Day 8 - Detour

DATE: WEDNESDAY MARCH 2ND

TIME: 9:40PM EST

LOCATION: ASHEVILLE NC

Today was an interesting day. We slept in for the first time of the trip until around 11am, then got going around noon. Today was our first National Park visit, The Smokey Mountains. Along the way we found a really cool wood carving store. Deniz picked the brain of the lady working there and I played with the dogs who lived there. Equally important. The little lad pictured below is named Chopper and I am happy to announce he is my friend. After that stop we realized our GPS was set improperly and we had completely skirted the edge of the national park the whole way through (Our intention was to drive through it). This little slip up really changed the way the day turned out.

We drove for a while longer seeing the usual amazing mountains, occasional house, etc. until we came upon a larger settlement. Gatlinburg TN. If you had not heard of this place like we hadn’t, here is a quick idea. Imagine if you combined Downtown Disney with a carnival then placed it in the middle of the mountains. That is essentially Gatlinburg. This place was a lot. Tons of wacky and specific stores, cartoonish buildings, rollercoaster, aquarium, arcades, etc. It was crazy. Keep in mind this place is literally like 2 miles down the road from where we were headed in the Smokey Mountains. After driving down the main road we agreed we would cancel our trip down to Atlanta and come here for a day instead. We finalized those plans in the parking lot of the visitor’s center. Wild

After recovering from the shock of Gatlinburg, we took a short hike through the woods to see a nearby waterfall. It was really nice to just hang out in the woods for a while. It was a short 1.1 mile walk totally flat. Lots of great photos and beautiful water. Make sure you take a look at the photos below. After our hike we stopped back in Gatlinburg for dinner at a weird and kinda creepy pizza place. Then headed back. Our drive back was absolutely amazing, we stopped a few places along the way for picutes. There isnt much to say about it, I think the pictures and videos kind of speak for themselves. Make sure you take a look.

Thats all for now, stay safe

Signing off

-H