Labor Day Weekend 2012

The first thing I did for Labor Day weekend 2012 was enter some photos into the Sevier County Fair.  One of them won a first place blue ribbon in the action category.  I didn't actually find out about the win until later in the week.

This is the winning photo.  I took it in Nassau during my birthday vacation this year.

On Saturday I went on a 4-mile bike/walk.  I rented a bike at Cades Cove and went around the shortest part of the loop.

During the first part of the journey (which was largely downhill), I took a number of photos. All the clouds in the sky are the forerunners of the remnants of Issac arriving in our area.

Plus there were some horses.  I didn't make it far enough into the Cove to see any other wildlife besides these horses and some butterflies.

Now if you're wondering why I walked and biked.  The shortest path I could take involved this gravel road. Biking on a gravel road is not easy.

Plus Cades Cove is very hilly.  All the downhills, I was on the bike.  Most the uphills, well, I'd try for a minute but always ended up just walking up them.  You can't really tell it in this photo, but this hill is somewhat steep and this is gravel.  I was so tired by this point that just walking up this hill was a great effort.

This photo is just to show one of the 3 or 4 places were I had to just stop and sit for a little bit to recover enough to keep going.  Actually from the point where I started taking time to sit and recover, I didn't really take any more photos.

On Labor Day after the rains from Issac had mostly stopped, Mom and I (and Cujo) went to the IJAMS Nature Center.  This is a very nice area with lots of trails.  This first time we went on a trail that goes around a quarry lake.

I love the photos of the quarry with the way the rock and trees reflect on the water.

Plus I got this really great flower photo, that I think I might enter in the fair next year.

Mom and I went together but I would walk on up ahead of her alot and then come back to her.

Or would walk off on side trail or different trail and then catch up with her.

Everytime Cujo and I would get back near to Mom, he'd be anxious to get back to her.  Here he is looking at me and whining about what is taking me so long as I try to get a picture of him and her.

We had a good time and a good workout.  According to the tracking on my phone I walked around 2 miles.

Mom and I then went and played a game of putt-putt with a group-on deal we had gotten previously.  We both got 2 holes-in-one, but she beat me by a few strokes.

After this, we went to the fair to look at my competition.  I think the judging was okay in most of the categories.  I only really disagreed with their choices in the flower category.  But photography judging is a very subjective thing, so no big deal.

Overall it was a very good weekend.