We had never been here before and enjoyed it much. It reminded me of a sleepy fishing village. It's not your typical beachy resort type area with tons of people.
The next day we ventured over to Gulf Shores to enjoy the day with some of my family that was vacationing there. While there we enjoyed the beautiful weather, crystal clear water and fantastic food!
But mostly I enjoyed getting to visit with my sis. Hardly ever do we get to spend time together so this was a blast.
SUPER SQUIRREL!!! The other morning I looked out the window and saw this gigantic, supersized squirrel sitting on the fence. My first thought was someone's exotic animal had escaped. This is the biggest squirrel I have ever seen. My hubbie and I couldn't figure out what the white was on his face. I pulled out the binoculars and discovered it was just white/gray hair. Maybe he's grandpa of the woods.
We decided to watch him for a few minutes. Knowing squirrels, we figured some free entertainment was coming up and sure enough. Isn't amazing how they can just shimmy up a tiny metal pole with no problem. 
Can't you just hear his thoughts? "H'mm I wonder what's in here? Let me see if I can get a closer look."
I'd say he got a real close up view. Unfortunately for him our bird feeder is spring loaded. Everytime something heavy gets on it, it pulls the little covering down over the holes.
One of our hikes led us to Grotto Falls. The trail actually walks right behind it so you could feel the cool splashing from it.
This is the trail right behind it.
It was a beautiful area that we enjoyed much!
Then on another hike to Rainbow falls we first came across this little splash of water. 
Then a ways on down, or should I say up, the trail we came to Rainbow Falls. There was lots of people here so I only got this one good picture.
As usual on our hikes I was always keeping my eye out for anything of interest such as this Flame azalea. In a vastness of green this color was easy to spot.
I don't think I have ever seen a red topped mushroom before. 
I wonder how long this tree had been laying here? Not sure what kind of fungus this was but if you enlarge the pic you can see some type of bugs enjoying it.
Normally we never see any wildlife on our hikes. But then we came across this guy laying across the trail. He didn't seem in any hurry to move. Even with rocks and sticks being thrown at him from two ridiculously scared adults(gee, I wonder who), he seemed perfectly happy to stand his ground. I thought we were going to have to walk over him but luckily he decided to mosey on.
This is more like my kind of wildlife. She was only about 20 feet from us and didn't even seem to mind us watching her.
She kept on going down the trail right over from us. Unfortunately, we didn't see anymore of them.
The rain and fog had rolled in but I still found it beautiful. 
Luckily I was able to snap a picture of these wild turkeys on the side of the road. They weren't bothered by the rain.
We decided to take a different route back home and discovered this area by the Ocoee river. When the 1996 olympics were held in Atlanta this is where the kayaking events took place. We had never been by here before.
Not to mention my little cherry tomatoes. I think I saw one smile at me, he was so happy!
Before you start thinking I've got great tomato producing plants listen to this. I have 13 tomato plants and so far guess how many fruits I have eaten off of them. Give up? ZERO. Yes, you heard me right. Nada, zilch, none....... Between hot temps, no rain and those pesky little(sometimes big) tomato worms my poor plants have suffered tremendously.
See that little cuke? Hopefully he'll grow into a big boy. I have harvested 4 off the vine and they were mighty tasty. Now the vines are covered in blooms so hopefully I'll get stocked up.
The Limelight hydrangea too was enjoying it's splattering of drops.
I know if it could have, this iris blade would have sucked these little droplets thru it's foliage. Needless to say all my plants were so happy with a little rain. I hope we get more. We need it.
They had the American flag on the stage so I tried to capture fireworks and it in the picture. It turned out to be my favorite.
Reminds me of a flower, jellyfish or meteorite flying thru space.
Not sure what this reminds me of but I like it.
Looks like lightning bugs woven together with string.
As you can see by the sign, it was 5 miles to the lodge. When walking this trail before we always stopped at the bluff and never continued on to the lodge. So this was an exciting and new experience for us.
I love seeing shrubs and flowers in their natural habitat. Rhododenron was blooming everywhere.
There were beautiful sights everywhere and this interesting rock formation. It's called "Eye of the Needle". You can see the opening thru the rock.
This is the bluff area. If you enlarge you can see my honey standing over there. Little squirrels greet you here with hopes of a nibble or two of a snack. Unfortunately for them, our snacks would be going with us on the rest of the hike.
The hike from the bluff was pretty tough. Lots and lots of uphill. We ran across a couple of guys who pointed out to us where we were headed. See the little notch at the top of the mountain? That is where we were headed. Trust me, it looked like a long way off and it really, really was. 
You had to be very careful walking on this trail or take a wrong step and hello, you'd be seeing the trail from a completely different view.
There was lots of rocky, wet and slippery edges. Thanks to the National park for putting up these cable guides to hang onto. 
We were oh so glad when we finally came upon the lodge. As you can see, it's a bunch of small cabins grouped together. The views up there were really incredible. 
You can see how high we were by the elevation posted on the dining room. There's several interesting tidbits about staying here. First off, you have to book a reservation 6-12 months in advance. They serve a wonderful dinner and breakfast to their guest. There is no electricity or running water. It is only open 9 months(I think) out of the year. Last year it never reached 80 degrees up there. 
When we left the lodge we decided to take a little jaunt out to Cliff Tops. I think it was the highlight of the whole day. I can't relay to you how peaceful and gorgeous this was.
When I look at this photo, to me, the background looks like a backdrop. I could have sit there all day taking in God's glory. Whenever we find ourselves in the Smokies again we will definitely take this trail again.
And then I spotted this Brown Thrasher having a big time in the bath. 
"Hey, how many of you kids are still in there?" Mr. or Mrs. Bluebird was trying to coax out another baby. It seems like they have been trying to leave the nest for a couple of days now. 
My hubbie caught these early this a.m. He looked like he was pretty comfy in there.
But one had left the nest and sat perfectly still while hubbie took his photo.
"Don't mind me, I'm just sitting here waiting on mom/dad to show me how to fly."
