Day 15 - Wednesday, September 24
A short while wandering about the hotel taking photos and then we drove to nearby Lookout Mountain - a huge promontory with spectacular views over the city and surrounding area.
From one point you can, allegedly, see 7 states - Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Virginia - but we didn't have the local geographical knowledge to verify that for ourselves.
We visited Rock City - an area of giant rock formations through which the owners have built pathways and tunnels and landscaped it with planting and viewpoints etc. It was OK - the main reason benefit was to get access to the views.
On the way in we stopped at a café for breakfast. The choice was limited but one of the things on their menu was "Bacon biscuit". Pete asked what this was and the lady gave him a long slow look and then said, in the slow southern drawl {phonetically} "Weeeeeeeell, it's a biiiiiiiscuiiiiiiiiiit ayned it's gaaaaart baaaaaaaaycon oooooown iiiiiit."
(a "biscuit" in these parts is a sort of savoury scone often served at breakfast with "gravy" which is a mildly spicy white sauce - it can be quite nice with some bacon or sausage.)
We all had one - they were quite good - and, suitably fortified, had a wander through the rocks area.
And then on to Point Park at the north end of Lookout Mountain where there are wonderful views over the entire city and the river.
By now it was early afternoon so we started our drive north to the Great Smoky Mountains. We went via the Cherohalla Scenic Parkway - "parkways" in the USA are highways, normally in scenic areas, from which trucks and other heavy vehicles are prohibited - and really enjoyed the views along the way.
We arrived at the motel called Lloyd's on the River between Bryson City and Cherokee - a lovely rustic sort of place where the rooms backed onto a long porch with rocking chairs looking out onto the delightfully named Oconaluftee River which, a few hundred yards downstream joins the equally attractive-sounding Tuckasegee River. A lovely spot to spend our last night.
We had stopped at Bryson on the way through to pick up some wine for later. Went into a huge liquor store and were very surprised to find that, despite there being a vast array of bottle on offer, it was only spirits - no wine or beer. I have never seen so much booze in one place - dozens of different brands of whisky, vodka, gin etc.
But the guys there gave us directions to a nearby supermarket where we got ourselves sorted.
We got a restaurant recommendation from the motel people and headed back into Bryson for dinner at a place called the Cork & Bean. As it was our last night we all decided it was our last chance to have a good American steak and we were quite disappointed when the waitress came back sheepishly a few minutes later to apologise and say that there were only three steaks left. I did the decent thing and changed my order to scallops - no real hardship there - but when the 3 steaks came we just burst out laughing - they were vast . They could quite easily have fed 6 or 8 people.
Back at the motel we sat in the rocking chairs on the back porch with our wine until very late - a really pleasant place.
A short while wandering about the hotel taking photos and then we drove to nearby Lookout Mountain - a huge promontory with spectacular views over the city and surrounding area.
From one point you can, allegedly, see 7 states - Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Virginia - but we didn't have the local geographical knowledge to verify that for ourselves.
We visited Rock City - an area of giant rock formations through which the owners have built pathways and tunnels and landscaped it with planting and viewpoints etc. It was OK - the main reason benefit was to get access to the views.
On the way in we stopped at a café for breakfast. The choice was limited but one of the things on their menu was "Bacon biscuit". Pete asked what this was and the lady gave him a long slow look and then said, in the slow southern drawl {phonetically} "Weeeeeeeell, it's a biiiiiiiscuiiiiiiiiiit ayned it's gaaaaart baaaaaaaaycon oooooown iiiiiit."
(a "biscuit" in these parts is a sort of savoury scone often served at breakfast with "gravy" which is a mildly spicy white sauce - it can be quite nice with some bacon or sausage.)
We all had one - they were quite good - and, suitably fortified, had a wander through the rocks area.
And then on to Point Park at the north end of Lookout Mountain where there are wonderful views over the entire city and the river.
By now it was early afternoon so we started our drive north to the Great Smoky Mountains. We went via the Cherohalla Scenic Parkway - "parkways" in the USA are highways, normally in scenic areas, from which trucks and other heavy vehicles are prohibited - and really enjoyed the views along the way.
We arrived at the motel called Lloyd's on the River between Bryson City and Cherokee - a lovely rustic sort of place where the rooms backed onto a long porch with rocking chairs looking out onto the delightfully named Oconaluftee River which, a few hundred yards downstream joins the equally attractive-sounding Tuckasegee River. A lovely spot to spend our last night.
We had stopped at Bryson on the way through to pick up some wine for later. Went into a huge liquor store and were very surprised to find that, despite there being a vast array of bottle on offer, it was only spirits - no wine or beer. I have never seen so much booze in one place - dozens of different brands of whisky, vodka, gin etc.
But the guys there gave us directions to a nearby supermarket where we got ourselves sorted.
We got a restaurant recommendation from the motel people and headed back into Bryson for dinner at a place called the Cork & Bean. As it was our last night we all decided it was our last chance to have a good American steak and we were quite disappointed when the waitress came back sheepishly a few minutes later to apologise and say that there were only three steaks left. I did the decent thing and changed my order to scallops - no real hardship there - but when the 3 steaks came we just burst out laughing - they were vast . They could quite easily have fed 6 or 8 people.
Back at the motel we sat in the rocking chairs on the back porch with our wine until very late - a really pleasant place.
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