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Cabining: 4/22/2001 |
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We left Carrollton, TX about 10:30 Sunday the 22nd. As we decided last trip, we took the north route out of town rather than down into Dallas to catch 635 then I-30. We took the Toll-Way north to 121 then 121 East to Hwy 75. North just a bit on 75, we exited onto 380 at McKinney then on to I-30 at Greenville. It wasn't any quicker really but I can't tell you how much more sedate it was. A nice opportunity to see north central Texas in a less industrialized mode. To date, this was our longest trip together. I made sure to have my oil changed and I even bought a set of 4 new tires. New tires sure make a difference! So much smoother and quieter. We had plenty of room in the car since we weren't loaded up with our usual camping gear. We made it all the way to Little Rock, AR on a single tank of gas - that's about 10 gallons in a Civic. After a pit stop just south of town, we took the south loop around to catch I-40 and on to Memphis. I had thought to myself to perhaps make it to near Nashville before we stopped but was convinced otherwise around Jackson, TN. After all, it had been a long day of driving and it was getting close to dark. We found a nice Comfort Inn, checked in, then across the street for dinner at Applebee's. The following morning we got a bit earlier start and were in Nashville shortly, where I again filled-up with gasoline. We were already experiencing some of the Tennessee mountains at that point. I decided Nashville wasn't too bad of a metro area. It took a while to wriggle our way though town but once back on I-40 proper on the East side of Nashville, traffic picked up it's apparently customary brisk pace. It seemed 80 mph was about the average speed. At least there were about 2 to 3 times as many cars and trucks passing me as I was passing cars. And don't think the Tennessee State Troopers weren't making their presence evident. We saw several drivers pulled over for speeding between Memphis and Knoxville, where we arrived about three o'clock. Of course we went through a time change somewhere so I might be off some. We were practically to our destination, and I was greatly relieved to see that there was still plenty of daylight left. I have been told that I get "stressed" when I'm lost in the dark. I can't imagine how I would have been if I had to find my way around them winding mountains otherwise. And I'm told I was "stressed" anyway... :) We had to stop at the Realty place in Gatlinburg to pick up our cabin key. I guess I should have been clued in when Carole came out laughing. That, and how long she'd been in there. In the car she showed me this Xerox of a hand drawn map that looked more like a piece of Escher than anything else. I felt my stomach tighten. In case you've never been there, driving through Gatlinburg gives one the distinct impression than one would have driving though the local Mall at Christmas time. Mobs of people and a pedestrian crossing about every hundred feet. This makes things worse for a stress case. Trying to see which way to go while trying to avoid a career as a road pizza chef... You know. After performing some roller coaster like maneuvers in and out of town we eventually headed in the right direction and managed to find the exit/entrance to our new neighborhood. King Branch Road. For some time I wondered why the locals would name a road after one of the largest Ranches in Texas history. Then it dawned on me. We were instructed to reset out odometer at that point so that we might have some clue when we had traversed our Escher map sufficiently. The actual route wasn't as convoluted as the map made it appear, though we did take a wrong turn or two up somebody's driveway. I kept hoping we wouldn't run into any ball-headed kid with no ears playing a banjo. My stomach had already started to loosen. This was facilitated by the thought that my taciturn demeanor may not have made the most pleasant company for my sweet wife.
As we approached to the top of the mountain, my ears were popping constantly, we started to see relatively new cabins. Each marked with a realty company sign somewhere in the yards. The first one we came to with an "Aunty Bellum" sign we stopped at and tried our key. This wasn't it... We drove on, picking out and matching land marks with our Escher. Finally we arrived!
