Wendy's trip log: December 2021

September 2021

I am trying to catch up on my back posts. Im only about 5 posts behind and I leave for another trip tomorrow. These next 5 posts really need to have a bit more detail so I am going to try and do what I can with this one and hopefull have a break from trip taking after I return from my next trip.

Mark and I had discussed taking a trip back out to Las Vegas this fall and potentially visiting the Grand Canyon on that trip./Instead however, I convinced him to take a road trip and head to the state of Tennesee to visit The Great Smoky Mountains.

Day 1: West Virginia

First stop however was in West Virginia to take in the newest National Park, New River Gorge.

New River Gorge is best known for it's adventurous activities. Mark and I are are NOT what you would consider ADVENTEROUS. We dont really even "hike". I think these are things I need to work on that going forward especially since I am attempting to go to all the National Parks.

NRG is big for rock wall climbing, hiking and its biggest thrill is white water rafting. I have no interest in rock climbing and that actually looks terrifying, we did some hiking, but I have never white water rafted and this would be awesome. However, Mark has no desire to do this. He claims he can't see cause he cannot wear his glasses. So I have decided we have to work on that for the future too. Anyway, we were not planning on any of the big adventurous activities or tours for New River Gorge, but we were willing to visits the bridge and gorge as well as the visitor center. I need to get my magnet and passport stamp.

It was a very pretty view.

We spoke with a couple who had done the white water rafting as well as rock wall climbed. they said it was amazing.

We left this area of the park to explore more. Since this park has only recently been identified as a National Park, I found that it was a bit disjointed. The park intertwines with the area towns and we struggled to find where we were going. We did end up in the valley where the river runs through the gorge, we also visited the old train station, which actually continues to be used.

We took this road that ran along a stream and the railroad. It was very pretty. We traveled into this area called Thurmond, which was the heart of the New River Gorge area. Once a steam town home to the railroad and provided the main means of transportation for the people in the area as well as the depot for the coal that was mined in the area.

We had to cross this single car bridge to get there.

These old buildings were once used when the town was very active.

We got lucky while we were there as a train actually went through.

Below you can see the coal that is being transported.

We took a drive to a bridge that goes over the river. There were some nice views.

The cliff. I'm not sure of the significance, but there was a NP sign indicating this. Overall, I was not as impressed with this National Park. I am thinking that I would have a different opinion if we had done some hiking or did the white water rafting. I had done some previous reading on the park and had been interested in the African American Heritage tour, but we did not play on staying in the area that long and the self guided tour seemed to be spread out through out the area. Perhaps next time.

We finished up the day at our local hotel, which was actually in the park area. Our hotel was called Holiday Hotel and it had a restaurant attached to it. We decided on a nice dinner at Rafters, and shared a pitcher of beer before hitting the bed by 8pm. It had been a long day after all, and we were beat. Rafter had the best fried pickles....YUM

The following morning we headed off towards Tennessee for our next adventure...

Day 2:

It was about a 3 hour drive from the hotel to Pigeon Forge and another 15vminutes to Gatlinburg. We stopped in a little town just before Pigeon Forge where I insisted that we say hello to Dolly Parton. At least her statue.....

Once we entered into Pigeon Forge it was brain overload. Everywhere you look is something to look at. The main street is home to several attractions, shops, eateries and touristy stops. The first thing we wanted to look into was the Titanic Museum experience.

Unfortunately, they were sold out for the current time period, but we were able to schedule a time for later in the day.

We did a little walk around the outside of the building to get a good look. The building is a replica of the notorious ship. It is really cool to look at. I became very interested in the history of the titanic just as the movie was coming out in 1997. I had done some of my own research in the subject and couldn't wait to see the movie. I loved it, despite the sad story that this incident in history is about.

Right next door to the Titanic museum is the Hatfield and McCoy dinner theater. We made our way over to find out if we could get some dinner later that evening. Just our luck they had a few seats left for the 8pm show. This time worked out well for our scheduled time at the Titanic Museum. We would have a few hours at the museum and be ready for dinner after. After we obtain our tickets we walked around the building to take in all of the fun displayed surrounding the building.

