Have you ever played the game, “Fortunately, Unfortunately”? It’s a pretty simple concept. A group of people sitting around a campfire make up a story, stringing the parts along with every other person beginning their part with either “fortunately . . .” or “unfortunately . . .” The story often turns into a rollercoaster tale that has everyone laughing.

Well, I recently had a landscape photography experience that made me feel like I was living out one of those stories! And at first, I wasn’t laughing.

It all began one Monday evening, the day before Julianna and I were about to head off on a little, one-day family vacation to Cades Cove, Tennessee, tucked away in Smokey Mountain National Park. With plans for being at the Teach Them Diligently Convention in Pigeon Forge over the weekend, I wanted to set aside a full day of photography and rest in the mountains before heading off to the convention center. I would be teaching a Photo Class and running the Lenspiration booth, so it was going to be a very full and busy time.

But printing the materials I would need for the event (plus several other events immediately after) took much longer than expected. So long, in fact that we were going to bed at 11pm with our clothes still sitting in the closets and our suitcases sitting unpacked on the floor. Not a very good way to get an early start Tuesday morning!

In my original plan, I wanted to leave home early, to make sure we arrived in Cades Cove with plenty of time for not only photographing sunset, but golden hour as well. I figured that arriving two or three hours before sunset would give us the time we needed to find our campsite and still be able to scout out the road that looped through the Cove to find a good sunset location with a breathtaking view.

Fortunately, we felt rested as we bounced out of bed and started hurrying to pack up our suitcases and the last remaining food items down in the kitchen. We got the car top carrier strapped to the roof of the van, carried our big pile of convention gear out onto the front porch, and I started working the puzzle of packing the mini van.

Unfortunately, as we worked and hustled and hurried along, there came a wail from the upstairs bedroom, signaling that one hungry little boy had just woke up and was ready for some breakfast. Our already slow start became a bit slower as Julianna stopped to take care of Mordecai’s needs and left me finishing up all the little tasks on my own. At last we were all buckled in and pulling out . . . over two hours late, but still clinging to the possibility of making it there in time for some golden hour landscape photography.

Fortunately, we didn’t run into much traffic!

Unfortunately, we stopped to pick up some groceries for the weekend and somehow spent an entire hour walking through the store and feeding a little boy who was hungry, again!

We really did try to make our stops short, but there was a certain point in the afternoon (as I handed snacks to Mordecai while Julianna drove, attempting to get some work done on the computer at the same time), that reality hit me. We were going to be too late for golden hour. My heart sank and I started to feel gloomy. If only those print-outs hadn’t taken so long!

I pulled out my phone to start researching the earliest time I could start in on Loop Road the next morning. A sentence on the official website caught my eye. “Cades Cove Loop Road is open sunrise to sunset each day, but closed to vehicles each Wednesday typically from May through September.” Wait, what? Wednesday?! That’s tomorrow! Our one vacation day in the park. And not just any Wednesday. The first week of May! We couldn’t have timed it any worse.

Fortunately, the gate to the Cades Cove Loop Road was still open when we arrived! And the sign on it said “Closed at Dusk”. Not sunset! Dusk is a vague term for the the hour or so after sunset. So we could actually drive in to scout things out . . . tonight!

Unfortunately, the moment we arrived was the moment golden hour ended. And there wasn’t much of a sunset either. Without any light on the landscape or color in the sky, there really wasn’t anything worth photographing that night.

Fortunately, we met a lady walking along the road, apparently out for an evening walk. I rolled down the van window and asked if she knew if I could hike in before sunrise the next morning, even if the gate was closed. She said yes! And she also had another piece of news I was happy to hear. “The restriction on motor vehicles on Wednesdays isn’t starting this year until June. It has been pushed out a month this year.”

I felt a little bad about letting myself get gloomy earlier. Things might actually work out as planned the next day. We found our campsite and settled in, ready for some sleep before the big, long-awaited day.

Unfortunately, Mordecai woke us at 1:30am, crying and fussing until we gave him something to eat. After that, he settled down and slept like a log. We did too.

Fortunately, I popped awake at 4:50am (and rested a bit more until 5:15am because it had been a bit of a late night). I hiked in about half a mile and could tell it would be a beautiful sunrise . . . and it was. 🙂

Unfortunately, after the sunrise color faded, the blanket of clouds in the sky blocked any vestige of a golden hour. And when I stopped by the ranger’s office to purchase a one day parking pass, I saw the weather prediction for that day was not looking very friendly for photographers looking for a golden hour. Overcast, rain and possible thunderstorms. My heart wanted to grumble and complain again. But I decided to surrender my expectations this time. We would have a fun time no matter what the weather was like!

I went back to camp for breakfast, which we ate while huddled in jackets and looking up at gray and generally foreboding skies. Our planned lunch of hotdogs over a campfire turned into peanut butter and honey sandwiches inside the van while the rain drizzled down and dampened our firewood, partially sheltered under the picnic table.

Fortunately, the rain stopped and we were able to hike along a trail to a beautiful waterfall (and great landscape photography subject to shoot when it’s cloudy!) and later built a fire and ate our hotdogs and beans.

It certainly hadn’t turned out to be the vacation I had planned on. But as I look back on this tale, I am struck with a truth that I am continually in need of reminding myself: how I feel is not an issue of whether I’m an optimist or a pessimist; it’s an issue of how tightly I’m holding on to expectations. How willing am I to surrender my desired schedule to God? The sooner we surrender, the sooner we will be able to enjoy to the fullest the good or bad situations we find ourselves in.

“And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the water were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight [complete surrender!], and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee [cures our gloomy moods].” Exodus 15:24-26.

Fortunately, we had two more chances for golden hour to shine through. The forecast wasn’t looking good, but that wouldn’t stop me from still going out and being ready for them. I’ll have to share in another blog post what happened next!