Road Trip- The Great Smoky Mountains, part 1.
Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee
Recently, my family (mother, brother, his dog and I) spent almost a week in the Great Smoky Mountains- we stayed in a vacation home on a mountaintop between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We checked out a few tourist sites, visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and hung out at the rather nice vacation home, which sported a home theater in the recreation room- yep, it got used!
I believe I have enough pictures for a few posts, let’s get started!
Part 1: Getting There, and ‘The Cabin’
Heading south through Ohio farm country
Water towers are always interesting to see…
Cincinnati Ohio
Crossing the Ohio River
The Cumberland Gap is fun to drive through- this is the ancient trail that Daniel Boone helped blaze for the pioneers to follow through the Appalachian Mountains into the Ohio River Valley
That’s Kudzu all along the Gap wall- this invasive weed that has struck the south has been heading north for a while
There are lots of barriers up to catch falling rocks along the Gap
If you look closely, you can see wire mesh covering the rocks on the top left of the rock face
A brief but heavy rain squall
A wild dinosaur, or a roadside attraction…it all happened so fast…hey, just be glad I don’t show all of the fireworks stores along the way!
In Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, vacation traffic was heavy- the Smokies are in the distance
There’s lots of touristy places in Pigeon Forge, more on that next week
Driving up a mountain to get to our cabin
It was a steep drive, with large mirrors in places to see oncoming traffic around rock ledges
And here we are- our destination, on the mountaintop! The cabin is hanging off the side of the mountain, actually
OK, ‘vacation home’ is closer to reality than ‘cabin’
Pro tip- don’t walk down a narrow steep dark spiral staircase in your socks if you’ve been drinking!
There were 3 decks on the side of the house, all with spectacular views of the local Smoky Mountains
The Greater Smokies get as high as 6,643 feet in elevation- to an Ohio boy like myself, these are definitely mountains!
That’s Pigeon Forge lit up in the distance
The nightly fireworks show going on at Dollywood
Yes, I’m tired too! But fear not, a couple more posts are coming up about this vacation!
What a great road trip! You could do an entire post on just watertowers. Can’t wait to see the rest of you photos.
Many thanks, Cheryl! I take so many photos it gets stupid sometimes, haha!
Looking forward to more pictures of your trip. Love the Smoky Mountains!
Thanks, John! The mountains are fantastic!
I love the Smokies. Such fantastic views from your ‘cabin’.
Looks like your dog settled in quickly.
Thanks Pat, the dog was tired from the long car ride but soon recovered with the proper administration of dog treats!
What a FABULOUS cabin! I kinda feel like I went on vacation with this post – thanks!
Thank you, Jen! It was a really nice place- we usually stay in state park cabins for vacations, but this summer we splurged!
Oh, the view from the decks – spectacular!
Truly so, Composer! 🙂
A room with a view to say the least.
It makes the view out my window back home look less exciting, that’s for sure…
Looks like a very nice cabin!
Indeed it was, Robert!
Awesome! Great photos. Looks like a wonderful trip. 🙂
It was a great time, E.C.!
Gorgeous! What a fun trip!
It was a blast, Inger!
I really enjoyed how your photos took us from your (lovely) Ohio farmland through to the mountains, very enjoyable, and what a wonderful cabin to stay in
Many thanks, Mike!
I don’t miss those windy, narrow, mountain roads, but I’d stay at that “cabin” and never leave! What a view! I liked the sign re: A clean house means the computer is broken. I need that. Those staircases are tough when one hasn’t been drinking!
It was a very nice vacation house Patti- but those stairs were a bit tough for some of us!