Mountains and Caves

The next trip that my wife and I took was for our first anniversary. We decided to take a driving tour that included stays in Hendersonville, Pigeon Forge, Chattanooga, and Scottsboro. Our trip began with the drive to Hendersonville. We avoided the interstate and took the trip through Greenwood, Ware Shoals, and Greenville. It was nice to not feel like we were on a deadline to get somewhere. We got to the Hotel in Hendersonville and checked in. The next day, we enjoyed the small downtown area of Hendersonville and went to an apple orchard. At the apple orchard, they had a maize maze. That’s what I like to call them. It was pretty interesting and pretty large. It was threatening rain so we were kind of in a hurry to get through. The pattern was a little predictable but with a few twists to keep it interesting. The apples were good too.

The next day we uprooted and drove towards Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. We again took the scenic route that brought us to Sylva, NC. We stopped at Lulu’s Café on Main Street. I am not sure what else we ordered, but we planned to share a bowl of broccoli and cheese soup, the soup of the day. The waiter informed us that we would each want our own bowl of soup. We ignored the waiter’s advice and ended up regretting it. It was very good. We were fighting over the bowl of soup. Legendary. We walked around Sylva a little and found it to be a really interesting little town.

Next, we hit a roadblock. The road between Cherokee and Gatlinburg had been closed. This forced us to drive back to I-40 and take US Highway 321. We found very little traffic on 321, which was a nice break. Suddenly, just in front of the car, a bear strolls out of the woods. We pass just a few feet from him as he starts to cross the road. I stopped the car to get a better look at him. My wife, horrified that I had stopped, rolled up the windows in the car. Seriously? I did find a little humor in that. But the bear was not interested in us and was quickly getting away.

We spent the next couple of days in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. We roamed around Gatlinburg and took the sky lift up the mountain to see the birds eye view of Gatlinburg. I guess I wasn’t ready for Gatlinburg to be so touristy, so we were a little let down. The next day we took a tour of the Old Mill. That was quite interesting. I was surprised at how much processing equipment went along with the big rock (a.k.a. millstone). We also toured Boyds Bear Country. Snooze.

Well it was time to pack up again and head to Chattanooga. We again took the scenic route and stopped at Tuckaleechee Caverns. I had been to the Cave of the Mounds in Wisconsin before but this was my wife’s first trip underground. It was a little corny but there was history of the cave and general information about cave formations. I guess my wife must have liked it because the next stop on the way to Chattanooga was the Lost Sea, another cavern. This one is a little different in that it does not have a natural entrance. Truly untouched. It also boasts the second largest known underground lake, and at the end of the tour there is a boat ride on the lake.

Back above ground we made our way to Chattanooga. We explored downtown a little but then decided to go to Ruby Falls and Rock City. How could you not visit Rock City with all of the barns around telling you to do so? We were not aware that Ruby Falls was a cave tour also. Seriously, it is named Ruby Falls and we had no idea. So we took the third cave tour in two days. But it was interesting too, and wasn’t too long. Rock City was pretty impressive too. I was awe struck.

We concluded the trip with a visit to my dad, who lived in Scottsboro, Alabama. We went to the Unclaimed Baggage store and wondered why this place had such fame. Our local Goodwill has similar stuff. Maybe it was picked over when we went. One other event happened while we were driving all over. We left just after a hurricane hit the south. What we didn’t know is that gas was going to become really scarce in a hurry. By the time we got to Scottsboro, most of Atlanta and the surrounding areas were out of gas. Luckily my dad loaned us a 7 gallon gas tank and with the full tank of gas leaving Scottsboro we had just enough gas to get home. It was kind of a scary thought of running out of gas and not being able to get anymore.