Saturday, September 26, 2026
We slept in after our busy Dollywood days. Nice. We officially entered the Great Smoky Mountains National Park just south of Pigeon Forge. It as a lovely green drive. We thought we would stop in Gatlinburg and look for lunch. That was not a good plan. We crept down the main street in nearly stopped traffic, while watching hundreds of women completely fill the sidewalks. It was like going to the Dells with the foot traffic of Las Vegas. Eventually we passed the convention center which advertised Welcome Favored Women. Favored Women? I had to look it up. It took a little looking to ascertain that it is a “Christian women’s ministry and multi-day conference organization that hosts weekend faith getaways, retreats, and worship events.” Huh. It’s not a thing, except that it puts on getaways. Huh. There were really a lot of women.
It was just toooo crowded and parking lots were advertising $20 flat rate for the day, so we just abandoned Gatlinburg. By the way, I looked that up too. It was named for Radford Gatlin, owner of the second general store. When a post office opened in his store, they named the town after him. He was forced to leave town three years later because he was a southern sympathizer in a pro-Union area. Huh. Three years and they didn’t just go back to White Oaks Flat after they ran the guy out of town? Weird.
We drove on in the Smoky Mountains. It was very pretty. We saw a bunch of elk. We took a picture of one.
We ended up eating in Cherokee, the name of the town in the Indian reservation at the south end of the park at a place called All Fried Up. Keith had fabulous catfish and I had a shrimp po’boy. Mmm.
We were driving toward Charlotte on a three lane highway and the GPS said we were going to see a troll in three minutes. Toto, I don’t think we’re in Denmark anymore. Gone are those wandering trips into the forest, wondering where we will find a troll. Americans just get to drive up and say, “There he is!”
Big Pete With the Big Feet is the biggest troll we have seen – 65 feet long. He is lying down because he loves the nature all around him so much and hates stepping on the beautiful flora. There were a lot of recycled barrels in his arms and legs which was cool looking. His body had so much color. I really enjoyed just looking at the artistry of Pete.
We had Jamaican food for dinner that Keith described as stunningly good. Well ordered, us!