The trolley stop was directly across from our motel. We had originally thought that we would ride it to just see an overview of the sights. Instead, we had a meeting to attend. We drove there not realizing that it would have been a nice walk through downtown. Because we got there 45 minutes early, we decided to walk around. We saw many of the interesting things that are available to do, although I had come to see the nature, not to do the touristy-type things. I took pictures to share with you of many of the things available to do, although we did not do any of them. After the meeting, we dropped the car off at the motel and headed back to the strip. We ate Chinese food and sampled some wine. We eventually bought some strawberry wine, which I had never had before and some chocolate caramel fudge, which I just couldn’t resist. I took more pictures and after hanging around town for quite a while, we headed back to the room so that we could leave early the next morning. Apparently, the hike up the mountain to the Falls the day before was starting to catch up with both of us.
So to answer the question: no, we didn’t end up taking any of the trolleys even though they cover many areas of town, not just downtown, and also areas in Pigeon Forge, a nearby town.
Friday morning we got up and left about 6:30am. We took a slight jog off the road in Memphis to see where Beale Street was, but decided not to spend the night like we originally planned, but to keep on driving. We ended up driving all the way home and arrived about 8:30pm. It was a long day, but a very enjoyable trip.
As a side note, during the entire trip, we saw license plates from forty-four states and three Canadian provinces.
I owe everyone an explanation about why I have been somewhat silent this past week. Last Monday, my husband and I left for a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Gatlinburg is an amazing place. There is something for everyone. If you like the hustle and bustle of the city, downtown Gatlinburg is for you. Traffic is backed up for blocks and blocks. Although once you are able to park your car, you can walk to most places or take the trolley. There are shows, exhibits and foods of all kinds. This week, there was a craft fair being held in the convention center.
If being out in nature is more of your thing, you can’t find a better location. From anywhere in town, you can see the Smokey Mountains. By driving out of town just a short distance, you can not only see spectacular views of the mountains, but also waterfalls, wildlife, if you are lucky, and wooden bridges. One of the main things I wanted to do there was to see a black bear in the wild. I will tell you about it in a future post, but unfortunately, I didn’t get to see one.
First, I have to explain the traffic. It isn’t always like this, but October is the peak tourist season. People flock to this location to see the leaves changing color for Autumn. Even though we saw some beautiful colors, we were not there for the main leaf changes . The changes were just beginning. There were more yellows, and even some of the leaves have started to drop. This year, there has been a drought, and the weather has been much warmer than usual. It is quite possible that a cold front will blow through and many of the leaves will fall off the trees. This would shorten the season of color. However, presently, the red leaves are just starting to turn.
In the upcoming week, I will post articles about this trip. I tried to keep up with moderating my blog and comments on my phone, although I can’t really do that very well. So please forgive me if I missed anyone. I had to delete all the emails I got because I had so many I would never have caught up with them. I should be back for a while now and will try to do better with keeping up with everything. Thanks for your patience.
Please understand that many of my pictures were taken through the car windows. Sometimes there were just not places to pull off the road to take pictures. But I did take some from the locations we stopped to see the sights.
We have been to this amazing museum several times. Each time it seems to have gotten larger and larger, not the buildings, but the exhibits. There are even exhibits outside of the building, which is a work of art in and of itself.
All of the artwork is quite nice, and many of the themes make you think of both times in the past and present. Some of the artists are well known, such as John James Audubon. Others are not as well known, although all of the works of art are impressive. There are various genres of art from traditional to modern and contemporary.
Entrance to the permanent exhibits is free due to the generosity of the Walton Family Foundation.
Wild Turkey, Cock, Hen and Young by John James Audubon
Landscape by Robert Sheldon Duncanson
The Good Shepherd by Thomas Cole
Kindred Spirits by Ashor Brown Durand
Coat made of Soldier Dog Tags
This is my absolute favorite part of the entire museum. It has been here every time that we have been to the museum. The first time we went, we debated whether this was a real person or not. I don’t think that the string was around it at the time. This is so realistic.
