After getting a taste of the Smoky Mountains with our Laurel Falls hike, Tom, Craig, and I decided to head up to Clingman’s Dome, the highest point in the Smoky Mountain National Park. I take no credit for this plan, Tom scouted it out (i.e., read it on one of the brochures that Michelle picked up at the Visitor Center the day before) and it turned out to be a perfect day for a hike as the air was a bit chilly. Now, this is the highest point in the park, but you get to drive all but the last 1/2 mile and that is on a paved trail – better even than the one the day before, this one was really a road leading up to the observation tower (which had a long ramp to climb rather than stairs). It was a great drive in because the views were amazing and I didn’t get car sick. The walk up was definitely steep but all in all, it might have been better to take the family on because it was shorter, there were benches to rest on, the views were AMAZING all the way up, and there seemed to be less risk of a toddler tumbling over the edge (especially one who likes to “hop!”)
The drive up was mostly uneventful but we did get stopped as they were just setting up for road construction so that was a bummer. One of the workers was walking along the rock wall next to the road and twisted his ankle and looked like he was going over. Watching the workers walk around suddenly was a lot more interesting while we waited for the lane to open!
It was pretty busy in the parking lot when we got up there (actually cross into North Carolina to finish the drive) but the trail and the tower didn’t seem crowded at all. The whole way up is lined with raspberry and blackberry bushes and other flowers; this is apparently attractive to bees as the ground hummed with them. Though this would have been a nice hike with the kids, it was nice to have a little more time to take some pictures. Mostly wooded but there were a few rock outcrops (noticeable at the end of the trail by the parking lot).
[view from the start of the hike]
[another blue butterfly but couldn’t get it with its wings open]
[view of a lake in the distance on the hike up]
The view from the top was fabulous: 365 degrees of Smoky Mountains! We could look down on Pigeon Forge, lakes in a couple of different directions, and saw an apparent fire off in the distance. I would recommend this to anyone visiting the park. The drive is great and the hike is short but has a huge payoff. The Appalachian Trail passes about 1/2 mile from the Dome and you can take another route from the parking lot that is a bit longer and a bit more rustic if you would prefer that option.
[zoomed view of lake (NC) from observation tower; can see some of ramp leading up]
[can see Pigeon Forge to the left just over the mountains]
[some shots of the road that we took in]
[looking back to the parking lot on the way back down]
Here’s some pictures of us on the way down; took some time for a few pictures and a little scrambling up rocks. Don’t step back Craig! Also tried to get the guys to go out on that rock a little bit…once I got up there I realized that yeah, turns out it’s not as flat as it looks from the ground! Couldn’t put them all in an album though, had to put some pretty ones up on the site to see nice and big!
After getting off the trail, we called Michelle & Ingrid and they planned to head to Gatlinburg to meet us with the kids so we could do a little shopping. Since we got there a little early and were hungry, we stopped at this little New Orleans cafe for a burger while we waited. I thought the buns were fabulous (kind of crunchy on the outside, toasted on inside, soft in middle) but Tom wasn’t apparently as impressed as I was! First stop was the Old West photo shop where we got a couple of family pictures (Ingrid can add these to her “criminal” collection at home!) Things went OK there; Michelle had to drop the hat on Max just as they were getting ready to take the picture and Sophie had a cute hat for the first few and then she wanted one like Max’s so we had to do a quick change so she’d leave one on. Michelle, Craig, & Caitlyn were up next and they had some good ones (apparently it’s also easier to keep a costume on a 10 year old…who would’ve thought?!) I especially liked their “comedy” one but they also ended up getting a serious one like ours.
Trying to shop in Gatlinburg wasn’t too much of a success. Sophie loves the stores but maybe a little too much (in one she was oohing and ahhing over everything and then said “This store’s perfect for me!”) Max on the other hand likes to stand in the wagon which makes pulling a bit of a challenge/concern. Oh, and it was hot! So much for the cool start to the day; it definitely heated up fast. Since I wasn’t getting much shopping done anyway (and we all know how much Tom likes to souvenir shop!) we decided to head back and hang out at the pool for the afternoon.
I did however promise Sophie we’d see the candy makers that we saw across the street from the photo place so Tom and Ingrid took Max to a shaded alley and I took Sophie to see the taffy being made through the window. I definitely wish that I would have brought my camera over as it was so precious how interested she was in the taffy machine that extruded the taffy along a couple of corkscrews and into the cutter to be cut and wrapped. She studied that machine (out loud of course) and explained to me everything that was turning, cutting, or pushing the candy into the basket. It really was great to share it with her. We went inside to pick up some candy and she saw a miniature version of the long sucker that Caitlyn had the day before and just had to have it: “Look! It’s like Caitlyn’s! It’s little like me! It’s perfect! Please!” I’m sure I would have got it anyway, but the exchange was too cute to deny her the sucker. We also picked up so taffy for Nana and Papa, including a few sticks of peppermint since that is the kind that we saw them making. When we were leaving they were throwing a new batch of taffy on the stretching machine so we got to stop and watch that be pulled for a little bit.
I’m pretty sure that this was the night that Ingrid, Michelle, and Craig headed out to the Memories show to see the impersonators. We hung out at the pool with the kids until around bedtime for Max – Sophie ended up staying late because she took a nap on the way back from Gatlinburg and actually fell back asleep on the couch once we got home. It worked out good anyway because I had some glow bracelets so she was awake late enough to use them and it gave her and Caitlyn something to do in the evening. Another busy day in the books!
No comments:
Post a Comment