We entered the National Park in Cherokee, North Carolina and it's about a 40 mile straight shot across to Gatlinburg, TN. We took the detour to Clingman's Dome (7 miles off the main road) so we could climb the 1/2 mile to the top of Old Smoky, the highest elevation in the park. Not an easy climb despite the paved walkway, but we made it and were rewarded with some striking views. The park is really incredibly gorgeous and I would like to come back and really hike and explore more some day. We then made it to the other side, in Gatlinburg, and decided to do a little bit more detouring, so took the 8-mile driving nature trail through the park's south end and were rewarded with a bear sighting, which was pretty cool since, when I got out of the car to take a picture, I was only about 10 feet away from the little guy. Fun fact: the park is known as the Salamander Capital of the world with over 30-different species! On this trail we were near a rushing river (not so rushing without a lot of rain) the whole time and saw quite a few old houses and mills and such. It was a very cool drive, and had the possibility for lots of little side hikes, which I would like to come back and do.
We then headed down 441 on to Nashville. It was about 3pm and we debated how best to spend our time and so we decided to go to DOLLYWOOD--Dolly Parton's downhome amusement park in Pigeon Forge, about 5 miles away from Gatlinburg. We paid the $47/each admission and began the experience. So worth it. I've secretly wanted to check it out since I saw the "So Graham Norton" special on it a few years ago. It was brutally hot, but we were able to ride most of the major attractions--my favorite was the mountain slide, a cool water ride, and Steve really liked the Tennessee Tornado. He made me go on it and I was way too scared--too many loops and upside-down time for me. The real kicker was having my $100 sunglasses fall off into the great beyond at the very end. Ah well, Dollywood was very, well, "Dollywood" and we figured we would never be there again, so why not live it up. Steve ate the biggest cheese danish I've ever seen in my life and we both got this amazing green Dollywood tee-shirt. It would have been better to spend the better part of a day there, but we really did accomplish alot in the 3 hours we had until park closing . We then realized, while driving out of Pigeon Forge, why people would spend a whole week in the "Gateway to the Smokies." On the glorious Rt. 441, there were more mini-golf adventures, arcades, dinner shows, go-kart tracks, airbrushing workshops, and helicopter rides than we have ever seen anywhere else. It looked like a seriously fun place to be and we were sorry to leave, but Nashville beckoned, and so we drove onwards. Of all the places we've been in the past week--both of us agree that we would visit both Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge and the Outerbanks again!
We got to our campsite in Nashville around 9:30pm after dinner at a Mexican place in Knoxville, and set up camp. It was hotter than I have ever felt at night before in my life, and it was an awful sleeping experience (why didn't we buy the tent fan at the Target in VA??????). We learned the next morning, while checking out, that Nashville reached 105 degrees that day, a new record, and that it was still 96 at 10pm!!!! Awful. We took some cold showers in the morning and headed into the gloriously airconditioned Taurus and into downtown Nashville!
Pic 1 and 2: The Great Smoky Mountain National Park--the North Carolina side. So beautiful!
Pic 3: The bear!
Pic 4: Proof that we went to Dollywood!!!!
Pic 5: The ride that scared me to pieces and stole my awesome sunglasses :-(.
3 comments:
This post sucked.
Did the forest burn down, or is that what trees really look like in the South? I'm proud of you for going on that wuss-ride. You've earned an emoticon ;)
Whaddo I have to do for an emoticon?
And for the record, the post is vastly improved since my earlier churlish comment, which I rescind.
Post a Comment