Friends Sonya and Mac Cissna and their son, Micah hosted us in their mountain home this weekend. Like our usual mountain trips (backpacking), this one had a beautiful sunset, a colorful sunrise, a nice blazing campfire and memorable time spent with friends. Unlike our usual trips, this one had a warm king sized bed, a nice couch for sitting, dinner in downtown Gatlinburg and a rollicking game of hearts.
Sunset over the Smoky Mountains
We arrived at the Gatlinburg Visitors Center around 4:15, delighted that traffic through Pigeon Forge on a Saturday afternoon had been quite reasonable. Mac met us at the Center and led us through the winding roads up the mountain behind the Center (spots still showing signs of last week’s ice and snow). The temperature dropped about 8 degrees between the foot of the mountain and their beautiful home. We were happy to see a warm fire blazing in the fireplace and Sonya waving on the deck! After some catch up chatting (re: everyone talking at the same time), we watched the sunset over Mt. LeConte. Beautiful!
From left, Mac: Sonya and Micah Cissna, me and John at No Way Jose’s in Gatlinburg
Sometime after sunset, we headed down the mountain to downtown Gatlinburg for dinner. No Way Jose’s was our restaurant of choice and we were not disappointed.
My dinner selection, Jalisco Trio, included 3 corn enchiladas – shredded beef with ranchero sauce, chicken w/ tomatillo sauce and white cheese with onion and green tomatillo sauce.
After dinner we strolled through The Village in Gatlinburg and enjoyed the holiday lights. Then we headed back to the car and up the mountain for a game of heart, yep, 500 points of testing our brains. John and I haven’t played hearts for several years and we required a pre-game refresher. On top of our rusty skills was the fact that we were playing with a deck of pink (save the ta-ta’s) cards. Diamonds and clubs were fairly easy to distinguish but the hearts and spades caused me a couple of screw ups. Finally we got to bed and watched a few minutes of Saturday Night Live before falling into a restful sleep.
Sunday morning sunrise from our bedroom window
We woke to the sounds of Mac stoking a fire. When we finally extracted ourselves out of our cozy bed we enjoyed coffee by the fire.
The wall of windows reflect the morning view of the mountains and trees
Inside looking out from the wall of windows, Mt LeConte is visible in the distance
View of LeConte and the snow covered mountains
The trip ended all too quickly and we headed back to Knoxville to start thinking about the week ahead. Sonya, Mac and Micah, thanks so much for your invitation, your warm hospitality and your friendship over the years! We had a great time!
