This is STOPS 23 and 24, the final 6 days of our ten week cross country fall adventure in 2021! Here is a link to our previous stop in Fairhope AL & Gadsden AL.
The Drive from Gadsden, AL to Gatlinburg, TN
It is hard to believe that our 10 weeks of travel are almost over and we are heading to our final portion of this trip. We are very excited we will be 4 days in Gatlinburg, TN where we spent our honeymoon 21 years ago – and we will be there for our 21st anniversary. We did do a week long lake vacation with our 5 kids back in 2005 at nearby Douglas Lake – where we all went to Pigeon Forge (the town next to Gatlinburg) for an afternoon & evening. We wonder how much it will have changed in all that time.
We’ve identified a scenic drive that keeps us off the interstate. Ittakes us to an area that includes Little River Canyon National Preserve in northeast AL. From Gadsden we take Tabor Road which takes us through a section of rural Alabama and we follow this north until we get to the little town of Dogtown and see a turnoff for the Canyon.
We finally reach the southern entrance to Little River Canyon Rim Parkway – an 11 mile beautiful scenic drive through parts of Little River Canyon National Preserve. Of course, this means we’ve signed up for sharp/blind turns through steep hills with few shoulders and practically no guardrails. It is a slow, purposeful drive that treats us to many dramatic lookout points. The Little River that carved this canyon stretches from Lookout Mountain in GA (that we visited on Stop 3 while in Chattanooga) – to Weiss Lake 65 miles south in AL. The sandstone cliffs sometimes tower 600 feet above the canyon floor. There are 3 major waterfalls along the route and we will see Grace’s High Falls from the road – the state’s highest waterfall – it is a seasonal waterfall that is just a slow drip this time of year. We see the Little River Falls as we hike the 1.4 mile loop trail that follows the path of the river.
While we originally planned to take a scenic route to Gatlinburg from the south, we are in mid-November where the sun sets around 5:30pm this time of year and it is already 1:00pm and we have 4 hours to go. We decide to take the fastest route on I-75 north to I-40 east around Knoxville which takes us into Gatlinburg from the north through Sevierville and Pigeon Forge. Traffic is running at 75mph in all 3 lanes, but this one car decides to go at least 100mph on the shoulder. It truly startles us (it happens so quickly we don’t take a picture) – and about a mile further up the interstate, there’s a truck parked on the shoulder and we just cringe how that went down when the little car came up on it.
There is little traffic in the Knoxville area, but as we approach Sevierville – wow – it is almost a parking lot of cars. We are blown away how much these two towns have grown. It is a mere 15 miles from Sevierville to Gatlinburg, yet it takes us over an hour. At this point, we are concerned that Gatlinburg has likely grown as much and it won’t have the charm it had on our honeymoon. As we see multiple souvenir shops, multiple dinner & show venues, multiple themed attractions (such as The Titanic and The Alcatraz “Museums”) and multiple mini-golf, go-kart tracks, arcades parks with coasters & rides – we agree it feels like Orlando in TN. Sevierville & Pigeon Forge are definitely a family-oriented area where parents can drop a ton of money, but their kids will enjoy and remember it.
We make our way to the end of Pigeon Forge and hit the stretch of the road that has nothing but trees on both sides for about 5 miles. There are exit ramps that take you into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We reach the edge of Gatlinburg and the more quaint tourist area is still there. Because it is more land-locked, it really hasn’t experienced much growth – mostly replacement businesses. In our quick drive-through, this place is more geared for adults (although there are still things for kids, just not as much). It is almost dark, so we head straight to our cabin on the other end of town.
The Downtown Perch is just .3 miles off the main drag in Gatlinburg – but it is up a very narrow, steep and winding road. We find our cabin in the midst of about 10 cabins close together. The code to open the door doesn’t work, but we quickly reach the owner and he resets the code for us. He also warns us there is an active bear that patrols the area and we need to slide the barn-door style door shut to fully enclose the screen porch at all times. The last renters “found” the bear on the porch once when they didn’t close it. It is a cozy 1 bedroom place with laundry, full kitchen, pool table and a hot tub – no real view, but that is the trade-off for proximity to town.
