Cades Cove

We are now staying at the Raccoon Valley RV park in Heiskell, Tennessee.  This is an Escapees park located north of Knoxville.  We drove over the Great Smoky Mountains Thursday and enjoyed the drive!  This particular stretch of interstate was lovely.  The drive took about 4 hours and we made two stops.  The first was just to stretch and relax.  Jim hasn't had to drive in mountains for a couple years and when we thought about it all our driving has been at sea level....rarely any hills.  At one point we were heading up at 25 miles per hour!

We set up as much as we could in the heat and saved the rest for later.  Our trikes ride on the bed so they were the last thing we took care of after dinner.  I made cole slaw and easy bake enchiladas, we both love this dish and it's so simple to make if you have the ingredients on hand.

Yesterday we left the house around 0930 and drove over to Townsend to visit Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains NP.  It was spitting rain and there was a lot of cloud cover.  The drive was fairly easy using Ethyl, our GPS.  I was totally turned around and lost!

We stopped for a late breakfast because Jim skipped it at home.  I had coffee and pancakes while he chose two eggs, ham, grits and a biscuit with sausage gravy.  Oh and coffee.  They had Smuckers Jelly on the table and I tried the Apple Cinnamon on my pancakes...very tasty but won't be buying because of the HFC.

When we came out the sun had come out and the day turned out pretty!

As we drove into the forested park there was a river on the right and who can resist this?  I took several pictures

The sun is coming over the top of the trees

Just before you enter the 11 mile loop drive you can see the campground and the horses you can ride through the area

wild turkeys

John Oliver Cabin, the oldest in the Cove

Back of the Primitive Baptist Church

stone wall

I loved all the stone retaining walls throughout the drive.  They've been there so long they blend into the surrounding areas with the lichens and ferns growing on them

We stopped at Apple Valley Farms for another meal!  I had a tomato sandwich with chips and pickle washed down with apple cider.  Jim had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans with a biscuit and washed down with iced tea.

Our drive home seemed longer than the trip earlier!  Boo was glad to see us as it was past his dinner time.

It was a wonderful day, beautiful drive with the love of my life....couldn't ask for more.