Live a Colorful Life

The sunsets in Thailand were just spectacular.  These pictures were not altered at all.  The ones below are around Phuket before we left to head to Hong Kong.

Gatlinburg

After Asheville we headed west into Tennessee and to Gatlinburg.  That morning before it got too warm we decided to take a waterfall hike.  The hike was a bit steeper than I was expecting but the views were distracting and pretty.

At the end we reached the waterfall.

The view back down.

On the way up we had heard someone had spotted a bear but we could not see it.  On the way back down we saw not one but two bears.  This black blob is the bear.  He was hard to photograph!

 Once back on the auto portion of the trail we pulled off at this pretty brook.

After our drive we went into Gatlinburg.  Darren wanted to take the ski lift to the top to see the view.

It was pretty but not worth the cost of the ski lift tickets.

Enjoying the ski lift on the way back down.

Elephant Trek

I was so excited to ride an elephant.  Once on top I was surprised how nervous I was.  They are very large animals and it is a long fall to the ground.  I'm sure they are very steady but the way they amble does not feel it all that steady!

Biltmore Gardens

After we toured the Biltmore Estate we took a tour of the gardens.  It was at the tail end of the spring flower festival so the flowers were still beautiful but not as pretty as I'm sure they would have been a couple weeks before.

This is the view of the side terrace out to the side garden.

This is the side lawn near the front of the house.  It is just the house's right below the front walls.

View from the gardens to the side of the house.

Beautifully manicured gardens.

Finally got to test my new camera with some detail shots!  They turned out incredible!

View from the garden down to the conservatory.

Phi Phi Islands

This was one of my favorite days on the whole trip.  Everything was just so beautiful and I was still on cloud 9 after the previous night's surprise proposal!  If you are Phuket I would make sure to visit the Phi Phi Islands!

Biltmore Estate

The one thing I wanted to do while in North Carolina was visit the Biltmore Estate.  I had been once when I was much younger and fell in love with everything Vanderbilt as a result.  Many years before I would attend Vanderbilt University!

Some of the details reminded me so much of Harry Potter like this clock tower.

And this courtyard looks like it is from a movie.

Unfortunately pictures were not allowed inside so I went a little crazy taking pictures of details outside.

These pictures were taken from the side yard.

One of many sculptures around the house and grounds.

The gargoyles on the front of the house.

And beautiful pictures of the front.

Phuket + Engaged!

The fateful day Darren asked me to marry him! :)  Sadly that was over two years ago and I just got to scrapbooking it!  Slowly catching up!

Forsythe Park & The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist

The night we arrived in Savannah we went to dinner at the Crab Shack.  It was one of Darren's dad's favorite places and they had talked a lot about it.  He loved the live alligator "pond".  It was dark so it is hard to show just how many there were but there are at least 6 in the photo below. 

While on our Savannah city tour we went to Forsyth Park. It was very pretty but not as large as I was expecting for a big city park.

 

We also got to see many of the citys squares while driving around.  They were nice little mini-parks in the middle of the residential areas.  Most either had a statue or a fountain and sometimes both.

Another stop on the city tour was the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist.  The outside was very pretty but completely covered by scaffolding so pictures do it no justic.  The inside was beautiful with large stained glass windows.