Friday, May 13, 2022 (Friday the 13th!)
Weather - Sunny, then rain and thunderstorms, then sunny again; high of 72F
Steps - Shaun: 11,453, Shannon: 9,565
Varmints - Eastern Bluebird, turkeys, a couple of chickens, and a little lost baby bear! Shaun also got entertained by two baby bunnies chasing each other around the yard at the cabin while she typed up this blog.
It's all about the vistas around here!
Today our priority was to visit Gatlinburg, but we stayed up pretty late last night, so we didn't get an early start to the day. We decided to eat at a pancake house in Gatlinburg, so we left around 9:30 and got into town around 10:30. We found the perfect parking place, and off we went to eat. It was a pretty crowded place, but Shannon got some sweet potato pancakes and I got some peach crepes that weren't worth the slight stretching of my moral code and eating eggs.
After breakfast, we decided to go to an interesting theme park called Anakeesta, which sits on the top of a mountain in the heart of Gatlinburg. It was cool because we rode a chairlift up (Shannon had never ridden on a chairlift before, so she was excited), and the weather was perfect (until it wasn't). We enjoyed the ride and took in the views all around us. One thing we were excited to see was the tuliptree blooming. Usually these trees are so tall that it's hard to see the tulip-shaped blossoms from below, but because we were in the chair lift, we got to see them in their full glory from above!
Once we quickly hopped off the chairlift, we headed toward an area of the park called Vista Gardens, where there are all kinds of flowers and sculptures and lots of cool metal and wood work. Along the way, we were interested to read a series of signs about the Gatlinburg Fire, a wildfire that killed 14, injured hundreds, and destroyed 2500 homes in 2016. The signs included a series of pictures by a local photographer of families laying on white mattresses surrounded by the ruins of their burned out homes. He then showed the families together with a statement by them of their recovery from the fire. It was a really powerful photo series about a disaster we knew virtually nothing about before today.
Further along the path to the gardens, we happened upon some people who were looking at something in the trees below. There were two security guys down there, so we asked what was going on, and we were told there was a baby bear down there! The security guys were trying to gently lead him away from the park, but my question was where the heck was his mother? She never showed, but the bear was the smallest one I've ever seen. No kidding, he was no bigger than a 8-week-old lab puppy! We didn't get a picture of him, but it still counts as a bear sighting in my book.
Finally we arrived at Vista Gardens, and we met Willow, the twigaloo, and Shannon took my picture with him. We definitely had a moment. He takes me back to my fantasy days of the Hobbit and Neverending Story. Isn't he cute? I just love him!
The park has a 60-foot tall observation tower that is really cool. It was made to look like a flower with super strong wood supports that were absolutely beautiful. After climbing up 8 flights of stairs, we were treated to 360-degree views of the surrounding mountains, and each of the points of the compass showed the mountains and landmarks that could be viewed from that direction. There were also 3 areas where the floor was see-through that were a little freaky, but it was a really fun way to see the area from the highest point in Gatlinburg.
We had been paying close attention to the weather because it was supposed to rain at 2:00 with the chance of thunderstorms later in the day. We made it down the chairlift at 2:00 on the dot after just feeling the first drops of rain. We walked to the Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, just behind the chairlift, and apparently the heavens opened up after we walked through the door! We had a good time learning about the school, which was started around 1911 and supports the artists in the area, and then we decided to eat and get out of town before we got too wet.
Besides the tower, there were some fun structures to play on, including bent-wood sculptures and structures and 14 interconnected suspension bridges hanging 60 feet in the air called the Treetop Skywalk. It was all super fun and not things we would normally do.
There was also a wisteria tunnel that smelled really good, and the plants were very happy, so of course we had to play in there for a bit as well.
We ate at a good but not great Mexican restaurant called No Way Jose, and then we made a grocery store and post office run before driving to a pottery store called Alewine Pottery, which was recommended by Rita House (Debbie Struble's cousin—thank you, Rita!). It was awesome! I may have bought a very pretty vase with dogwoods etched into it, and both Shan and I got mega soup bowls. Our final stop of the day was at an artist community where Shannon found some really cool marbled paper products that ended up being made by the lady who waited on us. Naturally, Shan was in heaven talking shop with the lady, so it was a really great find.
We had to get back to the cabin because Shannon had a book club meeting at 7:00 p.m., so as I type this, she's trashing another romance novel with her peeps. Tomorrow, we're not sure what we're doing. It may rain again, and we had planned on going to the highest mountain in the park called Clingman's Dome and then hiking to a place called Andrew's Bald, which is a flat meadow at the top of the mountain. We'll see what the day brings and report back tomorrow. Until then, we bid you adieu!
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