Smokey Mountains 9-9

Yesterday we went to the Museum of the Appalachia in Norris, TN. It was well worth the admission and it had a large, wonderfully diversified collection. So many displays and they were all so interesting. There were ancient Indian artifacts from the area, civil war artifacts and artifacts from the revolutionary war. They were just placing two very large blown glass bottles from the 1700’s that were used for rum. Amazing that something made of glass could survive for centuries! The largest held close to 3 gallons…that is how big it was! Then there were tons of artifacts from the people that lived in the mountains from the end of the 19th century to present. So many great artisans. Beautifully woven baskets from reeds and white oak saplings, with really intricate patterns. So many wonderful carvers and wood workers are from these mountains. Here is a photo of this amazing triple chain with caged balls that was carved from a SINGLE piece of wood. It took as long to design the piece as it did to carve it from a pocket knife! The photo doesn’t even begin to do it justice. There were beautiful quilts on display and a section on old funeral homes. It was an astonishing collection and put together really well. Then there were the outside displays of original cabins moved to the museum property to preserve their history. One was of Mark Twain’s family’s cabin. It was a wonderful experience.

Today our neighbors woke us at 2 a.m. as they returned VERY noisily. They thundered and screeched and laughed for what seemed like forever but when they quieted down a half hour had passed, by then we were wide awake and it took awhile to get back to sleep. RUDE people. As today was Saturday, probably not the best day to hit a touristy place, but we decided we wanted to see the Smokey Mountains while we were here. Sadly we had to go through Pigeon Forge, home of Dollywood and as we discovered a lot of other attractions and through Gatlinburg which is full of motels and shops. WELL, it was horrifically crowded. Through Pigeon Forge there were 3 lanes of traffic in both directions and they were bumper to bumper and we crawled! There was a large Classic Car show and a motorcycle run all on the same day. People trying to get to see the cars, classic cars cruising and thousands of motorcycles. What a zoo!

Then, shockingly Larry chose to bypass the Gatlinburg bypass and we crept through that town. TOURIST TRAP. Lots of motels, shops and people! It reminded us of a cramped Las Vegas strip. The shops and the people and the traffic…no casinos, but it had that look with all those people!

We finally made it to the Smokey Mountains. Lots of motorcycles and cars going through there and you took you life in your hands trying to stop at the lookouts. It was all very beautiful though and we are glad we saw them. We stopped and took a walk down to the Little Pigeon Forge River. Lots of huge boulders and only a few other people.

I found us an alternate route back home. You can’t completely bypass Pigeon Forge but we missed a lot of it and got to see more of the forest. We had to find a route around Knoxville too because Tennessee University had a home game this evening so the route we came south on would be crazier! So we got to see the eastern outskirts of Knoxville and missed more craziness. Whew, who’da thunk? Things ramp up here in the fall! No special rates here in October, the whole region has a big arts and crafts fair.

So after such an exciting day of traffic and scenery we got home and did some laundry, had supper (not dinner in these parts) and relaxed in the wonderfully damp, noisy atmosphere of eastern Tennessee! Hope the neighbors are tired…!