The Good Ole Times at TCPC

4/16 - 4/24/12
The Cumberland Plateau Campground
Airstream Park
Crossville, Tennessee

Another Airstream only RV Park, members own their lot and there are also plenty of  visitor sites.  A beautiful park nestled in the woods about 15 miles out of Crossville.  While we were there the they were having their Tennessee State Rally with a theme of the "Good Ole Days".  We had a great time and met many wonderful people.

The hosts were Jill and Harry, cute as a button.  Harry was not able to get around as well as he used to be so Joe got their blower out and cleaned the leaves off their patio and driveway and also put this character  up on their tree.  Everyone here is a fan of University of Tennessee.

Here we are, dressed for the part

Then had a real cozy club house

The campground is in the middle of 345 acres and over the years they have put in many trails.

Like all Airstream Parks they need a lot of  volunteers to keep the area nice.

There were a couple of trees down, from the winter storms, over some of the trails so Joe helped to cut it up

While at the park we visited a Mennonite community, the area is called Muddy Pond.

This farm invites you into their home to buy all kinds of homemade goodies

Everything is freshly made every morning

In the fall they make sorghum

We bought bread, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, fresh eggs, and sorghum

Everything was so delicious

On down the road was this General Store 

At the leather/harness shop has hides hanging on wall for sale along with collars for their mules 

wagon parts

gun holsters

We also visited Fall  Creek Falls State Park.  The  park has many gorges, waterfalls and virgin hardwood timber.  The main waterfall is 256 feet, the highest waterfall in the eastern U. S. They have miles and miles of beautiful hiking trails.

Some parts where a bit steep

There are two trees holding this dead snag

The scary part was the sway and the slots in the boards that were splintering 

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Airstream Park, we hope to be able to visit there again.

Safe travels to all

Joe & Nancy

Great Smokey Mountains National Park

3/25 - 3/28/12
Smokemont Campground
Great Smokey Mountains
North Carolina

After leaving Top of Georgia we traveled east to pick up US Hwy 441 and then headed north.  Traveling on 441 had miles and miles of antique shops on both sides of the Hwy.  I had never seen so many.  It was a beautiful drive up through the mountains to the town of Cherokee, North Carolina that lies just outside the park.

Notice the deciduous trees, they were just starting to leaf out but you have to look real close 

Creek through  Smokemount Campground

The Smokey Mountains border North Carolina and Tennessee

We wanted to drive up to Clingmans Dome which is the highest point in Tennessee

The weather was nice with blue skies and a few clouds

as we traveled along the weather turned windy, foggy and very cold, 34'

We finally got to the parking lot, the trail out to the dome is 0.7 miles on a ridge

It was too windy and cold to hike out there

However there was a little ranger station behind where I am standing and........

they had a roaring fire going in the fireplace, boy did that feel good.

The ranger said if the fog did not lift in the next 20 min they were going to close the trail

they didn't want to go on any rescues out in the fog. 

A few miles back down the road, still windy and cold but no fog

The Appalachian Trail runs through the Smokey Mountains and is the border between 

Tennessee and North Carolina

This is a very popular part of the trail and it is Spring Break

 so, lots of families

I hiked out a ways but it was kinda of muddy through here.

The mountain behind me is where the road to Clingmans Dome is

It is still foggy up there

This is the view in front of me

In the town of Cherokee, North Carolina they have many painted bears.

We never found out why, there must be at least 20 of them, all beautiful. 

We were a little early in the year for the park and the town, most things open later on towards the last week of March or even into April.  They have many campgrounds to take advantage but most don't open until later.  Smokemount, the campground we stayed in is open all year unless they get too much snow.  Another campground that is open year round is Cades Cove, you have to enter on the Tennessee side or roads from the south.

This is a great place for camping and hiking, I would highly recommend it, there is something for everyone.  The Redbud trees are every where you turn and they are so beautiful among the other trees.
We are so blessed to be able to go to these National Parks, they all have something different to see.

That's it for now, Safe Travels to all

Joe and Nancy