tablecloth is in the washing machine. Thanksgiving 2008 is officially over. Unfortunately for my waistline, the memories will linger on as leftovers. Does sausage stuffing count as a breakfast food?
We started our festivities at Shannondale with my mother. We briefly considered bringing in food but space is limited and it complicates things for the staff so we had our Thanksgiving lunch in the cafeteria. The traditional fare is not quite home cooked but time together is priceless!
Last night the family dined at my house on what else but turkey, stuffing, potatoes and green beans. For this second Thanksgiving go around, everything was home cooked. I anticipated serving dinner around 5:45 PM but the turkey took a little longer than expected; I had a lot of hungry people standing in the kitchen. Don’t know if the slow cooking time was a result of sitting 18 hours in brine (the turkey, not me) but I will won’t go back to basting. Brined turkey is excellent! We had a great Thanksgiving and hope everyone else did too!
As I posted earlier, last Saturday John and I hiked to Alum Cave in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Alum Cave is located about halfway up Mt. LeConte, the highest point in the GSMNP. We left sunny, cold conditions in Knoxville for clouds and snow in the mountains. Br-r-r-r!
This is Highway 441 going over the mountain into Cherokee, NC; Alum Cave trail head is located about halfway up the mountain. While the road was clear at the base, the higher we climbed, the worse the conditions. By the time we completed our hike and drove down the mountain, the Park Service had closed the road.
As the elevation increased, the temperature outside the car continued to drop.
Us in the parking lot for the trail head! Where did summer go?
We had several creek crossing. Since this is a very popular trail, all crossings had nice bridges including this bridge right out of the parking lot.
Me on the trail. I look like I have on pantaloons but the gators kept my legs warm and dry. I am stuffed like a turkey with layer upon layer so I was comfortable hiking in a fleece vest.
John entering the overhang. We were concerned about ice on the rock steps but had no problem. The problem was on the other side of the overhang. The trail was totally iced over. No problems going up but I had to butt scoot down in the snow beside the trail. John, of course, had no problem.
John at Inspiration Point with a 360 view of the mountains and valley.
A view along the trail.
We were concerned that this section of trail would be too hazardous but as it turned out, much of the ice was slushy. Melt from the ice on the rocks was running under the ice on the trail, rendering the ice very thin.
We stopped just short of Alum Cave. These are the steps leading to the Cave and while we thought we could make it up, the going down would be difficult.
Another view of the mountains.
Classic shot of a tree against the cloudy sky.
After our hike, we went to Gatlinburg for an early dinner and to enjoy the holiday lights. We were so looking forward to hot vegetable soup and cornbread at The Brass Lantern but to our dismay, The Brass Lantern had been sold to the McCutcheon family, of McCutcheon Candy fame (an old Gatlinburg family). The vegetable soup had become beef vegetable soup and the skillet of cornbread was now a basket of corn sticks. The soup was served at a tepid temperature and just not as good. We will think twice before making this stop again.
Holiday lights on the Gatlinburg strip.
