Day 1: Friday, July 21:
Today, we left Helen, Georgia, early morning, about 6 A.M. We took the back roads, and by 6:51, we were in Clayton, North Carolina.
By 8:12 A.M., we were in Cherokee, North Carolina.
We stopped here to take pictures of the bear statues before heading across the mountain. Along with several others, we stopped to see a herd of elk grazing.
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| Herd Elk |
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| Bears of Cherokee, NC |
We crossed the mountain several times to take pictures of the smokey clouds on it. Then, we stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Pigeon Forge.
We went shopping at the Tanger Outlet Mall. We bought two bras and two panties at Victoria's Secret and one bra at Pink. We also stopped at several other stores, including Disney, Nike, and Under Armour.
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| The Christmas Place |
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| We feed the Ducks, Geese, and Pigeons at the Old Mill along the Little Pigeon River. |
We rode to the Old Mill Farm House, where I bought my son several different herb packages, a bag of stone-ground yellow cornmeal, and olive oil.
Near the Old Mill, we saw several geese, ducks, and pigeons along the Little Pigeon River.
We ate Taco Bell for lunch.
We checked into Apple Valley Inn a little after 4 P.M., unloaded the car, and filled the fridge with snacks.
Spent the rest of the day watching TV and resting.
Day 2: Saturday, July 22:
We ate breakfast at McDonald's, and I ordered muffins and sausage.
We rode to Pigeon Forge's Visitor Center and bought all-day tickets to ride the trolley.
We bought fuel at Murphy's and bought a few groceries at Walmart (bagels, cream cheese, drinks, fruit)
Took our food back to the hotel.
We rode to Parrot Mountain when they opened at 10 A.M.
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| Parrot Mountain |
Had my picture taken with five birds, two on my arms, two on my shoulders, and one on my head.
We visited the parrot nursery where we could actually pick up the birds.
We also went into the feeding area with Nectar and several small nectaries down and drank every drop of the Nectar from my hand.
Around Nectar A.M., we rode to the Trolley from Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg.
We took the trolley from the Visitor Center in Gatlinburg to downtown.
We were the last two to board the fully loaded trolley, which was standing room only.
A nice young man gave me his seat, and Hubby had to ride, standing up.
Because of the traffic, it took over an hour to travel a short distance. When we were almost there, everyone except a couple got off.
When we arrived at the center near the aquarium, everyone had to get off the trolley and wait for another trolley to take us downtown.
The traffic was terrible, and we had already waited over 30 minutes for the next trolley.
Where we were going was several blocks away, so we decided to walk.
We took the scenic route along the Pigeon River, which was not crowded and had a cool breeze.
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| Seafood Platter at Bubba Gumps |
We were headed to Bubba Gumps for a late lunch.
We ordered a seafood platter of shrimp, fish, hush puppies, and fries.
When we finished, we walked down the crowded sidewalks, and it began to rain, so we looked for shelter.
It did not rain long, so we walked further down the sidewalks.
We returned to the Trolley Stop and waited for the trolley to take us to the Gatlinburg Visitor Center.
The crowd had thinned out, so the trolley was not crowded going back.
At the cross, there was an accident involving four vehicles. Our turn was blocked by police vehicles.
We had to take a detour, which took us a couple of miles away.
We took the next trolley to Pigeon Forge, which also had to take a detour.
This ended up being an all-day event.
It was late when we arrived back at our hotel.
Day 3: Sunday, July 23,
We ate bagels with cream cheese for breakfast.
Packed our bags, loaded the car, and headed for home.
We stopped at a couple of rest areas.
We had snacks with us, so we did not stop to eat until we got home.
