Smoky Mountains

Smoky Mountains
Smoky Mountain National Park is beautiful in January too! Our drive over Newfound Gap Road offered vistas of cold, blue mountains and snowbanks on its summit. Most roads are blocked in winter, but hikers & bikers still appeared. The rhododendron, mountain laurel, and dogwood are waiting to wake to springtime splendor. It is said that no other place this size in a temperate climate boasts such diversity of plant and animal life. We have seen the Park in summer and winter; now I look forward to seeing it in the spring.

Bean Station

Bean Station
We drove through Cumberland Gap and over Clinch Mountain in northeast Tennessee on our way to Smoky Mountain National Park. Clinch (TN) and Pine (KY) Mountains must have looked like such formidable obstacles to westward-bound adventurers and settlers. Now Cumberland Gap is easily traveled through a spacious tunnel, and the little town that marks its southern entry is a destination for a good meal at Webb’s Restaurant. Summertime brings Civil War reenactments, a reminder of the divided loyalties of mountaineers and the multiple exchanges of Union/Confederate power in the Cumberlands.

Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg

My memories of Gatlinburg are that one has to endure it in order to get into Smoky Mountain National Park. Now a spur allows drivers to skip the town and arrive directly at the entrance. A convention of youth were filling the streets there so we spent a couple rainy days outlet shopping in Pigeon Forge. Bass Pro and Coleman were the best; we left refitted with a new tent, air mattresses, lightweight sleeping bags, cooler, and more. The tent door swings as well as zips—how neat is that? Since we spent our money shopping we’ll have to go back for a show or two next time around. A little community of artists lives outside Gatlinburg so local pottery and paintings fill many shops. Vacation cabins filled the mountains above, some like elevated subdivisions devoid of trees (reminding us of beehives or anthills), but others perching bravely on outcroppings and affording the most fantastic of views.