Day #200 - Museum of the Cherokee Indian

Gatlinburg, TN
Guest Blogger - Beth

In the beginning the earth was wet and soft. The animals sent the Great Buzzard out to find a place for them to go. He soared over the soft earth until he grew very tired. Where his wings struck the earth were valleys; and when he rose to the sky, were mountains. This was Cherokee country….

So on June 12, though another very hot and humid day, we braved the weather to check out the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. We made a couple stops along the way. One was to a farmer’s market. Kelly had a hankerin’ for some killer brownies. We found a couple of musicians selling plants. Kelly recognized them as the ones pictured on a CD of local music I had purchased the day before to give to my father for his birthday. (It would supplement his 2000+ CD collection) Sure ‘nuf, they were the same. Named Boogertown Gap, you had to know they were special (http://www.boogertowngap.com). So they played a couple of tunes for us, until the rain started. Kelly bought the same CD I had, asked the players to autograph it and we switched so I could give the autographed copy to my dad. That was great.

We arrived at the museum to find the Cherokee Voices Festival in full swing. Booths were set up, covering most of the sidewalks around the building. Craftspeople showed off traditional fare of river cane baskets (some so tiny, they would fit inside a thimble), effigy pottery, stone carvings, paintings, blowpipes and the like. There was a small covered area for performers to gather. Singers, dancers and storytellers were scheduled throughout the day.

I succumbed to the heat, so Lori and I went inside to enjoy the air conditioning. Suzie and Kelly toughed it out and ended up enjoying an enlightening conversation with a native storyteller. I’m sorry I missed out on that.

The museum is huge – much larger than it appears from the outside. You will need to dedicate at least 2-3 full hours to see everything. There is only one bench on the path. I recommend they install more. The exhibits include archaeological timelines, traditional folktales presented with interesting special effects, and historically accurate accounts of the best and worst times. The curators use many different types of presentations from two-dimensional to 3-dimensional and holographs to draw your interest. It was well thought out and didn’t dwell on one thing too long.

The museum has a very nice gift shop. There are some mass-produced items that cater to the tourist crowd (I bypassed the shirts made in China) but they also have some hand-crafted, unique items. I bought a couple of books and I’m considering becoming a museum member. The website is www.cherokeemuseum.org. There’s some really great information.

Day #199 - Leisurely Stroll - Porter Creek

Gatlinburg, TN
Guest Blogger - Lori

Note from Suzie:  We welcome guest bloggers.  Over the weekend, Beth and Lori visited with us.  If you ever want to join the fun, just let me know!  The leisurely stroll took place on the Porter Creek Trail in the Great Smokies National Park (http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm).

Who likes to play games?  We do!  If you do too, let’s see how many 4-letter words you can find in this entry.  Bet your total will be off by just one or two.

(Have you ever heard the old folks talk about how they had to walk to school in the snow uphill both ways?  Here’s my version.)

Friday was a very warm, humid, beautiful day.  Kelly and Suzie had suggested we (Beth and Lori) go for a leisurely stroll in the Smokey Mountains; one they had done in the past and enjoyed.  WARNING!  DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS UNLESS YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL!  Unfortunately for us, we had no one to warn us, so we agreed.

They suggested we each take a hiking stick they were offering.  That should have been our first clue.  We both turned them down at least once, maybe twice, before we acquiesced and gracefully accepted one of their sticks.  Clue number two should have been they both took two sticks.

When we arrived, we saw several folks walking toward their vehicles with smiles on their faces as they greeted us.  How bad could it be?  We started out at a bit of a brisk climb but stopped here and there to take pictures of the beautiful foliage.  Kelly, can you say “shutterbug?”

Suzie and Kelly gave us a little bit of a history lesson about the families who once owned the land in the area.  We visited a family grave site and sadly viewed headstones of children who died before experiencing the joys of life.  We saw the remnants of numerous stone walls and parts of a very old vehicle – a Model T perhaps?

As we continued to climb on this leisurely stroll, the perspiration was starting to make itself known in a foul way.  Have I mentioned humidity yet?

We were urged on by the promise of seeing a very old, interesting homestead that is in remarkable shape, along with some other smaller buildings, and an outhouse.  As we approached the area, we overheard a person in a group already there telling more of the history of this particular area.  As it turns out, one older fellow in this group was a descendent of the family who once owned (and donated) the land and the buildings we were about to appreciate.

