Other Side of the Y

There is a special little place just past Townsend and into the Smoky Mountain National Park where my crew loves to go.

For those who know the area well, I would describe it as the "other side of the Y" - which is at the turn where you either turn right to go to Cades Cove or turn left to explore the rest of the mountains and head toward Gatlinburg.

Anyway, it's a less populated area that allows us to soak in the beauty of the mountains without all the people!

And my boys get to be boys - in all the splendor of their super fly goggles..!

(I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever actually used the phrase super fly... I'm not so sure what that says about me)

We get to swim, rope swing, catch crawdads, skip rocks, build rock towers, and do all the things boys should be doing in the summertime.

Luke is a better sport than I am standing there taking all this in.

Look at that face... I could eat him up!

And that one too... somehow making pouty look cute.

Building rock towers is certainly a Hatcher family fave... we've left our mark in the Little River many times over.

Ahhh... The Smoky Mountains one of my most favorite places on Earth...  Makes everything feel just as it should.