Day Six - On Top of the Smokies

June 12 - We spent almost the entire day in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, driving from Pigeon Forge to Cherokee, NC on the other side, with a side trip to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in Tennessee.

Kay wanted to eat a picnic lunch by a creek, but lacking the wherewithal to create a picnic, we stopped at Subway in Gatlinburg for sandwiches, chips and cookies. We were happy to find Subway open before 10 a.m.

Gatlinburg looked like Myrtle Beach in the mountains, with pancakes. We didn't do a study, but it looked like you could eat at a different pancake restaurant every day of the week.

Once we got into the park we wasted little time rolling out the food (continental breakfast at Vacation Lodge being a pretty barren event). Kay mentioned Cade's Cove (?), which turned out to be 24 miles away in a different direction than Cherokee. Instead, we chose The Chimneys, which Kay recognized as soon as she saw it. The girls ate their sandwiches on the rocks in the creek. I was happy to make my way down to creekside. I waited as long as I could, but finally had to make the trip up the hill to the restroom. The trip and the minibottle of wine with lunch left me a little groggy, but I persevered up the mountain to Clingman's Dome, the highest point above sea level in Tennessee.

There Kallie and Erin took the half-mile walk uphill to the observation tower, while Kay and I pulled out the folding chairs and sat at the overlook. Eventually I bailed out to the more comfortable car front seat and took a nap while we waited for the girls to come back from the top of the mountain.

From Clingman's Dome we continued on to Cherokee, NC, where our goal was to buy hamburgers and other supplies for a picnic supper back at The Chimneys. Cherokee has a lot more to offer, mostly regarding Native American culture, as the town is mostly occupied by the Cherokee Indian Reservation. I imagine, however, that the biggest draw is the Harrah's Cherokee Casino. We drove past it on the way to the Food Lion grocery store. We probably should have explored more, but Erin had been to Cherokee already and I was still tired and ready to eat and get back to the motel.

Our cookout went well. Kay made sure I could light the fire, buying both Match Light charcoal and giant starter-soaked matches that double as kindling. Not having any way to deal with leftovers, we just ate burgers and a little macaroni salad.

Sac got a little confused on the way back to Pigeon Forge...I'm not sure why given that we were on the Parkway almost the whole trip. But we find our way on our own. Back in town, the girls got their go-kart rides while I took it easy in the room, playing my online Scrabble games and downloading pictures from my camera.

Head over to www.photoblog.com/dadlak for today's pictures. Don't know if I'll have time to add many here.

Tomorrow we ride more than 400 miles to Chester, VA to stay with the Wilsons. I worked with Allen back in Orangeburg. He and his wife Laura have two teenage boys. They all live in a big farmhouse with horses and a pool. We haven't seen them for quite awhile--maybe since we left Virginia in early 1994. (Kay reminds me that we did see them in Baton Rouge on a couple of occasions, most recently at a wedding in Allen's family--he grew up in Baton Rouge and went to LSU).

On To Day Seven

Day Five - On the Road Again

June 11 - Midday today we leave the Nashville area and head east toward the Smoky Mountains. We have a motel room in Pigeon Forge, TN for tonight and Thursday.

Here's a link to our route. Kallie should be able to do some driving at the beginning and end of the trip when we are off I-40. She drove over 40 miles yesterday on our trip to Santa Fe and to the Franklin Drive-In.

White House to Pigeon Forge

OK, I can type now that Top Chef is over. I lost a $10 bet with my daughter. I predicted that Lisa would win based on her final performance. Like most viewers of the show, Kallie didn't like Lisa, and rooted hard for Stephanie. Despite raving over three of Lisa's four dishes, the judges picked Stephanie as Top Chef.

Our trip to Pigeon Forge from White House was longer than I expected and a little more eventful. Fortunately, we left a little earlier than I had hoped--about 11 a.m. We dealt with a couple hours of rain, which kept Kallie from driving. Lunch at a state park took us about 10 miles off the interstate, but we got through a few anxious moments with Sac and got back on I-40 further east toward our destination. At the park we were entertained or distracted by a group of young boys playing and fighting in a sandbox. One boy threw sand while two others brandished logs and branches.