Man on Bench by Duane Hanson
We saw car license plates from all over the country in the parking lot – from Maryland to Oregon. This museum is an interesting stop for those traveling through Arkansas.
To find out more about the museum go to their website.
Just once before I die, I wanted to try to zip line. What I had envisioned in my head was more a picture of going from tree canopy to tree canopy, rather than long distances. Something like they did in one of my favorite movies Medicine Man. But in reality, what we ended up doing was going on several runs, each a little longer than the last. Basically, it was gliding over fields of grass in East Texas. Not quite as elegant as what I imagined, but it would do for me to mark it off of my list.
So while my ex-son-in-law and husband went fishing, my granddaughter, daughter and I decided to go zip-lining. To be perfectly honest, the place we went was very good at showing us how to do what we needed to do. They helped us suit up and to put on all the safety belts, gloves, harnesses, etc. Then they took us out and taught us what to do on a course that was just off the ground. Once each of us had completed that phase, it was time for the real thing. We had to climb up several flights of stairs to get to the starting place. By the time we got to the top, my daughter and granddaughter were both saying that they changed their minds and didn’t really want to do this anymore. So in spite of the fact that I was terrified, I said I’d go first. The first course was actually fun! I loved it. And naturally, since the “old lady” did it, the other two figured it couldn’t be that bad so they gave it a try. Guess what? They loved it too. Then we moved on to the next run. It was a little longer than the last. This time it didn’t matter who went first because we all enjoyed the first run. This one was fine, although I ended up sideways because I rotated right before the end of the line. The problem was that I have very little upper body strength and couldn’t straighten myself up. Luckily, they had a brake that the employees can use if necessary, and it was necessary.
I acted like the brave one!
My family began liking this more and more, but since I couldn’t rotate back in time, I started to feel a little more uneasy as each course got longer and longer. To make a long story short, I finished all of the runs, but on each one I became more and more frightened.
I’m glad that I left my comfort zone long enough to do this, but now I’m just really happy that I have checked it off of my bucket list.
Thanks to my youngest daughter for taking pictures with her iphone. Thankfully, neither of us dropped it.
Several years ago, we went on a trip with our youngest daughter’s family to South Dakota to visit Mt. Rushmore. We did not realize all the things that are available to see in South Dakota. One of the magnificent sites we visited was the Badlands. At the entrance to the National Park, we saw Prairie Dogs peeking out from their holes and checking us out. When we actually entered the park, the views were amazing. There were layered rocks, canyons, grasslands and spires. As we continued our drive, we saw bighorn sheep right along the side of the road. Apparently, in some locations there are also bison although we did not see any of them in the park, but did in the Black Hills.
Peregrine Falcon taken from a distance because I was worried he’d fly away. Same falcon, closer up. He is having supper. He wasn’t going anywhere.
My son and his family were staying at a condo in Orange Beach, Alabama. We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Foley, Alabama. (This is beside the point but I would highly recommend this motel. To say that it was cleaner than I left my house is not an exaggeration.) There was a 15 mile drive between the two locations and the slower although much more interesting route took us threw the State Park in Gulf Shores. One day on the drive, I saw a peregrine falcon perched in this tree. But there was lots of traffic and no good place to pull over. So we kept going, and I kept watching to see him again. However, this particular day, we actually turned around and pulled over on the grass on the side of the road so that I could get these pictures. I was so excited because I do not remember ever having seen a peregrine falcon in the wild before, especially not this clearly.
My son and his family have been on beach trips for the last several years. This year they decided on Orange Beach, Alabama. We went with them, but stayed in Foley. It is a nice town, that is north of Gulf Shores. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are practically the whole southern coast of Alabama from Mobile eastward.
