Back to Alabama

We left Chattanooga after breakfast and headed south into Georgia. We drove back through the Chickamauga battlefied and then drifted southwest toward Alabama. We stopped for gas at Mentone, Alabama. It's a small town that is reputed to have some great little artisan shops. Unfortunately, they open at 11:00 am, and we were there at 10:00 am. With nothing to do, we kept driving and made a brief stop at DeSoto State Park where we got some information about Little River Canyon.

Our next stop was the Little River Canyon Center where we picked up a park map and had a nice visit with the park ranger on duty.  She said Little River Falls overlook was a good place for a picnic, so that's where we went. The falls are pretty, and accessible for swiming. However, I wouldn't want to be there when the water was running fast.

One of the sign board at the overlook shows a photo of the falls in December and the water covers the entire rock face. 

We drove through part of the Canyon. We had to stop for a photo at Mushroom Rock. When the road was built, they left this really cool rock formation and built the road around it. 

We left the canyon and drove into Fort Payne. It's the hometown of one of my favorite bands - Alabama. We stopped at the city park so I could take a photo.

And we visited the Alabama Fan Club and Museum. They have a new album coming out next month and I am really excited.

From Fort Payne, we drove to Birmingham, had dinner at O'Charley's and it was time to crash. We go home tomorrow.

Tennessee & Georgia - Day 2

We spent most of today in Georgia. The morning was spent at the Chicamauga Battlefield, another part of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. We started at the Visitors Center where we watched a short video and went through the museum. Then we drove the seven mile loop and stopped several times to get out and walk around the monuments.

Wilder Monument

View from the top of the Wilder Monument

I climbed the 136 steps to the top of the Wilder  Brigade Monumment. And we found a picnic table and ate the lunch we had packed. 

We left the battlefield and heade into Rossville, Georgia. We had seen a sign for the home of Chief John Ross of the Cherokees. I make the kids read his letter of protest written in 1836, so I was curious. Unfortunately the house is not open on Mondays. 

Our next stop was Rock City Gardens. Some of the cousins had recommended it, but I wasn't sure if we should do it. We finally decided to bite the bullet and I am so glad we did. It was awesome. The Gardens started as a private estate in the 1920's and winds though these massive rock formations.There is an awesome waterfall, and the view from the top is impressive. You can see seven states on a clear day. 

Walking into "Fatman's Squeeze"

Lover's Leap

We spent about 3 1/2 hours walking through Rock City. By the end of the day we were tired. We wanted a meal and decided on Italien. A quick internet search and we found Provino's in Chattanooga. Good choice. The place was packed and the food was excellent. 

After dinner we headed toward the river and ended up driving out to Lake Chickamauga before heading back to the hotel. 

Alabama - Day 6 / Tennessee & Georgia - Day 1

One final meal with the cousins and we said our farewells with everyone scattering back to the winds. We headed north and made our first stop of the day at Russell Cave National Monument. This location has been used by humans for 10,000 years. The actual cave is off limits, but the boardwalk from the visitors center does enter the cave overhang and has dioramas of prehistoric peoples.

It was an interesting contrast to Cathedral Caverns. Russell Cave has a large bat colony, while Cathedral Caverns doesn not. Both caves are huge, and have water running through them. 

Our next stop was Chattanooga, but to get there we had to enter Tennessee, enter Georgia, and then reenter Tennessee. Oh, and we changed time zones. We deviated from our normal chain hotel routine and checked into The Chattanoogan. It is very nice. 

None of us were very hungry, so we headed out to Point Park. It's part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. Point Park is located overlooking the Lookout Mountain Battlefield. The park was nice and cool in the evening. 

The view from Point Park

On our way down the mountain, we stopped and rode the Incline Railway. At the bottom we had some ice cream at Clumpies and then rode back up the mountain. The Incline Railway has a grade maximum of 72 degrees at one point. It was cool.

Dollywood!

One of the things we wanted to make sure and experience was Dollywood. Four years ago when we were in Tennessee we didn't have time, so this year we made a point of getting there.

The park has a policy of allowing a second day of admittance if you purchase your ticket after 3:00 pm, so we actually spent a couple hours in the park last night, and then went back today for more.

I love rollercoasters. And it doesn't take much to talk my father into riding them either, so I'm happy to say that we rode all of them with varying responses. We loved the wooden coaster, Thunderhead, and the steel coaster, Tennessee Tornado. The Mystery Mine was fun, but jostling. And I have to say that our favorite was the newest coaster, The Wild Eagle. It's a wing mounted suspension coaster with 3700 feet of track, a 145 foot drop, maximum speed of 61 mph, and it take 2 minutes 22 seconds. It was awesome!

