Annual trip to Gatlinburg

Each year the 4th weekend in April, Gatlinburg, TN has their annual Wildflower Pilgrimage and Festival. We have gone for the last few years, and it is a lot of fun. (too bad it is the same weekend as Paducah). This year the weather wasn't so great and we had to spend a lot of time in our hotel room. The guy to the right decided to stay out of the weather and spent most of his time right outside of our door.

On Saturday morning the session we attended was about Native People and their way of life. It was very good. The leader of the session was Karen Lemer, a native Ho Chunk, it was extremely interesting. She told us all about the native foods, where the were obtained, how they were prepared and the significance behind each food. We even got to eat some wild rice, with some hoe cakes, very bland it definitely could have used some seasoning. Of course I was more interested in the clothing they wore and the history behind it. Had a few pieces of native dress along with some beading using porcupine quills and beading on leather, (which I am very interested in).

Karen with a "ribbon shirt" worn by both men and women of the Ho Chunk tribe.


A special treat was one of the participants in the program was a member of the Cherokee tribe and a flute player, Randy McGinnis. He just happened to have some of his flutes with him and gave us an impromptu concert. It was wonderful. Of course we had to go find one of his cd's before we left Gatlinburg.

Our afternoon session was somewhat of a bust, it was a fern walk. I like ferns but really just wanted to know the common name, I'm not interested in their Latin names nor do I care to know about their sex lives. It had started to rain by this time so the talk/walk was cut short. Thankfully. All in all it was good weekend. It was great to get away for a few days and forget all about testing and everything that needed to be done in our yard. Now back to the real world.