Wednesday, June 23, 2010

2010 Hutton Vacation

It was June 12th and Desiree and I woke up at 4:00am mountain time to leave for the Airport. Our wonderful friends Brandon and Ashley escorted us, and drove us to DIA. We are very grateful for them. The process at the port went pretty smooth. There was a pretty long line to get your tickets, and people's hair on their backs started to stand up. For some reason airports are the absolute worst place to try to relax. As soon as you walk in to one of these ports stress starts downloading into you. Desiree and I are very aware of this... so we fight it. One of our best weapons since we are singers is to sing, "Don’t worry, about a thing, every little thing is gonna be all-right." Being aware of the people around me, I started thinking that people were taking our song as if we were condemning them. We were not. I can promise you that. We were just trying to lighten the mood for our own benefit.

So we were on the plane and off to Milwaukee Wisconsin. The plan was to fly to Milwaukee so that Aaron and Krissy, my older brother and sister in-law, could pick us up on their way down past Chicago to meet up with the rest of the family. From there we were driving, all together, crammed into a suburban all the way down to Tennessee. Why, you may ask, would we fly to Milwaukee to be crammed in a suburban so we could make the all day drive when you could have just flown to Tennessee? That would be a good question if only the family bonding time with sweat mixing, song sharing, teasing, and just all the craziness was not involved. It was so good to see everyone again. We were all together like old times, but it was even crazier. You could tell that everyone had been carrying burdens from their jobs, and now we were cutting loose, and relaxing. When this happens in the Hutton family you better watch out. It was like a party in the suburban the whole way down.


Picture of the family eating lunch at a rest stop along the road

My family is very excited for my older sister because after a long journey of trying to find a man for herself, she thinks that she has found the one. Caleb might be the lucky man, but I hope he knows how amazing this woman really is. My brother Aaron and I would steel Eliz's phone and we would send funny text to Caleb. Liz is not gentle some times. She is a fighter, and it got a little rough in that tight of a space. Liz you are awesome. By the time we were arriving at our destination, it had calmed down. Eliz and Desiree were sleeping, and I believe all of our eyes to be a little heavy when we finally arrived. We pulled up to the Blue Green Mountain Loft Resort, and there was a ranger that met us at the front. The ranger checked us in at the resort, and then warned us very seriously that the last few days a 500 pound black bear has been trying to break into the dumpsters that were right in front of our cabin. People have been seen taking flash photography and throwing things at the bear causing it to get very upset. This bear, the night before we arrived, even chased off a security guard in his truck. We were excited to see a bear, but some of us were very worried at the same time. In the excitement of possibly seeing the bear and searching for him the whole week, Desiree named him Ted.

The resort was amazing and beautiful. We were located up in the mountains from the town of Gatlinburg, and the resort over looks some of the mountains, and the smoke that arose from them because of the humidity. [Hense the name The Great Smokey Mountains] Our cabin was split in two for two different groups to rent it out. We rented both side and opened the doors up in between. It was so awesome because we had three decks/balconies, two kitchens, two washer/dryers, two dinner tables, and three bed rooms. The cabin was small enough where we felt close, but it was large enough where if you wanted your own space you could find it.

The Cabin

The main half. View from the Kitchen/hallway

The other half. Desiree and I slept on that couch

Sunday, 12/2010: The first day.


We woke up after sleeping in since we did not get in until 2am. We all hung out at the cabin for a little while, and had some breakfast. My mother and father started the breakfasts off with biscuits and gravy.

The Fam. had previously talked about having our own worship service together. That way we would start the vacation off with focusing on the LORD, and giving him the glory. This was on my top 3 moments of the trip. We sang some worship songs, read some scripture, and also prayed for each other. It was amazing. I think that this was the first time that my family has laid hands on each other ever as a whole. Everyone was involved and was bring things up to pray for each other. My favorite part was when we started to pray for my father. My dad is a very humble and wonderful man. Us kids have not told my father enough what we think about him. We all started to pray for Dad and told him how wonderful he is. Tears were in our eyes, and this was just one in a few times that I have told my father what I really think of him.