Texas Sunrise
We woke up at 4am and got an early start last Sunday morning. We met up at the Buc-ee’s in Terrel, Tx. If you have never visited one of these gas station/stores, you might want to stop just to see it. You could almost make a day trip visiting one of these. They transferred two of the grandchildren to our car because theirs was so full, and they kept saying it would be a much more enjoyable trip for them if they weren’t all in the same car. And we were off. It really wasn’t a bad drive, but with all the stops it took us about 12 hours. By the time we got there, ate and got checked in the Foley Holiday Inn Express, we crashed. This is the cleanest motel I have ever stayed in, and all the staff was extremely friendly and helpful.
The next morning, I wanted to be sure to get sunrise pictures so we drove down US 59 straight to the beach. Unfortunately, there was a building blocking the sunrise itself, but I ended up getting some beautiful pictures of the sky and amazing blue heron pictures and videos. I had never really watched a blue heron eat before. It is quite interesting. First, he walked around until he was ready to eat. He’d crouch down and bend his head to the side and strike. Sometimes he’d come up empty, and others he’d catch something. Then he had to maneuver the fish into position so that he could swallow it whole. Meanwhile, he might drop it a time or two before swallowing, and he would have to make sure it didn’t get washed away by a wave or stolen by a sea gull. The sea gulls would crowd around him to get a chance to steal the fish.
Heron fishing
After the heron moved on and the sun rose higher in the sky, we went back to the motel and ate. Then we met up with our family and spent the morning on the beach fishing and playing in the water. My granddaughters and I took a long walk on the beach. Just listening to the waves was so relaxing. About 11am, when most other people were coming out, we’d go back to the room, eat and rest.
Fishing from shore
On this day, Monday, we ate lunch at the Fish River Grill in Gulf Shores off of Ft. Morgan Road and US 59. The food was excellent. We split the fried shrimp. It came with swamp soup (beans and mustard greens), fries, coleslaw and fried okra. Then we also split something I had never heard of before: shrimp pistols with crawfish sauce. This was absolutely amazing. It tasted so good that I ended up ordering another one just for myself. If you ever go, you have to try the Shrimp Pistol. The prices were extremely reasonable for all the food they gave us.
Then about 4pm we went to Perdido Pass to check out the fishing for the next evening. On our way back to the room, we stopped off in the state park, and I got more heron pics and a few squirrel pics. The squirrels here have white bellies and a stripe down their backs, nothing at all like the ones at home. We were getting back into the car and I noticed several people looking over the side of a bridge. I had to go and check it out before we left. There in the water was an alligator. Earlier, I had seen signs saying don’t feed or aggravate the alligators, but I never thought I’d see one this close. He swam right under the bridge and came out the other side and just sat there.
About 8 ft. alligator
Between Orange Beach and Gulf Shores there is a very long fishing pier. My husband and I left early enough to get to the pier and walk around before sunset. Not many people were catching any fish, but lots were trying. One person did catch a stingray. We stayed long enough to get sunset pictures and then headed back to our room so that we could come back to the pier in the morning and get sunrise pictures. Who gets any sleep on vacations? Surely not us! There’s always too much do see and do!
Since Yarmouth is on Cape Cod, we wanted to see what the beach was like up north. So we spent about 20 minutes walking on the beach. It is cold!! We are still in shorts and short sleeve shirts. We definitely were not prepared to come up north, even in the late spring. Now we are headed to New Bedford to pick up one of three dogs on our trip home. Some of the things we noticed on this trip is that Northerners use their car horns way more than we do in Texas. Also, they spend lots of time either just sitting in traffic or speeding past cars when they can. Something else that we don’t have that is common up here are the Roundabouts, and our mile markers are in whole numbers; whereas up here, they can be in tenths or two tenths. Seems like you could save lots of money on signs by them just being by the mile.