My last turn off I-40 toward Pigeon Forge caused some confusion. Heading east and turning right, I expected to find myself US 321 South. Instead, the sign read US 321 North. Sac was no help, as she wanted me back on I-40. A couple of miles down 321 I saw a church on the left, and turned into the parking lot to pray over the situation. At the same time, Kay consulted a map that showed us going in the right direction. After a couple more miles, Sac signed to our route. Apparently 321, which goes mostly east and west, does head from south to north (in the direction we were heading) over some longer distance.


We arrived in Pigeon Forge at about 5 p.m. (6 p.m. Eastern). The mountains are visible in the distance, but at close range Pigeon Forge presents a relentless array of neon and faux nature tackiness. Our second floor, non-non-smoking room was also a disappointment. We compounded the problem with a sickening lemony spray provided by the front desk. With all that roiling in the air, it was time for dinner at The Old Mill Restaurant across the street.



Even on a Wednesday night we had to wait an hour for a table. The Old Mill specializes in great quantities of food, though we really enjoyed most of what we ate, especially the fried rainbow trout and the corn fritters. Their "signature" corn chowder (made with clam juice, of all things) was disappointing.

The girls thought about go-kart rides, but not on such full stomachs. We headed back to the Vacation Lodge for the countdown to Top Chef.

Check out www.photoblog.com/dadlak for more pictures from the day. Tomorrow we plan to venture into the twisty roads of the Smoky Mountains and perhaps onto the go-kart tracks of Pigeon Forge.

On To Day Six

Day Four - Out in the Country

Sunset at the Franklin Drive-In

Cottontown to Santa Fe

Click here for a map of today's trip from White House/Cottontown to Santa Fe.

We drove from the country on one side of Nashville to the other to return to Santa Fe, TN where Kay grew up and where her father and mother lived until they died in 1986 and 2001 respectively.

On the way we stopped in the booming town of Leiper's Fork, which was once known as Hillsboro until a town closer to Nashville took the same name, turning Hillsboro into Old Hillsboro. Several years ago, the Old Hillsboro city fathers decided that having "old" in the community's name wasn't good for business, so they renamed the town Leiper's Fork after a nearby creek. Since I last passed through in 2001, the town's supermarket has expanded to become a restaurant and several fussy shops and galleries have opened nearby, although none but the grocery/restaurant was open when he passed through today.

Kay and I at Puckett's Grocery (photo by Kallie)

Microbrew beer in a Mason jar

We ate lunch at Puckett's Restaurant/Bi-Rite Grocery, and headed on down the road to Santa Fe to visit the town cemetery and see the homestead, the school and other attractions. Kallie drove about 30 miles of the 70 mile trip. Not much has changed in Santa Fe. What there is of downtown (four churches, a store/gas station and a post office) has been preserved by a bypass taking the truck traffic off Santa Fe Pike. Before this, more than one too-fast-moving truck left the road and crashed into a building. The cemetery was well-maintained and the school was abuzz with the sounds of summer session. The new owners of the homestead put a railing around the front porch and a "For Sale By Owner" sign in front of the property.

Old train station near Santa Fe (the road now occupies the railroad bed).

Santa Fe countryside


The old Gidcomb homestead in Santa Fe


Santa Fe Methodist Church

After our quick tour of downtown we headed up the hill to nearby Water Valley, where Kay's cousin has purchased her deceased parents' house and is remodeling it. The workers were busy on the transformation. We also saw the Water Valley Community Center, which before consolidation was the town school. Kay's dad helped build the school and served as the principal before he switched to the chemical industry. We also saw a pet llama, but sadly, didn't get a picture.

Kay's grandfather lived alone in this little house more than 50 years ago.

We had the most fun in Water Valley skipping stones in a creek. Our intent was just to get our feet wet, but there were a lot of small stones and a lot of flat water so we went to work. I taught stone-skipping techniques taught to me by my father to Kallie, her friend Erin (who's traveling with us) and Kallie's cousin Drew (a near natural given that he's a star Little League baseball pitcher). I had to work with Drew to convert him from his natural overhand throwing motion to the sidearm toss needed for successful skipping. Kallie threw backhand, but did OK. Erin made the best progress and looks forward to showing her father her new skill. She made at least two stones skip five times each.

