On Friday, for the first day since arriving here, the skies were blue and it was a perfect day for taking photographs.

I headed into the Smoky Mountains National Park and spent a glorious day whizzing around all the sights and taking-in a couple of hikes to appreciate the natural beauty of this glorious park.

It was after 7 p.m. and I was still in the park but heading back to the motor home. The traffic was very light and I was just cruising along the park’s winding road when I noticed some movement ahead of me. I stopped the car and out plopped onto the roadway a black bear. I froze in sheer enjoyment of seeing a bear. I grabbed my camera which was sitting handily on the passenger seat when onto the road plopped bear cub number one and then number two. They scampered across the road following their Mum.

I was so excited at seeing the bears that I was all fingers and thumbs getting the cap off the camera. I rolled the car forward just a little as I didn’t want to frighten the bears or draw attention to myself, and managed to take a couple of pictures before Mum and cubs disappeared into the forest.

The photo was taken through the car windscreen. Here is Mummy Bear having crossed the road.

One cub is at the base of the tree and one cub is about three feet up the tree! The cubs were so tiny. Not very good photographs … too much excitement at seeing the bears.