Picture Page: Main Brandon's Don's Kathy's Kristen's Robin's

I'm sure I've been to family reunions before, but it must have been at least 15 years or more. Back then I did not really know my relatives that well and probably was a lot less interested. This time I was able enjoy the trip quite a bit. I left Raleigh on Thursday and stayed at my dad's place. On Friday, I left early to hit the Knoxville airport and pick up Alecia, who was flying in from Indiana to have the fun of hanging out with my family.      The location of the reunion was selected to be a sort-of central location for everyone. Since our families are so spread out, it is hard to get everyone in one place without someone having to travel a great distance. So as a central point, the Fall Creek Falls State Park was chosen. It really is in the middle of nowhere so there's nothing nearby to visit. There's the park and that is about it. There were folks coming from various parts of Tennessee, Misouri, Ohio and Florida. Most of them made it in on Friday, but some made it on Saturday. The weather was cool in the evenings, but very nice during the day.      Alecia got to meet many of the aunts and uncles and cousins. Now that most of them are either in college or done with college, it is a lot easier to relate to them. My cousins, Wes, Kristen and Eric from Missouri are a fun loving bunch and Alecia enjoyed meeting and hanging out with them quite a bit.      For photo links, and a lot more photos, click on the tabs at the top of the page

The park itself is beautiful. There are over a dozen trails with some of them going over 15 miles around the park. There are also several beautiful water falls. The major one is Fall Creek Falls itself which is over 250 feet high. It has a trail from the top to the bottom and is a pretty good hike. I worked my legs pretty well getting back up after heading down there. The wind and mist at the bottom is enough to pull you off the rocks in certain places.      There are several other falls and creeks in the area. Cane Creek, Piney Creek and others. Most of them have trails with overlooks that make for good hiking. There are also suspended bridges that overlook the water. We took some of our afternoons hiking the trails and just socializing as we walked around. I took the opportunity to snap a lot of pictures.      Other than hiking, there is also horseback riding, canoeing, golfing and other activities. I spent one morning with my dad and others playing a round of golf. I don't think I could have played any worse if I had tried. I still enjoyed playing though, since it gave me time to hang out with the family and relax a bit. There are also shops and such to pick up memorabilia or supplies.      We stayed at the Inn that is located directly in the middle of the park. There is a nice lake adjoining to the inn, making for the nice view from the room that you can see directly above. The rooms are decent and spacious enough to make staying there pretty comfortable. We got a good rate for booking as a group, the Inn was definitely full, so dinner time was a bit crowded.

The trip was a lot of fun. We filled the evenings playing card games, Cranium and socializing. The youngsters played around a bit on the floor while the parents watched. I got to see a lot of old family members on this trip and also some new additions to the family. Most of my relatives are married or engaged and several of them have kids, a few with more on the way.      After dinner one evening we got the whole group together for pictures. There was not a great place to take pictures at the Inn, so we did the best we could with what we had. My dad spent a bit of time trying to improve the picture afterwards. Hopefully we'll do this trip again sometime in the upcoming years and get a few more tries at it!