The first couple of days were a bit overcast and rain was a possibility. As a consequence some of our pictures are a little dark. You can see what a wonderful view we had though! And all kinds of birds chirping. Only the Cardinals were recognizable from their songs (well the crows too). Most were unfamiliar to us from Dallas. Janet and Bill returned after some time. They'd been out exploring. We all lazed around the rest of the day. Later, played a rousing game of Dominos, trying to remember the rules to Spanish style. Bill and I (mostly Bill) put dinner together, we grilled pork chops out on the grill, with spinach and mashed potatoes. §§§ Tuesday we didn't sleep as late as we thought we might. That didn't keep us from soaking in the view with some marvelous coffee (with Half-n-Half). After breakfast (about noon), Janet and Bill were ready for some exploring and took off with Cades Cove as part of their agenda. Carole and I lazed around a bit more then decided to venture out a bit ourselves. Groceries was one of things on our agenda. This day was probably the
worst weather-wise. It sprinkled a bit and was hazy, nothing to
really keep one inside though. We ventured back down our 3 mile road
and headed toward Gatlinburg. We decided to visit the
"Gatlinburg Welcome Center" on the way in. Right off one
notices the stuffed Black Bear in a Plexiglas box in the middle of the
establishment. It was about as big as a German Shepherd, not too
impressive really... We looked around and I picked up a couple of
topo maps of the Nat'l Park just to get my bearings, which I still did not
have. After some more maneuvers though town, keeping an eye out for
The bottom and edges of this stream were covered with smooth rounded river rocks. I ran back to the car and dumped my traveling tools out of their heavy canvas sack, went back to the stream and started harvesting some choice stones for use in our flower pots back home. This was not as easy as it might seem since using one hand to hold a camera and a sack of stone and the other to forage in the icy water while perching on a wet boulder in the middle of the stream is not the stablest platform. In fact, I did slip once and sunk my right foot in the ice water. I was not deterred though. Once I had regained my footing I continued until the sack was full! Back at Gatlinburg, groceries were now a priority. Janet had told us about "Battle's" - on the edge of town out one direction. I didn't remember the name until we saw it. We bought a load of groceries in a fair well stocked store and were on our way home.
§§§
Our trip was the one hour version. There were also two and three hours trips. We noticed the junctions for those as we rode. However, I think most of us were about ready to get the kinks out by the end of the ride. Janet, however, was ready for more... :) Dismounting was not a graceful occasion and I don't think any snapshots were taken... In a bit we all had most of the kinks loosened up enough to chew the fat with the proprietor. He was quite an amiable character and reminded me much more of the folks ones runs into in the Texas hill country rather than the hills of Tennessee... He clued us in on some local natural attractions, noting that this day was a clear as they come up here. We'd worked up an appetite by now so we headed back to town to a restaurant Bill suggested: La Carreta's Mexican Restaurant in Gatlinburg. By now getting around in Gatlinburg was becoming a little more familiar. Parking, which I observed as no existent, appears readily behind many establishments. I had been a little leery about the quality of Mexican cuisine outside of Texas, but 'was pleasantly surprised and greatly enjoyed the dinner - and the reasonable prices. Four of us ate or half the amount that Carole and I spend alone in Dallas. I recommend La Carreta to Texans away from home and pining for a little salsa in the Smokey Mountains. Bill and Janet were off to do some shopping. Carole and I made our way back to the cabin and relaxed the rest of the day. When Bill and Janet returned Bill and I played Dominos for a while. Shortly Bill set himself to preparing a wonderful spaghetti dinner for us. Luckily we had some nice veggies for him to work with in sauce preparation. Unfortunately we forgot the salad dressing. No problem... Bill whipped up a wonderful olive oil and lime juice dressing that worked great. Garlic bread as a compliment, and we dined heartily next to our cozy fire going in the fireplace. §§§ Thursday - Bill and Janet left. We stayed in. §§§
We departed shortly after noon, made our way to the appropriate Park road. Fittingly there was a Park visitor's center at the start. We parked, went in and took in the little Nature exhibits inside. Very nice displays of mounted wildlife and flora along with some text. Bobcats. Bears, snakes, birds, bugs... An interesting intro into "eco-systems." There was also a gift shop where I picked up a couple more maps. I think Carole managed to resist a purchase but she was heavily browsing the nice selection of books on everything Smokey Mountain, from Log cabins to soap making. I was on the look-out for a nice cap but it seemed no place we stopped was offering them (I forgot to bring mine). We got a bottle of water from a vending machine and we were off to the Cove.
Finally we arrived at the
cove. Apparently, it is of some geological interest and perhaps the
reason people first settled here. Basically, geologic
upheavals turned old rock on top of newer rock. Then the older rock
weathered away, exposing the newer rock underneath.
