Now for something light and (somewhat) frivolous: The changing of the leaves.
Read here about great places to go.
The closest recommendation to us is the Great Smoky Mountain National Park; but, thanks very much, I'll watch the leaves change on TV here before I get in bumper-to-bumper traffic there.
Plus I am of the humble opinion that this town in the Smokies would win Tacky Town USA. If there were such a vote.
(No offense to those of you who may be mayor of Gatlinburg.)
"Gatlinburg is a shock to the system from whichever angle you survey it. ... It sits just outside the main entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park and specializes in providing all those things that the park does not — principally, slurpy food, motels, gift shops [400 of them], sidewalks on which to waddle and dawdle — nearly all of it strewn along a single, astoundingly ugly main street.
"For years it has prospered on the confident understanding that when Americans load up their cars and drive enormous distances to a setting of rare natural splendor what most of them want is to play a little miniature golf and eat dribbly food. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most popular national park in America , but Gatlinburg — this is so unbelievable — is more popular than the park."
— from "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
3 comments:
We think we'd like Gatlinburg. We hear they have big statues of dogs and stores with nothing but toys and food for us. We also hear they have all kinds of entertainment to keep the staff out late. We don't think we'd like the Lee Greenwood show though. Even we're tired of that "Proud to be an American" song. We're proud and all, but that song needs to go.
We went to Tennessee last year in November and stayed at a little retreat place in or near Townsend. It was great-- all of the beauty without any of the tackiness. We didn't have much money, and so we didn't even go to Gatlinburg. We just went to Cades Cove and the Sam Houston Schoolhouse and places like that. It was beautiful.
We did pay to go to Tuckaleechee Caverns, but we are homeschoolers and we were studying stalactites and all of that, so we really had to. :)
Leslie
Leslie, glad you didn't get sucked into the vortex!
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