By the time we unpack and settle in, it is dark. We opt to eat in tonight and just spend time relaxing in the hot tub and doing laundry.
Day 2 in Gatlinburg
Rain is in the forecast for our 4th day here, so we plan to do as much exploring today and tomorrow as we can – then rest and catch up on blogging when it is raining. We need to get some groceries so we head out bright and early to the Publix in Pigeon Forge. Traffic is a lot less heavy this time of day, but we still can’t believe how much this area as expanded in 21 years (and even in the 16 years since we took the kids here for a day). We get back to our cabin and decide that today we will stay in Gatlinburg and go souvenir shop and restaurant hopping.
We walk cautiously down the narrow road from our cabin to the main drag. Our road dumps out onto the main drag at stoplight 10 (the last of the stoplights in town). We notice 3 tour busses that have just dropped off mostly senior citizen aged tourists for a few hours. There is a $2/day all you can ride trolley system in town, but we are walkers. We decide to walk all the way down to stoplight 3 (where the main tourist district ends) and then work our way back. We get a chance to scout out places during this 1 mile stroll and try to remember which places were here 21 years ago and which are new. There are several wineries and moonshine places with a few brewery/restaurants thrown in. There are several gondola/ski lift rides up the mountain and back – and we see a long pedestrian cable bridge up at the top. We don’t do any of the lift rides and therefore don’t walk the 680 foot long bridge. Gatlinburg SkyBridge opened in 2019 and is the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America. It is 5 feet wide, 140 feet above ground and includes a 30 foot see-through glass section in the middle.
At stoplight 3, we comment that it is unlikely the bus tourists will walk this far and we stop at LandShark Bar & Grill – a brewery & chain restaurant with an ocean theme. We sit at the bar and meet the delightful bartender, Melina who is originally from Romania. She’s lived here over 15 years and we could talk with her for hours. We order the buffalo wings appetizer which is darn good, but alas – we are not having lunch. The plan is to hop from place to place and “graze” throughout the day.
Melina – bartender at Landshark Bar & Grill
We poke our head in a few of the moonshine taste rooms, but they are too busy and we defer that to another day. We do manage to fit in a cider tasting at the Tennessee Cider Company. The free tasting is for one flavor, so we opt for the $5/person 6 flavor tasting. We don’t find any flavor that entices us to purchase any to take home.
Tennessee Cider Company – a tasting
We walk about 1/3 of a mile back before stopping at Pucker’s Sports Grill. As it turns out, they are “famous” for their jumbo wings – but we just had some, so we enjoy an order of the potato skins appetizer.
Pucker’s doesn’t hold our attention for long, so we walk a very short distance and cross the road to stop at Smith & Son Corner Kitchen. We start out at the bar, but notice an small intimate outside balcony that will allow for people watching. The bartender informs us there is no table service out there – you have to self-order and pick it up at the bar when sitting outside. The weather is comfortable, so we order some onion rings and head out. Two other couples that are together are sitting at the other end of this 8 seat bar balcony. You know us – we end up chatting with them for a bit! But the real attraction here is the people watching. So many odd outfits, hairstyles and behavior to observe!
After 2 hours of people watching and 3 different appetizers, it is time to move on and have a main course. Just catty-corner across the street, we head into Dick’s Last Resort, another chain. This one is known for the rude behavior of its staff – intentionally. Sure enough, when we sit down at the bar and meet our bartender, Alex, the first thing she says in a loud voice back to the hostess is “Oh great – send ME the drunks”. Dressed in Christmas onsie jammies, she’s really good at her job of throwing insults over the next hour or so while we enjoy a flatbread pizza. Soon we meet the couple sitting next to us – Amy & Steve who are celebrating their one year anniversary. Alex ends up making us each a paper chef hat that has a unique insulting statement written on it.