All this was set in a valley with mountains on either side some 5 miles or
so apart. Early settlers cleared the valley and grew mostly raw
moonshine (corn). The motor tour at the Cove was an eleven mile loop
around this geological feature. At one point Carole and I pulled
off. This time not because we wanted to let people pass - but
because the car in front of At the far end of the Cade's Cove loop was - another tourist center with gift shop (we were hoping for some food) - and a little reconstructed settlement with log cabins, barns, blacksmith shops, grist mills, and so on. Some on their original sites other moved in from the surrounding locations. The mill was particularly interesting as it was operated by water drawn and directed by a flue. The a fellow there actually grinding corn but when when entered he was just closing shop. We explored all the buildings there. The cantilevered barn was also interesting. Having seen the sites we embarked on the last leg of the loop. Had it not been getting so late I suspect we would have stopped at some of the historic homes (cabins). We did see the markers in front citing such-and-such's place. We also remembered seeing some of those names in the cemeteries we explored. By the time we completed the loop, we were starting to be a bit hungry. We pulled over to the "Store" just as one would enter the loop, but it was closed. So we settled for peanut butter crackers from a vending machine. Of course the trip back to Gatlinburg was just as nice as the drive in. The sun was from a different direction now but still jus as marvelous. When we arrived back at our cozy cabin, we munched on leftovers. We re-kindled the fire in the fireplace and watched a little TV before heading to bed for the evening. §§§ Saturday - Our final full day in the Smokey's. Clingman's Dome was out destination today. The Dome is some 6000 feet in elevation, the highest point in the Eastern US. Carole and I both thought we were on our way to something called the Chimneys - some big rocks you could take an elevator to the top of. Turned out the spot marked chimneys on our map was not the Chimneys we thought we were going to. Rather, it was a roadside park that looked to be a camp ground at one time.
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of
the adjacent hills. Though the weather could not have been nicer,
one morning we got to see the valleys filled with the hazy fog for which
I assume the Smokey's are named. 
The
route in was a little windy - and up-and-downy. When we were at
one of the lowest points we passed an old abandoned log cabin, the
corner of which was actually touching the road. (By the way - this
road, more often that not, though paved, was just about wide enough for
one vehicle). We stopped once and looked it over. The
chimney was cobbled together from stones, no doubt picked up in the
immediate vicinity, and a mud/gravel mixture for mortar. In the
back was a little stream and a well or spring house - all over grown of
course.
Janet
and Bill were not in when we arrived. After poking around a bit we
decide this must be the place and unloaded the car and relaxed a little
exploring the balcony porch that hung out the back of the cabin.
a grocery store, we took off one of the directions out of town. This
turned out to be the route to "Clingman's Dome" but we didn't
know it at the time. Clingman's Dome is the highest peak East of the
Mississippi and our excursion was one of steady incline. At some
point we passed into a cloud and everything was 
There
was very little traffic and we seemed to have the road to ourselves.
I thought we were heading in the direction of Knoxville (North) but we
were really going south. I had in mind to get gas and look for a
grocery store in Knoxville till Carole told me we were going the other
way... The primary purpose of our drive, of course, was to enjoy the
beautiful surroundings. We'd 
been
driving for some time - and probably would have arrived at Clingman's Dome
shortly - when decided to head back. We pulled off into one of the
many pull-outs to turn around. We noticed that the mountain stream
which we had been following on the way up was right at our feet, so we
explored and admired. To me, this was THE archetypical pristine
mountain stream. Crystal clear water rushing and gurgling over and
around and through clean rocks and boulders nestled between lush mist
shrouded foliage that climbed up and out of sight into the cloud.
That
evening it was my turn to cook. We had grilled chicken and a creamed
broccoli casserole I make here quite a bit. I got a late start on it
though, as Bill and I were engaged in some Dominoes. A pitcher of Margarita's
and some Cholula sauce rounded things off nicely.
Wednesday
- we might have slept a little later, but not too much so. We had a
beautiful sunrise to the tunes of many song birds. They day was much
clearer. We all decided to attempt a horseback ridding adventure and
proceeded forth about mid morning. We took two cars and arrived in
time for the next trip. We four and two other ladies were introduced
to our rides. We were all informed several times while our stirrups
were being adjusted to keep our "heals lower than our
toes." Apparently the staff didn't want anyone getting 
hung-up
and dragged in the even we got swarmed by yellow jackets...