There are a ton of funny "hillbilly" themed items surrounding the lot. If you are unaware of the Hatfields and McCoy's then I will give you a little insight.

The story goes something like this. These two rural families from West Virginia began feuding back in the years of 1863-1891, over ownership of a pig. Although the families are real and the feud is also real, there is a degree of folklore that has been added to the tales. However, both families did have deaths as a result of the feud, and there are some truths to the stories.

Randall McCoy and Devil Arce Hatfield were the identified patriarch of the two families during the days surrounding the civil war. Hatfield owned a large land plot and McCoys identified a pig on the Hatfield land. Although this is not the whole truth as much of the beef between the two families had more to do with the death of Harmom McCoy. Both the Hatfileds and the McCoys were confederates, but Harmon had fought for the Union. when Harmon was killed, it was suspected it was Devil who had done this. This resentment, and the fact that the Hatfields had more wealth and land started a war.

The real feud started in 1878 when Randolph McCoy accused Floyd Hatfield of stealing a pig. Brought to justice the Hatfields won by the testimony of one Bill Statton. Bill was a relative of both families. He was later killed by two McCoy's.

More tension arose when Rosanna McCoy entered into a relationship with Devils son Johnse. Rosanna later became pregnant with Johnse who would leave her for her cousin. Betrail was certainly consistent on both sides. Rosanna younger brothers later killed Devils brother and when they were arrested the Hatfields intercepted the arrest and killed them. This type of revenge killing continued over the years, but the peak of the feud was on New Years 1888. The Hatfields surrounded the McCoy's home and opened fire. They also burned down the cabin with members within the home. Two children were killed in the home and although Randolph escaped his wife Sarah was beaten nearly to death and additional children suffered frost bite as they hid in the woods.

A posse went after the Hatfields and more family members were killed resisting arrest for their role in the New Years incident. On August 24th 8 Hatfields and their friends were indidited on the murder of the McCoys young daughter killed during the New Years incident. The US Supreme Court had to get involved and all but 1 of the 8 were convicted sentenced to life in prison. 1 member was hung.

Its actually a horrible story that has become a folklore of humor and funny family feuding, but I had the dinner theater booked before I knew of all the sad details.

The show itself is about the feud, but no one gets killed and they actually become friends in the end.

Below is another attraction in the Pigeon Forge area.

So...anyway, since we did not have our reservations until later we went to our hotel in Gatlinburg and checked in.

This place is beautiful and overlooks the river.

This will be our home for the next three nights.

We relaxed in the room for a bit before we headed back to Pigeon Forge for our Titanic adventure.

With the ticket/ boarding pass we were each given a name of an actual person who was on board the titanic when it sailed its maiden voyage in 1912. I received 1st class passenger Victorine Chaudanson. She was a 36 year old French governance/maid of Emily Ryderson who was traveling with the famliy back to the United States upon the knowledge that the families son had died in an auto accident. Victorine did survive the crash, as I found out in the end of the museum walk through.

There were no pictures allowed in the museum, but I did get some at the end and in the souvenir shop.

Rather then provide details about that fateful night that the titanic hit the iceburg ending the lives of 1,500 people, I figured I would instead provide my own views of the experience.

(Pictured is a replica of the Titanic built by a 12 year old kid out of legos)

The experience was quite good, and for the price it had better, There was a ton of information and a whole lot to read or ponder over. We were also given headphones that would provide information with corresponding numbers. Relics were often highlighted with the information and we were given more details as we explored each item. The negative to this was time constraints and there were so many people also in the museum with us, it made it difficult to spend a long period of time at each artifact and it also was difficult to hear what was being said on the earphones due to other people talking. There was just a whole lot of information and with people breathing down your neck (during a pandemic and no masks were not required) it made for little time to lag. I found myself often just skimming the information as I quickly passed by an artifact.

Despite the crowds, the museum did an incredible job of providing information about the Titanic while also allowing for some interactive experiences. I learned that the movie was pretty accurate on the details. Remove the love story about Jack and Rose, take out Celine Dion and the way the event occurred are pretty much on track with what had happened that night.

There were some details that stuck out to me that I did not recall from the movie.

