That is what we had to resort to a couple of weeks ago when all the girls were on Spring Break. We stuffed a 12 passenger rental van full of the girls and gear and headed south to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area of the Great Smoky Mountains looking for Spring. While the weather for the most part that week was also nice in northern Indiana, it was warmer in Tennessee and we enjoyed our stay very much. However, it didn’t take Indiana long to remind us we were home as within two days the high temperature went from about 74 on Sunday to 44 on Tuesday. So much for Spring! Yeah, it’s been that kind of winter and spring pretty much everywhere. Here are just a few shots from our trip.

The view from our cabin

Clingman’s Dome- some 6,600 ft above sea level. The last 1/2 mile hike feels like it’s about a 20% grade.

The girls and an iceberg dead ahead! At the Titanic exhibit in Pigeon Forge.

From the aerial tram to Ober Gatlinburg.

One of several views as we hiked trails through the Smoky Mtn. National Park.

Historical references throughout several of the trail walks.

Now we are just a couple of short weeks away from heading back to camp and there remains plenty to do in preparation. The recent word from “up north” is not as encouraging as I would like to report, but with opening week still three weeks away, there is plenty of time for things to change and if history is any indication it will. Most areas with direct sunlight in NW Ontario have melted all the snow away, shaded areas and anyplace snow was piled up still have plenty of standing snow. One report we received indicated that while the ice on the lake is very deep (36″ plus) not all of it is good ice with as much as 12″ of the middle layer being slush/water. As always is the case this time of year, weather conditions over the next couple of weeks will hold the key. The good news is that the temperature trend is upward for the next seven days at least and there is some rain in the forecast for the area also. Warmer temps, rain and some wind will get things to start moving fast!