Smoky Mountains

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After a leisurely morning of coffee and reading the paper we jumped in the truck and headed to the Smoky Mountain National Park. We are staying right at the base of the Park here in Sevierville and were told that the best scenic drive to take was the Cades Cove loop. It was a beautiful drive as we have found that Tennessee is turning out to be one of our favorite States. There are almost daily thunderstorms which keeps things very lush and green but surprisingly there aren't any bugs or mosquitoes! You can sit outside and enjoy the fireflies, which I have come to love. I was telling Don today that my favorite thing so far is watching them each night dance around in the trees. They just mesmerize me. I wish I could bottle them up and take some home! Anyway, I got off track here, back to the Smoky Mountain Parkway. We only did a small 11 mile loop but it reminded me a little of the Yosemite valley but without the huge granite mountains of course. Instead there were lush tree covered hills all around the valley which gave it a very tranquil and wonderful feeling. There were little buildings that dotted the landscape which were where some of the settlers had lived. It was wonderful that they were able to preserve them to some point so that we could still have that little bit of history. Of course they had churches that were still standing. They are very strong in their faith back here which I think is wonderful. Much of the U.S. should take a lesson from the South and maybe we could get things back on track. We have really noticed that families seem more connected and actually have conversations instead of having their noses in their electronic devices. Imagine that! In fact, we haven't seen a kid with a phone or electronic device since we left Texas. The kids play in the playgrounds and ride their bikes around the RV parks and are very friendly and polite. We have met quite a few kids on this trip and it has been a treat to talk to them and hear what they have to say about growing up around here. Everything is Mr. and Ma'am. Very sweet.

We keep extending our stay here in this area. We are supposed to leave tomorrow but now we might stay until Friday as we have found a great BBQ place that we like and the owner, Tony Gore, is a Gospel singer and he has a little sing-in, meal, and mini concert thing he does on Thursday and Friday mornings at 10am that we want to go to. Guess we will make our decision in the morning. Who's on a schedule anyway??? 😊

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Photos

Dan Lawson Place
Dan Lawson owned a swath of land from Tennessee to the North Carolina line. The house was built in 1856.

Tipton House
Col. "Hamp" Tipton built the house in the early 1870's and raised is family there. Two if his daughters, Miss Lucy and Miss Lizzie taught school in the Cove.

Road in Smoky Mtns
See how lush and green everything is?

Comments

[Vaughn]

It appears that the hot weather is on the way. Saturday starts a string of 103-105 degree days which also means bad air quality. We have been lucky the past couple of weeks with highs only in the low to mid 90 degree range. Karly continues to lose weight on her thyroid medication and her energy level has increased. O lucky me!! Logan and I went to a movie today and I am trying to keep him busy. Gracyn and Logan are volunteers helping out at Northside Vacation Bible School daily from 6-8 P.M. I asked Logan what his job was and he said they assigned him to kitchen duty working with a bunch of old people like you and grandma. Lynda did get her Medicare card today so I guess we are old after all. Glad you are having a great vacation and will talk to you latter.