We left Pigeon Forge yesterday morning and drove into the Smokey Mountains National Park. Our first stop was Cade's Cove on the north west side of the park. On the way there we saw a couple of yearling black bears grazing in tall grass. You can always tell where there's a bear as the traffic grinds to a halt! In Cade's Cove we saw a number of old buildings which had belonged to people who lived in the area before it was declared a National Park. There was a grist mill, a house that had been a general store and a number of farm outbuildings. The Cade's Cove area was largely meadows with tall grass. On driving out of Cade's Cove we saw more yearling bears, wild turkeys and one deer. We drove across the mountain range to an area near the edge of the park at Oconaluftee that had more old farm buildings. Sadly I was quite unwell with motion sickness by the time we got there that I just sat outside with the world spinning and feeling sick until I could get back into the car so Peter could drive the four miles to Cherokee where I crashed for the rest of the afternoon and night.
We left Cherokee this morning and Peter drove me through what seemed like a lovely town on the river. We headed further east across the state then turned north to a little place called Lake Lure. This is a lovely man made lake and we went on a cruise to see the many lakeside homes - clearly quite an affluent area by the look of the houses and marinas. Our motel is on the edge of a rocky river just out of the Lake Lure area, a nice quiet spot for the night.