Kilgorpalooza - Smoky Mountain edition

The 2009 Kilgore Family reunion was nothing short of amazing. Jerry gets major props for his planning and preparation and for finding thee perfect spot to gather for a week filled with family, fun and food. SILs Anna and Alyssa also too have shared their musings on the week here and here.

Recap seems to be all the rage so here's our week or so in review.

Departure day for us was Thursday July 30. Thankfully Jerry injured his hip running the day before so the planned 21 mile run (with me biking alongside as his mobile aid station) was scrapped. But there were other obstacles, like work and Thule parts and mowing (where I managed to break the mower) and one dead car battery and bicycles. We hit the road 2+ hours after our "planned" ETD. Likely, that doesn't surprise anyone of you one bit.

Day 2 - on to Nashville to invade yet another near-unsuspecting family member. Carl and Kendra were awesome to put up with us for the afternoon/evening. And Owen made himself right at home with cousin Carissa's toys.

Day 3 - on to the Smoky Mountains. Of course there a stop at Walmart to acquire needed provisions for the week that weren't coming from the Sam's Club via Chrysta. Tennessee is beautiful and green, but not at all green in a earth-friendly way, just green, like the color of trees. The TN Kilgore, IA Kilgores, PA Sages, TX Rawlins, and Ma & Pa K all arrived about the same time. I hadn't bothered to read the fine print on the directions to the lodge until we were actually turning onto the (one lane) mountain road where it was located. It went something like this, "once you reach the gravel road put your car in low gear or 4 wheel drive..." The grade was incredibly steep, but everyone made it. Later in the week I met a Hummer going up as I was coming down. That was fun. And bro-in-law Chase even drove up the thing in reverse. Pure crazy, as you will see further evidence of later. The owners were on site to greet us and dubbed Jerry the overseer of the water tank and official water consumption advisor.

Day 4 - Sunday, a day of rest, unless you are Jerry and Sam who set out for a bike ride that would last "a couple hours." Six hours later they returned with tales of traffic, flat tires, wrong turns and running out of gas. Three families attended church in near-ish-by Maryville. Church clothes were not on the allowable packing items list, so we hung out at the lodge and listened to the kids ask variations of "Are we going to the waterfall now? Is it time yet? When are we going?" while we waited for the bikers to find their way home. But we did make it to the waterfall. The trail was listed as moderate in difficulty, but add 10 kids under age 6 and it becomes a whole other hike entirely. We all got to witness the Park's Search and Rescue crew in action, too. A man had fallen off the trail and was sitting battered and bloody waiting for their arrival as we gingerly stepped around him. Laurel Falls is beautiful. The water was frigid but that didn't stop the kids and Chase from having some fun.

Sunday dinner was stromboli, chopped salad and pasta salad. I made 9 strombolis and they were a hit. The favorite by far (for those that got a piece) was the spinach, red onion, chicken and feta one. Delish. It set the stage for a week of fabulous food.

Day 5 - Monday was the family 5K "fun" run. Jerry had scoped out a course and showed it to Anna, Christy and I. It was basically up the side of a mountain and then back down. We vetoed that. Christy had run with Scott the day before, so we opted to do that. 2 loops, 2 loops with 3 hills not to mention the hills to get there and back and then the hill at the finish line. Brutal. We fittingly ended the race in a cemetery. Fannie Autrey's grave site marked the finish line, so the race was named the Fannie Autrey Memorial 5K. There were medals for participants and finishers. Jerry left us all in his dust and then decided to run back to the lodge and up the mountain.

After lunch we (minus Ma, Mike, Emma, Sophie and Keaton) went tubing. Great fun. The river was much higher than last year (we went last year at the same place) and moving pretty swiftly. Scott put his boys in their tubes and pushed them off and said have fun guys! But it didn't really work out that way. The river was really moving so as soon as he let them go, they really went. They were both so scared. Luckily they didn't tip and Scott and Christy (dad/mom) got to them quickly. Miles and Chase flipped once and Gaby was ejected in the rapids, but otherwise it was very fun and relaxing. The rope swing provided much entertainment and the required near death experiences.

After tubing it was the dreaded family picture time. I should mention that this reunion was the first time in almost 12 years that the whole family was together. 33 people cooperated and it was virtually pain free. "No, we're not famous, we're just really good looking!" was the t-shirt slogan that my kids wanted.

