Well, we just had one full day in the Knoxville area on Wednesday. Dave had his audition after breakfast that morning, more on that later. So while he was gone little David and I just hung out at the motel.
After the audition we went to Great Smokey Mountain National Park. Knoxville is on the north side of the Smokies, kind of away from all the crowds that are in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. We didn’t have a lot of time, so we just went to one area of the park called Cade’s Cove. It’s a valley nestled in the Smokies where people used to live and farm. I took lots of pictures, but they sort of all look the same. Here’s just a few.
The view of the Smokies from Cade’s Cove.
A stream that runs along the road that leads to Cade’s Cove.
The wall of rock that’s on the other side of the road.
It’s such a beautiful, natural place. The pictures really don’t do it justice. We didn’t see any of the resident black bears, but we did see lots of deer.
It was a long drive by car back to Cade’s Cove. I can’t imagine having lived there 100 years ago when transportation was a horse and a wagon. And it’s so secluded. Some of the houses are still there. We walked back to one house that was up a lane a quarter mile off the main road. It was surrounded by thick forests.
I got an eerie feeling when I realized how isolated the area was. We live out in the country, but we can see other houses, and cars drive down our road all the time. In Cade’s Cover you would have truly been alone. I told my husband it would be a very strange feeling to live in that house, especially if you were home alone, not another soul for miles.
We left the park when it started to get dark. The road is marked only by one small sign, which of course we missed. We were half way to Gatlinburg before we realized we needed to turn around. That was just the first of a few wrong turns.
And that’s the end of day two. It was late after we ate and got back to the motel. We went to bed so we could get up early and head for Livingston, TN and then home the next day.
Beautiful pictures! I went to Cades Cove when my oldest son was a toddler, so about 9 years ago. It was a beautiful place. I loved looking at all the homes and barns that were still there. I just love historical places!