Smokey Mountains

One of the last things we did before Steve started school was go to Smokey Mountain National Park with the fam. Holly's parents were in town, so we had a big, fun group for the adventure!

We got kind of a late start and it is a long drive to the park. On the way we stopped for lunch and then made an impromptu decision to go ride go carts. While we were riding go carts it started to down pour. The rain here still amazes me. It will come out of no where and rain buckets! We tried to decide if it was even worth trying to go to the park. We decided it was and hoped that the rain would clear up.

Sure enough it did and we had a lovely evening in the park. We only had time to do two short hikes. Both hikes were to waterfalls. It was very fun and very scenic.

Gangs all here!

Steve is the sweetest uncle. He always offers his nieces and nephews shoulder rides. He had Katie on his shoulders for most of the hike and would point things out to her and try to teach her new things. He is so good with kids. One of the many reasons I love him.

A lot different than the parks in Utah!

This was the first waterfall we hiked to. More like walked to.

Steve and Rick had to race to the top of the waterfall (of course, the Jones boys are extremely competitive)

On our way back Steve, Rick, and Katie took their own little trail.

The second waterfall we went to was a little more of a hike.

The second waterfall

I of course fell into the water

Steve of course needed to go exploring. I was not thrilled about this because it was super slippery and I was worried he would fall to his death.

You can kind of see him at the top in this picture

We had a fun filled day. I am hoping that next summer we can go back and spend more time in the park.

Tri-State and the Pennacle

If you look at a map of TN and look at the little corner where Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia all meet... that is Harrogate. Our house is in TN, we do our grocery shopping in Kentucky, and sometimes when I am tired my usual way of going to Kentucky, I will drive through Virginia to get there. Sometimes its hard to remember which state I really live in.

When we first moved out here Steve and I woke up one day and wanted to go explore. He has been here before to visit family but this is still all new territory for me.

We live about three miles from Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. It is a gorgeous park and the tiny town of Cumberland Gap is one of the cutest towns I have ever seen.

Steve wanted to take me on a hike that takes you to the point where Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia meet. It was a gorgeous hike!

A big, old furnace

Steve inside the furnace

So beautiful and green. Luckily the trail was mostly in the shade.

Made it to the top! Steve standing in between three states.

This was the strangest hike I have ever been on. It is only like a twenty minute hike but I was dying! I was so confused because it was right after our wedding so I had been running a lot and we had just hiked Angels Landing two weeks before. But I was sweating more than I have ever sweat before and felt totally exhausted. I kept complaining to Steve about how out of shape I was and he kept assuring me that it was the change in elevation and humidity. When We finally got to the top and I caught my breathe I realized he was right. I didnt feel tired at all! He said it was just my body tricking me because I was sweating so much.

Signed in! 7-11-11

Home sweet home!

After we were done hanging out in three states at one time, we hiked back down and went looking for some waterfalls that Holly had told us about. We went looking and sadly they were mostly just streams now. But it was still pretty and fun to go exploring a little.

Just a disclaimer for anyone who might come hiking with us- my husband does not stay on trails. He turns into a little kid when he is hiking and just goes all over the place. He very rarely stays on the actual trail.

Pretty sure fairies live here Natalie!

Awesome tree

After I was done taking pictures of these cool trees, I looked around and couldn't find Steve. Then he started screaming "Hi, Stephanie!" I looked and he was standing on top of the giant old furnace. I am going to have my hands full if our sons turn out to be anything like their dad.

A picture of an old B&B in Cumberland Gap.

Old street sign. So cool.

The National Park decided to build this giant tunnel that connects Tennessee and Kentucky. It is the fanciest tunnel I have ever seen! It is completely titled, has fans in it, has continuous signs telling you to stay in your lane. Very fancy, very annoying. The most annoying part of it is when a Haz Mat truck comes through. They have to shut down the tunnel and the truck has to be escorted through. After hiking the Tri-State hike, we decided to go to the Pinnacle. To get there you have to go through the tunnel. This is when we both experience our first run in with a Haz Mat truck. It was really exciting at the time, but now it seems to happen every time I need to go shopping.

We ended up just driving to the Pinnacle instead of hiking. It was a beautiful drive and the overlook was amazing. The elevation at the Pinnalce is 2,440 ft... the elevation of Cedar City is 5,864 ft. Just a little bit of a difference.

Do you see that big, brown building to the right in this picture? That is Steve's school!

A fun day of exploring with my husband. It is fun living in an entirely new place. And I am glad we got to get out and explore before school started.

Steve's School

Steve is attending the DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine at Lincoln Memorial University. He is a first year osteopathic medical student. He is studying to become a Doctor of Osteopathic medicine. Being a Doctor of Osteopathic medicine means he is licensed to preform Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment. He learns these technics in his Osteopathic Principals and Practices class which is currently his favorite subject.

Now... here is that paragraph again...

