Northern Tennessee (May 2023)

With the Weather channel predicting only one more day of good weather, we decided to hit the last park on our itinerary, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, south of Pidgeon Forge. That was about an hour or so from Knoxville, and involved driving past Dollywood and the rest of Pidgeon Forge. Given that the town of Pidgeon Forge is basically one major road lined with amusements and attractions for ten miles, that added some time to the trip. We reached the park with great weather, and the ranger suggested going up to the Dome observatory to our south. They must have advised everyone who passed through to do that, as the ample parking there was overwhelmed, and we ended up parking some ways away, adding about a mile to the hike. Only I went up, as Jen's foot was in pretty painful shape by this point. It was quite a hike (330 ft of elevation in 800 ft) although the view was nice, and there was a small black bear off to the side of the path that caught everyone's attention. From there, we went back to Pidgeon Forge for lunch, and played 2 rounds (36 holes) of golf at a rather impressively decorated Fantasy Golf place. Jen ended up winning one game and tying the other, bringing our trip minigolf record to 1-1-1. Afterwards, we went back through more of the park via car, before stopping in Townsend on the way out, and having some drinks at the Peaceful Side brewery. From there, we returned to town, had a nice dinner at Carrabbas, and turned in relatively early.