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Posts Tagged ‘smoky mountain national park’

Good-Bye Dolly, Hello Smokies

Posted in Dogs, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on November 13, 2012| 4 Comments »

    

Gaping at sights like King Kong as I drove through Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is probably one of the reasons I missed my turn. I shot this photo out my RV window while stopped at a traffic light. — Photo by Pat Bean

        “Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness.” – Ray Bradbury

Adventures with Pepper: Day 46-47

After a week’s layover at Yogi’s in the Smokies Campground, I finally decided it was time for me to get back on the road again.

I came across this scene on my way down Big Cove Road just outside of Yogi’s in the Smokies. It stopped me and my camera in its tracks. — Photo by Pat Bean

First I said my good-byes to Dolly, the matriarch of the family group that adopted me and Pepper and fed us campfire steaks. Dolly was 75, the mother of seven children and lots of grandchildren, but she told me she still had plenty of get-up-and-go.            I left her with the encouragement to get up and go often. And she promised she would take my example and do so

My goal for the day was to drive through Smoky Mountain National Park. It was steep, which by now I had become used to, but it was also crowded.  I only stopped a few times and left the park early so I could go through Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Pepper and I had lunch by this small gurgling stream in Smoky Mountain National Park.

They were crowded, too, but full of interesting sights. I guess I gawked too much because I missed my turn, a mistake that added several hours to what was only going to be a short day’s drive.

I drove one section of Highway 441 twice because I got wrong directions – most likely because I asked the wrong question.

I ended up taking Highway 411 to Marysville and back-tracking a few miles on Highway 321, the road I had missed.

I ended the day at Mystic River, which turned out to be a Passport America campground, which was good because the full price was $45. As a passport member, I paid only half of that. It was a very nice campground and I stuck around the next day. .

Book Report: I drove the 300 miles back to Dallas from Lake Jackson yesterday and never got to Travels with Maggie. Hopefully I’ll get an hour’s worth of writing in later today.

Bean’s Pat: A Trip to Antarctica http://tinyurl.com/c6te3yc This sounds like an awesome arm-chair traveling event.

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On the Road But I Still Voted: Days 38-45

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on November 9, 2012| 5 Comments »

The view out the rear window of Gypsy Lee at Yogi’s in the Smokies. — Photo by Pat Bean

“Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Adventures with Pepper: Days 37-45 

            I was ready for some days away from being behind the wheel of Gypsy Lee after finishing the 469-mile drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I also needed to plant myself somewhere for my vote-by-mail election material to reach me.

Pepper and I walked this trail every day while at the park, but never went as far as the falls. –Photo by Pat Bean

While I avoid politics as much as possible, I do keep up with what’s going on in the world, and being aware of how hard my sisters fought so women could vote, I repay their efforts by voting.            I feel strongly that anyone who doesn’t vote has no right to complain, and while I don’t talk politics much – frankly it’s usually too depressing – this is an issue I’m always vocal about.

And just for the record, since I’m far ahead of my blog in my travels, I will tell you that the presidential election results pleased some of my five children and displeased some of them.

Here’s a view of Mingo Falls, which I did get to see in my armchair travels. — Wikipedia photo

That’s the kind of family we are, and the fact that everyone can be vocal about it regardless of which side of the fence they’re on says a lot about America.

And for the sake of my own serenity in the family picture, I ain’t saying who I voted for.

And, yes you can be jealous,  while all the pre-election day chaos was taking place, I was nestled beneath a couple of big trees right by the river that ran through Yogi’s in the Smokies campground in North Carolina, where I sat in perfect serenity for a whole week.

I slept each night to the gurgle of river water as it flowed past my camp site — and was rejuvenated.

Book Report: I spent an hour writing on Travels with Maggie this morning, but cut more than I rewrote. Word count is 61,162.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Thought for Today: http://tinyurl.com/b88qq2s This made me laugh, and it’s oh so true.

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