Cades Cove Part 2: A Deer

So it's taken me a few days to get the photos ready in a way that I liked and wanted to present them.  But I am really happy with the final results.  All of these photos are of the same deer.  She was happily eating her late lunch the whole time I and many others watched and took pictures.

Click on image to view full size

Click on image to view full size.

 If you look at the full size image of the collage above, you will notice something on her eye.  It seems to be some kind of strings that are stuck on her eyelashes.  That's actually the reason I went with the collage instead of just the bottom left photo.  The strings look like something wrong with the photo, but it was just something on the deer.  But I ended up really liking the collage of three photos.

Click on image to view full size.

So the last part of this Cades Coves series post will have a bear (assuming I can get one of the photos to a satisfactory state) and butterflies.

Cades Cove Part 1

So I decided to break my visit to Cades Cove on Sunday up into multiple posts. Since it took me a few hours to fix up just two of the photos, I realized if I waited until I had them all ready then it would be next Sunday before I posted any.

One of the fun things about the drive to and in Cades Cove was that the butterflies were out in force. I saw a bunch of Swallowtail butterflies while driving. Unfortunately while stopped with my camera, there never seemed to be any around. So the first two pictures were actually when I stopped after a black bear had run across the road in front of me. I was hoping he would still be sight-able in the woods, but, all I saw were some deer. And the photos of them did not turn out well enough to do anything with.

However on the way back to the car, I saw these flowers.

Remember to click on images to view full size.

I then took a second picture of part of the same bunch of flowers from a different angle. When I looked at it on the view finder, I didn't really think it turned out. But I usually don't delete anything until I get onto the computer and look at it full size. When I zoomed in one this one, I was quite pleased with what I found.

Remember to click on images to view full size

 I truly was surprised when I viewed the photo at 100% and saw the butterfly. I was hoping to get a nice crop with just one flower, but was more than pleased with the final view I found.

Well there will be more to come...up next some nice deer photos...

Happy Birthday Dad!

A Short Vacation

So I was able to take a couple of days of vacation. On Wednesday evening we went into the Smokies with my cousin and her family. It was drizzling as we were driving up. When we got to the first overlook of the Gatlinburg bypass we were greeted by the sight of this beautiful rainbow.

It faded rather quickly and this was my last shot where it is at all visible. It was a beautiful view even though it was short.

We also went on a short hike on one of the trails. I have no idea who this couple is, but I loved the shot of them sitting on the rocks just enjoying the river on a summer day.


On Friday, I went to Dollywod to enjoy the free refills of popcorn and soda with my 25th anniversary mugs. I also wanted to play with taking some photographs of the planter people they have scattered throughout the park for Kid's Fest. This was also my first attempt at making a collage of multiple photos. It took me all Saturday night, but I was happy with the end result.


I also took pictures of a number of flowers while wandering about the park between shows.

It was a hot couple of days. But I enjoyed them nonetheless, and I hope you enjoy the photos. It was a short staycation, but I think one of the most refreshing vacations I've had.

Dolly Homecoming Parade 2010

One of the many things I like about living in Sevier County is that it's like a small town and yet still is very obviously a tourist. Also it's close enough to Knoxville for any of the larger city things one might want, but that is off point.

The parade showed some examples of the odd mix between tourist town and small town.

First example of small town... the local boy scouts carried the parade banner at the beginning of the parade.


First example of tourist town...this was followed by Dolly Parton's elaborate float. See the previous post for the video of Dolly on her float.

The short video shows a couple more examples...


I just thought these tractors driving in the parade were just funny. I just really felt like this was one of the proofs that they would let ANYTHING into this parade. (I actually lost count of how many cheer/baton squads we saw.)



And yes, this was in May... with Santa in the parade. I mean what else would a year-round Christmas store put in a parade, even if it 93 degrees outside this day.

I just liked how this horse and carriage looked. It was actually there for the Wells Fargo Bank.

And yes, if you look closely at the right hand side of the image, those are pooper scooper men following the carriage. What I thought was a trip... there was actually little tractors following which had seats attached so they sit. And the seats were actually labeled "Pooper Scoopers".

Anyway so that is all the pictures that I took. I did enjoy the parade, although I don't feel I really need to see it for another 5 years or so. It was just really on the long side.

Dolly

I will post more pictures from this weekend later. But for now, a video...




Well, okay one more thing. I missed this show while it was away. I really think it is the best show at Dollywood. I love the songs. The dancing/tumbling is just fun. In short, I just love this show.

Sha-Kon-O-Hey!

A few random photos

I just haven't felt much like blogging lately. But thought I'd get out here and at least post a few of the photos that I finally downloaded. These photos go all the way back to February when there was still snow coming down.

This was from a very pretty snow shower near the end of February.


This photo doesn't do justice to how pretty this frozen waterfall was.


These are 3 of 7 of the Kingdom Heirs at Dollywood. The 4th singer was out sick on this day.


This was just a few weeks ago, early spring. The bottom of the mountains had bloomed but the top was still brown. I really like the contrast in the colors.


And saving the best for last. This is our new puppy Max. His tounge sticks out like this every time he relaxes.

He is a very sweet and fun dog. I probably won't post much with them as he runs every time he hears the camera click. But other than that, he's great.