Mid-South Pt.2: Original KFC, Smoky Mountains, And A Cabin Mansion

On this leg of the trip, we joined Connor's parents and Memaw to head south to the Smoky Mountains. On the way we passed by Corbin Kentucky, where the original KFC restaurant was. I got potato wedges.

We drove and drove and drove until we got to the top of the Smokies. Boy was it pretty!

The five of us walked up to Clingman's Dome, which is the highest point in the Smokies. 

It turns out that the Appalachian Trail crosses Clingman's Dome. I'd hoped to get my feet on part of the trail. It sort of felt like cheating, though. We drove much of the way up. 

On our way down the trail we saw a black bear! Memaw hadn't seen one in the wild before. Connor's mum spent the rest of the trip wanting to see another. I spent the rest of the trip hoping that was the only one we would see.

We drove into the evening, stopping along the way to see the Museum of the Cherokee. (It was fantastic.) We ate a Paul's and Connor and I experienced rabbit and pheasant for the first time. Then we drove to see if we could find the Synchronous Fireflies that reside in the Smokies. I think we spotted two individuals, but there weren't enough around to see them do their display in unison. 

We were pretty tired after all the driving we had done, so we drove on to the cabin we had rented in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. When we got there, we were all stunned: it was a mansion. More of the family was supposed to have come, but work schedules got changed at the last minute. With only five of us at the rental, we each got our own floor.

I chose the floor that had the clawed tub. I'd always wanted to use one. I ended up using it every day because I couldn't figure out how to work the shower.

This cabin was our home base and for the next few days we had adventures in the surrounding area.