Our drive today took us from Nashville, TN to Asheville, NC. We planned to drive and hike in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but that plan became dependent on how the unexpected winter storm warning turned out. The weather was cloudy, but dry, with not a single flake of snow outside of Nashville, in spite of the dire predictions for a major storm throughout our driving area. The Smokies are very scenic, so it was a pretty day of driving in spite of the clouds.
A typical scene in the Great Smoky Mountains.
We had no activities planned except for the park visit, so the highlight of the drive–a distant second to the scenery–was Gatlinburg, TN. If you’ve been to Gatlinburg, I need say no more; if you haven’t, you should go for the experience. Think “Wisconsin Dells, WI” or “Branson, MO” and you’ll be getting close. Just add “Tennessee” to the mix and you’ve got the idea. Gatlinburg is a one-street town, and all four lanes of traffic were slow–even at this time of year. I’d hate to be here in the summer! It’s the entrance to the national park, however, so we sat back in the car, crept along, and watched the show.
Slow traffic on the mile-long main street of Gatlinburg.
If you can’t keep it in the front yard or on the porch beside the washer and the refrigerator, put it in the upstairs window.
It’s Tennessee, so of course there’s moonshine . . .
. . . not to mention a mall with a denim-clad bear as its mascot.When we got to the eastern end of Gatlinburg, we had another surprise.
Hwy 441 is the road through Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
It was disappointing to see the barricade after seeing no snow all day. Darn those higher elevations! Since we couldn’t drive on the single road that goes through the park, we had to turn around and drive through Gatlinburg (again!) in the other direction, then drive around the park.
We stopped for dinner at a restaurant called “Applewood.” If it can be done with an apple, it was on the menu. We ordered chicken pot pie. Included with the price of that entreé were apple juice, apple fritters, apple butter, fried apples, and apple dinner rolls. We were too full to finish the meal with the special deep-fried apple pie. Apples of many varieties were for sale as well. We noticed the heaters running in the apple storage area to protect the fruit from the freezing temperatures tonight. The food was delicious and we more than met our required daily requirement of fruit.
Even the curtains in the restaurant are apple-themed.
Appetizer: apple juice with apple fritters and apple butter.
Side dishes: apple dinner rolls and fried apples.