Great Smokey Mountain National Park

Wednesday, October 26

Yesterday we started our eighth and final week.  We have traveled 10, 500 miles so far (but we’re not done yet) and are on our way to Alex and Andria, Virginia.  As we traveled across Tennessee we started to see the colors in the trees that we are more accustomed to and we have traveled back into the Eastern Time Zone  ~ all signs that we are nearing home.

 Before leaving Tennessee we visited the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. The road around the park wound through the beautifully colored hard wood trees of the east coast. 

At higher elevations where it is colder, the leaves were already gone but along the lower elevations there was still considerable color; certainly more than anywhere we have been.     

The leaf peepers were out if full regimen today.   It was a gorgeous fall day and we expected it might be busy but not to the level that we encountered.  It almost rivaled Letchworth State Park on Columbus Day weekend.                                                                                   

                                                                                  

 At the southern end of the park, along the Oconaluftee River, was the Oconaluftee Mountain Farm Museum.  The museum consisted of original mountain buildings from this area that had been moved to the park to create the museum. It is meant to replicate a typical early 19th century farm. 

As we were leaving the park, we decided to go to one more viewing area (it must have been fate).  As we arrived we noticed a large number of people gathered in one area.  Earlier in our trip we would have thought there must be wildlife, but here we just thought it was the foliage.  When we got out of the car someone told us there was a bear.  A BEAR~ our trip was now complete.  John has been waiting to see a bear since our Alaskan excursion last year. We saw two on the mountain side in Glacier but John didn't consider them close enough to count however THIS was a legitimate sighting. 

what are all you people lookin at?

I'm just enjoying my grass snack

We ended our day with dinner and a walk around Gatlinburg.  What a busy place.  The parking attendant said it wasn’t bad ~ wait until Halloween weekend!  The town was beautifully decorated for fall in preparation for the leaf peepers and the big Halloween crowds.

This seems to be a huge resort area with the National Park,  Dolly Wood and ski areas all near by.  There are three towns in succession along rt 441; Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, and one is busier than the other. At least Gatlinburg is an actual little village.  The others are just rows of restaurants, hotels and attractions along the highway ~ such a drastic difference to the natural beauty of the National Park.

No longer are we the distant license plate in the parking lot and after the scenery we have seen today we really feel like we are heading home.  The last leg of our trip is Virginia.

On Thursday we continued our drive to Alexandria via the Skyline Drive through the beautiful Shenandoah National Park and Valley arriving just in time to catch the end of soccer practice. It was a cloudy day but at least it didn't rain.