Travelling Trio

USA – Smoky Mountains (North Carolina) – Week 6

• By Denise
• April 12, 2016
• No Comments

Travelling from Nashville to the Smoky Mountains was a treat as we were driving through the rolling hills while it was snowing. It is always so nice to see snow while you are in a warm and toasty place.

Our accommodation for this week is through the Airbnb website again and we have chosen a cabin in the woods which is half way between Gatlinburg on the west of the Smoky Mountains and Asheville on the east. We found the cabin and it is perched high on a hill and has 7.5acres of thick bush, trees, streams and land with trails to explore. Chloe and her dog Gordito, welcomed us with a log fire burning and the wooden cabin lovely and warm. We can see that we will love her place already and Carter is quite excited and happily chatting away. In fact he has brought out the water paints and easel and is sketching a picture. It is supposed to snow tomorrow so we hope to be able to have a play in the snow before heading to Asheville for some sightseeing and grocery shopping.

Can you believe it? We woke to a light dusting of snow over the trees and it has settled on the ground to about 1cm. Carter couldn’t wait to get his gears on and venture out to build a snowman. Cleverly, he worked out he could get much more snow if he shovelled it from the deck and the car! Unfortunately the snowman ended up just a large pile of snow but that was enough for him to win a huge snow fight with mum and dad!

After a great morning and a chat with Chloe we headed to Asheville a little town of about 75,000 people and a town we have been told is top of the list for visitors. It is a hilly town and full of wonderful art studios and café restaurants. Feeling a bit peckish we found the Kathmandu Café which was run by Tibetans and provided us with a tasty buffet lunch. We are in North Carolina at the right time as the mad March basketball competition is on and we have been lucky enough to purchase three VIP tickets to the men’s final game on Monday night. This means we will be in the thick of the action just 7 rows back from the court and we get snacks and our meal included. Yay – perfect timing. I wonder who we will support?

It was getting late in the day and we headed further east of the city to find a Hobby Shop which Carter had found on the Internet. He is mad keen on drones and so we have to find them wherever we go. Next door to the hobby shop was an amazing second hand book store and I was in my element! I was introduced to the writer “Tess Gerritsen” last year while staying in England with my friend Cath and this particular shop had almost all of her books there at just $US3 a book so yes, I purchased 8 and will now be busy reading these over the next while. Actually I am going to try to save a few to read on the two week cruise we are taking at the end of April.

School buses are still old and yellow!

A quick grocery shop and back to Chloe’s to prepare dinner. This took some time however, as we got into great conversation and didn’t end up eating until about 9.30!! We have decided that tomorrow is a rest day – no going anywhere and instead we will read, walk up the hill on the property, relax and basically chill out. I have planned to clean out my back back and put all of my summer gear away now. We are heading further north so the weather will be mild to cold which means summer clothes won’t be required until early April when we get back down the east coast to Florida.

Well what a treat – just being able to muck about as we felt like it. No pressure to do anything – just tidying my bags and re-packing them, working out what things I will send back to NZ and generally just relaxing. Mid afternoon we started our trek up the hill of Chloe’s property and finding one of the many trails that had been cut by some previous helpers. The weather was warm and very pleasant that my plans to put my summer gears away may well be a bit premature…

Next day we drove to a place called Gatlinburg about an hour and a half south west of our cabin. Another beautiful day and the town of Gatlinburg proved to be a hit with all of us. There really is just one Main Street and walking up one side and then down the other we were able to stop in to all of the different shops and try out what they had on offer. So, after two different fudge shops, two popcorn shops, an ice-cream shop and spice salsa and dip shop we were full….well almost full – we just needed a corn dog to finish! What is a corn dog you ask? Well, something like a big sausage that is covered in a thick smooth batter made of maize meal and deep-fried.

Of course there were a few moonshine distilleries down the street too so good old Dave and Denise have to participate in the tastings although Dave is driving so he cannot have too much and must be careful. After showing our ID’s (nice to know someone still thinks I am under 21) we were given a small thimble and then our wonderfully laid back “hillbilly” host treated us to some less than favourable and definitely not politically correct banter!!! However, his banter made me laugh a lot although that could have been the 100% proof moonshine he was serving us! The first thimble was pure moonshine and Dave quickly passed his tasting onto me! The second taste could easily have been the same and the next 8 the same. OMG the last taste was like a small drink of Baileys! Yummy…. Looking back, we probably shouldn’t have had our ten year old son listening and watching but hindsight is a great thing. He was chief videographer and has some good ammo to use against mum in the future!