My Dad at Laurel Falls

That afternoon we left to hike the short easy trail to Laurel Falls. It was a nice Hike reaching just over 2 miles. The path was paved which made it a pretty easy hike, but it was still beautiful. I found a few boulders that I tried climbing, but I was a little disappointed in myself for I just could not get up this type of rock. This is no excuse, but the rock was smooth, and it was sweating from the humidity which did make it hard. We arrived to the falls and it was awesome. The trail came in right at the middle of the falls where the rock levels off and the water pools up just enough to wade in. It was so nice there and beautiful. It was very hot in Tennessee not really because of the temp, but because of the humidity which is really a mind game. When I consciously thought about how I felt, I was not hot, but just sticky and a little sweatier which made my brain think that I was hotter. Even if it did feel hotter, when you approached the water fall the humidity that was in the air came from the cool water of the falls. It felt about 20 degrees cooler by the falls. Also since there is a lot more moisture in the air right next to the falls it gave a rain forest feel. Everything was very green, and it attracted really neat butterflies, and other really neat insects like millipedes.

The Family

Silliness


Laurel Falls


Butterfly near the falls


The bridge right before the falls

Camera Fun

After the hike we headed back to the cabin and had dinner. My parents made some brats with sides. After dinner we played some games. My family members are big game, and card players. Growing up, we didn't watch much TV, instead we played games. I love it. The card games that we normally play are Peanut/Nerds, Euchre, Hands and Feet, and Tick. We had a big day ahead of us, so we went to bed early.

Aaron and I playing the game that we created called sliders

Monday 13/2010: The second day:

The Great Smokey Mountain sun rise

Codes Cove here we come. We woke up at 4:45am central time so we could get a great start on our visit to Cades Cove. It was really too bad because Krissy is still getting a little morning sickness from her pregnancy. Aaron and Krissy stayed back at the cabin, while the rest of us left for the Cove. Cades Cove is a historical village that is snuggled down in a valley between the mountains. We drove around their 11 mile loop that tours you through these old houses, churches, and barns that were built and lived in during the time of 1819 and thereafter. It was very neat to see how people in that day lived. Just craziness. We saw a lot of wild life in the Cove, witch was my favorite part. Since this is protected land, animals are often found there. We saw horses, deer, turkeys, other birds, squires, and of course bears. I have never seen a bear in the wild before and it was all of our hopes to see one on this trip, especially Aaron's. We were really sad because he was not even with us. We were hiking back to one of the old houses, and there were raspberry bushes in a marshy field. My mom and Desiree where the first to see these two bears that were eating off of the berries. They were just old enough were their mother had abandon them to start fending for themselves. It was so cute, for they would be hunting for berries, but then would pop their heads out of the bushes to make sure that we were not getting to close to them.

One of the first views driving into Cade's Cove

Grazing Horses

One of the many deer that we saw.

Turkeys struttin' their stuff

One of the old cabins

The first bear that we saw

We continued on our trip in Cades Cove to hike the trail to Abrams falls from the park. I was excited to see another beautiful water fall. I also was excited because the trail was harder, and the length was just over 5 miles. Right before we had arrived to the falls I saw a slimy slab of rock in a small stream that we needed to pass to get to the falls. I was so excited because I wanted to slide down it. I grabbed my sister, Liz, for I knew that she would do it with me. So there we went down the small slimy rock into the pool of unknown water. Liz screamed, for she felt something slimy, like a fish, at the bottom. It was a lot of fun. It was a good hike, but the trail was a little more used than I had hoped for. We saw a lot of people on our way there, and back. I was excited to see a water fall that was kind of secrete, and not a lot of people knew about. This was not it. It was a cool waterfall, but not my favorite. It was a larger river, and the falls just rushed over the edge. I really like the more romantic waterfalls where the water trickles over the edge instead of rushes. It was still fun, and an awesome hike. We continued on the drive and saw a few more old buildings.