We are only half way back to stoplight 10 (near stoplight 7) so it is time to shop. We browse through several stores and finally score the shot glass we want for our collection and we each find a sweatshirt.
It is now dark, but we’re still hungry. At stoplight 10 where we would turn up the hill to our cabin, we make one final dinner stop at The Park Grill. This is a more upscale place and we easily get seats at the bar and order a hamburger. Sitting next to us is a couple fairly unique from any we’ve seen today. He is wearing a lot of “bling” to the point it comes off as pretentious. We’ll never know – snap judgement of people we never speak to – in fact, we never even make eye contact!
We are a little leery of walking up the hill to our cabin in the dark – not so much worried about cars (we could see headlights) but worried about running into this bear our landlord warned us about. We both turn on our phone flashlights and make sure we constantly talk loudly in case the bear is lurking. The entire walk is steep uphill, a great workout to end our day. No bear. Once at the cabin, we climb into the hot tub and enjoy some music to close out the evening. We do see multiple stars in the sky from the hot tub.
Day 3 in Gatlinburg and Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Today we will head into Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We pack some sandwiches for a picnic lunch and head out. The basic structure of the roads through the park is a sideways squared off figure 8 with tributaries here and there for a total of 384 miles of roads. We are entering at the middle-top and driving west to Cades Cove Loop. The park is fairly busy and we are a little surprised how many people are here mid-week, the week BEFORE Thanksgiving. Granted, the “Smokies” is the most visited park in the US, year after year with 12.1 million people enjoying this area. Yellowstone is second and quite far behind with a mere 3.8 million visitors each year (Zion is third with 3.6 million). The drive to this loop is windy and narrow – we just seem to find those types of roads. It is recently re-paved, but we still wonder how so many people visit this park and these roads aren’t wider. I do a quick internet search and learn car accidents are the #1 cause of death in this park (but only 37 in that last 15 years) and there are 0 deaths from wildlife encounters.
“Fun Facts” about the Great Smoky Mountains. These mountains are a sub-range of the larger Appalachian Mountains. They get their name from the natural fog that often hangs over the range that looks like smoke from a distance. The fog is caused by the vegetation emitting chemicals that have a high vapor pressure. The mountains are home to the densest black bear population in the Eastern US and the most diverse salamander population outside of the tropics. The highest point is Clingman’s Dome at elevation 6643 feet which also makes it the highest point in Tennessee (and the third highest in the entire Appalachian range).
We finally reach Cades Cove Loop, one of the most popular destinations within the park because of its opportunities for wildlife viewing. It is an 11 mile one-way loop (that’s how narrow the road is!) With a speed limit of 35 mph and folks stopping to look at wildlife and stops at historic buildings, it easily takes 2+ hours to enjoy. The Cades Cove area offers the widest variety of historic buildings within the park. There are 3 churches and cemeteries, a working grist mill, barns and log houses all of which are original to the pioneers who settled in this area. At one time, before the government declared eminent domain in order to establish the park, there where over 900 people who lived in this area. At each of the properties we read their stories. In the cemeteries, we see many of the decedents of those families clustered together. The graveyards are also filled with gravestones of infants and the very young and so it seems it was a struggle for a family’s children to reach adulthood. It’s a sobering reminder of how far we have come with health care in the last 100 years.
Just as we reach the Cades Cove Visitor Center & picnic area – the traffic is particularly heavy. As we inch forward, we see that 4 or 5 black bear are laying under a tree within maybe 20 yards of the parking lot. Rangers are trying to move the traffic along as well as keep tourists from getting too close trying to get photos – but there is no parking. We are so disappointed because we are starved and were really looking forward to having lunch here. It is a one-way loop – so we can’t circle back easily at this point.