Elegant pose

The trip back to White House/Cottontown was marked only by slogging through Nashville rush hour traffic (complete with an overturned tractor trailer that caused traffic to be routed off I-24 East). I also played and sang Eurythmics on the CD player, to Kallie's great consternation. Again, Queen followed as a peace offering.

In about 30 minutes we head out to the Franklin Drive-In for the double feature - Kung Fu Panda and Indiana Jones 4. You can't beat life on vacation. More pictures from the day have been posted at www.photoblog.com/dadlak

Waiting for the show to start

Drive-In Report - We arrived just before 8 p.m. (Kallie drove at dusk, a new experience for her) and waited about 30 minutes for the sun to set and the movie to start. We tuned our car radio to 91.5 FM for the audio, though we could still see the posts where the speakers used to hang. Surprisingly, there were no previews and no exhortations to visit the concession stand, which closed about 30 minutes after the movie started. I'm not sure how the theatre makes its money, given that they only charge $12 per car, which includes a voucher for a free medium popcorn.

This was far from my favorite animated movie--probably would have helped to be a fan of live action kung fu movies. Give me a charming, story-driven movie like "Toy Story" or "Finding Nemo" any day over a manic, action-packed offering like this one. I was happy that there turned out to be no second feature. Apparently that's on weekends only. My folding chair wasn't too comfortable and I was actually a little cold, even though I put on long pants. By the end of the night, I think I enjoyed the sunset more than I enjoyed the movie.

On To Day Five

Day Three - Nashville Sightseeing

History at Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage, and commerce at the Opryland Hotel were the themes of our Monday sightseeing in Nashville. One semi-outdoor activity was all we could take on a day when the temperature just kept on climbing 'til it reached 93, ten degrees above normal for the date. Kallie drove halfway into town while the traffic was still light. There were just enough big trucks coming in the opposite direction to both scare and settle her. We came within $0.001 of paying $4/gallon for a fill-up. The market price here runs between $3.90 and $3.95. I drove the rest of the way to The Hermitage, negotiating conflicting instructions part of the way coming from sister-in-law Mary Nelle and from Sac. Mary Nelle was sitting next to me in the CRV, so I followed her lead. Eventually, Sac bowed to our will.

The house was semi-interesting, though we weren't allowed to take photographs inside. Probably the best artifacts were the slippers and robe that Jackson wore on the day in 1845 when he died in his bedroom. Other than being dusted, they hadn't been moved in the intervening 163 years. To their credit, the historians at The Hermitage continue to work to understand the lives of Jackson's slaves. Between ten and twenty worked the site during Jackson's slaveholding years, and at a couple stayed behind to serve the Jackson family after emancipation. Alfred, a family slave and servant for most if not all of his 98 years, is buried in the Jackson family cemetery on The Hermitage grounds. Kay remembered an "oval room" from a childhood visit. Either the room has been squared off, or Kay has The Hermitage confused with another historical building (we're thinking Monticello), which does have a rotunda.

After touring the house and part of the grounds we were ready for lunch, which we ate at the restaurant cafe. Dinner Bell-style food (chicken and dumplings, corn, green beans, cornbread, baked ham, etc.) was served cafeteria style. Kay and I were able to get a locally brewed pale ale that was pretty good. We fed five people for about $50--not bad for museum food.

Mary Nelle and Sac were in good agreement on the path from The Hermitage to Opryland Hotel. You wouldn't think that a hotel would be much of a tourist destination, but then you wouldn't be thinking like Gaylord Entertainment, operators of the site, who believe enough to charge $16 plus tax just to park in an outdoor lot. The hotel consists of three areas - Cascades, Delta and Magnolia, connected by long walkways that double as botanical gardens, some of which are quite spectacular. Various retail establishments provide food, drinks and souvenirs. For another $8 or so you can take a boat ride around the indoor lagoon. Having done this before, Kay and I let the girls do that while we searched for a margarita and big screen TV. This turned out to be harder than it seemed, but eventually we were directed to Rusty's Sports Pub, home of the $12 margarita (I chose iced tea). We were looking for the LSU-Irvine baseball game, which didn't start for another three hours--plenty of time for us to get back to White House and our own HD television. Oh yeah, the Tigers won 21-7 to advance to the College World Series in Omaha!

