another day in paradise

Hello, everybody. We have had another big day. All is well. We hung out at the house after breakfast and most people seemed fi ne about that. We fixed lunch, and then drove into the Smokies about 25 miles. It is a very different world here with the layers of forested mountains rippling out as far as the eye can see. I wonder if this is similar in ways to Norway, although I envision Norway's mountains to be younger and less eroded. The Appalachian range is very old. We drove on to where there was a large fire lookout tower on top of one of the highest peaks. The walk there was about 1/2 mile, all up a very steep path. Along the way the Fraiser firs were all dead. Apparently, a small insect was imported from Europe, and there is no stopping it. They are working on it though. To make matters worse, there is another similar insect imported from Asia that has begun to attack the Balsam firs, the predominate remaining species at this altitude. It was a little spooky, seeing all of the dead trees. Mark remembers coming here as a child (Kelly too!), and the path was covered over with firs. Now everything is exposed and dying. Acid rain is also stressing the trees.
We also stopped along the way where the class could have one foot in Tennessee, and one foot in North Carolina. Some of them also stepped onto the Appalachian Trail.
On the way back to town, we planned to stop in Gatlinburg for an "event". The class decided that they wanted to LaserTag and ride Go-karts. So we stopped in Gatlinburg and looked for the Laser Tag. We found it, but it was closed. We instead watched taffy being made and then got an ice-cream and drove to Pigeon Forge where we had seen another Laser-Tag. We decided to do the Go-Kart thing first because it could get dark. We went to the Go-kart place, bought our tickets, and we were getting the class into their karts, when Brendan decided to take a short-cut over a railing, instead of around it, and he bumped his head on a stair thingy. Well, to make a long story short, he got 5 staples in his head, and he missed the go-karts and Laser-tag. Merla accompanied him, and all is well in 8th Gradeville. I have not had an opportunity to ask about details, but the ones I talked to really enjoyed the karts and tagging. We are home now and pizza is in the oven. Tomorrow we go to DOLLYWOOD, and I am hopeful that we will have no more interesting experiences. I will give all the students a chance to BLOG-IN after we get back. Thanks a lot for loving us and trusting us. The class is really well behaved, and the waitress at HardRock commented on what a great bunch they were. They really are special. If you are concerned that things are out of hand, with all the accidents, well, I don't think they are. It is just a couple of unfortunately timed events that could have happened anywhere. Remember, Kelly is here. Love ya, sugah. Bye now, Dahlin.