More TN!

Thursday PM

We made....what I though would be, simple and somewhat scary trip down to Cataloochee Valley.  It's on the east side of the Smoky Mountain NP and is known to have Elk sightings.  It's another valley where a group of people settled to raise their families.  The valleys are a great place to live as it very fertile (vs. mountain side..lol) with plenty of animals to hunt!!  They were self sustaining tucked in this valley..rarely did they even venture outside the valley!

So we drove over with hopes of seeing a few Elk....well thank goodness for the elk we did see them!!!!

This is an excerpt from the Great Smoky Mountain NP brochure.....

Directions: The entrance road to Cataloochee Valley is a winding, gravel road that has some steep drop offs with no guard rails. The road is narrow, so drivers may be required to stop or back up their vehicles to allow oncoming motorists to pass. Horse trailer traffic may be encountered on the road. Please use caution when driving on this road.

THEY WEREN'T KIDDING EITHER!!!!

 if that's what the GSMNP will print, it's probably on the conservative side of things!?!?  I should have known!

More telling.... on our way up the mountain, we were not entirely sure we were on the correct road..so we stopped to ask an older man on the side of the road spreading bark...these were the words he spoke... "Yes, this is the correct road....just keep going...just go slow and drive careful ...take it easy!!" I kid you not!!  

If that is what the locals say....there is no hope I'm going to like this!  You are correct..I did not like this!  Lets just say, I was scared to near death!  It was a 7+ mile drive in....with no guard rails people!!!  Do you start to get the idea?

Sitting in my living room now, as I write this, my mind says...."oh it wasn't that bad..I could do it again!!"...I'm pretty sure Steve would NOT put up with my antics for another visit...EVER!!!

Okay, so you get the idea...so I'll move on to the elk and the view!

Actually, I thought, they are kind of ugly.. they say God made them all...but they got slapped with the ugly stick early on!  And they are just a shade bigger than a deer...I guess I thought I was going to be looking at a Moose! Regardless, we saw the elk..you can almost hear my enthusiasm! 

BUT at least we got to enjoy this BEAUTIFUL view!  And beautiful it was! In the end...I'm glad we went... I have it permanently edged in my memory bank..a place I will NEVER forget! 

You can't see this in Michigan!  Isn't God's world beautiful and oh so different as you travel across the United States of America!  So thankful for that!

On the way back out, Eagle Eye Steve spotted this Partridge .I'm not sure it was..I don't see a pear tree anywhere around??? 

This is one of the only things I saw on the way down...as I had my seat laid back with my coat over my head!  Better for me and Steve!!!

We also attended the Dixie Stampede which is a dinner show combo...we chose this over touring The Biltmore Estate.  Both are around $50 per person. 

This is what the stadium looked like before the show started 

Look at that amount of food!  

FYI..they provide you  no silverware...cuts down on dishwashing...=)

Horseback riding and jumping through the ring of fire 

buffalo 

Steve's chicken after he "licked the bones"..hahaha! 

My chicken barely touched..haha! 

It was a fun night and very entertaining!!  AND yummy!

FRIDAY

These were take on the way to Newfound Gap and Klingman's Dome..which I thought would be easy!

That is not fog you see....those would be clouds!

This is along side the road in a turn off....they are everywhere.  They had gotten a good rain the night before..so there was a lot of run off.  

View from Newfound Pass

Newfound Pass is where the Appalachian Trail crosses..so I walked up the trail....I technically walked the Appalachian Trail!

And really, did they really have to name a trail.."Sweat Heifer Creek Trail"..that's the best they could come up with?? 

In the parking lot..this man was "taking" a live shot of the view...

the man of my dreams....

A short drive up the mountain was the parking lot to hike to Clingman's Dome

The highest elevation in the GSMNP.....I think I read in a brochure it was 1,000,000 feet elevation level...sure of it!

So, after you walk the trail..which was about a 4 foot wide path about .5 miles long...you arrive at the foot of the look out tower.  Which looks inadequately supported by a few to few cement columns!

well, if I die..I'm only a step from heaven! 

 I literally could not walk up the ramp to the dome....after about 10 minutes of procrastinating...I DID IT!!!!

Steve was very patient with me and held my hand the whole way...I never looked up the whole way up....It took all I had to get to the top...I think I'm afraid of heights....lol!!!!  Some crazy nuts were just running up the ramp like they were on solid ground!  I was scared for them and me!  

 It's hard to see in this picture ..but look by the North Face symbol....see that..see it, it's my heart..my heart leaping....good thing there wasn't a blood pressure machine up there....lol!!!

Here we are at the top! YEAH! 

on the way back down.  

We talked with a Appalachian Trail hiker ... he had started in Georgia and was heading north to Maine..he hoped to get there in September ..are you kidding me!?  That's really "being on the road!!"

The last night of vacation we drove through...Roaring Fork, a six mile beautiful drive just out side of Gatlinburg.  This was one of our favorite drives.  My pictures do not do this place justice.. 

Oh, did I mention Steve got a ticket...so we spent time visiting the Seveierville Police Department also....it wasn't for speeding either!

Noteables...

**buy a better camera than a simple point and shoot (no matter how good a pictures it takes..you look ridiculous snapping a pictures of all this beauty with that little camera... especially when people are dragging out tripods) 

** ate at Five Guys..not that impressive...sorry Five Guys lovers!

Steve was so patient with all my irrational fears ..he never tried to force me.... (all though, I think he thought I was little off when I had a hard time going out on the deck of the cabin..in my defense, it was a zillion miles in the air and no land under it and they plopped a hot tub full of gallons of water on it!!)  A BIG Thank you to him for loving me through all my rants ...it must be true love!

If ever you need a place to get away..Mammoth Cave, Ruby Falls, Smoky Mtns (-Cataloochee) & Gatlinburg would be my suggestion!!!!  EXCELLENT!                

But go with Someone you love!!

We enjoyed a wonderful vacation together celebrating our 25 years of marriage...a huge accomplishment these days!  It was a fun time and we enjoyed all the natural beauty....even the mountains!   We will hold these memories near and dear...and oh so close to our heart!