Apparently, there was a fire in the boiler room well before the iceberg incident. My husband claims this was noted in the movie, but I hadn't remembered this. There were far more children killed during this incident then I wanted to believe. Actually 53 children died that night. There were also several animals that were killed. 12 dogs, multiple chickens and roosters, a canary and the ships rat catcher kitty; Jenny perished upon the ship that night. A rumor and also published was that a pig had survived the titanic sinking, later it was found that this was a pig shaped music box and not an actual pig.

Some cool details were things like just how much food, dishes, bedding and daily products were on the titanic. It is suggested that there were 12,000 dinner plates on the titanic. Other items were spelled out in the museum. A first class ticket cost between $150 to $4,300 depending upon the rooms. This is equivalent to $1,700 to $50,000 today. The cheapest ticket (3d class) cost about $15- in those days.

There were a few interactive components within the museum. There was an exact to size replica of the stairwell complete with the clock and the laminate floors. Yep, the Titanics grand staircase floors were made of a new material called Laminate. At the time it was a new material; light weight and durable, it was also extremely expensive. Who knew?

....

The museum also had inclines that you could walk on. Three different inclines indicated the ships incline as its bow lifted into the night sky before the ship broke in half and sunk into the sea. I tried all three inclines and I would have most definitely slid off on the third highest. I was wearing flip flops, but the shoes of a women in the 1912's were probably much worse.

The temperature of the ocean the titanic sunk into was 28 degrees. Thats some pretty cold water. The museum had water baths to allow you to feel just how cold this would feel. I tried to keep my hand submerged as long as possible. 15 minutes would cause hypothermia, I could barely last 5 before my hand started to hurt.

The museum had a special dedication on the Jewish population while we were there. I was surprised to learn that there was a kosher diet on the menu.

Overall I truly enjoyed the museum. The experience was impressive and tasteful.

After the museum we walked over to dinner for the Hatfield vs McCoys dinner theater.

I've never been to dinner theater before, so I was excited about what this would be like. I also knew that I was starving, we hadn't eaten in a long time so we were ready for food. The meal was incredible.

All you can eat, soup, cornbread/biscuits, pulled pork, fried chicken, coleslaw, corn on the cob and mashed potatoes.

It was a large amount of food and it was actually really good. I initially had gasped at the price of the show, and even looked into other dinner shows to get an idea about price and this was

about the same price as the others. The area also has a Pirate dinner show, The Dolly Parton stampede show, a Biblical dinner show and three murder mystery shows.

The Hatfield vs McCoys show was very loosely based off the family feud identified above. The show doesn't play out the real history, but rather uses the history as the bad blood between the two families prompting an "our family is better than yours" with fiddle playing, dancing and even a contest over each family's diving dogs.

There was real diving dogs on the show.

Perhaps the most impacted by the two families feuding was the newly appointed sheriff who in an attempt to stop the feud, would be blown up in an outhouse, shot at, sinking in a rowboat filled with holes and other crazy antics.

In the end they two families make up and Ma marries Pa making the two families one. Comedy over tragedy. Even if the comedy was a little corny. Mark and I were on the Hatfield side of the theater, and I even purchased a cow bell to ring when the actors prompted the audience to engage. "Hatfields are the BEST!!!!!"

It was a much-enjoyed evening and some really good food. I will definitely

do another diner theater in the future.

Day 3:

The following day Mark and I got up early to go into the Great Smoky Mountains. I was interested in going to the section of the park called Cades Cove. We were up so early it was pitch black in the park, but the Cade Cove area of the park was on the far side of the park over an hour from where we were. Cade Cove is the meadow area of the park where most animals are spotted. I also was aware that this was often the most crowded part of the park and the loop drive could take some time due to the congestion of cars. Getting there early would offer us less crowds and the early morning when many animals were out and about,

Unfortunately as we were heading into the park, a flashing sign indicated that Cades Cove was closed for work on the roads. I was devastated.

So, we decided to head back out of the park and went into Pigeon Forge for breakfast at Waffle House. We love this place as there are none in our area. Yum. We had a wonderful breakfast before heading back into the park.

We went back into the park with the rain and fog covering the area. Even as the light of the day it was still dreary and the possibility of mountain views were low. We decided to head up to the second place I had hoped to visit. Clingmans Dome.

