Clean feet!  This little guy’s feet are not often clean when we are out and about camping.  I took a picture of Cody sleeping because he had his feet on his mat and his head on my pillow.  As often as I gently put him back onto his mat he put his little head right back onto my mat.  We both started the day a little exhausted. During breakfast Cody said, “Teton is probably a werewolf right now. Oww! Oww!” Teton howls when she misses us.  Thankfully Scott’s mom hangs out at our house now and then to keep Teton company.

Our campground hostess showed us her pictures of a bear she had seen in her yard this morning.  We chatted with a kid and his sister this morning as we were packing up camp.  He was running to train for baseball.  This nine-year-old was very clear that he was not a Phillies fan, that he was a Braves fan, even though his home little league team was the Phillies.  He asked my favorite team.  I of course had to say the Cubs.  He launched into a long understanding head nod and story about the goat curse and how he understood needing to like the Cubs even though they haven’t won a World Series in forever.

We left our campground in North Carolina at 9:40.  By 10:05 we were back in Tennessee.  By 11:12 we were in Virginia.  You have to love the Welcome to Virginia sign: Virginia is for lovers. We arrived at the Cumberland Gap at 12:42. The kids loved the Cumberland Gap Tunnel.

The Cumberland Gap Visitor Center had a gorgeous garden of native flowers.  The butterflies blanketed the flowers and tickled us as they floated amongst the flowers.  The visitors center was incredible inside.  This was the only bear the kids and I saw on the trip. Scott saw a bear cub our second day in Smoky Mountain National Park while riding the Cade’s Cove loop.

The visitor center had a most magnificent movie on Daniel Boone and the Cumberland Gap. We learned Daniel Boone came through the gap in 1769. Between 1775 and 1810 nearly 300,000 settlers followed Boone’s path.

The kids feverishly worked on their Junior Ranger books as Scott cooked up some hot dogs and brats. After lunch we watched a caterpillar stuck in a spider’s web under our picnic table. We wanted to let the caterpillar go free, but we let nature run its course.

I always love seeing signs about bears threatening visitors…  We hiked the Ridge Trail which was 1.8 miles each direction.

The kids wanted hiking sticks and after Scott found them some, they were still a bit cranky.  So Scott started some light saber hiking stick duos.

It rained while we were on our hike, so the view over the gap changed quite a bit.

The rain was welcome as it was hot and sticky.  We dried quickly.

We camped at the Cumberland Gap National Park.  Unlike a lot of National Parks you were allowed to gather downed wood for campfires.  Scott sent the kids out on a mission so they could have a campfire.  They did not disappoint.

The kids played with the fire for hours.  We made banana boat campfire treats.  They were delicious.