Tennessee Vaca part 2 (Gatlinburg and Cade’s Cove)

We woke up Monday morning itching to get out there and start enjoying some of the sights. Our plan was to shop and generally “piddle around” in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge as there are a lot of shops and what-nots. This allowed us to stretch our legs after two days in the car and just relax.

We quickly found we weren’t that crazy about Pigeon Forge. There was some sort of car show going on and the congestion on the main road was bad at all hours of the day and night. So we focused our attention on Gatlinburg. It’s a really cute little town with quaint shops. We made our way to this ski lift thing, which we rode to a higher point to take in the sights. It was interesting and fun, if not a little nerve wracking since you just kind of hop in and unlike ‘rides’, there are no belts or harnesses to hold a person in, which bothered the girl a little bit. But she quickly started looking around and enjoying the scenery.

This was just after we left the little station thing and crossed the street. Much prettier than ‘town’. : )

And there go my peeps ahead of me up the mountain.

From the top…so pretty.

We decided after spending the morning piddling around town and looking in little shops, that we had had enough of that. And were itching to see some of the real stuff we came for. So we headed into the mountains. Actually we headed into the base of the mountains. There is a scenic loop called Cade’s Cove in the park system. So pretty. Lots of things to get out and take pictures of and learn about. Log cabins, churches, cemeteries, a corn mill. So that’s what we did.

You can almost hear hymns coming out of those open doors, can’t you?

This is my favorite picture from the whole trip. I really need to photoshop out those two people though! : )

 

Sometimes I think I could have lived back then…I love this cute little house.

Hmmm, maybe not. : )

The mill. Really enjoyed walking around here and going inside to see the corn meal.

At one of the stops..I can’t remember which one….there was a bathroom. And the girl and I needed one. But she was pretty worried since we were ‘out in the middle of no where’ that it might be a pit toilet. I was not too thrilled about the possibility either, but kept my concerns to myself. Well, we walked into the little building that served as the rest area and lo and behold. My girl got the biggest smile on her face when we walked in the door and found FLUSH POTTIES. I laughed so hard! (and was secretly just as happy about it as she was!)

I know this doesn’t look like much. But after driving hither and yon to get to and see everything, it was a day.

Self portrait. : )

After a pretty long day it was so nice to sit down to these lovelies. Those are apple fritters…and they were served with fresh apple butter. I never really thought I liked apple butter much, but this tasted a lot different than the stuff with “Great Value” on the label..I’m just sayin’. This place was called The Apple Barn and Amy told me about it. THANKS, AMY! *waves furiously* I was thrilled when this little place was mentioned on a Southern Plate post I received a link to yesterday. I felt like I’d eaten somewhere famous. And yes, we did buy some butter to bring home..and I’ve almost finished off a (small) jar of it. Soo good! : )