To market, to market to fetch a fat pig. Home again, home again, jiggity-jig

Well, we didn't get a pig, but we did get us some beef jerky! 

Today was a day where I crossed of a few of the things we had either missed or hadn't gotten to yet. The biggest coup was getting a photo of the entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park. A fellow tourist offered to take our photo, and since I close my eyes all the time, I asked her to snap a few. Good thing I did, because although my eyes were open in every picture, all but one was askew. I am too OCD to post a crooked photo, so only the one I took and her best one made it to the blog.

We found a pretty path along the parking area by the sign and strolled down along the Little Pigeon River. The crystal clear water was noisily babbling along the smoothly worn rocks. It was an idyllic spot.

We spent the afternoon in Gatlinburg with the original plan to visit five wineries that were along that main strip of road, but after visiting two of them, I discovered that they only offered the sweeter, fruitier wines.

Searching for a dry wine.....

Unfortunately, nothing here for me.

Gatlinburg is a touristy town with a main road that would take you a full day to walk just one side to check out the businesses. You would want to avoid this area during the week-end when so many people visit for the day or long week-ends. We found every type of store imaginable. We found one that sold all kinds of popcorn, one that sold all types of jerky and nuts, one that sold flavored olive oils and vinegar and several that sold your typical souveniers. We ended up with something from all the above, including the jerky!

George was such a good sport about taking me to wineries that he got to pick his reward! 

With his sugar-high peaking, George decided to try one more winery that we would pass on our way back home (yes, home is wherever Allie and Lucy are parked) and this one, Hillside Winery, was the best of the bunch. I was able to purchase two bottles out of the 10 varietals that they offered. The remaining eight were the sweeter wines. 

We drove by a multitude of attractions. There were many different themed dinner show venues, Dollywood, Wonderworks, Ripley's Believe it or Not, The Titanic and The Wax Museum, to mention just a few. The sights are almost overwhelming. You have to see it to believe it.

The Wax Museum

No caption necessary....

Dollywood, if time permits.

This is a perfect place to take kids ranging in age from toddler to late teens.

For us, the National Park would have been enough to fill an entire week. We have one more day planned to spend in search of waterfalls to photograph. On our two previous trips in we weren't able to view any, but we plan to accomplish that task tomorrow. Completing those hikes will end our visit on a high note and my bucket list will be partially full (for this visit). I would love to return some day, but at a different time of year. I'm thinking the fall would be spectacular with all the sugar maples in peak color. 

Deep thought for the day: Vacations are always too short. They are spent watching the week fly by too quickly. You exhaust yourself trying to fit it all in before you have to leave and return to "reality." 

Retirement and living full-time in an RV is "un-reality." It's unreal......yet it's real. ~ vc