Off to Parrot Mountain today for fun with the birdies. Tried to get some pics on the porch before we left but will have to try again another day when we have better lighting (or have more time to devote to getting a good picture.) My backup plan is to load all of Michelle’s and Ingrid’s pics to my computer before we leave so they will hopefully make up for my blurry/dark/otherwise undesirable shots.
The drive up the mountain to Parrot Mountain and Gardens was DEFINITELY steep. Just crossing our fingers that the new transmission makes it through the trip. Not real crazy about how it’s sounding sometimes. At least it’s under warranty now…
Parrot Mountain has some birds in cages but the main interest (to me at least) is the birds that you can hold and feed. They also had a lot of really nice plants and flowers; I couldn’t tell you what they all are because they appeared to be a variety of exotic species. Anyway, we were doing good 
to start with (always risky with Sophie and new things) until we were by some Military Macaws that were extra loud. That kind of set her off and it took a while for her to recover from that. Max fell asleep on the way there so he was in the car carrier (which fits nicely into the wagon) for the first part. It is amazing how many people comment on the wagon; it really is the cat’s meow!
When you first walk in there are some birds on perches as well as in the cages. Sophie loves to get her camera out to take pictures. [That reminds me, I need to download those before she deletes them or drops the camera and loses them! Maybe I’ll create a separate post for those. The problem is she moves and clicks a lot; plus the image gets distorted if the camera is jostled around at all. Maybe some will be worthy! :)]
They’re not kidding when they put signs up saying the birds will bite…Craig tried tempting a few and they were living up to their billing (pun intended).
I would have loved to have taken my time to photograph the birds and plants there but I never got my camera off of “Auto” and barely took time to focus. Maybe when the kids are older my pictures will start to look a little better again! Some turned out OK though, so I figured I’d throw them in an album so you could look if you wanted:
When we went into the area that you can buy seed to feed the birds, the basic instructions were “if they are hungry, they’ll bend their heads down”. I wanted to head first to the little birds – more up Sophie’s alley I figured than the really big ones – but had a couple of pit stops for eager beaks. The food is out of a dispenser and you get a handful for a quarter. It consists of sunflower seeds and what looks to be cat food. It’s funny because the different birds have different preferences. Some will take as much food as they can before you leave, some will just pick out the cat food, some just the seeds, and one bird in particular liked to take his time and break open the seeds to eat them out of my hand. Oh, and there was a bird that would take it into his beak, then transfer it to his foot to hold the food while he ate it. Some were loud and boisterous, and some just talkative. There was a blue Macaw who liked to earn his keep by saying “Hello” between bites; this was the one that liked to break open the seeds and eat them out of my hand. Watching them do this up close is really neat.
Anyway, as I was saying, I was heading over to the little birds trying to feed one so Sophie could see that there was nothing to be scared of when this little yellow bird hopped down on the ground and came over to me and hopped up on my hand. I figured, "cool, I can feed him and put him back” but he had other ideas. After just a couple of bites he continued up my arm to my shoulder and was nuzzling/pecking at my neck. It was quite 
ticklish and I had to get one of the workers to come and remove him for me. But, it was pretty neat. I did get a couple of the big birds too, but that was by choice. Some you have to peel right off and put them on you and others are easier to convince to step off their perch and onto your arms. There were a couple of white ones in particular who were quite willing to leave their little spot and join me for a bite or two.
Max was awake by the time we got to this “bird garden” so we had him out for a bit to see the birdies. Sophie also gave us a little scare when she ran away (but fortunately it was just back to the wagon to climb in because she wanted a snack). After a while Ingrid took her up the hill to the waterfall and she was quite content to play with sticks and leaves and look at the water. I did drag her back down for a
little bit and she got to see “Kiwi”, the smallest of the parrots or macaws or something like that. (My listening skills have went down hill along with photography and memory. I blame the kids.) She wouldn’t let the guy put Kiwi on her shoulder (he keeps the bird in his pocket, it’s really cute) but we did get it on Max’s for a couple of pictures.
Lots of pictures for the bird garden so I’ll make another little album:
After the bird garden we went in to feed the nectar-eating birds. It wasn’t very successful at first because there was a guy in there with a hose 
and the birds were crazy for water (even though it was shaded there, it was pretty hot!) I noticed in the bird garden too that when the worker came through with his jug of water the birds all went crazy. The little ones were bathing in their dishes but all seemed to really want their share. Eventually the guy left and we were able to coax the birds down for a little nectar. Craig is the bird-whisperer apparently as he had quite a few on him but we all got at least one (me, Craig, and Caitlyn). Sophie eventually came in and while she didn’t hold a bird, at least she was close to me while I did.
