Homestead barn
Dan Lawson homestead
View of the valley floor
Methodist churchThe long planned and many times missed trip to Cades Cove in the Smokies was undertaken yesterday morning. It is said that more than two million people visit the cove (a cove is a small valley between two ridge lines that is closed at one or both ends), and I had the impression that most of them were there by noon on that one day! It was so crowded that we got little done in the way of sight seeing and making photos. The cove road is a one lane loop and is 11 miles long as it skirts the the valley. In many places, there was traffic bumper-to-bumper along the way, but even at that, there are numerous pull-off places. This was the first good weather weekend of the season, and people from many states were taking advantage of the natural beauty. I saw auto license plates from most of the southern states as far west as Texas and Arizona, and one all the way from Alaska and states in between. There were several from Canada, and most of them were from Ontario.
We stopped at only one of the three churches we passed, and it was elbow-to-elbow, but I managed to get some not so good photos of the interior of the Primitive Baptist church. I went inside one old barn, but none of the homestead cabins were entered as they were laden with visitors or too far from the road for us to walk to. I wanted to visit the Cable Mill and homestead, but there were so many prople there it was and improbable task. I think every person east of the Mississippi river that owns a bicycle was either at the mill or on the narrow road out of the cove.
Advice: If you ever visit Cades Cove, do so on any weekday except Wednesday; never go on a weekend! Wednesday and Saturday mornings are reserved for handicap tours, etc. Thanks to Dolly Parton and her theme park Dollywood, the small villages of Sevierville, Pigen Forge, and Gatlinburg are one continous traffic jam and tourist trap on Saturdays and Sundays.
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The latest installment of The Smoking Gun's Mug Shots of the Week!!!!!
We stopped at only one of the three churches we passed, and it was elbow-to-elbow, but I managed to get some not so good photos of the interior of the Primitive Baptist church. I went inside one old barn, but none of the homestead cabins were entered as they were laden with visitors or too far from the road for us to walk to. I wanted to visit the Cable Mill and homestead, but there were so many prople there it was and improbable task. I think every person east of the Mississippi river that owns a bicycle was either at the mill or on the narrow road out of the cove.
Advice: If you ever visit Cades Cove, do so on any weekday except Wednesday; never go on a weekend! Wednesday and Saturday mornings are reserved for handicap tours, etc. Thanks to Dolly Parton and her theme park Dollywood, the small villages of Sevierville, Pigen Forge, and Gatlinburg are one continous traffic jam and tourist trap on Saturdays and Sundays.
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The latest installment of The Smoking Gun's Mug Shots of the Week!!!!!
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4 comments:
Well I will be camping in GA. during Memorial Day weekend I may have to go then. It is one place I have missed. The other thing I want to do is going tubing at a slow and relaxed pace with a couple of beers for the trip.
Who knows what I will do except take a whole bunch of pictures and that is a good thing.
It wasn't tubing, but once long ago, two more guys and I spent nearly a week float-fishing and camping on and along the French Broad river. We started near Asheville NC, and ended near Knoxville, TN. Best I can remember, we took three large coolers of beer. We ate a lot of catfish. We sold the boat and coolers for enough money to spend a night at a motel just to get a shower, and buy bus tickets back home.
You are still young and healthy enough to do those things, and best do them now because you never know when your health may fail.
Yesterday, I made more than 200 photos but none were remarkable ... just fun.
I like this photo of church very much.
American churches are so modest, and usually nicely white. I know them only from American movies; once I would like to find myself inside of such building.
Anyway, it was a wonderful trip, Ken.:-))
Thank you, Jola. Tomorrow, you shall be inside one of these old churches. ;-)))
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