Sliding down the slimy rock

Abrams Falls

Family by the falls

The second bear that we saw was sleeping up in the woods, and all that you could see was his head sticking out from behind a tree. Every tourist knew about this bear for they were lined up taking pictures. The rangers were out to make sure that no one was getting to close and being stupid. Our focus now was to get to a certain dirt road. On our first hike coming back from Laurel Falls we met this older gentleman that told us about this back road that would take us out of Cades Cove over the mountains. This man said that we should take it because he saw a lot of wild life and bears. Of course we wanted to take the road. We were on our way on the less travelled road up the mountains. We had our eyes open as big and silver dollars, and our faces plastered against the window, so we could spot one of these wild animals. Then sure enough Ethan screams, "BEAR." There it was a big black bear about 20 feet away from our suburban. It was hiding behind some bushes. The bear did not like us and it ventured lethargically back into the woods. We continued on the road and arose in elevation. The woods that we were driving through were beautiful. There were a lot of wild Rhoda Dendron that filled the space in-between the trees. We finished ascending and started to descend. Then right after a bank and turn, I spotted a bear though the trees a little ways. I would say that the bear was a couple hundred feet away. We got out of the car and we positioned ourselves so we could see the bear through the trees. It was really neat to see because the bear was looking for food. He was digging at the ground, put his nose in a tree stump, and pulled on the tree branches. Then we saw little cubs rolling around just following their mother while they played and wrestled. It was amazing how fast bears can move, but how lethargic they are at the same time. In about 5 minutes, and what seemed to be just a few steps the bear was only 30ft from us. We had gotten out to get a closer look and when we realized how close she was getting we found ourselves running to the Suburban to get inside. The next moment the bear was about 15 feet away from our window. She came to warn us that we better get moving. We did not want any trouble so we left but not without a few attempted pictures and closer looks.


The only good pic. that was usable

When we got back to the cabin Aaron and Krissy were at the pool. We all got on our bathing suits and joined them. The pool was very nice. We found the water to be pretty warm since it was just over 85 degrees. The air and water were too hot, so we headed back to the cabin to start dinner. We had a plan for dinners. My parents took care of the first day’s food plus all of the lunches for the week. For the rest of the breakfasts and dinners we split them as couples. [Ethan and Liz being a couple that is] Aaron and Krissy started it off with a big bang. They made baked chicken with asparagus and corn on the cob for sides. It was so delicious. We told Aaron our story of seeing the bears, and he was jealous. We all decided that if we had time we would make another trip there for Aaron and Krissy. The rest of the night we played some more games, and we hit the hay. It was a pretty awesome day.

6/14/2010 The third day:

Yes, the third day. We did not have much planned and I was going to rest, and lay by the pool. I woke up and Eliz and Ethan, my older sister and younger brother, made breakfast. They made wonderful French Toast. It was good. Good job you two. Aaron and Krissy, soon after breakfast, headed down by the pool and we were all going to follow them down, or so I thought. Eliz came out of her room dressed in workout cloths and says, "Hey Ethan, Desiree and I are going to go and do some cross fit excercises, and I expect you to come." At least it went something like that. So there we were and Liz was making us run a quarter of a mile and then push ups, run another quarter of a mile and squats, run another quarter of a mile and sit ups, another quarter of a mile and beach whales, run another quarter of a mile and tri presses, and run another quarter of a mile and squat thrusts. On top of this it started to down poor about a quarter of the way through. People must have thought that we were crazy. I can just hear them say,"These people are crazy going on vacation and working out like that." What started to be a relaxing day turned around really fast. It took me 15 minutes just to walk to the pool. I just am not used to my sister kicking my butt like that. I always have kicked hers. I got to say though, that I gave her a run for her money.

So down to the pool we went, and they had kicked everyone out of the pool because of the thunder. We played some games, but then headed back to the cabin for some lunch. We all got ready for the evening. The first part of the evening was to go out to a nice restaurant. One of the prior days us guys had run around the town of Pigon Forge and grabbed as many menues from restaurants as we could in a short amount of time. After doing some research, the people from this area voted on Alamo over the other restaurants. This was the restaurant that we desided to go to. We had a wonderful time, and the food was great. We all splurged and got stakes that were over 20 dollars a plate. I have never had that great of a stake before in my life. Just being with my family siting around a table makes me filled with joy. I love them all.

The second part of the evening was to go to a show. Before the trip we all agreed on going to the Temptations show. Most people know the Temptations. If they do not know the band, they know at least one of their songs. I feel like their number one know song is My Girl. It was a very neat show. Just the harmonies and the awesome older style of singing is moving to me. I wish that sometimes we would go back to just simply played songs. After the show we of course played some more games, and we went to bed.