In addition to riding the coasters, we watched local craftsman, toured Dolly's bus and museum, rode the steam train, did some shopping and eating. It was a really good way to spend a couple days.

Cemeteries

One of the things I wanted to do on this trip was to visit some ancestors' graves. Thanks to Find a Grave, I knew were to look, so this morning we set off with google map instructions.

Our first stop was Emert's Cove Cemetery. It is the final resting place of Frederick Emert (1754-1829) and his wife Barbara Neidig Emert (1755-1842). They are my 6x great-grandparents.

Our second stop was the Middle Grove Cemetery where we found many other Emerts. I just wish I'd known how close some of the others were and we'd have visited some more!

Cades Cove - Smoky Mountain Park

It had been recommended to us that we should visit Cades Cove in the national park. The Cove is actually a valley that was home to a farming community for more than 100 years. The park was established in 1934, displacing most of the people who lived there.  They left behind several old cabins, a grist mill, two churches and a few cemeteries, which are still open to burials.

It's a beautiful drive into the Cove. We saw several deer and a black bear wandering across one of the meadows to an apple tree.

Asheville to Pigeon Forge

Today we said goodbye to family and headed west across Great Smoky National Park. Our final destinatieon was Pigeon Forge, Tennessee where we're going to spend a few days.

The park is really nice. We stopped the visitor's center at either end of the highway. We also stopped for a few photo ops along the way.

Knoxville to Asheville

We started our day with a drive through downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. We saw the University of Tennessee (Go Vols!) and spent a little time wandering through the Mast General Store. For those of you who have never been, it's a fun place to shop. You can find everything from camping gear to castile soap, toys to candy.

After leaving Knoxville, we headed northeast to Greeneville, Tennessee where we had lunch at the Tannery Sandwich Shop on Depot Street and visited the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site and Cemetery. Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States, and unfortunately had the responsibility of Reconstruction.

Our next stop was Jonesborough, Tennessee, which is the oldest town in the state. It's a picturesque little town with brick sidewalks and old buildings. We had ice cream at the Old Sweet Shop, and visited the Chester Inn Museum.

At this point, we headed south to Asheville, North Carolina to meet up with the cousins for dinner. We had a nice visit, catching up on the past year's activiites.

Traveling....

Can be really tiring. Today we set out for our family reunion trip. Leaving Portland at 6:00 am meant a 3:00 wake up the hotel to catch the 4:30 shuttle to the terminal. Luckily, the trip went fairly well. The only "blip" was the delay of our connection out of Houston. Somehow, the first officer on our flight was double booked/late arriving on his connection. Bottom line, we were then an hour late arriving in Knoxville, where it was a whopping 92 degrees!

Our dinner tonight was at Puleo Grille. It was so yummy! I had amazing lasagna with meat sauce. Tomorrow we head to North Carolina. We'll see where the back roads take us.

Cherokee, NC & Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Today was our last full day in North Carolina. We decided to drive west to the town of Cherokee. For those who don't know the story behind the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee were rounded up and marched to what is now Oklahoma in the 1830's. A small group resisted, hiding out in the mountains and the descendants of those individuals are members of the Eastern Cherokee Tribe. They're culture has existed for centuries, and they draw thousands of tourists each year to their events. They have a museum, and a play called "Unto These Hills" which we didn't have time for, but we did visit the Oconaluftee Indian Village and I learned all kinds of interesting things.




After leaving Cherokee, the lure of Great Smoky Mountain National Park was just too much to ignore. It's touted as the most popular national park. I don't know about that, but it does see lots of traffic. I think the park must be a hikers paradise. We, of course, did not have time to hike. But the views are beautiful, and it was worth the 35 mile drive to cross it on Highway 441.

One of the attractions on the North Carolina side is the Mountain Farm Museum. They've pulled together old buildings to recreate a farm complete with chickens and pigs. We saw broom corn, the stuff they make brooms from. I'd never seen it growing before.

On the Tennessee side of the border is Gatlinburg. Wow. It's a town that is unlike any other I've ever seen. Some of you may understand when I describe it as Depoe Bay (Oregon) meets Reno (Nevada) on steroids. I think I'd like to go back and really spend some more time in that area. One day just wasn't enough to see and do everything.