Going to Gatlinburg, TN '03
Trip Down to Gatlinburg 10/25/03
Got off to a leisurely start Saturday morning and headed
out east on I-64, hoping to make the turn south onto I-75 at Lexington before
the sun cleared the clouds and made the drive a pain for me. Well, we made the
turn ok and had breakfast at a Mickey D's just south of Lexington as the sun
broke through. Up to that point I was worried that it might be a grey day. Only
one whose mood wasn't brightened by the sun's arrival was our Shar-Pei Sophie,
who was already ecstatic to be eating hash browns, but then she is such a happy
puppy anyway.
Back on the road we headed
south for the Tennessee line. Being color-blind, I could only tell that the
trees were wearing brighter foliage as we went, but Lynda and Heather assured me
the colors were getting better the farther south we went. As we went along, we
told Heather about Kudzu, the plant that was slowly eating the South. Told her
how it was brought over from Japan to New Orleans as ground cover for an
exposition a little over 100 years ago and had spread wildly. We also told her
that we had seen it about mile marker 15 on our first trip together down there
three years ago; well, we found it about mile marker 45 this year, so it is
coming north up I-75 about 10 miles a year.
Spooky...
On down the road, I-640 around
the north of Knoxville, I-40 to the Sevierville exit and on down through that
overly-commercialized mess through Pigeon Forge. Ran into traffic backed up just
into the woodsy part of the road out of Pigeon Forge. thought there might have
been a wreck, but it was just backed up 4 miles out of Gatlinburg because there
was too much traffic for the town to handle. Finally got to our motel about 2
hours after getting off I-40 (18 miles). Weather was just absolutely wonderful.
Wish I could say the same for Gatlinburg. I have NEVER seen the town so crowded;
could barely make our way through the crowds. I wound up going back to the room
and watching Sophie while Lynda and Heather did touristy stuff and
shopped.
By the way, if you are looking for
good Italian food in Gatlinburg, I recommend Best's Italian Restaurant. It is a
little place just off the main drag toward the Park just before you get to the
tram to Ober Gatlinburg, but on the opposite side of the street. Not too
expensive and they serve too much food.
Not
much else to tell. Most of the time, it is a nice place to visit, just not when
EVERYONE else decides to join you.
Posted: Wed - October 29, 2003 at 10:30 AM