Off we went, up and up and up one side of a valley. The little trail
graded into the side of an almost vertical slope was rather impressive as
it wound around here and there. Carole and I took up the rear, with
Carole at the very end. Our old horses seemed to know what to do and
when they tried to take up the slack in the train their bouncy bouncy gait
was bone jarring for us city slickers. Nevertheless we got to
observe terrain not normally viewed and it was rather impressive.
Bill, directly ahead of me, was able to get off of few snapshots as we
strolled along. Carole took several shots also. I left the
digital camera back at the car, deeming it a bit unwieldy for
horseback. Our guide, a rather tough looking cowgirl, paused
occasionally so that we could regroup. The idea was to keep within a
horse length of each other but we tended to string out. 
Friday.
Were enjoyed our vacation morning as usual. Carole plotted the days
activities over a bowl of cereal. It was decided that Cade's Cove
promised to be an interesting excursion and it certainly was.
This
was perhaps the most beautiful excursion of our stay. The route out
to Cade's Cove followed one of the mountain streams in the Park. As
it meandered so did we, back and forth, first on one side then the
other. As the streams are here, they collect in the valleys between
mountains. Now these particular mountains are rather closely set so
we always had a stone wall on one side and foliage reaching high on the
other. There was no shortage of company along the road either.
Almost every pull-out had someone stopped - admiring the view, picnicking,
fishing or just chatting with the members of their party. I
thoroughly enjoy the drive, some 5 or 10 miles.
us
was so slow. A youngish couple in some sort of coup with the rear
hatch open so their kids could misbehave... :) After traffic passed
a profound stillness enveloped us. I don't know if I have ever been
in a natural setting which was so quite. As we sat in the shade of
an oak tree, we gazed out across a very clean pasture that stretched to
the mountain beyond. It was so quiet. The, as if to bring us
back to our senses, an elderly couple pulled up along side of us and asked
if "that was something?" They didn't want miss anything on
there loop and were were admiring so intently. I replied, "just
a mountain." They sheepishly explained they didn't want to miss
anything and continued on. As did we shortly.
There were, of course, many historical spots along the loop. We
stopped at several old churches: Baptists an Methodists seemed to have a
claim here. We strolled through the 
graveyards
adjacent to each and observed the various families. Pictured here is
the first one we stopped at: the Primitive Baptist Church. It had
memorials in front commemorating some significant persons born just 50
years after the Declaration of Independence. Carole seemed quite curious,
and delighted in finding the hymnals in the pulpits. Once outside,
where I was exploring other curiosities,
I could here my Carole's sweet voice
singing a hymn she found. Maybe the first time in a hundred years a hymn
had been heard by those walls... 
On
the way through Gatlinburg, before we left for the Dome, we stopped at an
Exxon for gas. Carole took the opportunity to get a some hotdogs for
lunch. I also brought our thermos this time, filled with ice
water. Before we left town we took a 
basically
in town scenic nature motor tour. I vote it one of the best scenic
tours we had. Like most of the motor tours, we were wound around through
rocky mountains and streams lush with 
foliage.
We stopped at one pull-out to snap a few pictures of a particularly scenic
spot and I saw an opportunity to climb up a rocky spot on the side of the
road - to explore some craggy holes up high. I zoomed in on Carole
here but I was really pretty high up when I took it. Then whole tour was
quite scenic. I enjoyed it a lot.
Now
it was off for our major excursion. The drive out as I indicated
above, we had driven most of earlier. It looked allot different on a
clear day. All the mountains and precipices were now visible.
Again this was a pretty drive. We paused for lunch at the Chimneys
roadside park. To say it was uphill all the way would be an
understatement. Nevertheless, it wasn't too bad. It seemed
like every motorcycle in the Eastern US was out there too. Saturday,
I guess. When we
arrive at the summit - or almost the summit - there was a rather large
parking lot almost full with site seers. When we got out of the car
- burrr! It was a whole lot cooler up there, and the wind was pretty
brisk. There remained about 300 more feet of elevation to the
summit, where there was an observation tower with a walkway that spiraled
up to the top in a single 360° loop. We declined the walk to the
finale and simply enjoyed the view from where we were. The
trip back to the cabin seemed a bit anticlimactic but were happy to be
back snug in our abode.