The Very Smoky Smokies

We arrived in North Carolina on Wednesday around 2 hours late, as our flight out of Washington was delayed due to "a mechanical issue" (personally, I think the pilot just left the keys at home!!) and then taxiway traffic. We picked up our rental car and headed west for the Great Smoky Mountains, only to get caught in torrential rain and traffic due to accidents (we saw at least 4 accidents on the way involving cars losing control in the rather treacherous conditions!). Nonetheless, we eventually arrived safe & sound and headed straight to bed in preparation for a big day of exploring.

Thursday saw a bright and early start as we headed off through The Smokies, despite the weather being very overcast and rain imminent. Our first stop was Mingo Falls, just outside of the National Park itself and at 8am in the morning, we had the falls all to ourselves! For only a 15 minute walk to the base of the falls (and given the rain the area received the night before), it was certainly a great way to start the day.

As we proceeded up the mountain, it very quickly became apparent that the weather was not going to be our best friend and nowhere was this more obvious than at Clingmans Dome - a lookout from the highest point of The Smokies - where it was a complete "whiteout". Despite the weather, we pushed on over the top through Newfound Gap and into Tennessee to Laurel Falls. This mildy strenuous 35 minute hike ended at some more picturesque falls, although these were much more popular than our first stop - a photographer's nightmare!

We then headed to Gatlinburg for some well-earned lunch - where we were all too eager to leave. If first impressions are anything to go by, then the internet is not too far off when it is described as "the poor man's Vegas". The main street was lined with cheap motels, tacky gift shops and numerous arcade places. However it served its purpose to fill our bellies in preparation for our next walk to Grotto Falls, which was a relatively steep, 45 minute ascent, but was well and truly worth it. Because we arrived later in the day, these falls were relatively quiet and the cool thing about these particular falls was that you could walk behind them. On the way back to our hotel (back through The Smokies) in Cherokee, Karlee had her first driving experience on the right side of the road. Given the weather (rain and fog), she did an excellent job, with not too many "hairy" moments.

Today we intended to head off early again for our drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway - a picturesque 469 mile drive through the mountains connecting the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina with Shenandoah National Park in Virginia - however a rather severe case of "man flu" meant that we took a little longer than planned to get going. We eventually made our way, however the not-so-wonderful North Carolina summer weather, meant that we faced a "whiteout" the whole drive to Asheville. So we made the decision to participate in bit of retail therapy before heading to our hotel in Marion.

Tomorrow we are heading to the North Carolina Zoo - weather permitting - before heading off to Orlando on Sunday morning for some theme park fun.