Cozet, VA to Nashville, TN

A-Cozet, VA; B-Wytheville, VA; C-Pigeon Forge, TN; D-Nashville, TN

Blue Ridge Parkway, VA

Thursday, October 14 we left Crozet and headed down the Blue Ridge Parkway --- in the RAIN. In spite of the rain and frequent fog, we had a beautiful drive along the northern 120 miles of the Parkway. The colors were outstanding. There were lots of pullouts and though the road had no shoulder, it was a good road, and with the poor weather, there was little traffic. We cut off the drive at Roanoke to drive on to Wytheville, VA for the night. Finally the skies began to clear.

The next day we woke up to cloudy skies and a bit of rain, but it did clear by mid-day. We had an easy drive on the Interstate, but when we got to the Pigeon Forge area, it was a different story. My goodness – terrible traffic. It took us 35 minutes to go about 10 miles. An additional lane is being added, but there is only one street through town. But we did get to the park OK. Of course, the fact that it was Friday of a very nice weekend didn’t help to reduce the traffic.

Clingman's Dome tower

On Saturday morning we took off at 8:30AM to drive through the Smokey Mountains just south of Gatlinburg. Traffic was light that early, but the Smokey Mtn traffic was quite heavy. Temps were in the 30s for a bit, but the sky was clear. We hiked to Clingmans Dome – 0.5 miles up a steep blacktop path. Whew!!! But at the top at tower level we could see 360 degrees – well worth the panting!! The Smokey Mtn road meets the Blue Ridge Parkway at its south end, so we followed it for 30 or so miles before heading back to Pigeon Forge. When we got into town the traffic was again very heavy and slow – suddenly we felt a thumping and the guy behind us said he saw a bubble on our back left car tire. Fortunately we were able to pull off into a parking lot where Gordie put on the spare; and off we went to WalMart where they were able to put on a new tire. We felt so fortunate that we weren’t off in the mountains somewhere, or towing the car when this happened.

Gatlinburg's Pancake Pantry - Yum, Yum, GOOD

On Sunday we left early so we could get to Gatlinburg before the crowds descended. We had breakfast at a fantastic pancake place (The Pancake Pantry). We had seen a long line outside the day before and figured this was the place to eat. We were NOT disappointed. By the time we left the line was much longer. We visited a few shops and then noticed that lots of shops didn’t look like they were open. Well, we then realized that police were directing traffic – the electricity was off all over town. We decided we’d seen enough and went back to the car. By the time we headed out of town, the lights were on again. We never did find out what happened.

Driving in the Smokey Mountains

From there we headed back into the Great Smokey Mtn Nat’l Park. We went to the visitor center to see the movie, then drove down the road and did the 2.6 mi round-trip hike to Laurel Falls. It was pretty, but my goodness, the masses of people made it hard to even get pictures. But we enjoyed the hike. We returned to Pigeon Forge and spent an hour visiting the shops in the Old Mill area of town. In the evening we attended a local dinner theater and saw TG Sheppard perform. He had a very good band and a couple of cute girl singers that wore beautiful gowns.

Dollywood - Turning a bowl by foot power - amazing

October 18, Monday, was our day to go to Dollywood. We left about 9AM and drove the 3 or so miles to the park. While we were there we watched several of the shows. It is run much like Disneyland – you pay a hefty price to get in, then all the concerts, rides, and shows are ‘free’. We weren’t interested in the rides. The shows were relatively good. The place is kept very clean. There are lots of restrooms and eateries and stores. There is a large area where craftsmen demonstrate and sell their wares. We enjoyed watching a bowl maker who used a foot activated lathe and hand held tool to shape the wood. It was an enjoyable day, but we considered Silver Dollar City near Branson (a few years ago) much more to our liking.

Gordie with statue of Jack Daniels

Tuesday we were off again – an easy day as we headed further west to Nashville. The weather was overcast  - evening and overnight we got some good rain showers. But by morning the skies were clear again. So we drove the 70 miles to Lynchburg where we visited the Jack Daniels Distillery for the hour long tour. Too bad the distillery is located in a dry county – all we got to drink at the end of the tour was lemonade. Oh well…..

We also went to the Tennessee Walking Horse Museum in Lynchburg before heading back to the RV park.

The Ryman Theater

Thursday we took a Grayline bus tour of Nashville. We had a 73 year old driver who was relatively uninspired. We did see most of what we were supposed to – had a half hour to tour the Ryman Theater (original home of the Grand Ole Oprey - it had started out as a mission tabernacle). And we had an hour at the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum where there was a large new exhibit about the life of Tammy Wynette, as well as the history of country music. That evening we went to the Grand Ole Opry and saw a show of Old Country Classics. These shows are all done for the live country radio show on WSM, so we heard the announcer do commercials every ten or fifteen minutes. This live radio show is celebrating 85 years of broadcasting. The live entertainment is so enjoyable – western musicians are spectacular. During the 500 year flood in May 2010 the Grand Ole Opry was flooded with water well above stage level. With hard work and determination, they were able to reopen the Opry the end of September, and they say it’s better than ever.

Nashville home of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban

Friday we did a Tommy tour – now THAT was a great tour!!! Tommy drives his own bus and is really entertaining. He took us through downtown, then we spent half the tour looking at stars houses – Nashville has some really pricey neighborhoods. The Belle Meade area has homes starting at $2,000,000. Whew! That evening we again went to the Opry. We saw Darell Singletary, Riders in the Sky, Connie Smith, Little Jimmy Dickens and several others. In the lobby many foods and drinks (hard and soft) are sold and patrons are allowed to take their food and drink into the theater. The atmosphere is quite relaxed.

Belle Meade Plantation

On Saturday we drove south of Nashville to visit the Belle Meade (meaning ‘beautiful meadow’) Plantation. This plantation was active before, during, and after the abolition of slavery. The focus of the owner was breeding race horses. The plantation fell on hard times when Tennessee outlawed gaming (including betting on horse racing). The racing then moved to Kentucky – horses had to be transported by train to race and this proved too hard on them. The plantation had several different owners after the horse racing days until it was purchased by the state which then deeded it as a historical site to the current foundation in the 1950s.

Nashville's Parthenon

Then we drove back to town and visited the Parthenon in large Centenial Park. This is the only Parthenon built the same size as the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The original Nashville Parthenon was built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centenial and International Exposition. It was made of wood, brick, lumber, and plastic and over the years it began disintegrating. It had become so popular in Nashville, the city raised money to rebuild it to provide a permanent location to display art. They spent a great deal of money to hire an artist to create a full-size Athena – she stands inside the upper level of the Parthenon today.  It was very different and quite interesting.

That was the end of our time in Nashville. We now head south for more adventures.................