It’s been a very busy semester for Jen and Me – we are both teaching (me at EIU, and she is student teaching at Windsor), I’m working my full-time job as a web developer, and Jen has been leading some great activism on our campus (mostly Jen). So we took a weekend off and went south for some hiking.

The weather was great and the trails were pretty empty – so it was great. On day 1 were did the Rainbow Falls Trail since US 441 was closed, thus not allowing us to do the Mt. Le Conte Trail. Rainbow Falls was a great trail, the falls themselves were not that great, but hey, it’s the journey that matters.

Day 2 we enjoyed the Laurel Falls Trail – which ended with a spectacular waterfall.

Gatlinburg itself wasn’t that appealing to Jen and I – but it was over-the-top touristy. It was like a state fair decided to make a town – and that’s Gatlinburg. But the hiking was fantastic and the park rangers were cool (Jen loves park rangers).

We also took a chance to put our feet up and snuggle.