Let me tell you a bit about the outhouse.  It was that – in every sense of the word.  After Kelly and I gingerly crossed a creek, we saw a wooden shell.  Kelly approached first and saw the wooden door was open.  To our surprise, it was a two-seater.  Instead of going in and sitting side-by-side, I let Kelly have dibs; I didn’t want to leave her with memories of smell as well as sight.  Humidity at this point would have been the least of her worries.

Heading back to the trail again we were tempted by a new carrot – a really cool bridge made from a very large log, overlooking water tumbling over rocks.  How could we say, “No?”

Here’s where the age difference kicked in – or so I thought.  Kelly and I, the younger folks in the group, forged ahead of the not-so-young Suzie and Beth.  Even with Kelly stopping often to take pictures, we were well ahead of the oldies-but-goodies.  Later I realized it was probably planned that way – to split up Beth and me so we couldn’t compare notes about just how far ahead this cool bridge was.

I don’t know how Kelly did it, but somehow she got these folks to cross our path periodically and when asked, “How much further to the bridge?” they replied, “Not much further.”  Did I mention humidity yet?

Finally we arrived at the bridge and the scene was magnificent!  Kelly and I used our hiking sticks to climb down some huge rocks to get to the cold water to cool off.  Eventually Beth and Suzie arrived and although they appreciated the view, Beth’s vertigo prevented her from going more than a few steps on the log bridge.

The leisurely stroll back down the mountain went reasonably smoothly with help from the hiking sticks; our legs and backs were straining a bit.  All in all, it could have been worse.  (It could have been snowing!)  When we arrived back at the vehicle, we spoke to a man standing next to a vehicle parked near ours.  When we asked if he was okay, he replied with a sigh, “Yeah.  Did you happen to see a set of car keys on your hike?”  Poor guy!

Okay, so how many 4-letter words did you count?  A bunch I’ll bet.  Whatever number you came up with (No, I’m not going to give you a specific number.), add this to your sum.  If you take the phrase, “leisurely stroll,” and add up the letters and space between the words it equals 16.  Now divide that by the number of us who took this so called leisurely stroll – there were 4 of us.  So, 16 ÷ 4 = a 4-letter word.  Beth and I each now have a special 4-letter word for the phrase “leisurely stroll.”  If you don’t heed my warning and someday accept their offer to go on a “leisurely stroll,” I’ll bet you too will come up with your own 4-letter word.  (hehe)

As we were heading to hopefully see some black bears in their natural habitats, we opted to stop at a Subway to grab a bite to eat.  How fortunate that they were located next to a liquor store!  Can you say piña colada?

When we arrived at the park where we hoped to see the black bears, Suzie and Kelly set up chairs in the back of their truck for Beth and me to sit in so we’d get a great view.  I think it had more to do with our odiferous body odors, but I’m sure they’ll deny that if asked.  We drove for miles and miles and miles and although I got some great shots of deer, we didn’t see any black bears until we were near the exit of the park.  We did get two glimpses of black bears and that was kind of exciting.

I suggested looking for a BBQ place. We weren't sure if anything would be open that late but we happened upon Corky’s BBQ (http://www.corkysbbq.com). Even though we all "pigged out" on their BBQ, we had enough food left over for dinner on Saturday. Our waitress was a hoot. For those of you who are carnivores, we all HIGHLY RECOMMEND this place.

Day #198 – New TV

Gatlinburg TN

Our television has been acting weird lately.  We’ve been having trouble changing the channels, with both the remote and the controls on the unit itself.  I was blaming the cable service – there are numerous blank channels on the lineup, and the TV tries to bring each one in.  So, lots of times it seems like the channels aren’t being changed, but there’s suddenly a big increment in channel numbers.  Then, one day, after I enjoyed a rather lengthy Law and Order marathon, I couldn’t turn off the TV.  Neither the remote nor the buttons on the TV worked.  In fact, I couldn’t change the channel or control the volume.  We finally got it turned off by disconnecting all the wires.  The next day, it responded to buttons and the remote for a couple minutes, then froze up again.

I had quite the go-round with the Coachmen warranty people, the Jensen distributor, and the local Coachmen dealer.  We were finally able to reach consensus that I had adequately ruled out simple things like the remote needing a new battery.  Everyone agreed the TV could not be fixed, and I was not going to bring my entire rig into the local dealer to have the TV replaced.  They were afraid I didn’t know how to disconnect the broken set.  They’d forgotten that I’d had to take it apart to turn it off!  Finally, we got all the paperwork straightened out and a new TV was on its way from the distributer to the dealer.

Today, the TV arrived at the local Coachmen dealer, so I programmed the address into Maggie, our trusty GPS, and headed off to a new part of the Smokies.  The Wear Valley is still mostly farms.  I really enjoyed the trip. 

