An Overdose on Natural Freedom in the USA

 

An Overdose on Natural Freedom

The clearest way into the universe is through the forest wilderness. “ James Muir must have been the smartest human on earth”. He seems to have deeply understood what it means to be consumed by the natural forest. I was married in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Personally, I think the park should be renamed to Great Smoky Mountains National Forest, because the National Park is made up of more than 500,000 acres of forest. Not to mention the fact that Ninety-five percent of the forest is home to a diversified group of wildlife.

Tennessee has some of the most amazing parks in the country, but the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is a site that will change your life, and all the opinions you have about the world around you. The National Park’s entrance almost over takes you as you leave the cheap scenery outlets and the vast amount of hotels for the mountainous array of trees like the sugar maple and yellow birch. You leave loud roar of everything unpleasant and you fall head first into nature.

TN Scenic Route escorts you directly into the National Park. So that if you are not careful you will allow the distraction of the radio and common conversation to keep you from observing a majestic entrance that could only be mimicked by Walt Disney himself. I know all too well about being caught off guard because upon entering into the National Forest, my radio was low playing in the back ground to the conversation my husband and I were having about where the first few picture shots should take place. It happened as suddenly as the average blink, (literal blink) of an eye.

The forest made itself known to me through the loudest silence I have ever experienced. It only took a few seconds for my ears to adjust to audio sensation of wildlife around me. It was as if I could hear the silence through my window. The action of rolling my window down was immediately followed by one of the most beautiful sounds in nature. The symphony of wildlife was being performed by every animal and plant in the forest. My senses were going wild.

Before I had time to understand what was happening, the greatest feeling ever was taking over my body. Unsure of what it was, I took a glance at my husband and sure enough he was doing it too. Breathing! It was amazing at that very moment in my life when I realized I was breathing, or maybe I was always breathing, but here at the National Park I learned how to breathe proficiently. That moment made me feel as if I had inhaled and overdosed an unadulterated large amount of fresh air for the first time in my entire life. At that point we had only driven 500 feet into the forest.

So no matter the reason for your vacation, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the place to be. Whether you choose to take the entire family on a wilderness hike, looking for a gorgeous place to take beautiful wedding pictures, or you just want to get away with your significant other to rekindle the romance, you will find Great Smoky Mountains National Park as the best place to be yourself; The best place to find yourself, and the best place to be free.

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