Wednesday 15/2010 The Fourth Day:

My mother heard about a great ma and pa breakfast food place that all the locals that live in Gatlinburg go to. It was a nice little cute place and it had pretty good food. I always love going out to breakfast. There is something about starting your day off with being served that is so wonderful and refreshing. We really wanted to give ourselves a day in down town Gatlinburg for it seemed like a neat little town. After breakfast we headed down to the town. We checked out some cowboy leather stores, and also biker leather stores, we went to a tea store and the lady's got loose leaf tea. I think that Aaron picked up a couple of books at a book store, and liz bought a belt. It was an alright little town, but I feel like we just were not going to the correct places. The main stretch right down the main road was very touristy, and I really do not like touristy places too much. Touristy places are very fake to the culture that is present in the area. What I mean is that you see Ripplys Believe It Or Not Museums or mire mazes everywhere, but this is not authentic to Gatlinburg, TN. Some of the little branch off streets looked a lot neater, but I never ventured to one before us guys got tired and went back to the cabin to watch some world cup. The women stayed to shop some more. Aaron and Ethan were really getting into the games, and my dad would too at times. For some reason I can not get really excited about sports on TV. It makes me want to get up and play a game of my own, and takes me away from wanting to sit and watch the game further. It was fun though. We did end up grabbing some drinks and heading out to play our own game of bocce ball. I love the game of botchy. It is such a laid back and easy game, yet so fun, entertaining, and competitive at the same time. I call it a drinking game because I love to have a drink in my hand while playing it.

The girls were done shopping and Aaron and I went and picked them up. We came back to the cabin, and got ready to head down to the pool area. We grabbed some drinks and were on our way. There was a really neat area by the pool that had a pagoda over a picnic table and a grill to the side. Liz and Ethan teamed up and made some of the best shish kabobs that I have ever had. For a little while Aaron and I ganged up on Ethan and threw him into the pool, and then we got Dad...3 times. Aw man my father is a very funny man. Desiree was funny too. Desiree would pretend that she was not involved with throwing people in the pool, but every time that I turned around she some how was apart of it. She either had a arm, checked for phones and wallets, or just cheered on the sistuation. Awe my wonderful wife. You could start to sense some annoyance in some guests glances. We just are a fun wild group, and some people just can not handle how much fun we have. Most of the family cleaned up and headed back to the cabin, but Aaron, Ethan, Desiree, and myself were having too much fun. We played some chicken wars just to lock in the fact that we were the coolest and rowdiest family at the vacation club. After the pool party we ventured back to the air conditioning of our very comfortable cabin. We played some games and got shut eye.

Thursday 16/2010 The fifth day:

White water rafting. I have never gone white water rafting before. No one in the family has except for Liz and Krissy. Krissy could not go though because she is pregers. Aaron and Krissy made some amazing egg sandwiches to start us on our way. We drove up to this hillbilly looking camp and we started to get pumped. We all had a half of an egg salad sandwich and headed in the shack to get signed in. I was a little nerves. Some of the guides did look like they had been drinking a little. That or they were just an odd group which is very likely. There we were on a bus driving down a dirt road crammed into seats with the rowdiest church group I have ever seen. I will admit that they were even rowdier than the Hutton clan. We were assigned a tour guide named Brad. Brad was a very nice guy. He had dread locks, gauged ears, and some pretty worn out Choco sandals. He was very good at rafting and steering the raft. Another thing about Brad is that he was very chatty. He talked our ear off the whole way down the river. I was surprised a little on the simplicity of rafting. There was not too much to it other than floating, paddling, and steering your raft through a bunch of rapids in just the correct manner so that your raft did not flip over. I am thankful for a guide though. The class fours that we took on were cake. I know that it was not because we were good rafters, but because Brad was such a good guide. Brad would direct us through the rapids like it was a dance. It was so much fun. I can not wait to try a class five rapid. I also would love to go sometime on my own and with out a guide. This would make it a lot more challenging, and it would make me feel like I had something to do with our success of getting through the rapids. After white water rafting the family ate another half of an egg salad sandwich, and we headed home.

Back to the cabin we went. Krissy had a pretty bord day all by her self. We all headed down to the pool, swam, eat some pop corn, and hung out. we were pretty drained from the rafting, so we ended up ordering out some pizza. It was nice to just relax that night and be together.