It was cold and raining, although I was determined to get to the top of Clingman's dome I knew it was a steep climb up and I was sure we would not see anything. I did start up but was winded soon after I began my journey. It is steep, as other came down I inquired if we were close and if we would see anything. Told there was much more climbing and that the view was obstructed by the fog. I surrender and headed back to the truck.

Below is the steep incline up to Clingman.

As Mark continued up. I took a look out over the side from where I was standing. (below) As you can see, there was nothing to see. just clouds.

When mark returned he confirmed that there was nothing to see. He also told me the winds were so strong it was unbearable to stay up there.

Up next we headed to the North Carolina area of the park. We went around the corner and ran into these guys.

We came upon several Elk lingering in the meadow.

We the went to the area Visitor Center where I got my passport stamped as well as a magnet.

The Oconluftree Visitor Center is located near the Mountain Farm Museum.

We took the trails over to the farm and wondered around these old farm buildings.

Nice view by the outhouse.

Even some farm animals.

Actually really pretty.

We hiked along the river trail.

And I got a great picture of the mountains from the farm valley.

Mark found that there was a casino nearby, so we left the park and went into the Native American town of

Cherokee, NC

This town is darling and looks very clean and nice. In the center of the town is a very large casino.

Mark and I went in and played a few slots before Mark hit a jackpot. Good job Mark. We the headed

back into the park and got a picture by the park sign.

Our next stop was Newfoundland Gap, where trails lead to connect with the Appalachean Trail.

Its also the overlook area on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee.

We stopped off at a few more overlooks along our drink back to the entrance we came in and saw some nice stops.

We continued to have clouds despite the sun coming out over the course of the day. I guess that is why it is called the Smoky Mountains.

Having spent the day in the park (and the casino) we decided to head back to the hotel before taking a walk into the village of Gatlinburg.

Gatlinburg is a more quaint then Pigenforge, but they also have some great attractions. There are three sky lifts in the area and we decided to do Anakeesia.

I recommend that you preorder tickets should you decide to make this attraction part of your trip. We waited for a long time to get out tickets and make our way up the mountain. It was insanely hot in the line and there is no shade.

We decided to take the gondola going up. It was a little creepy. We stopped a few times going up and the carts swung in the breeze. I asked a guy who was monitoring one of the posts along the way if he had seen any bears. He did say there were some earlier. We missed it, but I kept my eyes open.

Once at the top you can enjoy the many views of the mountains and take in some of the trails .

Its really pretty. We took a few of the fun trails.

We climbed up to the top of the tower and we got some amazing views.

We walked along the swinging bridge trail. this was so much fun walking in the trees.

I would recommend that you bring your own beverage up the mountain. It is very costly for beverages and drinks ups here. We did some more exploration before we took the ski lifts back down. No bears were seen.

Once we were back down the mountain, we walked along the main road looking for a place to eat dinner. Mark wanted steak and we found a place that seemed nice. Berg Steak house. It was nice and they had an amazing salad bar.

after dinner we walked back to the hotel.

Day 4:

Our hotel looked over the river and the main road in Gatlinburg. There was a nice balcony that we had made a habit of sitting on in the morning while on our visit, as Mark was enjoying the balcony he called in the room to me that he saw a bear walk across the street. (Below you can just see a brown shape between the two signs, thats him.)

I had just stepped out of the shower, but my husband went down to the road and caught a picture of the guy a little closer. A worker had opened a supply closet and was re-stocking the store. He had left the storage door open. The bear had decided to get a drink. He was opening sprites with his teeth. I watched as the clerk shooed the bear off.

What a great start to the day. We had decided to go back into the national Park and do some more exploring, however it began to rain.

We stopped at the Sugarlands Visitors Center and walked around on a few trails before the rain really started coming down.

So we headed to the Salt and Pepper Museum. I believe it is the only one in the world. It cost $5- for admission and there really were a ton of salt and pepper shakers.

Owls, my favorite.

The smallest shakers.

It was still raining after we left the museum, so we went back to the hotel to relax. We later took a shuttle bus back into Gatlinburg. (There is a bus shuttle that runs through out the town and also into Pigeon Forge. It was free when we were there, but I am not sure if this is always this way.)