The Smoky Mountains National Park

I love this time of year; when I can trade in my perfume for bug spray, when I can get back to what makes me who I am, when I can breathe again. I mean really breathe. That kind of breath you can only take on the top of a mountain, looking down at the forest and all you can feel throughout your being is peace... tranquility... a oneness with the life around you. And that is just what I felt on our recent trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

A beautiful snapshot, a living memory of topography splayed out before me for the taking. This breath-taking scene was the reward for the 1,700 mile raise in elevation in a short two mile hike, but boy, was it worth it. The adrenaline, the apprehension, the attainment. Chimney Tops was a great hike to end our trip, but I'm getting ahead of myself...

Ever since I was a young girl, I have felt complete serenity in the Smokies. My love first manifested itself as plastic bags filled with quartz. Now, the only treasures I carry are the recollections; both the digital ones before you and those I hold even closer . Those that capture that something about hiking in the mountains that's different than anywhere else. It's the way the sunshine cuts through the trees and fills the morning fog with bold rays of light. It's the smell of the afternoon rain cleansing the mountain air as it falls. It's the waterfalls. Oh, the waterfalls...

The Ramsey Cascades. What a sight. The 105 foot falls made an immaculate display, it's waters glimmering in the sun as they skipped from rock to rock, making they're way down the mountainside. The breeze leapt from the cool waters, swirling around us as the sun shone to warm our faces.

Cades Cove rests in the valley of the mountains where wildlife thrives. I was most amazed by the relationship

between the bears and human life. They come and go as they please, crossing the road at their leisure. They didn't raise as much as an ear to the flutter of shutters and gasps of awe as they slowly sauntered by. The turkeys also roamed with little regard to our presence. We were in their kingdom, which is something we, as the human race, often forget.

I need this kind of trip once in a

while as a reminder. Sometimes we forget that life is bigger than us. Bigger than our problems, our stress, our hang-ups that keep us from growing. We get so caught up in what breaks us down, that we forget what makes us up in the first

place. This is what makes me.