[I feel like I need to make a side note here to comment on the view while I write this. I am sitting at the kitchen table looking out over the Smoky Mountains (see view on side of blog, that’s basically what I see) and it really is amazing. The smokiness of the mountains makes the layering between ranges/hills more distinct and really makes the view; without it I think it would all blend together into a big jumble of green. Ok, back to the blog.]
After feeding the nectar to the birds, we hung out by the waterfall for a little longer and then visited a few more birds in cages before leaving. There was a baby bird nursery but Sophie didn’t want to go in there. She was hot and tired and hungry and basically done. She cashed out before we left the driveway at the bottom of the hill of Parrot Mountain. Max stayed awake until we got home but Sophie didn’t make the transition so Tom took her to the pool while I gave Max some food and put him down for a nap. He was talking away in the pack and play so I just sat down behind the bed so he couldn’t see me (I had download a short book about Sgt. York from WWI since I was looking for something to read about Tennessee. If you don’t know the story, it’s truly remarkable. 
He singlehandedly shut down a battalion of German machine guns in the hills of the Argonne Forest. If you really want to hear more, ask me next time and I’ll tell you all about it. While I’m reading Max is talking and rolling around and eventually he fell asleep hugging his GlowWorm (the light was out at the time because it just came out of the wash from the previous day’s puke-fest so I hadn’t put it back together yet). Anyway, it was the cutest thing ever.
Dinner was some scrumptious spaghetti here at the cabin and then it was time for a bath (always required after spaghetti night – especially important since I also let Max self-feed some carrots to start the meal!) and bed for the kiddos. We did get to see some more lightening (the first night there were some wonderful strikes to watch); still waiting to see a big storm pass through one night – I think it would be quite spectacular!
We’ve been really fortunate on our last to vacations to travel with such helpful family. My mom coming to Florida was an ABSOLUTE life saver and having Ingrid and Michelle here has made the trip MUCH more enjoyable for us since they help with our kids and we can look up and enjoy the vacation too. Not sure if we’ll vacation alone until the kids are self-sufficient!
Had to add a note about this little froggy that hitched a ride on our car from the mountain. Hopefully his last ride was a good one!
waterfall hike. The hike was listed as 1.2 miles and the trail was paved. It ended up being a little much for Sophie but she was a trooper for most of it. The recent dryness probably didn’t do much to help the waterfall but it was still a neat end to the hike and the views up were nice looking back into the valley. Near the end it got pretty steep off of the trail but I wasn’t real comfortable because Sophie didn’t want to hold my hand all the time and I was partially terrified she was going to hop, hop, hop right off the cliff. The waterfall had an area toward the top where the trail ended that was open on the rock and you could sit and watch the upper fall and Sophie loved to throw things into the little pool. Others could also scramble to the bottom and meander among the big rocks but we weren’t that adventurous with the little ones. 
My favorite part of the hike was probably sitting on the rock by the water pool and just finding rocks and twigs for Sophie to throw. It was nice to listen to the water running and even though it was kind of busy up there, when you’re that close to the rock most everyone is behind you and the water drowns out their noise – it was like we were just hanging out by ourselves. Hopefully she’ll gain an appreciation of the wilderness so we can keep up our outdoor adventures as a family!
(Sophie loves to pick up sticks when she’s outside and say “chugga-chugga choo”. I think she’s pretending it’s the whistle that the train lost in Diego when the Bobo Brothers steal it and run down the track with it.) 
(Not sure what these guys were looking back at but this is a little drink break on the trip up. We had to stop once on the way up and once on the way down for Sophie to pee on the side of the trail. I couldn’t get her to look at me in any of these pictures; that’s kind of a new thing for her, usually she’s such a ham for the camera!) 
It was great to get out and see the Smokies up close and personal – we even got a chance to see some butterflies but that was about the extent of the wildlife on the trail. My pictures are really rough, I was pointing with one hand while trying to hang on to Sophie with the other, sometimes not even stopping! Still including them because having something to look at and remember is better than nothing. Plus, if it’s fuzzy then it just matches my memory!
