Carolina Y'all

Last week Steve and I toured North and South Carolina and the easternmost part of Tennessee.  It was my vacation because Steve knows I love last minute trips where we get  to explore new areas, eat new food, and enjoy serendipitous finds along the way.  After spending a night in uptown Charlotte, NC where we watched the 4th of July fireworks, we headed west toward the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  I don't think I've ever seen so many trees.  Maybe it just seemed liked tree overload after being in the sparsity of the desert. 

 I do love the Appalachian Trail.  Steve asked me if I would ever want to hike the whole thing.  Theoretically, yes.  Realistically, not a prayer.  I'll just have to settle for bits and pieces.

Blazes marking the Appalachian Trial   Newfound Gap

Border of North Carolina/Tennessee

We stayed in a cool circular hotel in Gatlinburg Tennessee. It's kind of hard to see, but it was a long way down from the 15th floor. Those are lounge chairs and tables way down there.

View from the 15th Floor inside our hotel, Gatlinburg, TN

View from our window, Gatlinburg, TN  Great Smoky Mountains

Trail to Rainbow Falls.  This hike gave new meaning to "glistening."

Here I am starting up the trail to Rainbow Falls. Man, was it humid!  We were soaked through in the first ten minutes. Of course, silly us, we started at noon.  What were we thinking?  Things got a little better as we got higher on the trail.  Oh, and I should mention that we ate about 800 calories worth of pastries from The Donut Friar before starting out.  I'm sure it got us up the mountain.

 

Natural rhododendrons

On the trail to Rainbow Falls

Small falls before reaching Rainbow Falls

An unexpected beauty

Yeah, we were that hot!  Steve's so nice to accompany me on these death marches. 

Gatlinburg, TN

 Gatlinburg is just a mile from the western entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  What a fun town!  It was resort town/arcade/music festival all rolled into one.  In the evening they had Tunes and Tales with musicians, dancers and storytellers entertaining from 6:30 until 11:00.  We listened to a bluegrass band sitting in beautiful "Old Kentucky Home" style rocking chairs, and we had just settled in to listened to the dulcimer players when rain started splatting down and everyone ran for cover.  Interesting fact:  the dulcimer was popular with the Scottish immigrants because it sounded so much like a bagpipe.  I so wanted to hear the hammered dulcimer, but alas....

Great Smoky Mountains from the Foothills Parkway, Tennessee

On the way back to Shelby we stopped in Ashville, NC and had some delish BBQ at Luella's.
  I'd post the picture of the meal if I could figure out how to get it off my phone.  I LOVE, and I mean LOVE, hush puppies.  They combine the best of the corn dog with the flavor of the onion ring.  I shouldn't have, but I ate them twice while I was there.  Good they are far, far away from me in real life. (OK, that's a lie.  I know a great place here in Vegas called Hush Puppies.  It's right on the way to the temple.  So far I've managed to steer clear though.)

Paper machine under construction, Anderson, SC

And of course the whole reason for the trip was to check out construction of the new paper machines being built in Shelby, NC and Anderson SC.  This is the First Quality Tissue mill in Anderson. 

Jack's Pickin' Parlor near Williamston, SC

Jack's Pickin' Parlor was a great find.  Click here to listen to a couple of songs on You Tube.  (Sorry one is sideways.  Cameraman malfunction.)  This is just a local place started by Jack Ellenburg for bluegrass jammin'. Most of the people there on Thursday night were older men.  They took turns joining the group which was comprised at one time or another of two banjo's, guitar, Dobro, bass, mandolin and fiddle. A donation jar sat next to the door and as people came they dropped a dollar or two into the kitty.  If you didn't feel like getting on stage you could sit in the audience and play along on your instrument or sing along.  Everyone in the audience except us was local, just over for a little bluegrass on a Thursday night.  Coffee in the pot and cake on the counter to share if you wanted to.  They were still going strong when we left after an hour and a half.  It was the real deal.

 At the airport the ticket agent asked if we were going to Las Vegas for a vacation.  We said, "No, we came here."
"Why?" she asked incredulously.  

Sometimes you just can't see what you've got when you live in the middle of it.