And so we drive back to our starting point and finally find a place to have our picnic lunch. It is still fairly early, so we decide to drive down the middle of the figure 8 to visit Clingman’s Dome. As we head towards Clingmans Dome we pass the trail head parking area to a really popular trail. It is jammed and people are parking on the shoulder of the road. Unfortunately, there is a real steep drop-off that somebody didn’t anticipate and we notice that a poor red sports car is stuck half in a ditch. He has his hood up hoping someone will notice and help get his car out.
Nancy has never been to Clingman’s Dome but Harrison was long, long ago. It is a 7 mile drive off the “main road” to get to the parking lot. There is an observation tower that is a 1/2 mile hike uphill, but one is rewarded with 100 mile views in all directions. The temperature up here is 10 to 20 degrees cooler than elsewhere in the park. The hike is paved, but very steep and we rest several times along the way on the many benches provided for this very purpose (as do others). We are fortunate that it is a fairly clear day and the views are great!
It has been a long day and we head back to the cabin – on those windy, narrow roads. We pass the red sports car who is having a really bad day and still awaiting help. Back in Gatlinburg, we turn onto the road of our cabin and about 4 cabins away from ours, Nancy spots a bear in the road. We pull up and watch it just casually walk onto the porch of the house and peek in the windows. It spots us and calmly walks over the car. Harrison is in photo frenzy mode capturing amazing shots of this magnificent creature! It is very unsettling to remember that we walked up this very hill last night in the dark!
Our Bear Encounter
Back at the cabin, we cook dinner in and then enjoy the hot tub and music.
Day 4 in Gatlinburg
The weather report calls for rain in the morning with a cloudy, drizzly afternoon. We planned our time here to this forecast, planning to use the morning to catch our breath and catch up on our postings. It has been amazing to capture postings about each of our stops to not only share with others to enjoy, but to serve as a journal for us to remember more details than we otherwise would.
The morning whizzes by, the rain has let up, and by 1pm our appetites call us to head into town for lunch and one last day of exploring the town. We see The Shamrock, a “rooftop” restaurant that had been highly recommended by people we chatted with the other day. We take the elevator up and learn it doesn’t open until 5pm. In the same building, we see Ruby Sunshine and it sounds like as good a place to start than anything. Our waiter named Token gives us menus and before we have a chance to open them, he asks what we would like to drink. We ask if they have Coors Light on tap and he gives us an unusual look as he responds that they only have Bud Light and Yuengling in bottles. We order two Bud Lights and comment to each other how strange that is – until we open the menu and realize we are in a breakfast/brunch restaurant. Neither of us is looking for this type of food but we do find Fried Green Tomatoes on the menu and order them so we have something to drink our beer with. They were absolutely amazing – with remoulade and a super tasty bacon-onion jam.
We are ready for lunch, but we want to find a place we haven’t already been to. We walk further up the road as it begins to sprinkle rain again. We walk a few blocks in the light rain and decide to settle at Loco Burro. We are a little surprised to see an escalator to that takes us up to the 2nd floor. This Mexican restaurant has tables that will allow us to people watch the main drag – no windows (just open air) but there is a decent overhand we hope will keep us dry. Our waitress Heather is just a sweetheart and over the course of our time there, we have a lot of time to chat and learn about her and for us to talk about this trip. We split the Chicken Fajitas and it is more than enough for the two of us. The rain comes and goes in varying degrees from sprinkle to mild downpour. We check the radar and see we only have a 45 minute window where it will clear up enough for us to walk back to the cabin without rain.
When the rain-free window arrives, we walk the town back home, do a little last-minute shopping and then we check out one more destination – Ole Smoky Moonshine.
There are several moonshine distilleries with tastings and it just doesn’t feel like you would feel you had a full Gatlinburg experience without doing at least one tasting. We step up to a tasting station along with one other couple. We are introduced to the energetic “shine-tender”, Lexi, who has her routine down to a tee. We get to taste 6 different flavors and each comes with a quick story/joke. When our tasting is over – it is time to shop. We do the “buy 5, get the 6th free” deal. Poor Harrison has to carry this heavy large bag all the way back to our cabin.
