Comfort Inn Cherokee

... PARK – Driving along the winding Little River Road (also called The Dragon because it has 318 curves in the first 11miles), there are so many scenic views that there are turnouts/pullouts every 1000ft. In some places, the sheer mountain cliff has been carved out so that you drive through a half tunnel – gives you an eerie feeling. It seems like a wave is about to push you into the raging ...

Update from Tuesday - the rain stopped during the night and we didn't float away. Wednesday was sunny and 70. We took the trolley tour of downtown Asheville. More on that tomorrow.

Today we took the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad ride. Weather was warm (70) and sunny and colors were at their peak. The pictures tell it all.

Train ride tips:
1. Take the PM ride. At least this time of year the fog is ...

... heavy things down low. The main road we wanted to use was closed due to fallen boulders so a detour was eventually found. PS it's rained since we left I think.

The route we ended up taking was one of the more miraculously breathtaking ones that I've seen. We followed Rt. 19 to 441, which runs alongside a river with waterfalls and rapids. Mountains are always going to be a faraway beauty to me I believe. Growing up in flat-as-can-be Delaware, appreciating altitude comes easy ...

... 441 through the center of the park, indicating that, at the higher elevations, the fog would be too thick to see anything, anyway, and it could be a little white knuckled driving the curves in the fog. He encouraged us to travel the Cades Cove Loop, instead, which runs along the far western side of the park, and includes a number of the original Appalachian homes, churches and farmsteads of the early pioneers in the area. One of the ...

... so once we got the motorhome in our site and parked - we chose to just stay in and watch lots of good stuff on TV ("good stuff" being defined as the Angels beating the Red Sox to win the Division Title, my favorite driver Jimmie Johnson winning the Nascar Race at California Speedway, and the not-so-good NY Yankees beating the Minnesota Twins).

Tomorrow, rain or shine...we're doing Smoky Mountains National Park!

... has a waterfall you ride by. Hiking trails are just everywhere. This is overall the best & most inexpensive vaccation anywhere. Riverstone Lodge telephone #
(865) 448-6677 or (800) 854-7358 web site riverstonelodge.com
The Riverstone Lodge is also Rated #1 place to stay in Townsend.
Room rates are from $49.95 to $69.95 at the peak times. WOW!!!
The Lodge also has two 3 bedroom homes on the river that are nightly rentals.

It has been many years since I've been in Cherokee and little has changed except for the Casino which is undergoing major expansion. We were nestled into a nice RV park with a brook flowing through it. Cherokee is close to many attractions and we enjoyed our stay there.

We found a spot somewhere on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. It was so beautiful we spent a few days here and did everything.

We did some white water rafting near our site and met a friend. She was a cat the lived there and loved sleeping in the tent. ha ha ha.... We named her Nantahala, 'Nanta' for short.

It was Beautiful....

After booking ourselves into the camp-site for another night, we spent the morning at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, in the town of Cherokee, just outside the park boundary. The museum houses the world's greatest collection of Cherokee artefacts and treasures, from tools and weapons to jewellery and clothing to pottery and manuscripts. But more than that it tells the story of the Cherokee, from the mythical ...

... t convinced. Well, the weather turned a bit. Rain came on Wednesday night and we woke up Thursday to a grey day. It started out about 55 degrees, but lost a couple degrees an hour and ended up below freezing Thursday night. We spent a quiet Thanksgiving in the Winnie. Today we packed up camp and are headed for Cleveland Georgia now to spend a few days with Bob's niece.