​We were able to sleep in because there were no dogs to wake us at 6 am. What a luxury! We did a steep, one-mile round-trip  hike up a paved trail to the top of Clingman's Dome, the third highest peak east of the Mississippi at 6,643 feet. The view was great, but apparently it was much better 40 years ago before smog filled the valley.

Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are very congested tourists areas. There are a ton of family-friendly activities. We experienced some nasty traffic and parking challenges.

After Clingman's Dome, we did a 3.6-mile forest hike to Andrew's Bald, without having to move our car. Angie had found this hike while reading reviews of the park. At this elevation, there were a lot of Fraser Firs, just like in Washington State. We felt right at home. We also enjoyed the thornless blackberry and Flame Azaleas blooming along the trail.

We dropped the dogs off at a boarding facility in Sevierville. Then we drove to Cade's Cove, one of the most popular destinations in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The drive took us up the Lauren Creek Road, named after the mountain laurel bushes which line nearly the entire road from the entrance of the park. It was a sweet reminder of the site where Hank proposed to Angie.

​There is an 11-mile loop that people drive around six days a week, frequently complaining about bumper to bumper traffic and "bear jams". But on Wednesdays in the Summer, the Park Service reserves the road for cyclists and walkers. As many as 700 people once lived in the verdant valley, from about 1830. The US government began buying the land in 1927 for the formation of the park. Today there are many historic structures still standing, including cabins, churches and a mill. 

It is also one of the best places for viewing wildlife. Bear and deer are often sited during visits there. We saw only three turkey, a young elk and a snake. The elk was very close, though. 

On the way home, we stopped for a meal in Gatlinburg and then dropped into Ol' Red, a chain owned by Blake Shelton, for some live music. A 17-year-old singer songwriter from North Carolina, Presley Barker, performed. He had a deep voice and fast guitar fingerings. Presley had appeared on American Idol, where he advanced to the Hollywood Round before being eliminated in January. He has already recorded a couple of original songs in Nashville, as he continues work on an album. 

He was a delightful performer, polite and appreciative of the audience. He played a wide variety of songs, including songs by The Black Crowes and Eric Clapton in addition to country classics and original songs.

We hung out at a coffee shop in Ashville, where the dogs were treated by the staff to cups of whipped cream. Bonus! We updated our blog before heading back to our campsite to hook up and travel.

We were delighted to find that we had another riverside camp site at our private campground in Pigeon Forge (Camp River's Landing). The camp also featured a great pool and laundry room, which we enjoyed in late afternoon. While playing with dogs in the river, Angie discovered a robin trapped in a fishing line, which was wrapped around one foot. We cut him loose and he flew away.
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The camp also had awesome Wi-Fi, which we used to watch the film "Blue Miracle", an inspiring film about orphan boys in Cabo who win a marlin fishing tournament. The Orphanage featured in the film is Casa Hogar, which was one of charities supported by Angie's friends, the Hurter twins, who recently died of COVID.

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After morning flow class at the Ashville Yoga Center, we bought tickets for a tour of the Biltmore Estate - a 250-room French Renaissance chateau built between 1889 and 1895 by George Vanderbilt. It is the largest private home in the US - with more than four acres of floor space, including 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. The architect was Richard Morris Hunt, who helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 entrance façade and Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The landscaping of the 8,000-acre estate was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the father of landscape architecture in America, who is best known for his design of New York’s Central Park.

Hank was initially not interested in touring an ostentatious display of the excesses of America's Gilded Age, but after viewing a short video at the visitor center and talking with some of the staff there, he was won over. George Vanderbilt's grandfather was a self-made man who started a ferry business with a modest $100 investment. He grew that business into a shipping and railroad empire. George inherited about $5 million and grew his wealth to more than $50 million by the time of his death in 1914. 

The house and grounds are amazing tributes to architecture, but George was quite a collector of art and he hired the sculptor Karl Bitter to create new works for the home, including "Boy Stealing Geese", the bronze centerpiece in the atrium. The house if filled with paintings, etchings and tapestry. Here is a link where you can see much of the art. 

We capped off the day with dinner at a sidewalk Cajun restaurant downtown.

​We held our traditional Sunday morning devotional service, led by Roger at the hotel. Most people were able to attend before going our separate ways. Roger's theme was about what we should teach our children (how much we and God love them) and how we should be humble in working out our differences. 

After the service people and stayed and talked for about another hour. It was as if no one wanted to leave! By the end of the day, we had already set the date for next year's 31st anniversary event. These events are a highlight of the year for Hank, who grew up pretty isolated from half of his siblings. 

We drove at greatly reduced speed through a heavy rainstorm, but eventually landed at our campsite at Lake Powhatan in the Pisgah National Forest. We learned that Pisgah was the first national forest east of the Mississippi River. The land was sold to the US government by Edith Vanderbilt in 1914. The ranger warned us that a mother bear and two small cubs have been frequenting the campsite along with papa bear, travelling solo. We'll certainly be keeping our dogs on a close leash during this visit.

