Still Hanging Out in Tennessee

Along with Jim and Ellie, we left Chattanooga on Monday and traveled about two and half hours to Sevierville, Tennessee which is only about a half mile from Pigeon Forge. Just far enough not to be in the middle of the tourist trap.

Getting ready to leave Chattanooga

Making our way through Knoxville

Almost there

Arriving at River Plantation RV Park

Settled in...Let's get busy enjoying the Smokey Mountains!

We spent Monday afternoon at a small shopping complex. We started out at the Knife Works. Besides having lots and lots of knives, they have a big selection of kitchen items and decorating items. After the knife store, we made our way over to the Lodge Cast Iron cookware store. The last time we were here, I had seen a small skillet for cooking cornbread, and wished I had bought it. However, they didn't have what I had remembered seeing, so we left there empty handed. By this time Mark and Jim had made their way down to the tool store. After a sufficient time of looking and touching, Ellie and I dragged them from there. We then walked over to the Coleman Store and the Outfitters Store/Craft Mall and wandered through there for a little while. Ellie found a couple of items and then we were off and back to the RV Park for dinner.



We decided over dinner that we would go to Cade's Cove on Tuesday and take a picnic lunch. Jim wanted Ellie to make Tuna Salad, but that meant a trip to Walmart for eggs. So after dinner we headed to out to get the eggs, but along the way we made a stop at Baskin Robbins for ice cream. We could have bought the whole gallon at Walmart for what we paid for 4 scoops of ice cream on Tourist Trap Blvd. We got back to the RV Park, said our good nights and had our plan for the next day.


Tuesday morning and Mark and Jim were up early and off to Flap Jacks for a breakfast of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Ellie and I were up and off to our Weight Watchers meeting. We both had a weight loss this week thanks to all that good meal planning and site seeing/walking we have been doing. Again, thanks Ellie for getting me back on track.


We all met back at the RV Park and finished getting our picnic lunch together and headed out to Cade's Cove in the Smokey Mountains National Park.

Cades Cove is a lush valley surrounded by mountains and one of the most popular destinations in the Great Smokies. A wide array of historic buildings dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries is scattered through-out the cove. These include a grist mill, a variety of barns, three churches, and a marvelous collection of log homes and outbuildings. An 11-mile one-way loop road takes you around the cove.

This is the way our day unfolded...

This is going to be a great day

The Great Smokey Mountain National Park is almost 75 years old. On June 15, 1934, it became America's 22nd national park. Today the park protects over 800 square miles of mountains and rivers and preserves a safe haven for more than 15,000 different species of plants and animals. Over nine thousand visits are tallied each year, more than any other national park. And a added note about that tourist trap I spoke of...well visitors to this area contribute over $680 million to the local economy annually.

This was our first stop for pictures

This was our first stop after arriving at Cade's Cove.

Speedy, how about this for a front porch?

This was the 1/4 mile walk from the road to the house

This is one of the three or four church's we saw on the drive through Cade's Cove

What a view...and be sure to keep a watch as we caught a glimpse of some black bear today, but we couldn't get any picutres.

This a one of the old farm houses

The Grist Mill at Cade's Cove

A look down stream

The Old Barn

Still seeing a few flowers

Another Old Barn

A look up through the trees

A view back up the mountain road

Look out below...now don't you wish you had you blow up boat!

We headed back to the RV Park by way of Gatlinburg. We decided we would come back to walk around look another day as we needed to get Jim and Ellie back to the RV Park to see about the fur kids. Needless to say they were glad to see us. After our busy day, Ellie and I decided NO COOKING, so Jim and Mark decided if they were getting anything to eat they better figure it out, so we choose Applebee's. We had to make one last stop before the end of the day, and that was at the Kitchen Store for Mark to purchase a new coffee maker because his quit working.

What a fun day in the Smokey's.

It is now Wednesday afternoon and we have spent the day here in the RV Park. We woke up about 3am to wind and rain and it is still raining. Well, everyone needs a quite day now and then. Ellie called earlier to say she and Jim had dinner covered for us all at their place tonight, so we are looking forward to that.

I think at this point, this gets us all caught up for the last few days. I hope you enjoyed our trip to the mountains. See you for the next adventure.