April 26 - Cades Cove

The question was, of course, where to go next.  We needed to stay within striking distance of central North Carolina where we would be picking up Joya and her friend Tessany on the fifth of May.  A circumnavigation of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park sounded interesting, so off we set, bound for Southeastern Tennessee.  On the North-central border of the park lay two formerly-small towns, grown bloated by the popularity of the Smokies: Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.  Based on an examination of the road atlas, Pigeon Forge seemed smaller and less known (hah!), and had a Passport America park there where we could stay for about $13 a night.  Passport America is a "discount club" membership costing about $40 that we had purchased back in New Mexico, where we receive a 50% discount at participating parks.  It has paid for itself 5 or 10 times over already.  It has the added bonus of mostly being offered by out-of-the-way parks, or parks that are otherwise funky and in need of additional campers and revenue -- a perfect match for our wants.

The drive West across US 321 was wonderful.  The landscape of the Smokies is so diverse -- the trees lend a multitude of colors to any hillside: all the greens, some reds, and the occasional brilliant white of the flowering dogwood.  Tucked into the 'hollows' are 200 year old farmhouses, homes and barns, made of hand-hewn notched logs.  All of it passing by, at a leisurely 35 or so miles per hour.  The nomenclature of the Appalachian region is also diverse and unique: there are hollows, gaps, nobs, coves, balds, and branches, instead of the usual terms like valley, pass, creek, etc..  It was one of the most pleasant drives of the trip so far; unfortunately, it ended at one of the ugliest sights that we had yet seen -- Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge (they have nearly blended).

The Great Smokey Mountains National Park is the most visited park in the United States.  According to Bill Bryson, author of the exquisite "A Walk in the Woods" which details his experiences walking 800 miles of the Appalachian Trail, Gatlinburg is more popular than the park itself.  No one could capture the essence of Gatlinburg as Bryson has done, so I will not try.  I reproduce it here:

"[Gatlinburg] sits just outside the main entrance to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park and specializes in providing all those things that the park does not -- principally, slurpy food, motels, gift shops, and sidewalks on which to waddle and dawdle -- nearly all of it strewn along a single astoundingly ugly main street.  For years it has prospered on the confident understanding that when Americans load up their cars and drive enormous distances to a setting of rare natural splendor what most of them want when they get there is to play a little miniature golf and eat dribbly food...Walking in an unhurried fashion up and down the street were more crowds of overweight tourists in boisterous clothes, with cameras bouncing on their bellies, consuming ice-creams, cotton candy, and corn dogs, sometimes simultaneously."

Sadly for us, Pigeon Forge is even worse.  At least in Gatlinburg there was an attempt to have a 'mountain theme' in the architecture and attractions.  Pigeon Forge looks like nothing more than a giant strip mall on steroids, running down both sides of the street.  The birthplace of Dolly Parton, she  effectively ruined it when she built Dollywood there, although its proximity to Gatlinburg most likely doomed it long ago.  Pigeon Forge does have 2 redeeming qualities: it is a very short drive from there to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, and it has a Krispy Kreme, which we patronized both nights we were there.

We found our campground after some initial confused driving around in Gatlinburg, and it was pleasant, with a nice creek running 20 years from our campsite.  The park was only about half full, and we got a site away from most other folk.

There were numerous species of duck wintering on the creek.  Below, Jordan feeds some of them.  There was a corn dispensing machine nearby, and I was able to get some of the ducks to eat out of my hand.  While we were watching the creek, we saw a river otter slink down the far bank and into the river, almost directly across from us.  It was amazing.  We watched it swim along, both on top and under the surface, for perhaps 5 minutes before losing track of it.

This shot was taken by Jody from the creek bank of our set up in Pigeon Forge.

This RV park also sported a pool table (although it cost an exorbitant 75 cents per game), so that evening we had another of our family pool tournaments prior to bed.

April 26 - Cades Cove