Great Smoky Mountains National Park

We went to a nice little Easter service at the KOA. I cooked Easter dinner that amounted to ham slices and augratin potatoes with fresh green beans. It was pretty good. Then we left for Great Smoky Mountain Ntl Park on Monday. It was overcast all day but we got set up without it raining on us. It was rainy on Tuesday and very cool on Wednesday but we went and saw everything anyway. We got to walk a few feet on the Appalachian trail which was cool.

WOW...what a gorgeous place. The thousands of rhododendrons (sp?) aren't even in bloom but the dogwoods are and all of the cute little spring flowers. I have heard of some of the the flowers like virginia blue bells and lady slippers but there are some like pink turtle shells and pink and white alum that I had never heard of. There are lots of waterfalls and all of the little rivers have rock bottoms so that they are crystal clear. We saw lots of deer and wild turkeys yesterday.

I guess that I didn't know the history of the place until we got here. Most of the park belonged to private people and lumber companies and was purchased from the owners to make up the park. There is a small village that is maintained as it was when the owners left with a grist mill, a house with it's outbuildings. Today we went on Roaring River scenic road. It had lots of old buildings left on it as well as some of the most rugged country. I can't imagine living way back up in the hills like those people did.

We are in Gatlinburg to get groceries and fuel before we take off to Nashville tomorrow. Gatlinburg is just a ind of tourist trap mess. The locals here have such a funny accent that it is very hard to understand them.