this trip is just a taste of it
"it" being Tennessee
and the Smoky Mountains
we'll be back again
though I don't know when
I can feel it
as this place calls to me
in my soul

could just be
those Traveling Feet
that I inherited
from my Grandmother
she loved the thrill of travel
the anticipation in the planning
the wonder of going
the excitement of exploring
visiting new places
trying new things

then returning home again
not empty handed
suitcases laden with treasures
some store bought
jelly, cookbooks, lace, baskets
some from artisans
silver buckles and bolo ties
ceramic mugs with woodpecker handles
others from roadside stands
fruit and vegetables in season
natural things too
special rocks and plants uprooted
definitely
just a taste of it

My grandparents were World Travelers together and apart. My grandmother traveled to Far Off Places with him. Africa. The South Pacific. Though my grandfather never returned to Europe after his tour there in World War II. In later years, when he wouldn't budge from the Home Place, she traveled alone to visit their daughters in Distant Ports all around the globe. Europe. Russia. Stateside too.

Grandma would have approved of the Educational Value of our recent family vacation. She taught school as a profession and kept right on learning and teaching long after her official retirement. The Natural Beauty of the Smokies and preservation of Cades Cove, an Old Time Settlement, would have appealed to her, as much as the Ranger Program which taught young visitors (and their parents too) fascinating facts about hawks, frogs, coyotes and bears native to the area. She'd smile knowing I kept a Trip Journal too. She was The Queen of The Trip Report which included family and places visited, hotels stayed in, food eaten, gas milage and prices recorded, as well as the surprises along the way. How she loved to travel.

On June 6, 2011, as my family of four drove through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, "just a taste of it", was written longhand. It follows "In the Smokies" and "Little River" on the previous journal page. Such beautiful soothing scenery. Everywhere you look. Fleeting impressions as the landscapes drifts by the window of the moving van and memories of my grandmother. Wrapped up together and overlapping in my mind and poured out on the page in front of me.

"In the Smokies"
http://my.opera.com/jbaird/blog/2011/06/14/in-the-smokies

"Little River"
http://my.opera.com/jbaird/blog/2011/06/14/little-river

© 2011, Janean Baird Turquoise Tangles