It took us right around 8 hours to get up there and the traffic wasn’t too bad until we got to Chattanooga. I am glad Brad was driving! I enjoy driving when there isn’t any traffic, it is actually relaxing to me. But, if there is traffic then I just putt along in the right lane; Brad does such a better job.
Most of the weekend was spent visiting with family. A large room was rented for us all to hang out in. It was nice because you could come and go as you pleased and do your own thing whenever you wanted. For instance, Saturday morning Brad went hiking with his dad and cousin, Matt. I went to breakfast with the rest of the crew. When we were both done we met in the big room and visited for awhile.
If you look really hard you will see 2 points in the center of the picture (through the trees). This is The Chimneys, where Brad hiked. I took this picture while we were out driving/exploring. Also, while we were out Brad tried to show me downtown Gatlinburg. Wow, you could tell it was spring break. We were going to park and get taffy and fudge, but there were NO parking spots anywhere. Brad thought there were just as many people there as there were in NYC. If that is the case, take me back to NYC! I could handle that better than that stop and go traffic.
Two of my favorites, Grayson and Ella. Grayson is Brad's cousin Mischa's son and Ella is Brad's cousin Jamie's daughter. They are so sweet!! They loved playing with each other and the rest of the kids there. I feel like I need to explain the bath tub they are sitting in front of. This was in the meeting room. The meeting room was more like a really big suite. It had a kitchenette, dining table, 3 queen beds, couch, and of course no room in Gatlinburg would be complete with out a jacuzzi tub.
As I said, we really did our own thing all weekend long. Saturday night we ate with Pam and Joe and TGI Fridays across the street from the hotel. It was nice to not have to get out in traffic (we literally ran across the street) and it was nice to not have to wait on a table (they had an "immediate seating" sign lite up).
Going to a family reunion is a great time to learn and remember family. So, here are some things I learned:
1) Brad’s grandmother’s first name was Emily. I knew her as Me-Maw and thought her first name was Aula. Turns out she went by her middle name and her first name was Emily (Emily Aula Cowan Wright).
2) The Wright’s liked to name their kids after other family members. There are a lot of Joe’s in the family (male and female, all spelled the same way). Another example is the name Nora. Brad’s great aunt was Nora and his aunt was named after her, Nora Sue.
3) The Wright ancestry has been traced back to the 1700s – I thought this was pretty neat! One family member put together this neat book explaining it all. I thoroughly enjoyed looking through it and seeing where Brad came from.
4) Joe, Brad’s dad, is the youngest of all the first cousins and Justin is the youngest of all the 2nd cousins. Each year Joe takes a picture with the oldest living first cousin, Helen.
5) Brad did not get his height from the Wright side. It could have been from the Cowan side (Brad’s dad’s mom) or somewhere on the Nixon/Green side (Brad’s mom’s side).
This is all of the 2nd cousins that were there for picture time. I think there were actually a few more there for the reunion but they slipped out before the picture was taken. You can see Brad is a good bit taller than most in this picture.
If you get bored, check out the Valley Forge Inn's website, www.valleyforgeinn.net. You can see pictures of the rooms and the meeting room. We had a wonderful time and I know we will be going back in the future!
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