Friday 17/2010: The sixth day:

It was the last full day of the trip. We wanted to make sure that we got everyones wishes covered so we did not leave with disapointment. We found out that Aaron would still love to see a bear before we left, and Krissy wanted to go to an art community in the area of Gatlinburg. I wanted to go to the Tremont Waterfall that a man told us about on the first hike to Laurel Falls. So we had our day planed out. Desiree and I started it out with feeding the family with granolla, yogert, and strawberries. Yummm. One of our favorites. The family got all packed up for the day and we headed out on our way to the back road of Cade's Cove for the second time. We had to find a bear for Aaron to see. We drove just a little ways into the park, and there was a bear feeding on bushes. We were too far away and it was not that great of an experience, and we were excited to get to the dirt road. Once we got there, Aaron and I had an awesome idea to get on top of the suburban that way we could see everything, and could get really great pictures. We drove and drove looking for a bear, but there was none to be found. It started to get really boring and irretating that we drove all the way out there to have Aaron see a bear up close, but we were not sure if it was going to happen. Aaron and I gave up, and let Eliz and Ethan to lay on top, so they could get the experience. After a few turns there was a bear just off of the road. It was a big bear over 300 pounds. We just watched in awe. They are such beautiful creatures. They seem so lathargic, but they are powerful when they want to be. A car ended up coming up the road the wrong way, and started to scare the bear down the hill side. We were not too happy with the car for the whole reason that we were there was to see the bear. It was funny because once the car left, the bear made his way back up to the road, and started walking our way. He was walking staight toward us in such a way as to tell us that it was not scared, and we better get on our way. After getting his message a crossed, he started to head back down the hill once again. My father drove up closer and whisled at it. The bear turned only his head back at us in anouance. I felt like I could hear him saying through his body language, "really? Are you really going to make me do this right now?" Then we heard the noice of littles. This bear was not a he at all, but the same mother bear that we saw before. This made sense to why the bear was acting so territorial. The little bears are amazing. They are the cutest little things. I feel like my teddy bear came alive and was jumping up on tree trunks. These little guys were not scared of us. They would just jump up on the trees, and look at us to see what was going on. My dad started to back up the suburband again to get a better look at the mother. Liz and Ethan were still on top of the suburban, and I was hanging out of the window looking over the top. The momma bear had enough and it started to charge us. We started to yell, "Dad go." I was thinking in my head that I am the one that is closest to the ground. If the bear is going to go for anyone it is going to be me. I jumped back into the suburband so quickly that I kicked my wife in the back on the way in. The momma bear stopped. I think that we all started to screem so loud, that it scared the bear and she stopped. Our mother was trying to protect her babies too. She was ready to leave and was getting riled up inside. "Go Bill Go," she yelled followed by a slug to my fathers back. We eased out of there and left the bears so we did not cause too many problems. I took a look at the top and saw Liz shaking with the camera. She was still shaking from the adrenaline. Ah good times with my family. We are just crazy some times.

The momma bear

more mamma

One of the cubs

So it was time for the last hike to the falls. We pulled into the parking lot, and got ready for the hike. It was a nice hike, and the trail was not too used for busy. We had good feelings about this one because the other two trails, and falls were busy, and we passed a lot of people. When hiking to these falls we only passed one couple that was on their way back. We saw some really cool trees, spiders, and lizards on the way. We got there and we all were awed at the beauty. These falls were perfect. They were so pretty. We took some family pictures using my timer on the camera. The first place that my family had picked out felt like it was 100 meters away from the camera. I only had 10 seconds to run from rock to rock to get into the picture. I never made it. The picture was really funny because you can see a blurred Adam running across the rocks by the falls to get into the picture. Then we got a little smarter, and the family moved to the closer side of the stream from the camera. We got a great picture of all of us. Aaron and Ethan took a trial to the side and entered onto a shelf that stuck out of the cliff about half way up. They saw a lot of really cool flowers and bugs up there. I tried to get some pictures, but I only got one of the millipede before my camera died. While this was happening Desiree, Eliz, Krissy and my folks were on the other side, and letting the falls give them a shower. It was a good time. My mom was thinking about wadding in the water, but then was saw a copper snake in a crevasse of the rock. A couple of locals came up to the falls while we were enjoying ourselves. They kind of ended our fun. They started smoking, and polluting the beautiful air. They also were just doing stupid stuff like spitting on the snake, and soloing the falls cliffs. [soloing is where you rock climb without any ropes or protection.] I love climbing, and I understand the desire to solo just enough to respect it, but there is a point when you are just being stupid. Climbing up rocks that are wet, slimy of algae, moss, and in hunting boots is crossing that stupid line in my opinion.

