Day 51-August 25, 2014-Gatlinburg, TN
Nice day, 88 but cooler than yesterday
The tourists have left Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, the streets are almost empty compared to yesterday. We drove into Pigeon Forge again today to make sure we didn’t miss anything, then took the back way into Gatlinburg. There’s an eight mile craft loop with over 100 crafters displaying their goods, some in stand alone buildings, some in little groups of stores. They’re all on a windy, one lane road into the mountains. Very scenic. Crafts include pottery, woodworking, jewelry, fudge, galleries, candle, soaps, stained glass, broom shops, etc. We stopped at Fox & Parrot British Pub for lunch and enjoyed Brian, the bartender and his 85 beers (33 on tap). We only enjoyed one beer, however. Met a couple from New Jersey at the bar and talked with them for a while. Stopped at another group of stores where there was “The Only Salt & Pepper Museum in the World” with over 20,000 salt & pepper shakers. They were closed but the owner said we could go in anyway. But he wanted to charge us to look at them. I can go home and look at my collection for nothing so we passed. Of course, I don’t have 20,000 sets. Harry would beg to differ. In the same group of stores was Stony Mountain Winery so we stopped in to see if they had any dry wine. They only had two but they were pretty good.
Back to the campground on Great Smoky Mountain Parkway, the main tourist road and was amazed at the lack of traffic. It’s like the town folded up and went to sleep, all the tourist attractions, hotels and stores are empty. I went down to the creek to watch the ducks for a while, then read and watched the ducks march across the street under our RV to go to sleep for the night. They just about walked over the sleeping cat in another site who never even looked up at all the quacking. He must be used to them. Moving on again tomorrow.