April 21
April 22
April 23
April 24
April 25
April 26
6:15 seems to be our usual getting up time this week. Breakfast this morning was at the Carriage House, next to the Talley Ho Inn.
Our target today is to return to Cades Cove, shooting in more detail than Sunday's visit. On our way there, we spotted a trio of tripods along Laurel Creek. Nice creek shot! We turned around and came back to it immediately, knowing that it would be in full sun later. The photo on the right is one of my shots from this location.
After playing there for a while, we continued to Cades Cove, hitting the three churches and driving up and down both Sparks Lane and Hyatt Lane. The third church had two large tour buses parked outside of it, yet there was no one around. They just blocked most of the parking... The occupants must have been hiking somewhere in the area. The photo on the right above shows a tree shadow across one side of the Primitive Baptist Church. The photo on the right is the Missionary Baptist Church and its cemetary.
After the third church, we hurried to the Visitor’s Center (restrooms there) and wandered the community the Park Service has assembled there. The clouds cooperated for the shots of Cable Mill, but little else. Another sunny day.... The photo on the left above shows an antique "flat tire" - a broken wagon wheel. The center photo shows the kitchen of the Gregg-Cable House and the photo on the right shows the water wheel of the old Cable Mill.
This weekend has a Gull Wing gathering in Pigeon Forge, so we started encountering groups of motorcycles beginning this day....
We had lunch at the Visitor’s Center, then drove down Hyatt Lane again, returning to the Loop road for places we had skipped in our rush to the restrooms... We stopped at a couple of overlooks and also hiked out to the Elijah Oliver Cabin. Part of his porch had been converted to a “guest room”.
The left two photos above complement each other. The one on the left is looking down the main road through Cades Cove and the one on the left is looking back at the same stretch of road from one of the overlooks. The left photo was taken at the bend in the road just barely visible at the right end of the road appearing in the right hand photo. The right photo was taken at an overlook just out of sight to the left of the photo on the left! The photo on the right above is the Elijah Oliver cabin.
We also drove out the Forge Creek Road to the Henry Whitehead Place (photo to the left). The original cabin is in the back, has a stone fireplace, low ceilings, small doorways, and is built from logs. The front addition was added later and has a brick fireplace, larger doorways, higher ceilings, and is build using square sawed logs, a technique historically between logs and plank siding.
Back to the main Loop road to stop next at the Dan Lawson place. The photo to the right was taken at the Dan Lawson Place and shows his stacked wood fence and a line of spring trees. There we found several nests of barn swallows, both in the cabin and in the barn. Beautiful birds. Wish I was faster at spotting them and focusing on them....
As we walked back to the car, we started smelling smoke. They were burning something someplace in the vicinity. We never did determine exactly where, but the smoke made the Cove hazy.
We continued out of the valley and stopped for soft serve ice cream cones at the general store near the campground. Yum!
Then on to Chestnut Top Trail, where we spent the rest of the day shooting wildflowers. We only walked part way up this trail, but the flowers were worth it. This trail is relatively steep, which is both a blessing and a curse. Yes, it's hard on the body, but it puts the wildflowers almost at eye level, which is easier on the knees! It started getting dark, so we returned to the parking lot.
Some of the wildflowers we found on the Chestnut Top Trail. The photo on the left is a Solomon's Seal. The center photo is a yellow Trillium. The photo on the right is another yellow Trillium, surrounded by maidenhair fern.
More of the Wildflowers of Chestnut Top Trail. The photo on the left above shows some fire pinks, one of the few red flowers in bloom on this trip. The photo on the right shows some purple phacelia framed by maidenhair fern.
Back to the Talley Ho to clean up and drop off the camera gear. Dinner tonight was chicken marsala fettuccini at the Trailhead Restaurant. It was delicious, but neither of us managed to eat more than a third of the serving. I wish I was hungrier....
Then back to the hotel. After checking the weather, Deb flipped through the channels and came across the old movie Samson and Delilah... Victor Mature should have spent more time in the gym.... We made fun of the old Hollywood style and watched him bring the temple down before lights out.