Day 16 - NOC
0 miles (a zero)
I slept in this morning and listened to the rain, probably the most delicious feeling ever. To hear rain outside the tent and not have to get up and hike.
Did some internet work while cozy in my sleeping bag.
At 10 am we packed up to go hang-out for the day at the open air bar/pavillion area. I imagine in summer this is a busy place but it was fairly quiet on this early spring day, midweek.
Used the outlets to charge our devices and did more online work: paying bills, email and attempting to upload photos to Facebook, while the kids did their own thing.
We applied, paid for and printed our Smokies Permits, and spent part of the day chatting with friends, eating chips, drinking coffee and hot chocolate.
A good day but still a busy day for Damien and I, though not as hectic as a resupply stop.
At 4pm we checked into the room we reserved at the motel lodge. We are sharing a double room, with a loft, with Red Hawk & Bloodroot. They get one bed, @toesalad and I get the other. The kids are on mattresses on the floor.
Feels like luxury to have laundry facilities, TV, large common room and small kitchen area. We ate leftovers we found in the fridge, and it didn't even seem like a weird thing to do.
We ate a trail supper (can't afford supper out two nights in a row) and spent time chatting with other hikers, as well as blogging and doing email.
I'm going to bed late after wrestling with a writing app on my iPad.
The weather here in the valley wasn't the icy rain predicted by the weather forecast but it was chilly and it was a nice rest to not be hiking today.