Tremont Falls

Family at Tremont Falls

Tremont Tree

Krissy's wish was next, we still needed to see what this Art community was all about. We found out that out and away from the town of Gatlinburg there was this circle drive, and there were all these really cool homemade craft shops. I am so glad that Krissy made us go. We only made one stop, but it is the best stop that we could have made. The store was a pottery store. The pottery was really neat. They had this leaf pattern theme, where it looked like they carved a pattern of a leaf into most of their pottery. This store would have been just another pottery store besides that fact that you can go into the back and watch the workers make the pottery. It was amazing how fast and precise they were. We met the owner, and he was the coolest guy ever. He acted like he already knew me. At the end of our visit this owner looked me into my eyes, patted me on my shoulder, and said it was so good to see you. I wish that I could have taken this guy out for dinner, and got to know him some more. Outside of the store there was a woman that was playing the banjo with her husband that played the up-right base. She had an amazing voice. Desiree made me get up and dance with her in the back. It was so much fun. Some times those hillbilly country tunes are just so foot loose and free. The family sat for a little bit and eat some free kettle corn while listening to the music.

What a day it was, and an amazing vacation. We got back to the cabin, and eat the left-overs from the week. We started to pack, and finished the trip with some pictures and more games.

Giving Pregers a hard time

Us Kids

Saturday 6/18/2010

We woke up early and headed out. The ride back was just not the same as the ride there, and it was depressing. We all slept for a while, and we were really quite most of the time. I think that we all knew what was to come and we were avoiding thinking about it. This family of ours is so close, and a side of all of us comes alive when we are together. We did stop to have some white castle burgers because my parents remembered going there when us kids were littles. A lot of us do not recall ever having white castle before. If I can tell you anything about the trip that I have learned, it is to never ever eat white castle. It was the worst thing that I have ever put into my mouth. I would have rather eat bugs than one of those terrible burgers. The family played a few more games in the car ride back, but then the trip was over and we said our good-byes.

I love you all, and already miss all of you. God bless you in your lives, and lets all meet up again soon.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Introduction


My name is Adam and I am married to a beautiful women whose name is Desiree. Here is a quick summery of our lives: [Desiree's found at www.dhutton.blogspot.com]

I, Adam, was born and raised in Michigan. My mother, Karen, and my father, Bill, had four children, and I am the third child of th
e four. As a kid, I was kind of shy and I would follow my older brother and sister around to do whatever they told me to do. This resulted in having buckets of water dumped on me, paper added to my turkey and cheese sandwiches, and eating a worm. My family is very close together, and being believers in the LORD Jesus Christ has made us even all the more closer. A big passion in my life has been music. I took piano lessons for a few years, but really wanted to take up guitar. I loved playing, and would play a lot. What really got me into it was worship music. I was not just playing to play anymore, but I used this talent that God gave me, and I have given it back to him. I was a very active kid and I always enjoyed the sports more than classes. My activities/hobbies always became more and more thrilling as I got older. I went to Mona Shores High School and somehow graduated with a 3.2 GPA. I moved on and attended Concordia Ann Arbor for 2 years. I was paying too much money, and was failing some classes. I could not just give money away like that. After having many conversations/arguments with my parents, I decided to take a year off of College. I then learned about a music/worship school in Colorado Springs at a mega church ca
lled New Life. I applied and a week before school started I found out that I had made the school. I packed up my while mom soccer minivan that I have bought from my parents and headed out to Colorado. This is where I met Desiree. Desiree had gone to the school the year before I got there, and just through the old people meeting the new people is how I met Desiree. I took her fishing, and she caught the first fish. The rest is history. Now Desiree and I live in Denver, CO. I work at a company called XO Communications answering phones for our repair line. Desiree and I attend and are prayer leaders for Bloom Church. In our free time we either relax at home, makesome nice food, or go rock climbing. Another hobby of ours is photography and we have even shot our first wedding together.

This blog is about us! Sometimes together sometimes separate! Its... Our life!
We are just... we!