Rain won’t stop us

What do you do when the forecast for the last 48 hours of your vacation calls for nothing but rain? I don’t mean just a little rain. I mean every single hour for 48 hours straight, the chance of rain is nearly 100 percent.
You could do what normal people do.
This is why towns build movie theaters and aquariums and museums. This is the purpose of indoor shopping malls and shows and restaurants. Those are the places people go when there’s absolutely no chance that it will stop raining the entire day.

Then there’s me. I’m the mom who lives by the mantra: “Enjoy the day you’re given.” I’m the mom who thinks the crazy weather might just ADD to the experience, rather than detract from it. I’m the mom who says, “I think it would be cool to explore the Smokies in the pouring rain.”

So, that’s what we did. I had been hoping we would have time this trip to take a drive around Cade’s Cove. If you haven’t been there, it’s a really unique plateau in the Smokies that was home to more than 125 families back in the late 1800s. I’m not a big history buff, but I do love the beauty of old barns, one-room white churches and truly rustic houses — not just the kind we try to create these days by buying old objects to put in our fully updated suburban homes!

Amazingly, I convinced at least part of the family to come along for my adventure in the pouring rain. I won’t say it was completely pleasant. I’m glad I chose to wear flip flops so I didn’t have to worry about how muddy my shoes were getting. The good thing is that once you are soaked, you can’t really get any wetter! And it was memorable, to say the least.
Come on! Don’t you think a little cemetery and old white church are even more magical in the pouring rain?

Plus, we saw quite a lot of large buck. We actually quit stopping to take their photos after we ran into the fifth group of deer!


And we got to see a bear eating cherries at the top of a tree. (Sorry for the not-so-great photo. I was shooting straight into the rain from a very long distance.)

And it was really fun to see the smoke of the Smokies covering the mountains in such a thick cloud.

The amazing thing was that there were actually a lot of OTHER people out doing the same thing. When we would pass another family on the path, completely drenched by the deluge, we would just wave and gesture like we were old friends. We HAD to be kindred spirits to choose this kind of adventure for our version of vacation fun.
At least we weren’t alone. 🙂
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So, tell me… What would you do if it rained on your vacation? Would you find an indoor activity or stick with the day’s plan and make the most of it?
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