Travel Day to Hot Springs North Carolina

Today was an interesting day. First we drove through Smoky Mountains National Park along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I now know why they are called the Smoky Mountains. The fog really settles into the mountains and it really does look like smoke. It was very beautiful. Although at some points it was so foggy that the going was very slow. We drove down to Clingman's Dome. It is one of the main points on the Trail. It was so foggy that we could not see anything other than the near by trees. We did see a wild turkey in the grass in the parking lot. But we couldn't see out into the ridge.

Then we drove on to Hot Springs, North Carolina. On the way there we drove through the Cherokee reservation and saw the huge Cherokee casino there. It was enormous and beautiful. At first we wondered why there were all these big hotels in the middle of no where. Then we knew.

Next we drove through Gatlinburg, Tennessee. That was interesting too. It looked like a typical tourist town. We wanted to stop at the Hard Rock to add to our shot glass collection but the parking was impossible and the traffic was non stop so we decided to keep going since we weren't sure how the rest of the drive was going to be. It will just have to be a destination for the future.

And if I can digress for a moment. Jim was reading the Sunday paper and he read an article about an amusement park that Hard Rock built in Mrytle Beach. All the rides are set to Rock music. It looked really interesting. They have an Eagles ride and a Led Zepplen ride. We are definitely adding that to our Bucket List.

So back to this trip. We finally made it to Hot Springs and started the drive to our campground. To make a long story short it was at the top of a very, very steep hill. We weren't real sure where we should be going and when we decided to turn around we got stuck in the mud. Next a young man came along and attempted to help to no avail. So he said I'll be right back and left. He came back with his tractor to pull us out of the mud. Which was only problematic because we were on the side of a mountain with very little wiggle room. At least Jim put me out of the van on the side of the road in case it didn't turn out well. But it did and we quickly went down the hill and looked for other accommodations. At this writing I am very cozy in a nice cottage with a real bed. AND A TV. I haven't watched TV in 2 weeks. Not that I am complaining. It has been great communing with nature. But it is also good to be back in the real world for a couple of days.

I am also posting a bear that we spotted along the way in the Smoky Mountains too. I forgot to mention that earlier. We named him Boo Boo.