A fall in the smokies..

I still have, lets say, some "In the past" posts to write (Including a couple of "India" ones, I KNOW its already 6 months), but if I concentrate on those I feel that I'm missing out on things that are happening right now. When I think of how much I have to catch up on, it simply boggles the mind. I don't even want to set a target because I know that I can't be realistic these days :-D. Anyways, lets hope that I won't simply skip those altogether..

Anyways this weekend we went on a drive to the Smoky mountains. This was our fall trip for the year. We were a bit apprehensive as the reports said 60-70% colours, but later we found out we didn't really have anything to worry about. The freeway itself was looking gorgeous on Friday evening when we left..




On Saturday, we went first to Gatlinburg and got onto the aerial tramway to go to the top of Ober Gatlinburg. The views were absolutely wonderful..




After reaching the middle-ground (hehehee), we then took the chairlifts to the top. They let us hold Snugli in one of our laps, otherwise we wouldn't have gone up. And well, you can see the view for yourself :).




You know me, so obviously we took quite a number of photos :).







While going down on the chairlift, Snugli was with Sri, so I could take some more snaps :). The trees on the path of the chairlift were exceptionally colourful. Have I told you just how much I love fall? :).




Again more photos from the aerial tramway - this road looked especially pretty. Hi road!




Babye road!



After that we had lunch and set off on the actual drive to the Smoky mountains which goes from Gatlinburg in Tennessee to Cherokee in North Carolina. The roads were beautiful, but what was surprising was there was snow in a couple of places. We reached Newfoundland gap where trees were a bit barren..




But the roads below were an absolute delight..





The trip was mostly incident-less except one major thing. While driving back from Cherokee, Snugli vomited almost everything she had for lunch which was certainly a damper for the whole trip. The next day we were supposed to go to Cumberland falls (where we have gone before a couple of times), but I decided to stay back at the hotel with Snugli, so Sri and my in-laws went there and came back. The good thing was that Snugli was totally okay that day and from then on. Looks like the illness was a one-time thing probably caused by the windy roads.

Oh well, life's just getting exciting ;-) :-D, Hehehehe :)).

Smokkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkies 2nd edition!

As hinted before, here's the post on our weekend trip to Smokies. We hadn't had a chance to go anywhere special this autumn. Yes we did go to Corbin at the start of autumn, but it wasn't the full colour spectacle that we were expecting. We had been to Smokies last year, but that was in summer, so we thought why not see the autumn version? Though the trip format wasn't exactly like last time, the agenda was basically to visit the Smoky Mountains :).

27th October 2006:

On Friday, we wrapped up our respective work and set off in a rented Ford Taurus. The plan was to drive to Johnson City, Tennessee, which was about 4 hours away and then rest for the night there. The trees and the colours were wonderful and though I wanted to take snaps, I didn't. The snaps taken while driving come out hazy, the factors being the car window in between, plus the movement. We had previously marked an North-Indian restaurant in Johnson City for our dinner called Sahib. So as soon as we reached there, we went straight to the restaurant and had dinner. Though there was a hugggggge party crowd there, the food was served pretty quick and it was all very tasty. Tired from the drive and full of food, we went and immediately crashed in the lodge.

28th October 2006:

Saturday early morning, we had Subway sandwiches for breakfast and set off. The plan was to drive onto a scenic highway called the Blue Ridge Parkway and drive to Asheville, North Carolina, obviously stopping in-between for the various sights :). The Blue Ridge Parkway starts in West Virginia and extends all the way to North Carolina. And it can be visited anytime in the year, but autumn is when you can see the most picturesque scenery at every point on the road. We didn't actually go to West Virginia, but joined the road somewhere in Tennessee.

As soon as we entered the road, we couldn't help but gasp at the beautiful sights surrounding us. We couldn't help stopping now and then either. The weather was cloudy and freezing, yet that couldn't bring down our spirits.






Again stopped at another outlook:




Again at another (:-D):




Later we stopped and saw the Linn Cove Viaduct. It seems they had to build a road at an elevation of 4,100 feet without damaging one of the world's oldest mountains. The link shows the struggles they faced and how they built the viaduct :).





Next we planned to see a place called Grandfather mountain which has a hanging bridge, but when we were at the entry point, we found that the hanging bridge was closed due to high winds :(. So we moved on and later stopped at another mile post of the parkway to see the Linville falls. The falls were not easily accessible and so we had to trek in the cold weather. We wore our jackets, gloves and were off :).

We first went to a point which is called the Chimney view of the falls. We had to hike about 1 mile for it, but the view was worth it :).




Next we walked another 0.5 miles to see the Ervin's View point. The view here was even more beautiful what with the falls and the autumn colours seen together :).




After seeing both the views we walked back near to the falls to see it up, close and personal :). We couldn't see the lower falls as it was covered by the hill, but only the upper falls and thats what the view is called too :).






We were both pretty tired after the trek (total almost 3 miles!) and soon we set off again. We couldn't resist stopping at some points on the road now and then, to take some snaps :).






The colours, as you can see, were breathtaking :).

Next we stopped at another outlook to view Glassmine falls. There is no actualy way to trek to the falls because its on a different hill. But its a great view :).




Slowly the elevation of the road was rising and it was getting colder and colder. That was when we encountered the Greybeard mountain.




Seeing the trees, we thought the colour of the branched were grey and hence the name. It was only when we stopped and looked properly that we came to know that, it was ice!! It was so cold that water had gotten frozen at the tips of the branches and hence the colour!!




I think this is one of my best photos :). We soon stopped at Asheville, NC for our motel for the day. We actually planned to drive to another Indian restaurant, but literally crashed and fell asleep and missed dinner! Guess we were very tired..

