East Tennessee and Smokey Mountains, 2023
In the spring of 2023 Carol’s friend Ruth let us rent her timeshare again. (Thanks Ruth!) This time we picked eastern Tennessee. That is, the Smokey Mountains!
On the I-81. Easter Sunday and Zoe traditionally tears into her chocolate Easter bunny. (She shared parts of its body with the family.)
Cades Cove (on the way there) – One of the things the family loves to do is find an active stream, and then play in it.
Cades Cove. Baptist Church (1827) – Zoe reading from a Bible left in the church. (Note the metal plate on the floor for a wood-burning stove.)
Cades Cove. On the 11-mile loop road – Hard to explain - there were signs all over the cove saying if you can hide a bear behind your out-stretched thumb, then you were safe. (That is, the bear is so far away that the thumb will cover it.) So, Andrew twisted this around to: if anything is smaller than your thumb, it’s a bear. Zoe was our scout, looking for bears.
Cades Cove. The mill at the John Cable homestead. (1867) A wonderful example of American woodworking.
Cades Cove. Another nice stop on stream with some really hard rocks.
Gatlinburg’s Craft Loop. The loop is 8 miles of wonderful shops (outside Gatlinburg!) with anything from fine art to knapped spear heads. (Theresa’s nephew Joseph Robey joined us for a couple of days. That’s Joseph in the middle.) https://greatsmokyartsandcrafts.com/
Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. The trail is a loop of 6 miles with many opportunities to hike and play in the water. Here Andrew, Zoe, and Joseph at the top of the Marker 1 overlook. Theresa is behind the camera. Most of this area was burned out in the large fire in 2016.
Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. All at once the truck in front of the Buckles’ van stopped. It took a few seconds to figure it out. It was a black bear. It came onto the road, and we slowly followed it for a while, until it re-entered the forest.
Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. The Place of a Thousand Drips – A neat set of small waterfalls. The family did not spend much time there, because a few seconds after this picture was taken Theresa saw the same bear at the top of the falls and called everyone back to the van. (35.711859, -83.482610)
Sevierville, TN. The next day shopping and the ladies had to go to the Cat House. No, not loose women, but there were many loose cats you could pet. And things for cats you could buy.
Dolly Parton’s Stampede. A fun show that sometimes was hokey and sometimes breathtaking.
Parrot Mountain and Garden. Andrew noticed this in his research. It had several thousand very high reviews. We went and were not disappointed. Here’s Zoe covered in birds. (Andrew paid a few dollars more for this.)
Parrot Mountain and Garden. Carol making friends with a cockatoo. Like most the birds they let you get to, he was very friendly, but managed to break off part of Carol’s plastic room key off her arm. She did have a heck of a time getting the piece back.
Parrot Mountain and Garden. Again, Zoe covered with birds. These are lorikeets that are after the sugar water in her hand.
Parrot Mountain and Garden. Andrew in the bird nursery, where you play all you want with the young birds, making them very tame. You could also buy the birds. Many are rescue pets, donated to the garden.
Carver's Orchard. Located about 15 miles east of Gatlinburg in several buildings. Carver's had every type of apple butter, jelly, honey, salsa, syrup, produce, nuts and candy there is! The family dropped over $200 on 3 boxes of this stuff. They make Ron’s favorite sugar-free apple butter. Nice restaurant also. (35.83703, -83.231647)