The dealer had a difficult time getting the mounting bracket off the back of the TV.  His technician had to cut the screws off.  Other than that, it was an easy swap.

On the way home, I stopped at a farm market.  Most of the veggies had been grown in the field out back; the peaches had come from Georgia.  I chatted with the owner about the Gatlinburg farm market, then loaded up the truck with fruit and veggies for the weekend – all for less than $10.

Day #195 – Camping World

Gatlinburg TN

Today we went on a big adventure to Camping World.  Kelly found a new gear box for the truck bed.  We investigated mattresses – the one that came with the new trailer is quickly breaking down.  We found a surge protector for the entire trailer – much easier than protecting each appliance individually.  I found a large variety of chemicals.

I’ve been researching the maintenance requirements for this new trailer.  Many cleaning jobs can be done with simple products.  And, many products will do double-duty for various uses.  But, there’s no way to get around cleaner and sealer for the rubber roof, and cleaner and conditioner for the slide mechanism.  We had the cart completely full by the time we’d been up and down every aisle.

In addition, we picked up some things that Don needed, mainly a pair of camp recliner chairs.  Most of it fit in the new gear box, but Don’s stuff was big and took up the whole extended cab.  I found a rig on the lot, waiting to be serviced, that was a “Care-a-Vann”.  Its owners RV from place to place, working on Habitat for Humanity builds.  I took down their names and phone number, in the hopes that we’ll start doing some volunteer work soon.

Don told us later that he loved his new chair.  He’d put chicken on the grill, fallen asleep in his new chair, and awoke some time later to the smell of burning chicken.

Day #194 – Ober Gatlinburg & Front Porch

Gatlinburg TN

Today started with a trip to Ober Gatlinburg (http://www.obergatlinburg.com).  As an employee, Tom is entitled to 20 free passes to Ober Gatlinburg to share with his family and friends.  His mother, stepfather, brother, and brother’s girlfriend arrived at the campground mid-morning.  His mother makes the best buttermilk biscuits, but didn’t bring any today.  They were bound for the mountain top and insisted we come along.  Fran and Paul, who are Sabbath Keepers, also came along.  Fran, who used to be quite the motorcycle trick rider, became afraid of heights during menopause.  She really didn’t want to go, but decided that Kelly and I would be enough support to get her up the mountain.

The campground manger, Don, drove us to the bottom of the mountain in the campground shuttle bus.  The gondola was large and firmly attached to a very thick cable.  Fran’s husband, Kelly, and I tried our best to keep Fran distracted on the ride up the mountain.  It kinda worked.  Everyone else enjoyed the ride and the view.  At the top, we all got little wrist bands that allowed us free access to most of the attractions.

Kelly and I jumped onto a chair lift and rode up to a higher part of the mountain.  There, we found a gift shop, a refreshment stand, and a live bluegrass band.  Despite rain, the others who came up after us had to drag me away from the music and back to the resort part of the mountain.

After the rain stopped, Kelly and I led part of the group back up the mountain to ride the Alpine Slide.  The plastic sleds have a brake, but no steering.  You ride the sled down a trough in the mountain side.  We both went as fast as we could, which really surprised all the teenage Amish boys who were also enjoying the slide.

The gondola ride down the mountain was harder on Fran than the trip up.  There wasn’t a way to look at anything except the elevation.  Plus, it was raining again and the wind had picked up.  We were completely safe, but she nearly collapsed at one point.

It must be very difficult to deal with a sudden and unexplainable fear.  She has had no trauma related to heights and does not suffer from vertigo or dizziness.  All she knows is that, as soon as she started menopause, she became afraid of heights – like someone flipped a switch.

After we got back to the campground, Tom’s family left.  Fran and Paul, Kelly and I, and Don, headed off to the Front Porch restaurant (http://www.tnvacation.com/vendors/the_front_porch_mexican_restaurant and http://dininginthesmokies.com/_cosby/aafropor.htm).  This place is open only on weekends, serves Mexican food, and always has live music.  The musicians are generally not professional, hence the name: the owners want patrons to feel like they are just sitting on the porch, eating and listening to music.  This night, the regulars managed to convince a couple other regulars to take the stage and perform.  One woman sang a wonderful blues song.  A man sang a gospel tune.  Another woman sang a folk song, very off-key.  All got good responses from the audience.  Some folks in the audience brought their own instruments to accompany the performers – wooden spoons for percussion.  I had a great time and didn’t want to leave, but I was out-voted.  Kelly has agreed to a return visit.