Knoxville Marriott

... color, a few wild turkeys, and several deer grazing in the meadows in Cades Cove.<br><br>This is the 75th Anniversary (actually, my birthday, June 15th, was the date!) of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Dolly arton was named the Ambassador for the 75th, so we were able to buy a fund-raiser CD written and sung by Dolly especially for the occasion!<br><br>We spoke to a park ranger, who discouraged us from taking the drive ...

... 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). <br><br>Tomorrow, rain or shine...we're doing Smoky Mountains National Park!<br>

... has opened up and it is raining. We work our way to the I-24 interchange and enter the highway to a very slow crawl. This continues to the I-75 Interchange. We pass several accidents along the way. The worst on I-75 where there is a SUV on its roof. Looks like a pretty new vehicle too. The drive up to Knoxville pretty much sucks and is white knuckled most of the way. <br><br>We arrive at our next ...

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

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 ...

... but it is not. PEASE STOP!!!! It is not okay. The action of putting pythons in the everglades is like hurting innocent ...

... a bear cause I was never gonna out run it. But alas, no bear to be seen. I didn't even get a squirrel that day, but I did later, as you will see. <br>My plan of going back to Gatlinburg after the hike drifted away as the pain in my feet screamed louder in my head than my desire to see another carved bear or jar of blackberry jam, so we headed back to the time share for the night. Tomorrow - the Biltmore.

... br>Monday 27 - Breakfast with 75+ couple who'd just driven from Palm Beach florida to Pigeon Forge in one day. Got on the road to Nashville and passed through into Central Time. Stopped off at Cookeville for Starbucks and then went to Burgess Falls State Park. 3 lovely waterfalls. Lay by the rapids a while ...

... member in the KTC, (some say he is a secret spy) a kind man with a soft heart, but don't let him fool you, he is good with quircky come backs that will put you in your humble seat J Very knowlegable in history, geography, world politics and is the most humble man I've met. With his accumulated frequent flyer miles he has offered Elijah, Daniel and I , free airfare to Stockholm; (I still can't ...

So this is a travel blog? Cool! I suppose for the moment that moniker is a slight misnomer, since the most traveling I will be doing in the next week is out and about in K-Town. However, in one week exactly, I will be boarding a Delta flight out of Atlanta's International Airport bound for Shannon Airport in Galway, Ireland. From thence, I will be spending three months at various points throughout Europe--mostly the UK, but also at least Spain. "Study Abroad?" you ask, "I ...