Memorial Day

We didn’t do much on Memorial Day — the crowds were still massive. I did take off in the afternoon and walk the Schoolhouse Gap Trail in the National Park in search of a Swainson’s Warbler. It’s a little brown bird that hides in thickets and is uncommon in its limited range. A ranger at the visitor center told me this trail was the best place to find one. I think I may have heard one singing, but I didn’t catch a glimpse of it.

I did see a swarm of swallowtails.

The road ran along the Little River. There were pull-outs every few hundred yards and cars were parked in every one. People were crawling all over the rocks in the river. I finally found an empty spot and pulled over to take this photo.

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I placed the chair on the rock and turned around to find three young Japanese women taking pictures in my general direction. They must have pulled over seconds after I did.

There were several miniature golf courses in Gatlinburg, and in the evening we decided to play one of them. We picked Fort Fun, which had two courses running down the hillside above main street.

I wasn’t paying too much attention until a few minutes after the guy told me the cost for three adults was $36. When I realized what I’d paid, I wasn’t happy, but we decided to make the best of it. Unfortunately, it was in the upper 80s and the hillside received no breeze. We were soon sweating and miserable.

We wandered about town for a little, shared a funnel cake and headed back to the car. Then several of the women decided they wanted to tour the Mysterious Mansion. My brother-in-law and I sat on stumps across the street. Every so often, we’d hear a door slam inside the haunted house followed by the screams of our wives and daughters.

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