Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

Well, this week I'm in Tennessee. I spent the first park of the week in the western part, Jackson and Memphis, to be exact. This last half of the week, I've been in the eastern part, Sevierville and Knoxville. Yesterday, Wednesday, was the only nice day, weatherwise, and fortunately for me, that was the day I was right next to the Great Smokey Mountain Nat'l Park. Needless to say, after work, I went for a drive. The nice thing, is that this park is one that does not charge an entrance fee!

To enter the park I went through the town of Gatlinburg. Boy, if that isn't a tourist trap, I don't know what is. It's a pretty town, nestled at the base of the mountains belonging to the park, but supposedly it's really become commercialized and it's not what it used to be...so I'm told by the locals. But if you like cute shops with all kinds of knick-knack-pattywhack-give-the-dog-a-bone kind of stuff, you'll think you'd died and gone to heaven in this town. Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, they see millions of tourists every year. And let's not forget Dollywood, for all you Dolly Parton fans. She's big in them thar parts (pun not intended). Oh, the drawl, I'd be remiss to not mention that southern drawl. It's all over the place.

If you go off the beaten path you'll for sure discover moonshine firewater, knee-slappin' toe-tappin' country tunes, and heart attack-on-a-plate biscuits n' gravy (that stuff can get very heavy). But you gotta love the variety and uniqueness of each state in this country. I know I do and I hope the pics and musings I put here provide a little glimpse into that variety. Following are some pics from the Great Smokeys I took yesterday afternoon.


This is at the start of the scenic loop known as Cades Cove. This section of the park is an open air museum commemorating the 19th century settlers who lived here. The area is preserved to look the way it did during the 1800s. Unfortunately, I could not see very much of it, as the park service were still in the process of clearing the trees that were uprooted during the mid-week storm that perhaps some you heard about. It can be difficult to withstand 106 mph winds! What I did see was a complete disaster. If I didn't know better, I would've thought I was back in Florida right after a hurricane had blown through. This storm really tore up some parts of the park.


I like water, doesn't really matter in what form it is, creeks, rivers, lakes, ponds, oceans, bays, waterfalls, etc. I like the sound, sight, feel, water appeals to many of my senses. Hence my enjoyment of photographing water. Water is therapeutic for me, besides healthy in the proper form and use!

The Little Pigeon river. One of the roads in the park pretty much follows this river which adds to the beauty of the drive. The roads have frequent turnouts for people to stop and take pictures, or go for walks on trails, etc.

The Great Smokey Mountain Nat'l Park straddles the Tennessee & North Carolina state line. Here, I was at the Newfound Gap Overlook. If you're in Tennessee, then this side of the park is called the Great Smokeys. If you're on the North Carolina side, they're known as the Blue Ridge mountains.






If you're a native of the west, you'd refer to these as the 'Smokey Hills'. No, they don't rise up from the plain floor and pull themselves up to 10K+ feet, but for the east, where there isn't much to be said topographically besides the plain floor, these are categorized as mountains. Some peaks are 6K+ feet in height. And I think they really are beautiful. There's something about seeing a tall hill smothered in red, orange, & yellow.

The colors weren't quite at peak yet, but as you can see (if you squint) there is a fair amount of color. I'm guessing sometime next week is when they'll reach peak...as well as the number of tourists in the trio of cities that are considered the gateway to the Smokeys - Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, & Sevierville.








While the afternoon had cleared up, there were still some clouds wanting to make a statement. These wisps were the harbinger of a much bigger cloud that would engulf this part of the park and obscure the stunning views I'd seen just 30 minutes prior.

Yes, they don't call them the 'Smokey Mountains' for nothing. This photo was taken at around the 6300 foot level, the Clingmans Dome. As you can see, there's a haze in the distance. The locals told me that it didn't use to be this way. Back in a day, the air was more clean than it is now. That haze is always there. But it doesn't hold a candle to the foul air in Los Angeles!

New England still on my mind

I spent the final day of my week in New England in Connecticut. Since it's further south than Vermont and New Hampshire, the fall foliage wasn't quite as colorful as its northern neighbors. Even so, it was still great to drive around off the beaten track. Following is a smattering of pics from the places I enjoyed...

Here's what the countryside looks like in CT. I took this picture in the middle of an apple orchard, one of those pick-your-own kind. The farm also had a pumpkin patch where you picked-your-own as well. I drove past some absolutely gorgeous stone homes in this area. Many were situated on bluffs overlooking valleys. And these weren't small homes either. More like villas in my book.

Wadsworth Falls at Wadsworth Falls State Park near Meridian, CT. As I wandered around the south central part of CT, it was facinating to meander through towns which touted incorporation dates such as 1691, 1708, etc. Some of these places are just plain old, relatively speaking. Compared to other parts of the world, such dates are relatively recent. But for this country, it was back when Dino was a pup!

"What are you looking at? You don't think I fit in?"...Found a bunch of honkers by a pond. Several other wannabe honkers were trying to be part of the crowd.

I originally found this little lizard/gecko/whatever-you-want-to-call-it trying to cross a road. So I stopped to take a picture and wondered why it wasn't moving. I touched it and discovered that the poor thing was as cold as the outside temperature! No wonder it couldn't move very quickly. So I picked it up and put it on the side of the road or else it would've become roadkill.

A public watershed in Hubbard Park, not-sure-where, Connecticut. I arrived at the park, this being the last stop on a scenic drive I found, only to discover that the road leading to the top of the hill in the background had closed for the day 30 minutes before I got there...DOH!!