Smokey Mountain Breakdown

Set your Tivo for the Travel Channel tomorrow for 10:00pm. If you aren't familiar with Samantha Brown, she's sort of like everyone's favorite BFF-girl next door--very entertaining gal. And she's going to be covering some places we all know and love--LeConte Lodge, Natahala Outdoor Center and Tuckaleechee Caverns to name a few.

Erin Pickard with The Travel Channel sends me the following release:

I work with the Travel Channel's online community team and thought you might be interested to know that Travel Channel's Great Weekends with Samantha Brown, will be featuring the Smoky Mountains in this week's episode, which airs Saturday, August 22, at 10pm E/P.

What is Travel Channel's Great Weekends with Samantha Brown?
This series serves as the definitive guide to the very best in weekend getaways. From Sundance to Montreal, or Philadelphia to Savannah, "Great Weekends" will have Sam traveling to destinations all across the U.S. and worldwide, and this weekend, she's in your neck of the woods!

Smoky Mountains Details

Sam’s tapping into her rugged side and trailblazing her way through the great outdoors of the Smokey Mountains. This weekend she’s joining a local outfitter and getting a Backpacking and Camping 101 primer in the most visited National Park in the United States. Whether it’s seeing the underworld that exists in the caverns beneath the park or taking a daring night hike in pitch black, Sam’s taking outdoor vacationing to the max. This is a roughing it weekend as it was meant to be. No cell phones or pots of honey allowed.


Some places Sam visits in the Smoky Mountains:

THE LODGE AT BUCKBERRY CREEK- Samantha stays and enjoys the view before a day of hiking.

http://www.buckberrylodge.com/

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/

LECONTE LODGE – Samantha has a rugged stay here after hiking up Mount LeConte.

http://www.lecontelodge.com/

TUCKALEECHEE CAVERNS – Samantha explores the underground caverns and formations.

NANTAHALA OUTDOOR CENTER- Samantha goes rafting and kayaking on The Nantahala River.

http://www.noc.com/

Tune into the Travel Channel this Saturday, 8/22 at 10 p.m. E/P to catch the all-new episode.

And in case you haven't already, find us on our Facebook page or on Twitter. Hope to see you there!


Community

You can become part of Travel Channel's Great Weekends online community by becoming a fan of our Facebook page or following us on Twitter. Hope to see you there!

They eat the eyes in Morocco, I'm told. Actually, I haven't just been told that--I've seen pictures.

This is about the only time they will cozy up to one another--when there is small ruminant kibble for the offering.

Chops has the most beautiful fleece now. He never got back to that rusty brown color he was when he came here a year ago. I'm guessing that was his first fleece. He's quite a bit younger than Mutton. Mutton's fleece is very dense but looks like a bunch of fiber fill that got tossed in the washer. Chops's is soft and very uniform. I don't know much about fleeces, but I can tell that Chops has the better one. It's almost time to drag them back up on the porch and shear them again. The bags from last year are still back there.

It's the shanks of the month and I am dreaming of having lean protein and fresh vegetables to eat again. I swear, I've been craving salmon sashimi in the worst way imaginable. I can just see the stuff sliding off my fillet knife.

Cartoon Network is showing one of my favorite Miyazaki films tonight at 7:00. Howl's Moving Castle is a really delightful film that your kids will love and it won't be a stretch at all for you to enjoy it as well. Christian Bale voices Howl in the English dub. Trust me--you will love this anime.

I've been watching the stunning Otogizoshi--gorgeous animation and story, but not for the under 14 set. It's about a warrior princess and is full of Noh dancing and historical references in the first arc of the story. Also, very dynamic fight scenes and the corresponding gore that goes with them.

Happy Sunday.