Only Roger beat Hank and Angie to the reunion site - a pavilion at riverfront Bisset Park. The husband and daughter of Hank's late sister, Edith (Ken and Kandy) arrived next and we began arranging and preparing the picnic tables and grills.

​In addition to the above attendees, there was:
- Hank's oldest brother Douglas' son, Doug, and his wife, Jamie from Texas
- Hank's oldest sister, Eleanor's daughter, Cathy, with her husband Todd and daughter, Callista from Kentucky
- Hank's brother Butch's daughter, Heather and her husband Rabiou from Pennsylvania
- Edith's granddaughter, Amber, her husband, Mikeal, and young children Kennedy and MJ from Pennsylvania
- Hank's cousin, Jim and his wife, Jeanne from Richmond, Virginia
- Family friends Pearl Dobbins (age 103) and her granddaughter Sherry from Radford, Virginia
- Family friend Bernice Phillips from Radford, Virginia

For most of us, this is the only weekend in the year when we see each other. But we picked up right where we had left off the previous year. We get closer and have more fun each year. 

​Hank's ancestors on both sides date back to pre-Revolutionary time. Floyd County was home to his mother's side from 1780. We actually found the gravesite of John Duncan Sr, a Scots-Irishman who was a veteran of the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. It was located just a few miles from the cemetery where Hank's maternal grandparents are buried. Angie stopped in at the Historical Society in Floyd and found property maps and other records of these early Duncans.

Then it was time to drive to Radford, the site of the 30th anniversary Duncan/Hypes family reunion. Our campsite for the night was the Wilderness Road Regional Museum, where we got a tour before setting up the trailer. We met our family at a hotel in Radford to finalize plans for the reunion. Roger, Hank's older brother, is the MC for this annual event. After the meeting he delivered the important package that Hank and Angie had been waiting for.

We had a private moment unveiling and placing the ring on Angie's finger. She loved it! Whew. The wedding is on! Angie could hardly contain her joy and pride.

Roger's wife missed the reunion because she had to have a medical procedure done. Hank and Angie took Roger out to dinner and were regaled with stories of Roger's courtship adventures leading up to his marriage to the beautiful, sweet and wise Rose. They recently celebrated 53 years of marriage.

​We got up early and did a long paddle board trip with the dogs to uninhabited Turkey Island. We saw a burst of color in the midst of the sea of green forest and paddled in to investigate. We found a beautiful flowering mountain laurel bush. Hank decided it was the perfect time and place to pop the question. After all - our first date had been on paddleboards. And the dramatic beauty of the laurel bush that popped out of the green background seemed symbolic of the beauty Angie brings to Hank's life.

She said "Yes!"

Hank had already ordered a ring, which was delivered to his brother Roger's house in Locust, NC, the previous day. Roger is bringing the ring to the family reunion in Radford for the weekend. 

We packed up and headed to Floyd, VA, 50 minutes away. The campsite in Floyd was a pretty isolated spot in a large, open, hilly field in a former farm about 10 minutes to town. We drove into town in time to see some live music - first at a brewery and later in the city park - part of summer series on alternate Thursday nights. We were treated to fun Cajun two-step and waltz tunes from a mostly girl band from Louisiana - The Daquiri Queens. The token male was the accordion player.

The people of Floyd love to dance. The dance floor was full for every song, right from the first tune! The crowd ranged in age from a few weeks to people in their 70s. Someone at Philpott Lake had told us that Floyd was a bit of a "hippy town". We certainly saw a lot of tie dye and tatoos and even a girl with a braided mohawk! Who would've thought we'd find this in rural Southwest Virginia!

​Long drive over the Blue Ridge mountains on I-64 to I-81 south, which traverses the old Wilderness Road for post-Revolutionary westward migration down the Shenandoah Valley toward Cumberland Gap. We stopped for lunch at our favorite Virginia Barbecue joint - Foothill Mamas in Lexington, VA. We had smoked Andoullie Sausage and pulled pork, cornbread with honey butter, collard greens and cole slaw. Yum! Chased with a couple of locally brewed IPAs.

We got off I-81 at Roanoke and took back roads to an amazing campsite at a lake created in 1948 by the Corps of Engineers for flood control and hydroelectric power generation. It was 12 miles from the nearest grocery store or gas station over windy, hilly, narrow roads. But was it ever worth it! Philpott Lake was quiet, calm, warm, clear and beautifully pristine. There were only a few campgrounds and parks around the 100-mile long shoreline. We inflated the paddleboards  and enjoyed the calmest wind and wave conditions we had ever seen on a large body of water. 

​After a leisurely morning, we enjoyed a 90-minute tour of the Monticello Visitor Center, followed by  a Southern buffet at Micheys Tavern, established in 1747. We did not tour the inside of Monticello, since we had each done so previously. Instead, we drove to the campus of the University of Virginia to see Jefferson's academic village.