Knoxville-East/Chilhowee Park/Fairgrounds/Zoo Days Inn

... in their work boots and coveralls), lots of attractions for kids including massive amusement/dinosaur parks, laser tag, arcades, zip line rides (longest in USA), whitewater rafting tours, horseback riding and a go-cart style NASCAR speedway and mini golf courses. Right now, they’re building a full sized replica of the Titanic – in the mountains!!!!!

GATLINBURG - Nestled in a valley ...

Despite the rain, we got going this morning with a goal of exploring Great Smoky Mountains National Park...fought our way through the heavy Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg traffic again and went to the Welcome Center for the park to see their movie, and to get my National Parks Passport stamped with the date (I keep meaning to count up how many of the National Parks we've been to, but the Passport is in the car, not in the motorhome, so will ...

... Not Museums, Buffet Restaurants, Music Shows and Auditoriums, and more go-kart tracks than we've ever seen, in all our travels combined! It turns out that most of the schools in Tennessee are closed this week for Fall Break, so a lot of the tourists were families, here for the amusement parks more than the National Park. Neither of us enjoys this carnival-atmosphere, so prevalent now in towns like Branson, Wisconsin Dells and ...

... I decide I want to watch that.

We try and head to Calhoun's for dinner, passing yet another car that has slid off the road, but it is mobbed. That is expected for the night before a game. I figure anything near the University will be packed so we eventually head over to the south side of the river. Of course that was after we drove through the revived old town area. I am glad to ...

... the kids just love. Bicycles, tubes for floating down the river. some areas have pretty good rapids parts are slower and relaxing. The bicycle trail starts right there accross the road and runs to the other end of town (5 miles). The Tuckaleechee Caverns are amazing and only cost about $12.00 per person for an almost 2 hour tour and it is open not not cramped like most. Many horseback riding stables. The best one is 1 mile from Lodge and ...

Yesterday was a pretty relaxed day of driving, minus the extreme sticky southern heat. This stuff the horribly disgusting!!!!! We only made a few stops, one was to get our normal beer and glass, we tried to get one at a few places in Nashville but we struck out a lot. So we stopped in Knoxville and we finally got one. After that our mission was complete. We got back on the road and headed to our destination Pigeon Forge, home of ...

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....

... the "Great Warrior Path".Scores of redbud trees in bloom seemed to grow out of the rocky cliffs. Past the Daniel Boone Heritage Trail and the Clinch River to A. P. Carter Highway to Hiltons, Virginia, home of the Carter Family Fold, another stop on the Crooked Road. We camped in the parking lot there and attended the show with the Big Country Bluegrass, one the best bluegrass bands around. The band currently has the number one single on the ...

Day 20 HAd a very quiet, lazy day. Spent some time talking with Sam during the day and then had dinner and talked with her as she played on the computer. Not much to report today, sorry folks! Am starting to miss home as this is the longest I've ...

... always thought Washington was full of verdant green forests and beautiful rivers, but my thinking was only partly right. About halfway across the state, I came out of the mountains. On the eastern side of the mountains is a large desert area. The mountains block all the rain, apparently. The closest thing to the view that I can recall is the desert of the southwest. Oddly enough, right? ;-) Coming out of the mountains, the view flattened ...