Hiking
Nice blue skies for hiking. We chose the Potters Creek Trail because it was moderate yet in the mountains. I love it when there’s a surprise! Towards the end of the trail there was an old hiking cabin. It’s no longer in use but at one time hikers had a place to shelter overnight. There were a couple of rooms with a fireplace and metal bunks attached to the cabin walls.
It’s great hiking this time of year because you can see all the rock formations and into the forest We also came across an old settlers cemetery. It was mostly a bunch of plain rocks standing up to show were people were buried.
The weather has been up and down. It’s been cold and cloudy, snowy, warm and rainy with blue skies in between. The last couple of days have been warm – high 60’s.
The roads through the park were closed yesterday due to high winds around 85 miles per hour. Even in the foothills we saw rocks in the road and where trees had fallen across the road.
The pic shows the creek lower and clearer than when we first arrived. Now they overflowing due to the recent rains very fast brown muddy water. I’m thinking the lower mountain roads could be closed today due to flooding.
We did a quick drive around and then drove through Gatlinburg. My goodness! So many people. It’s like Wisconsin Dells tripled and quadrupled!! People were jam packed on the sidewalks. Needless to say, we didn’t stop. Way too many people. Some of the crowd may have been because the roads were closed so people looked for other activities.
However, this is a highly visited national park – 11 million people last year. I’m so glad it’s been mostly open even through the government shutdown.
Activities
Just for grins we drove an hour to visit the Bush Bean Museum and had our picture taken with Duke. Jake gave us the whole family history and how bush beans are made. It was something to do and we bought a bunch of canned beans in flavors that we don’t see in our stores.
Of course we had to try lunch in their cafe. Sean had the white chicken chili and I had pinto beans – both came with cornbread. This was much better than the food we had at Grandma Ogles at Dollywood. (Ogles is another family name in Pigeon Forge, some of the very first settlers).
Sorry Grandma Ogle I’m fond of Bush Beans!!
Bean shopping!
Since we are staying at a cabin, we haven’t really been eating out too much. Last night we went to Blue Moose for wings and to watch the Badger game. They advertised as a sports bar and a great place to watch a game. The key word here is “watch”. They played music so no one can actually listen to the game. We tried the wings (I give them a 3.5 out of 5) and Yee Haw beer once again.
Badgers beat Miami! 35-3!
Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg
This area really is a huge tourist Mecca! Everything for a family vacation. And there are lots of families! Go karts, arcades, souvenir shops, mountain coasters (fun), various museums (Titanic, Alcatraz Crime museum, Hollywood Wax museum, MagiQuest, Paula Deen’s Lumberjack Feud, etc., etc., etc!) and outlet malls (yuck).
We did stop at a Coleman store because they were having a 40% off sale. One problem with stopping here is it shows just how much camping gear we’ve acquired l. Too much and we realized we didn’t need anything else.
Plus there are plenty of theaters in the area (Dolly Parton’s Stampede, Hatfield’s and McCoys, Opry, Comedy Barn, Motown, etc.).
We went to a Christmas Show here. It was a lot more fun than we expected! It was a good cast of characters.
Now I will admit it, I like these corny type of theater shows. I think it’s fun entertainment! Glad we went to a couple; ok I guess it was 5 shows counting the ones at Dollywood 🤭.
The pics below show some of the entertainment for Christmas at the Opry. It has us laughing out loud at time plus a lot of good Xmas music even a bit of southern gospel. Enjoyable!
Plus for The Voice fans, this is Chris Blue performs. He had a few singing acts in the show
The Voice winner Chris Blue
Getting Around
Due to the traffic, it typically take 30 minutes to go a few miles. We’ve been finding the backroads so this helps us get to where we want to go without waiting for stop and go traffic. It’s been a pretty drive through the back hills too and we see how folks really live around here. A lot of nice mountain cabins.
We’ve been getting a lot of use out of the hot tub in the evenings. I’m thinking it might be nice to have one at home, we might need to check it out.
Me trying to remember the hot tub for future reference
We’re both tired now. Today were both ready to go home!
After 7 night, we’ve decided there is no reason for us to ever come back to this portion of the country again! Been there done that kind of thing.
However, we would like to go camping in the mountains someday. Somewhere not so crowded!
Merry Xmas 2018
Becky's Travel Blog 