Day 6 - Tuesday was a free day. Jerry and I swam at a nearby community center in the morning. The morning was pretty laid back as we bid farewell to Sam (returning to work, food science is very demanding) & Kathryn (off to Chicago for much needed TLC from her mom) and Karl (back to school/lab/work beautifying teeth in the greater Ft. Gordon area). We headed into the National Park to explore the river with Anna's family. We discovered this spot last year with Carl's family. The water was oh so cold, but refreshing since it was a hot day. We herded the little ones across the stream and they were content to throw rocks and sticks for at least an hour. Chase, Jerry, Taylor and Lydia did some jumps from the rocks and showed the Corollaful of Asians a thing or two about being a daredevil.

Kendra made her world famous pulled pork for dinner Tuesday night and Alyssa wowed us with her corn fritters. And if dinner wasn't enough, it was also the Iron Chef Dessert Challenge. No one stood a chance against Kendra's roast pan of peach cobbler bliss. But we all indulged and ate a little bit (or a lot) of everything. Christy's Fruit Dip, Sara's Strawberry Rhubarb Upside Down Cake minus the rhubarb with a late addition of blueberries in stead, Alyssa's Apple ba-dump-a-dump Dumplings, and Chase's Non-Hershey Chocolate Chocolate Mousse.

Day 7 - Boys day out (and Chrysta, I think) a.k.a. Golf. It was hot and the course was tough. Christy, Alyssa and I headed into Pigeon Forge determined to find a flatter run course than the 5K. We ran about 5 miles on the strip, which was relatively flat. It's nice to get out an exercise on vacation, especially with people you love and don't get to spend tons of time with throughout the year. After lunch with the golfers returned a big group went to the Park to a place called the Sinks. There hadn't been a near death experience in awhile, so we were determined to remedy that.

(l-r: Sinks, Alyssa, Taylor, Lydia)

Anna nearly died, Drew slipped and fell and nearly died, Chase did back flips, Jerry did swan dives, Scott screamed like girl, it was an all around fanfreakintastic time. The hot tub at the lodge helped us warm up after spending the afternoon in the frigid water. Post dinner we played games until the wee hours of the morning. Good times.

Day 8 - GDO!!! Woot! Woot! After lunch we caravaned into Gatlinburg for some retail therapy.

And of course, the highlight of the week... Kilgorian Karaoke Idol was on the agenda for the evening.

Round One:

Lydia & Sara - I Will Survive

Taylor - Let it Be

Bird - Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

Alyssa -Heaven

Anna - R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Chase - had Anna swooning over his George Michael ballad Careless Whisper

Scott - Joy to the World (Jeremiah was a bullfrog version)

Jerry -Unchained Melody (when I was a teenager and Jerry was off in the untamed wilderness of Arizona, I would listen to this song a lot)

Sara - Love is a Battlefield (side pony shout out to Deb B.!)

Chrysta - The Rose (with back ups from the Happy Hands club)

Sherry - New York, New York

Pat - On the Road Again

Lydia - Encore solo of I Will Survive

Round 2 Semi-Finals

Bird - Big Girls Don't Cry

Anna - We Built this City

Scott - Down on the Corner

Round 3 Finals (see previous post for video)

Scott - censored for singing SuperFreak in the presence of an 8 year old, followed by Ring of Fire

Bird - Love Shack with backup vocals and musical interlude dancing by Anna

IT.WAS.AMAZING.

Day 9 (last day) - Jerry and I started the day with a nice run with Scott and Christy. Beautiful countryside, great conversation (until that last hill anyway). We decided to check out Ober Gatlinburg in the morning with the Carl's, Anna's, and Scott's families plus Bird and Huddy Buddy. The Alpine Slide was way fun and no one crashed this time. The final day of the reunion '07 proved to be somewhat disastrous for Jerry who ate the mountain whilst biking down it and Alyssa who flipped her sled on the alpine slide. But no injuries today. There were various levels of queasiness after the pirate ship, though.

The day ended at Sinks again for more high falootin' jumps. Pa K. surprised us all with a jump at the end, no one got it on film since he's so sneaky like. Gaby followed Lydia's lead and jumped from the 20' cliff. My kids are fearless and we love it. Owen donned a life jacket and did a few jumps from a rocky ledge about 4' from the water's surface. He was delighted with himself. Mike showed off his mad cannonball skillz. It was a perfect end to a perfect week. Oh and then there was Anna's White Chicken Chili, which really was the perfect end to a perfect week.

Day 10 - Grandma & Grandpa and ALL 16 grandkids

Good-bye Smokies, we'll miss you!

On the way home we stopped in Louisville to check out the race site for Jerry's upcoming Ironman. He biked 70 miles on the race course after spending 7+ hours in the car. We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner at 9pm that night. The kids were troopers. The next day we drove the run course and parts of it are beautiful and shady and parts of it make you wonder if you should be wearing full protection body armor. We got home Sunday night and unloaded the van just as the tornado sirens went off. Home sweet home.