Steve is attending DCOM at LMU. He is an OMS 1. He is studying to become a DO. Being a DO means he is licensed to preform OMT. He learns about these technics in his OPP class which is currently his favorite subject.

Basically, acronyms are a big part of the medical world and now my everyday life. I am still trying to learn them all. Like right now Steve is studying MGA, OPP, FMHC, MFM, and EPC. Do I know what all those stand for? No. But I am trying to learn! Im sure someday they will all make sense.

DCOM is a new school. The building is beautiful. It is so clean and very high tech. Steve's parents call it Harrogate's temple because it is up on a hill and is always glowing. My friend told me that her mom calls it a modern day Hogwarts. Steve's little niece calls it "Daddy's school". Steve and I call it his home away from home.

Woking

I've gotta say one of the best things about living out here is living so close to Steve's parents. I really hit the jack pot as far as in laws go! His dad and step mom are so incredibly kind and generous. They are both very talented, intelligent people and I very much enjoy our time spent with them.

One of my favorite things to do with them is to watch them cook. They are both very talented chefs. Kevin always makes the most delicious meals and Cindy makes pies that put Betty Crocker herself to shame. They are so kind to share all their recipes with me. Being a good cook is very important to me!

Kevin's main specialty is Chinese food. Oh my gosh. It is so good! One of the key elements to Kevin's delicious Chinese food is his amazing, self made, enormous wok. The thing still terrifies me. It gets extremely hot and I just know one day I am going to burn my arm off or something.

Kevin threw on the food and put Steve to work. Steve was, of course, such a natural. I asked him how old he was when he learned how to use the wok and he couldn't even remember. Its like he was born doing it.

Our "Honeymoon" Part 2

After our night in Denver we began our long day. I mean LOOONG day. We drove for about thirteen hours. Way too long.

The minute we got out of Denver was when the Honeymoon ended. It was so ugly, flat, and boring. After about three hours straight of the same boring scenery I decided I was no longer considering this my Honeymoon.

We stopped for lunch in Kansas and ate at a burger place called Freddys. Not too shabby. And they had frozen custard so that was a special treat.

After lunch it was finally my turn to drive. I was really looking forward to actually doing something since all I had done was sit and look out the window and listen to our book on tape. I pulled onto the freeway and it was SO windy. I drove for about five minutes and then had to pull over. I felt like the car was going to blow off the road so I let Steve drive... for the rest of the way. Till we got to TN. Being a passenger the whole way across the country is super boring.

The entire day all we did was listen to our stupid book on tape. I was hating it by this point. It allowed me way too much time to sit and think about how much I was going to miss everyone and I ended up getting super homesick.

We finally checked into our hotel right outside of St Louis at 11 30. Such a long, boring day.

The next day we drove into St Louis. It was actually really fun and really nice to do some site seeing.

We of course stopped to see The Gateway Arch.

It was a beautiful, hot, humid day. We walked around outside for a little bit and then we went to the underground museum to take our journey to the top!

Steve waiting for our ride to the top.

I was already a little nervous to go to the top. I am pretty scared of heights. Little did I know that actually getting to top was going to be the worse part! I dont know what I was expecting, but the way you get to the top is by sitting in this tiny little pod with four other people, practically sitting on each others laps.

We got into the pod and the door closed. I immediately started having a panic attack. It was horrible! I am really, really claustrophobic. And there I was, stuffed in this tiny pod, rattling my way to the top.

We got out and I was already feeling nauseous and then we walk to the little landing area where you can look out the windows. I felt so dizzy the entire time. Steve was loving it, but he is a kind husband and knew how much I was hating it so he didn't make us stay for long.

My hair was not loving the humidity

The views were definitely amazing.

I really loved St. Louis. It is a beautiful city.

In the stupid pod on our way back down.

After our journey to the top, we went back outside and enjoyed walking around the area.

In front of the Mississippi River. I am still amazed by how huge the rivers out East are. No wonder the ones our West are considered streams to some people.

We then went to get some real St Louis BBQ. We called Steve's dad and he found a great place called Pappy's! It was so extremely delicious. If you are ever in St Louis you should go!

This is us about half way through the line. It sure was busy! But totally worth the wait.

After lunch we made our way out of St Louis. Like I said, it is a beautiful city. I really loved it there. I definitely prefer the city life.

Leaving St Louis

Now we were on our way to TN! The drive was much more scenic. I was absolutely amazed by all the trees. We stopped in Lexington for dinner and made it to Harrogate around mid night. We stayed at Steve's dads house. It was so nice to sleep in a house rather than a hotel.

The next morning I woke up and looked out the window. Oh my goodness!! It is SO beautiful here! I immediately fell in love. For like two weeks straight, whenever we drove anywhere I would sit looking out the window and comment on all the green! I love it.

We were lucky enough to move into our home the very next day. I will talk about that in a future post.

I am really hope that by the time we move back out West that we will have a little baby so I can just fly and Steve can drive. I never want to make that drive again! We are hoping we can go on a Honeymoon next year... because driving across the country aint no honeymoon!