Asheville and Great Smoky Mountains, NC

9 – 12 Oct 

We visited the town of Cherokee.  The town and surrounding reservation belongs to the Eastern Cherokee nation and is on the south-eastern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains.  It had numerous souvenir shops, and casinos etc.  The Museum of the Cherokee Indian was very informative and at the Oconaluftee Indian Village Museum local people talk about the Cherokee’s ancient way of life.  Some of the local crafts sold here are made the traditional way; which is labour intensive and unfortunately puts items well out of a reasonable price range! $400 for a shopping basket.

We drove some of the Blue Ridge Parkway and were treated to lovely views of the mountains and the various autumnal colours of the trees.  We drove most of the BRP during our visit in 2003 so this section means we have completed some more.

 

 

We visited Clingman’s Dome – the highest point on the Appalachian Trail at 6643ft.  Normally you can see for 100 miles from here; but cloud came down and reduced visibility to about 100 inches! Yes that is Alison standing in the foreground.

 

 

 

We were treated to seeing some Elk near the side of the road; a herd of about 10 females and two stags.  One stag was strutting around looking very important for the cameras and even had a wallow in his mud hole marking his territory.

 

 

 

 

We went into Asheville and opened a US Bank Account. We needed to get across the road to another point, about 100 yds further up on the other side.  We thought we would be very British and walk.  , The Republican Candidate, Mit Romney, was visiting Asheville that day and the Interstate was closed for his cavalcade and traffic diverted.  There was no pavement, no pedestrian crossing and the traffic was continuous across all four lanes.  We stood at the side of the road for a few minutes and had to give up and ‘take the car’ 100 yds to the other side of the road!