For more pictures of this day, check out my Photoblog www.photoblog.com/dadlak

Today we head southwest into the country to Santa Fe, TN, Kay's girlhood home and where her mother lived until 2001, when she died at age 91. The weather is supposed to be a little cooler, with the temperature topping out at 88. We could feel a little difference in the air this morning, which comes early in northern Tennessee. Dawn arrives at about 5:15, and by 6 a.m. it's daytime. I have been sleeping until about 7.

On To Day Four

Day Two - On the Ground in Tennessee

After morning sessions of birdwatching and driving practice, we spent the rest of Sunday with family--eating, watching sports in HD and playing with a passel of grand nieces and nephews. Kay's grand nieces and nephews range from age 18 to 2. The youngest four on hand belong to her niece Dana, who lives nearby in Nashville with her husband Shane.





The two older girls played cards with Kallie and Erin most of the day. The younger kids cruised the house finding things to do.

The sports highlight of the day was LSU's 9-7 comeback win over UC-Irvine in Game Two of the NCAA superregional in Baton Rouge. The Anteaters led 7-2 after six innings, but the Tigers stormed back with five runs in the ninth to force a third game in the best-of-three series.

The lowlight was the first three quarters of Game Two of the NBA Finals, led by the Celtics 83-61. I gave up and went to bed. The Lakers rallied in the fourth quarter, but still lost 108-102. I think the Lakers will need to sweep the three games in Los Angeles if they want to win the championship.

On To Day Three

Day One - Tennessee Travels

Our 11-hour trip from Baton Rouge to Tennessee yesterday was a routine event, and even a little bit fun. We left the house at about 8:50 a.m., the biggest impediment being getting all our luggage in the back of the CRV.

After only three more stops--at the bank, back at the house to pick up some left-behind items and ice for the cooler, and at Target to buy what we didn't have at home (most critically, Pepsi), we hit I-12 at about 9:45. Kallie programmed our new Tomtom GPS device, which we named Sacagawea, or "Sac".

Our first stop was the Dinner Bell Restaurant in McComb, MS, a popular stop with most of my family. Having grown up in middle Tennessee, my wife loves the country cooking, served on a big lazy susan. I'm not as enthralled. To me it's more like a competent Cracker Barrel without the gift shop, but the banana pudding is the best. We arrived just as the restaurant opened, and made the first seating. About 30 minutes later at 11:45 we were stuffed and back on the road.

The rest of the stops were more utilitarian. We decided that after the Dinner Bell we could make the rest of the trip without another sitdown meal. I don't recommend the Stuckey's/Dairy Queen in Blount Springs, AL off I-65, where it took me three tries to get a plain cheeseburger. First the clerk tried to sell me a large bacon burger. The $4.19 price tag got my attention and I talked him down to a plain cheeseburger for $1.79. Back in the car I bit into the burger and found it covered with ketchup, mustard and pickles. On the third try, I got what I'd ordered the first time.


Back seat met front seat about halfway through the trip when we played Arkansas-born folk singer Iris Dement on the CD player. Kallie moaned about her twang and begged us to turn it off. We responded by singing the the gospel song Higher Ground at top volume, accompanying Dement's mother, who is even twangier than her daughter.

As a peace offering I agreed to play Queen's Greatest Hits next. We sang along to Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, Bicycle Race and Somebody to Love. I was pretty much alone (except for Freddie Mercury and the boys) on Fat Bottomed Girls.

The rest of the way we played a series of silly car games, the likes of which we haven't done in years--I usually sing along to CDs, Kay reads or sleeps and Kallie watches DVDs on her laptop. My favorite was "guess that animal"--I stumped the car with both vole and lemming, and got stumped by a cone jellyfish.

Just as Sac predicted, we pulled into the driveway in White House, TN at 8:20 p.m. This was not a great coup for her given that she updates predicted arrival times continuously.


Dinner was awaiting and appreciated, as was the end of the Phillies-Braves game on the big screen TV, won by the Phils, 6-2. I'd heard the pregame show on the radio hours earlier in Alabama, but the station was too weak to take us all the way to northern Tennessee.

On To Day Two