Fall Break 2013

Fall Break 2013 was a nerd extravaganza with Houston, Hannah, Dad, and Chris and Nate Harris.  We spent the first day making new friends at The Farm in Summertown, TN.  We’ve been buying products from their Healthy Eating Catalog for years, and decided to pay a visit to this commune-turned-land-trust of eco-friendly, sustainable living types.  We spent a few hours touring around the property with our tour guide Lisa.

We were fortunate to be able to use a friend’s cabin on top of a mountain off of Wears Valley Rd between Townsend and Sevierville.  The property backs up to the Smoky Mountains, and the park was closed this year due to the budget stand-off in Washington.  We had a great time in the cabin–made a nice campfire one night, took in the amazing scenery, etc.

We spent Day 2 at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge learning about Tennessee’s involvement in nuclear technologies.  We also visited y-12, which has a small visitor’s center that details more about uranium enrichment practices used in Oak Ridge.  We blew off some steam afterwards playing goofy golf, where Chris and I absolutely blistered two of the courses, shooting 5/3 and 5/7 under par.  Here’s a tip–on any golf course, including putt putt, if your score is more than three but less than five, DO NOT YELL YOUR SCORE.

Day 3 was just pure fun–Dollywood.  Our favorite rides were the Mystery Mine and the Wild Eagle.  Wild Eagle was closed most of the day because of…..bees.  Yes, bees.  They have a swarm of bees at the top of the hill, and frequently have to shut the ride down in warm weather.  We really enjoyed people watching, a full day of rides, and we of course picked up some new airbrush….

The New(Somes).com

The New(Somes).com

How’s that for a title?  We are upgrading to a new WordPress driven site, migrating away from the old build-a-page-at-a-time technologies to the new social world.  In the interim, for those rare occasions when people may miss old content, we will be posting, um, posts, to link you with the old photo libraries.

Thanks for hanging in there with us as we move into a connected, blogging world.

 

Photo from the Mediterranean cruise

Photo from the Mediterranean cruise

Farallon, Panama

Farallon, Panama

We’ve made several trips to Panama to work with a small community a few hours west of Panama City called Farallon.  The people there are simply wonderful and the community, though poor by our standards, is a wonderful place to spend time and make friends.  We’ve also had the opportunity to work with some indigenous tribes north of Panama City, the Embera.  We will post pictures and updates on the work the Uptons are leading here on the blog.

IMG_0252