A last evening of hot tub, music, movies and dinner in. Time for our final packing of our suitcases and the car to head home tomorrow.
The Final Leg Home
Originally, we were going to scoot home from Gatlinburg but decided that we were not in really hurry to get home and started looking for a stop over to break up the drive home. We were leaving Gatlinburg on a Friday and ideally what we really wanted to do was one last round of scenic driving and adventuring, then relax Saturday and watch college football, and finally return home Sunday with a short hop back north up I-81.
After looking at several options, we decided we would shoot for Roanoke, Virgnia and hang out in the Buffalo Wild Wings that is in the regional mall. We booked a room at the Hilton Home2 Suites that was in easy walking distance to the mall and then put together a last-minute adventure plan for the transition day.
More of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway
We decided to transition from Gatlinburg to the eastern entrance of the national park where there is a pioneer farm and also the entrance to the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had traveled on the Parkway at the start of the 10 week adventure, but that was more than 2 months ago. Now the leaves have mostly dropped, the air is crisp and the views will be different driving in the opposite direction. The days are shorter now and we make the decision to go as far as we can but to then head back to the interstate so we can hit Roanoke before dark. With our travel plans for the day in place we set off.
Pioneer Farm Park
The parks service has taken buildings and structures from several pioneer farms in the region and brought them together. There are plaques describing the history and purpose of the various structures. We thought it was well done and would recommend this as a stop when you are in the area.
Elk
While we were at the Pioneer farm, we overheard a parent telling a kid about the elk that was just up the road. We assumed it probably was just a couple at most, but it was a full herd of at least 100. We stopped in traffic for a few minutes and got some pictures and then headed up to the turnoff for the parkway.
Blue Ridge Parkway
Oh what a glorious clear day it is up on the Parkway! If we didn’t have to be home for Thanksgiving we probably would have meandered longer as we proceeded north. After a number of hours of enjoying the views, we stop for lunch in one of the pull overs and make the decision to head to the interstate and try and make Roanoke before dark.
Roanoke
Boy this part of southern Virginia sure has grown. The traffic as we approach Roanoke comes to a complete stop on both sides of the interstate and it takes us an hour to go 10 miles to the hotel exit. We never did see what the issue was, but we pull into the hotel, drop our bags and head out to eat at a nearby Red Robin to grab a burger.
Saturday morning, we rise, have breakfast and decide to catch up on a few things before we head out for lunch. When lunch time comes, we walk we walk over to the mall to find Buffalo Wild Wings. The restaurant is really busy but Nancy manages to snag a couple seats and watch the better part of a several games on multiple TVs. For dinner, we decide we just want to head next door to Rodeo Grande for Mexican. Nancy insists that we get one last road trip picture together while we have the opportunity.
Finally, The End of our Adventure comes into view
When we leave Roanoke we are only 3 1/2 hours from home. As we travel north on I-81 in Virginia, we are reminded of the beauty that is the Shenandoah Valley that we live near as we start to pass through very familiar countryside.
I-81 North between Roanoke, VA and Round Hill, VA
Our Verdict
We are grateful that Gatlinburg itself hasn’t really changed much in 21 years. There is still a lot to explore in the Great Smoky Mountain area (not just in the National Park). We now have new memories of this area and since it is within a one day drive of home, it is highly likely we will return.
The 10 week cross country adventure itself was absolutely phenomenal and aside from a few minor tweaks here and there, there really is very little about it that we would change. If anything, we would stay longer in most places.
Next up
Here is a link to our previous stop in Fairhope AL & Gadsden AL.
Our next big trip starts in the spring. We are headed north to Alaska and will be gone for 6 months. In many ways, this trip was just a warmup. During the ‘off season’ we are going to focusing on regional travel within 200 miles of our home and we will start to expand out the topics on the site. We only launched this back in September, and we are just getting started!
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