She's the only Ten I See!

 

Married the week before we loaded up the Subaru and headed towards the Great Smokey Mountains.  Isle Royale is the least visited national park, it was time to see the Smokies, the most visited national Park.  We started the drive after work and grabbed a hotel somewhere in Indiana.  We stopped first north of Milwaukee at the Water Street brewery for a meal and a vacation feel.  By the next evening, we were all checked in at the Buckhorn Inn and our Cabin.  From the porch we had a great view of the Smokes and even thought we saw a bear in the pine tree across the grounds.  Gatlinburg was more touristy than we expected but much cleaner than Pidgeon Forge. The warm humid weather was a nice feeling, and we spent some time in downtown Gatlinburg that first night, wandering the streets.  The next morning, we had breakfast at the Inn and were accosted by John the proprietor, but it didn’t deter us..it was time for our fist hike.  Our first trip into the park was to go to Chimney Tops Trail.  It was a well-travelled path, and we spent some time looking for salamanders.  The Smokies being the Salamander Capital of the World.  The ascent was tough, large portions of the trail were steeper than many 14ers and our legs were feeling the burn.  Amy had a scary low on the ascent, and we chewed through all of our sugars and cliff bars except one to get her blood sugar levels back up to a safe range.  The final portion of Chimney Tops was a steep and slick slab of granite that was an all-fours type of climb for the last several hundred feet.  There were plenty of people struggling to come back down having climbed higher than they should have.  The trail was well designed and had recently been redone to add multiple natural stone staircases to prevent erosion.  We stayed on these trails most of the time but also strayed to the streams and searched for salamanders.  We drove the winding roads through the park, past Clingman’s Dome and up to Newfound Gap on the TN/NC boarder where the Appalachian Trail runs through the Smokies.  Amy and I did the entire width of the AT that day.  The views were expansive. Our best meal in Gatlinburg was the first night, a rustic little walk way with a bridge system over the stream and a constant rainwater feature coming off the roof.  A local favorite, trout, was on the menu and on my plate.  While the band played we decide to head into town and scout the town scene.  We found a great outdoor shop near the park entrance and Amy shopped for new Kavu purses and we restocked on backpack snacks.   Moonshine was easy to find and samples generously given away.  We hit Ole’ Smokey and Sugarlands and eventually drove a gallon and a half of various flavors home.  At Sugarlands a Bluegrass band was playing and an old couple danced.  The longevity of their love and inspiration to our new marriage.  We sampled wines at Bootleggers and walked down the street to another winery for more sampling.  The following day we hiked early to beat the crowds up to Rainbow falls, a 5.5 mile trail with over 1500 feet of elevation change.  It was beautiful with plenty of pretty stopping places along the trail.  Including a large bear track in the early morning mud.  At the top of the falls, we were able to climb behind the falls and watch it crash into a big pool with a constant spray of water. The afternoon involved the Baked bean festival and Amy’s picture in a cut out of a Bushes Beans Bear Face.  The next day was a Gatlinburg Art loop.  The road made a big loop of local artists.  We bought some nice bowls for the kids’ ice cream and a wonderful shallow vase for ourselves.  There were antique shops and rock shops, and we found a soap shop to get some new lip balm and massage oil.  One of the little coffee shops was too inviting.  We rested our feet, sipped the coffee and then dozed off for a nap!  Back at our cabin we sat on the porch and watched the fading light on the mountains.  Enjoying a nice bottle of wine that we had brough along from Scott, as a wedding gift.

It was time to head home and along the way Amy had an amazing idea to look for a Bed & Breakfast rather than a hotel.  She found a great place north of Lexington and it was a short & beautiful drive from downtown Lexington.  The green rolling hills and white horse fences along Kentucky’s Burbon Trail.  We walked into an empty house with a massive double staircase, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, and a bottle of Maker’s Mark.  We headed back into Lexington for dinner.  We had found Sabio online, but were severely underdressed, and were stashed in front of the condiment stand at the Detention Bar across the hall.  It was too comical; Amy was going to post a picture of all the empty seating but didn’t want to offend the staff.  We ate well including quail legs for appetizers and found 1000 Stories wine.  That would become one of our favorites.  We headed back to our B&B and finished a bottle of wine as we watched a mare and cold against a setting sun while snacking on some cheese.  The trip home was punctuated by a trip to Craker Barrel.  It had become a joke and a theme and when we found one we had to try it.  Unlike the moonshine sampling stations that sold us t-shirts and necklaces we bought nothing extra from the Craker Barrel.