God's World

One of my long-time favorite poems is by Edna St. Vincent, titled "God's World." It describes so well how I feel when I look at the grand, majestic, varied beauty in the world:

O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!

   Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!

   Thy mists, that roll and rise!

Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag

And all but cry with colour!   That gaunt crag

To crush!   To lift the lean of that black bluff!

World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,

         But never knew I this;

         Here such a passion is

As stretcheth me apart,—Lord, I do fear

Thou’st made the world too beautiful this year;

My soul is all but out of me,—let fall

No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.

After the scenery we have seen these last few days, I am just that much more convinced of an all-powerful, creative, and loving God. 

Truly. Spectacular.

We drove through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park on our way to our RV site in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The park is one of the few free national parks, because the road was originally a joint effort between North Carolina and Tennessee to increase travel and commerce in the mountains. When the park was made and the road was bequeathed to the federal government, it was done with the stipulation that no one would ever be charged to use the road. Pretty cool. 

So here is a little of what we saw as we drove through the park:

The pictures can in no way do justice to the grandeur of God's world. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to visit this park!

Gatlinburg is quite the tourist trap, and it was jam-packed with tourists, most of whom were not doing much in the way of social distancing. Thankfully, we just drove through to the outskirts, where our beautiful RV park was.

This was the view directly behind our campsite. Just behind those trees is the Little Pigeon River, a shallow, rocky stream that filled the camp with its beautiful sound. The kids had great fun skipping rocks and "accidentally" falling in. There was even a swimming hole a little ways from our campsite, although we never actually got to use it.

We decided to stay an extra day in Gatlinburg, because some of the kids wanted to go do touristy shopping in Gatlinburg, and the rest of us wanted to go back into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GSMNP). We also started having problems with the electrical system in the RV. So on Tuesday, LaMar stayed to work on the RV for awhile and the rest of us went to breakfast, where we got the most divine cinnamon-sticky-bun-flavored pancakes! They even had gluten-free. 😁 

After we ate, we got a to-go order for LaMar and took it back to camp. He ended up having to call a repairman, but the guy couldn't make it until Wednesday. LaMar, Carter, and David decided to go into town, so we dropped them off and the rest of us drove up to the top of the GSMNP, stopping many times to take pictures.

The Smokies were truly living up to their name yesterday. It was cloudy but quite warm in Gatlinburg, but it didn't take long going up the mountain for the weather to turn colder and misty. As we got higher, the mist turned to outright rain. By the time we made it to Clingman's Dome at the top of the park, there were small rivers running across the roads and beautiful rivulets and miniature waterfalls running off the rocks. The temperature was only 60 degrees, and it was heavenly. The girls even got cold after being outside for a few minutes!

There is an observation tower at Clingman's Dome where you are supposed to be able to get a full 360 view of the Smokies, but visibility at the top was very limited because of the rain and mist, so we didn't bother to climb the tower. We just played in the trickles of water for a few minutes.

Right before we got to Clingman's Dome, I noticed the gas light was on in the car. I felt like an idiot for not checking that before we headed up the mountain! It was at least half an hour's drive to get down, and there is no cell signal for most of the trip. I was really worried that we would get stranded and have no way to call for help. We decided to say a prayer and ask for Heavenly Father to get us safely down.

I was able to coast in neutral for most of the way down the mountain, and there was a gas station right at the bottom. I was very grateful for Heavenly Father's watchful care--especially when I filled the tank, and the pump said I put in a little more than 20 gallons (it's a 20-gallon tank). I know He helped us.

We picked up the others, got some ice cream, and headed back to camp. LaMar got a power strip and was able to jimmy-rig enough power for us to charge our phones, but we weren't able to use the microwave or air-conditioner, so I let David convince we that we should drive to the nearest Wendy's, about 20 minutes away in Pigeon Forge. We had fun a fun drive, especially when we passed a street called Gnatty Branch Road. We were laughing about how unremarkable a road must be to name it that, when Garrett noticed on the GPS that Gnatty Branch Road intersected a road with an even funnier name--Boogertown.

We got a great laugh from that, and I decided that I need to write a story with those streets in it somehow.

When we got to Pigeon Forge, we realized that it is the home town for DOLLYWOOD!! You can just imagine how excited I was, and of course we HAD to go take a picture.

I mean, wow!!!! 😂🤣😂🤣😂

This morning the RV repair guy came and he and LaMar tinkered around while I did some laundry. The final verdict was that our power inverter has most likely died. Joy. So they came up with a workaround so we could at least use the power outlets until we get home, and then we will have to take it in for repair. 😟

We finally got on the road a little before noon and set out for Kentucky. We were hoping to go to Mammoth Cave National Park today, but because of our late start, we didn't have enough time to get there before the last tour started. So we are going to do a tour tomorrow morning before we head out. Meanwhile, since we had extra time, we decided to take a scenic drive through Kentucky that a client had told LaMar about. It took us through the rolling hills of bluegrass horse country.

Truly. Spectacular.

According to LaMar's client, some of these old rock walls we saw along the way were over 200 years old!

Again the pictures don't come close to doing it justice, especially since they were taken from inside the RV while we drove. But let me just say wow. It was the Kentucky I have always dreamed of seeing. I am so glad we were able to take the time to see it! All of these wondrous, beautiful parts of the world we have been able to see have testified to me of the Master hand that created it all.

The day ended on a perfect touch. We arrived at our RV campground, and there is a swinging bench right by our site! And best of all, when I went to check out the bench, I saw fireflies!!! I was so excited. I immediately called David to come and see. He has been wanting to see fireflies this whole trip, and now that wish has been fulfilled.

Beautiful world. God is good. We are blessed.