Over the weekend, I wasn’t sure if I’d have time to squeeze in a mid-week post but I found a few minutes and decided to share a few photos I took on Friday. We got out of the house kind of late because of the early morning rain but wanted to go somewhere, so we drove to the Smoky’s. Traffic got congested the closer we got to Sevierville and by the time we neared the Five Oaks Shopping plaza in Pigeon Forge it was worse. We took a short cut to avoid the mess placing us near the entrance to the stretch of of road between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Once we hit the by-pass off the spur heading toward the park traffic wasn’t too bad. Our venture led us to Clingmans Dome. We had hoped to have a picnic with the view of the Smoky’s outside our car window but unfortunately, there was no empty parking spaces which we should’ve expected this time of year. We just drove through the lot heading back to 441. I did manage to captured the below two photos.
Once we intersected with 441, we turned south just across the North Carolina state line there is a large overlook of the valley on the right. We decide we’d enjoy our picnic there. The view is nice. It’s seldom busy unless it’s during peak season which means a number of vehicles pulled in and pulled out while we were parked. I packed us a simple bologna and mustard sandwich on white bread, Utz Original Kettle potato chips, Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Wafer cookies, and Diet Rite soda. Not a fancy lunch but somehow in the mountains a bologna and mustard sandwich tastes better than any other place. I credit that to the atmosphere of our dining experience as reason for the better tasting sandwiches. 🙂 After we ate, I snapped another picture. The colors are there but not quite so as it was just north a short way but what’s really cool about the snapshot is the rainbow. Do you see it? What a happy little surprise to find in the sky!
It was late afternoon and we really didn’t want to be out to long, so we headed back to Knoxville. The beautiful drive in the mountains was enough for us for the day. It helps knowing in two weeks our staycation begins and we’ll have ample opportunity to visit the mountains again, hopefully with far less terrorists tourists.
You’re invited to join the self-prompting Wild Wednesdays linky party where just about anything goes!
I’m not linking up with anyone this week but for those who enjoy participating with others in the Wordless Wednesday community, please visit my bloggy pals Sandee, Natasha, Marie, & Wordless Wednesday! Tomorrow, my TAD post is scheduled for those interested. I’m in the midst of preparing for our staycation and I’m limiting my involvement in Blogosphere. I shall leave you with today’s WSC song picks. Have a wild and wonderful day! X💋X💋, Cathy