Another moonshine distillery and this one had some live old time music playing with a four piece band – a fiddle player, banjo, singer and one other. Fabulous entertainment and you know – they had rocking chairs for the public to sit in.

Where else would you find something like this? Brilliant.

Pigeon Forge (don’t you just love the small town names) is where Dolly Parton has her theme park (Dollywood) and where there is a half size replica of the Titanic. I haven’t quite worked out why the Titanic would be in this part of the country but I guess there must be some story behind this. While we could have gone to both attractions we decided we would spend our money on some western cowboy and cowgirl boots and they are awesome!! A great decision!

What a fabulous day in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge – this country is still proving to be a major hit for us. Oh and we saw Cooters – the garage that Cooter Davenport ran in the old series “The Dukes of Hazzard” where Bo and Luke Duke were often seen!

Our next day had already been sorted with a trip to Hot Springs which is a little town north of our cabin in the smoky mountains. This little town is popular with hikers on the Appalachian Trail, people going to the hot springs and in summer many water sports down the river. A local stopped us while we were admiring the squirrels in the walnut trees and wanted to know our intentions. The questioning felt a little assertive but after they realised we were from New Zealand and that we were simply curious about the squirrels they were happy to leave us wandering. Hmmm – local community watch I guess and just glad they weren’t carrying a gun!

Driving through the smoky mountains is a dream – the roads are smooth and the hills easy to navigate. The haze that you see looking out over the hills at this time of year gives me the impression of smoke. I’m not sure if this is how the name eventuated – must check this out but that is my idea anyway. There are many little homesteads and houses sitting on both sides of the river as it winds its way through the mountains. Small townships pop us now and then and there are the odd gatherings of old old houses with rubbish galore. Some of the houses are in good repair and others are abandoned only to let the creepers cover them with their twigs and leaves.

The little settlement of Marshall is beautiful. Again, just a Main Street but somehow this town has character and a good feeling. Carter got his photo in front of the fire trucks.

Into Asheville and a quick visit to the River Arts District which is the old part of town and home to many artists and crafters. We visited a small glass factory which was hand making pint glasses while we watched. After having a chat we found out they sourced their clear glass a few miles away and some of their coloured glass from New Zealand!!! Wow, our country exports to little ol’ Asheville in the USA. Amazing ay!

It was time to go to the men’s final of the Socon Basketball Championship at the Cellular Centre. It was a late game starting at 9pm but we had purchased VIP tickets which guaranteed a good seat and a meal and snacks before the game. The teams playing were “East Tennessee State Buccaneers” (ETSU)  vs “Chattanooga” (MOCS) and what a final game. The MOCS had a steady lead for most of the game but when the local ETSU team gathered momentum we sure did have ourselves a ball game.

Before the game.

I’m sure some supporters in the crowd were about to have heart attacks as boy they can make their feelings known to the ref. Watching them almost leap out of their seats with their fingers pointed and their mouths yelling obscenities because the call was against their team…. It was a real eye opener I can assure you. After a late run by ETSU it wasn’t enough – the MOCS proved too strong and took out the win 65-57.

Part of this wonderful experience was witnessing each team’s band play off against the other and the team’s cheerleaders trying to outdo the other. We had decided that the MOCS cheerleaders were the most impressive and their band provided the better sound too so all in all it was a win for the Chattanooga MOCS. Basketball game – tick.

We love staying at this cabin in the smoky mountains. It is peaceful and surrounded by trees and winding roads but it is still close enough to Asheville (about 30mins away) and Hot Springs. Chloe is wonderfully interesting to talk to and her dog Gordito keeps Carter busy or perhaps it’s the other way around! The weather is still calm and warm and so again no winter clothes needed yet!

Next day we were off to hike some of the Appalachian Trail by making our way to the top of the mountain known as “Max Patch”. The hike didn’t take as long as we were expecting but it was steep and what an incredible view from this mountain. Again the grey mist type look of the surrounding mountains really does give that smokey look. It is coming into the spring season and while some buds are trying to burst most are still in their winter mode. I think the view from these mountains when the trees are in full bloom would be impressive and during autumn just a vast area of colour.

Overlooking the Appalachian Mountains

We were excited to see a chipmunk cross the road in front of us while we were making our way down the mountain. While we thought it was a small squirrel our American friends told us that it was most definitely a chipmunk! They are so cute!!!

We are sad to be leaving this Airbnb stay as we have felt very relaxed and have got a renewed energy for our future. Thank you Chloe for a fabulous stay with you and Gordito! Until next time in San Miguel??