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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Day 2 - Restful

Day 2 of our vacation was much more restful and certainly less stressful than Day 1. I slept until 8 this morning and Carol slept until 10. I guess we both needed the extra sleep.

After a leisurely breakfast at home, we decided to take a driving tour of the area. Most of the attractions and events here cost between $30-$50 per person. In my book, that is just too expensive. Smokey Mountain National Park is much more enjoyable and is certainly less expensive.

Today we drove southwest from Pigeon Forge on Wears Valley Road (US-321, TN-73) for 16 miles to Townsend. We opted to head into the Smokey Mountains on Little River Road instead of continuing on to Cades Cove on Laurel Creek Road. We can make a day trip from Blue Ridge, GA to visit Cades Cove later.

For 18 miles we traveled along the Little River stopping in a few places to take photos of the Little River. The beauty of the park is difficult to explain in words. The 35mph speed limit through the park is at time too fast partly due to the scenery and partly due to congested areas where travelers can pull off the road to take in the view. As an example, here I am pulled over. I had to be careful stepping out of the truck. I was not planning on taking a dip today.
   TN SMNP Little Rive 2
This is one of many shots I got at this location. I shoot these photos in RAW format, then edit them as needed for color balance and crop to get the perfect photo. These images have not be edited but have been converted from RAW to JPG to make them manageable for web viewing.
   TN SMNP Little River 1
This is a photo of Meigs Falls. This is one of two water falls that are accessible by car. It is set back quiet a way and can be easily missed. There was a crowd there so as we drove past, Carol noticed the falls and suggested we pull over.
   TN SMNP Miegs Falls
We exited the park at the Sugarlands visitor center. We did not take the time to stop because we were working our way back to Pigeon Forge and still had a couple of stops to make. Later this week we will be parked at Yogi in The Smokeys RV Park in Cherokee, NC and will probably drive back to the Sugarlands Visitor Center. Gatlinburg is only 35 miles away (a 1 hour drive) on US 441. This twisty route is certainly not for RVs.

Gatlinburg is just as touristy as Pigeon Forge and Sevierville. The attractions in this area are geared to families. For us it is just too touristy. Would we come back here? Certainly to spend more time in the park and possibly for a workamp gig at Dolly Wood. Tomorrow we are supposed to have rain. We have prepped as much as we can so we can get going when we are ready. Our plan is to have breakfast at Mel's Diner, then get hooked up and head north to Lakeview RV Park near Bluff City, TN. Hopefully it won't rain during the entire 100 mile trip.

Thanks for stopping by.

5 comments:

  1. Those waterfall pictures are just beautiful. Glad you had a restful day.

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  2. There's a waterfall 2 mi from us -- Mingo Falls. We haven't been there yet. From what we understand, you have to walk up 100+ steps to see it. Be safe as you travel...God bless!

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    1. 100+ steps? I may have to do that when we are there.

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    2. Mingo Falls is very pretty and good exercise. We were there a year ago February.

      We hiked to many beautiful waterfalls while were in Tennessee and Kentucky. I was actually doing blogs over a year ago so there are some pics from those older blogs.

      Susan
      http://travelbug-susan.blogspot.com

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  3. Glad you're getting some down time, as we are! Isn't it grand? So sorry about the "ouch" to your rig the other day. Well, move on and forward and do enjoy the Smokies. We stayed in Cherokee, in a valley, and it was absolutely divine. We figured out that was our last "vacation" and was two years ago! About time we ducked under the radar for a bit. :)

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