Great Smokies, Day 3: Cades Cove and Dixie Stampede

On Friday morning, we got up early and drove to Cades Cove, which is a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains and one of the most popular destinations in the park. According to the National Park Service, it offers some of the best opportunities for wildlife viewing, and we were hoping to catch site of a bear (no dice!). The 11-mile motor loop also houses many historic buildings as it was a well populated area of the park in the 1800s:

First stop - cemetery! I love these gravestones and what they tell about the community

I made Kevin pull over for a picture because the smoky ridges were so pretty here

Cantilevered Barn

The miller loved Benji, who was full of questions for him, so he gave him some "special privileges"

In addition to letting him climb into the window, the miller gave him some grain to feed the fish

And walked him next door to show him this snake sleeping in the corn crib

After Cades Cove, we decided it was time to spend a little time exploring Gatlinburg. After walking the strip, we decided to pop into the Hollywood Car Museum, which turned out to be a lot of fun:

Car from the Avengers movie

Original Batmobile

Dukes of Hazzard

Beverly Hillbillies

M*A*S*H

Knight Rider

Kitt talked to me!

Back to the Future

Ghostbusters

 

When we finished the museum, we stumbled across an escape room on a side street which had an immediate opening. How could we resist?

We finished the Merlin room with 15 minutes to spare

By the time we finished our escape, it was time to head back to Pigeon Forge for the Dixie Stampede, which is the dinner theater owned by Dolly Parton. We were told we were in for a treat:

Brian was nervous and Benji hopped right in to console him

We enjoyed drinks and popcorn at the pre-show in the "saloon":

The show was really something:

Live Buffalo!

Kevin was part of the bucket brigade and won a medal

Benji and Patrick were chosen to lasso during the show, but I missed the chance to get a picture. Here they are reenacting it for us

Great Smokies, Day 2: Grotto Falls and Clingman's Dome

The weather was better on Thursday, and we tackled two great hikes. The first was Grotto Falls, a 2.6 mile hike known for its water features and abundant salamanders, with a pretty waterfall that you can walk behind at the end:

Not a great picture, but I really liked the light in this spot

regular salamander

Extra large salamander

Extra tiny salamander

 

Turns out shooting the falls head on with people behind them is not an awesome picture

You can kind of make out all the cousins

Obligatory selfie

In the afternoon, we headed to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the Appalachians. The drive up was beautiful, and we made a stop at Newfound Gap, which is at the Tennessee/North Carolina line (Clingman's Dome is in North Carolina):

At the top of Clingman's Dome, a man-made tower with 360 degree views

This is what Clingman's Dome looks like from below

After the mile hike to the Dome, which was very steep, we were all ready to call it a day. We headed to the historic Old Mill restaurant for dinner and then hit the sack so we could get up early for our last day in Tennessee.