Thursday, November 17, 2011
Still more pictures
the last picture was taken from the road to Clingman's Dome, looking out on the mountains below.
Let it snow, let it snow….. November 17, 2011
Today we decided to take a drive into the Great Smoky Mountains to check out the campgrounds for future trips. It was so much fun because either I had never been to the cities we drove through or had not been to them since I was a little girl.
Maggie Valley is so close to us; we were there in no time & passed by the St. Margaret of Scotland Church with its tower sitting high on a hill. We stopped at the Oconaluftee Visitors Center near Cherokee then drove past where Laura used to perform in “Unto these Hills.” Seems so long ago.
The weather yesterday was so violent in this area, I was glad to see it was better. We drove to Smokemont Campground, a lovely little place open year round with sites right on the river. The river that was wild and rushing, by the way, from all the rains of yesterday. So pretty. Our roads followed the river most of the day. We also saw wild turkeys roaming among the campsites. I whispered to them to run, run for their lives! It was too close to Thanksgiving for them to be running about in the open.
Soon after leaving Smokemont, the snow began. Yes, SNOW!!! I was so excited! Within minutes of beginning, the trees were lightly dusted and the snow was sticking to the ground. Snowflakes swirled around us and then it got even heavier with the wind driving the snow sideways. It was great because the snow was so pretty and even heavy and it coated the ground and trees but the roads weren’t getting covered at all.
After Smokemont, we drove into Gatlinburg and had lunch at Flapjack’s Pancake Cabin. Oh my, such delicious pancakes AND biscuits. Almost like cake. Then we drove up to Pigeon Forge then back down to check out Elkmont, which closes very soon for the season. It also had very pretty sites on the river. We drove all the way out to the other campground that’s open all year, Cades Cove, but most of it was closed because of bear sightings!!!
Leaving Cades Cove, we had a choice of going north and hitting the highway or reversing our course and going back the way we came. We chose the latter because we wanted to try to get up to Clingman’s Dome now that the sun was out.
The nearer we got to the Clingman’s Dome turnoff, the lower the temperature went. The trees were so pretty. It was a winter wonderland—“wonderfully wintery,” as Katie called it when I described it. Tray says the trees looked this way because of ice fog. I don’t know why they were this way, but it was so magical to see. I hope the pictures do them justice.
A few years ago, I had this snowglobe that had a silver base and all that was inside was silvery trees with no leaves and the snow that would swirl around and land on the empty branches. That’s what this reminded me of.
The road got a bit slippery as we neared the summit at Clingman’s Dome and the temperature dropped to 19 degrees. Brrrrr.
On the way back through Maggie Valley, we saw the Cliffedge Roller Coaster at the old Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park, high above the city. I think it’s closed now. We also saw signs for Frog Jam and Jelly for sale. Well, I know there are some interesting dishes made famous by mountainfolk, but really? Then I started wondering about it—what it made of frog’s legs? Was it jelly-like?—yuck and double-yuck. Was it green? A neon green? See, I had it all imagined out. Turns out that Frog Jelly is so named because of the first letter of each of its four ingredients—Figs, Raspberries, Oranges, & Ginger. Whew…that was a close one.
Well, anyway, now that I have seen the beautiful snows here in my mountains so close to me, I can’t wait until we get snow here at our townhouse. Our living room is really magical already this year. For the first year in, well, FOREVER, I have talked Ray into putting up the tree early!!! I let him pick out the tree and the decorations and I must say that it is truly an amazing sight. When he kept adding and adding things to it, I got scared for a minute there, but when he turned on the tree lights, it sparkled just the way a tree always sparkled when you were a child and walked in to see it for the very first time. It almost made me cry, it was so beautiful. So now every night between now and how ever long I can talk him into keeping the tree up, I will have a magical sparkling sight to behond in my living room.
Pictures: "Snow etching" that Ray did on a sign beside the river; the Little River that we followed all day; a lone red leaf amongst the bare or green trees; group of leaves that seemed to just hang in the air; loved the colors in this one--green and white and sunshine. Bear with me because I had a hard time NOT choosing every single picture from today to post. : )
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