Oh my Gatlinburg!!!

The main road through Gatlinburg comes through one of the three gates to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  One moment, you're in gorgeous, quiet, green parkland and the next, you run smack into pedestrians, backed-up traffic, Ripley's Believe It or Not, a Space Needle, the Hollywood Star Car Museum (in case you can't survive the day without seeing an original replica of the General Lee from "Dukes of Hazzard"), and more candy and fudge shops than you can shake a stick at.  If you're into this kind of stuff, it's a totally awesome place to be.  If you're not, and we weren't, we couldn't get through town fast enough!!

We stayed one night at the soon-to-be-legendary Buckhorn Inn, an oasis of elegance and quiet amidst the craziness that is Gatlinburg. 

It sits in the middle of the Arts and Crafts Loop, an 8-mile circle of (mostly) country roads, artisans, craftspeople, cafes, and studios.  We probably did way more shopping than we should have, but everything was just so pretty and well-made!  No, we didn't buy this, but wow, is it gorgeous!

The day we arrived was cloudy and we started hearing rumbles of thunder in the early afternoon.  The skies opened up a couple of hours later and it was like nothing I've seen since I moved away from New York. 

The flowers loved it, though, and we heard from some of the local merchants that they had been going through a drought (???), so they were really glad for the rain. 

While I have no desire to go back to the madness that is Gatlinburg, I hope we will return to the Buckhorn Inn soon and often.  It is so worth the trip!

The peaceful side of the Smokies

Townsend, Tennessee, is about an hour or so south of Knoxville.  It calls itself "the peaceful side of the Smokies" mainly because it's nowhere near the madness that is Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge (where Dollywood is).  It's a collection of houses, businesses, galleries, and craft stores that lie along the Little River along US-321, also known as the Tuckaleechee Road after a band of Cherokees that used to live in the area.  It's a sleepy little place with no real "downtown" to speak of and we enjoyed its peacefulness tremendously.

We spent some time at the Little River Railroad Museum, although we mainly explored the outdoor exhibits because it was incredibly hot and the indoor part had no airconditioning.

but the main attraction was the quietness of it all.  Even Pandora understood.

While we were in Townsend, we visited Cades Cove and Laurel Falls in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  That's next.

Our trip to the Smokies: Part 2

After we left The Hermitage (see previous post), we hopped on I-40 and headed for Knoxville.  I-40 is an amazing road if only because it has so many personality changes as it runs from Barstow, California to Wilmington, North Carolina.  On the way, it passes through Needles, CA, Winslow, AZ (all together now:  "I was standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona..."), Albuquerque, NM, Amarillo, TX, North Little Rock, AR, and all the way down the center of Tennessee.  I've traveled almost all of it at one time or another, and I love it!

Our main reason for being in Knoxville was so that Robert could see some of the places he grew up in, that he hadn't seen in about twenty years.  He took me to the house he grew up in:

and the house his grandparents lived in:

We went to see the Tennessee River:

We also spent half a day at the Knoxville Zoo, which was co-founded by Robert's parents.  It was really neat to see the Patterson name in so many different places around the property and for Robert especially to see how the Zoo has grown and expanded since he had last been there.

We saw all kinds of animals there:

and we finished off the day with a fabulous meal at a French restaurant called the Northshore Brasserie.  Seriously one of the best meals we've had in a very long time.

Up next: Townsend, Tennessee "on the peaceful side of the Smokies".

The Hermitage

The Hermitage is the former home of President (and General) Andrew Jackson.  Known as "Old Hickory", part of Jackson's legacy is that while fighting in the French and Indian Wars in the early 19th century, he was wounded at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and subsequently rescued by Junaluska, a Cherokee chief who, along with 500 of his men, had fought with Jackson against the Creeks.  During his second term as President, Jackson appointed the man who negotiated a treaty with a small band of Cherokee, which resulted in the forced Removal of the Cherokee from North Carolina and Georgia to Oklahoma, along what became known as the "Trail of Tears".  Following the signing of the treaty, Junaluska is said to have remarked ""If I had known that Jackson would drive us from our homes, I would have killed him that day at the Horseshoe".

The preservation of The Hermitage began in 1889, 44 years after Jackson's death and continued until well into the 20th century.  Today, the mansion sits on over 1,000 acres of farmland outside of Nashville, Tennessee, and has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

The mansion:

The grounds:

The farm:

Painted Bears

We were in Cherokee, NC recently and among other things, we saw a collection of painted bears all over the town.  The Cherokee Bear Project was started as a way to showcase some of the local artists and all together, there were 18 bears that were individualized and mounted throughout the town.  We didn't find all of them, but we got these.

Sequoyah Syllabeary

Eagle Dance Bear

Pottery Bear

Fair Bear

Patriot Bear

Big Cove Bear

Legends Bear

Fish Bear