Cape Cod Beach
New Bedford seems to be an older city that has lots to do with whaling. There is even a cobblestone road. We pick up the dog, who we nickname Precious. She is a sweet American Bulldog who is absolutely terrified. We pass through Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York again. This time we are further north in New York so the traffic is not quite as bad. We are now driving in the Hudson River Valley and drive through the Taconic Mountains. We see the exit to Poughkeepsie. It brings back memories of my Dad because he used to travel there for his job. Now we are in Clearfield, Pennsylvania and picking up a beautiful Akita puppy. Just past Clearfield we passed the highest point on this road on this side of the Mississippi River – 2250 Ft. We kept driving through the Allegany National Forest and stopped for the night in Clarion, Pa.
We finally made it to Massachusetts, and for the time being, we had no animals with us. My husband’s family came to this country in the 16-1700s from England. The first ancestor that we can trace back lived around Weymouth, Massachusetts. So we at least wanted to drive there and see what it looked like. Basically, now it is just a suburb of Boston. So since we were that close, we decided to spend the day wandering around Boston. We parked in a garage that had spaces so close that I thought we would never get in or out of there. The attendant actually offered to park, but my daughter decided to do so herself with him giving her directions.
Boston Harbor
Then we wandered up to the main street. We were at a wharf that was directly on Boston Harbor. Wow! Who knew that I would ever see the place where the Boston Tea Party took place. It was a wonderful opportunity to explain history to my granddaughter who is homeschooled.
There was some type of event going on where lots of venders were selling various products. There were many beautiful items, but honestly as crowded as the SUV was, they would never have made it home. We looked at the buildings, parks and the harbor with all the boats. We stopped at State Street Provisions for lunch. The thing that I had looked forward to the whole trip was getting to eat clam chowder and lobster. This restaurant was absolutely amazing! My granddaughter got the chowder and my daughter and I split an order of chowder and a lobster roll. With the lobster roll, you had a choice of salad, fries or half and half. I got the half and half because I knew my granddaughter would eat the fries after her chowder. That lobster roll had a lemon zest on it and was chunks of lobster on a toasted roll. It was absolutely the best food that I had on the entire trip. If you are ever in Boston, I would definitely recommend this restaurant!
Clam Chowder and Lobster Roll at State Street Provisions
After eating, we walked around looking at two beautiful churches: St. Leonard’s and St. Stephen’s. They were both very old, built in the 1700s. St. Leonard’s was much more ornate and reminded me of the painted churches here in Texas.
After attending Mass at St. Stephen’s, we left Boston and drove to Yarmouth. It had been a very relaxing and interesting day!
This was a very long day of driving. We were on the road by 7:25 am. We drove through much of Georgia, South Carolina and even crossed into North Carolina where we crossed the Eastern Continental Divide. We were meeting the couple that Bia went to most of the way up Roan Mountain. We didn’t realize that you could go up to the mountain from the North Carolina side or from the Tennessee side. We went up the North Carolina side, which was long and winding, although very beautiful scenery. When we met the couple, we got out of the car in shorts and t-shirts. Surprise!! It was 54 degrees! The couple had on jackets and long pants. We hadn’t planned for weather this cold on this trip. Walmart here we come!
Taken from car through windshield
We went down the mountain on the Tennessee side. It was much shorter, and still had beautiful scenery. A stream ran along side of the road. We pulled over to take pictures and someone was flyfishing. I know so many guys back home that would have loved to have been doing that.
Stream coming down Roan Mountain on the Tennessee Side
We drove through Elizabethton, Tennessee, the home of Jason Whitton, one of our Dallas Cowboys!! We stopped in Chilhowie, Virginia. All of us crashed, and we had no trouble sleeping.
The next day, we drove through W. Virginia for about 32 miles and crossed into Maryland for about eleven miles. Then we drove through Pennsylvania for what seemed like forever. We saw the exit for Hershey, Pa. but we didn’t stop until we reached Shartlesville which is north of Reading, Pa. We slept well.
Granny Shot It 