29th October 2006:

Sunday early morning, after a healthy breakfast of waffles and sandwiches (we needed it after the fast :-p), we were back again on the blue ridge parkway and snapping away photos :).




Thankfully, the day was bright and sunny. Though it was cold, the sunlight helped :). Our main stop for the day was the Graveyard Field falls. The area got it's name years ago from the tree stumps and surrounding trees that look like grave stones in a graveyard setting. We trekked first to the lower falls which is about 0.5 miles.




The falls were not very full, but pretty nevertheless. There was also another falls in the same place called Upper falls, and since it was supposedly only 1.5 miles trek, we decided to go for it too. We walked and walked, got tired but still did not reach the upper falls. After about what seemed like more than 1 mile, we gave up and headed back. We still had a long way to cover and we couldn't afford the time :(. Well, there's always another time...

Back on the Blue ridge parkway, we reached the highest elevation point of the road. Its 6053 feet above sea level and it felt good to be there :).




We drove on until the parkway ended at Cherokee, North Carolina. We had been to Cherokee last year on our Smokies trip through a different road. So after reliving some of the memories, having lunch at a pizza place, we headed back in the road that we had taken last year.

Sadly, it looked like autumn had already been to the place and said goodbye, so we couldn't see any colours on that particular stretch. We stopped again at the Tennessee-North Carolina border which is at 5000-odd feet, but I have to admit I was quite disappointed with the view.




Well, maybe we were expecting too much after the wonderful views we had seen all along Blue ridge parkway ;-) :). Anyways the colours certainly got better as we travelled back to Tennessee :).




We stopped later at Pigeon Forge, TN for a game of mini-golf which I am crazy about these days :-D.




We played for over an hour and had loads of fun. There were some children also in front of us and it was also fun watching them take shots :-D.

And then it was time to leave. We had about more than 3 hours of drive back home. We aaraamse reached within about 9 PM in the night, which meant making dinner was my problem. I didn't really mind much because a tomato saaru (rasam) certainly tastes like heaven after 2 days of bland outside food ;-) :-D.

So thats how the story of this trip ends. With a tomato saaru that is :-D. Dunno when we will be able to go out next, what with winter shattering away the remaining warmth with its cold breath and shooing autumn away....

Smokkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkies

I know, I know! Its been 2 weeks since I posted. I am sorry, have been a bit busy. Got my L1 and have started working from home. Thats not a very good excuse, but have to have an excuse ;-) To compensate, I am posting a hugggggggggggge post :)

Today's exactly 2 months since I came to U.S. So how do I feel? Hmm, my feelings keep fluctuating between excitement, normality and homesickness like a pendulum. Excitement when I travel to new places, normality when I am resigned to whats happening and homesickness whenever I think of mom, dad or Darsh. But one thing I have to mention. Sri has been a major support throughout. Dunno what I would have done if he wasn't here. The irony is that if he wouldn't have been here, I certainly wouldn't have been here ;-) So, the crib goes on.....

Anyways, the long post I promised you doesn't deal with my homesickness, but with a trip we had been to on the long weekend from 2nd July to 4th July 2005. The Great Smoky Mountains or The Smokies as they call it.

"Ridge upon ridge of endless forest straddle the border between North Carolina and Tennessee in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, one of the largest protected areas in the Eastern United States. World renowned for the diversity of its plant and animal life, the beauty of its ancient mountains, the quality of its remnants of Southern Appalachian mountain culture, and the depth and integrity of its wilderness sanctuary, the park attracts over nine million visitors each year. Once a part of the Cherokee homeland, the Smokies today are a hiker's paradise with over 800 miles of trails."

Don't worry, I didn't break my head over the above. Just stole it from one of the websites blatantly :-D And I couldn't have described it any better :) We left Lexington on Friday the 1st July evening to avoid early travel on saturday. After a night's stay in a motel, on 2nd July morning, we drove to Cades Cove, one of the famous spots of the park. Cades Cove has a 11-mile loop road which you can either drive through, bicycle or walk in. 11-mile seemed like a bit too much for cycling, so we decided to drive. There were deer visible from the road. Sri even joked that the authorities must have scattered some food to lure the deer ;-) I added that they must have smeared honey on the grass (Remember? A hunter does it in some panchatantra or jataka tale) :-D Anyways, it was good to see those, since those were the only wild-life we got to see.

We stopped at a place on the loop to trek to a waterfall called Abrams Falls. The trek was 5 mile round trip. It was a beautiful trek with flowering trees all round and water streams flowing side-by-side of the trail. I was surprised to see the many people hiking like us. That's just another thing I like about the people here. So many enjoy such nature-related activities. In the end, the trek was worth it. This is Abrams Falls:




We spent a long time just lingering around and simply dipping our legs in the water. There were people jumping into the water from the top of the waterfall, swimming in the water etcetera. But the water was really cold and we simply enjoyed the scene. I took a lot of photos on the way and again on the way back :) We also stopped at a stream to have our packed lunch of croissants and jam :) And I tell you, the ambience was wayyyy better than any restaurant's :))

We again stopped at another point in Cades Cove, for our next trek. This hike was a 3 mile roundtrip hike to Laurel Falls. The road was very narrow but tarred, unlike the natural muddy road to Abrams. Hence there were kids hiking and also prams with babies being hiked by their parents {rolls her eyes} :-D. The Laurel Falls wasn't as full as Abrams but it was beautiful in its own way:




The viewing point was sort of a bridge over the falls. So on one side the water was falling towards us, and on the other side falling away from us. It was not very peaceful due to the crowds around, nevertheless we enjoyed it. While returning, Sri had a pleasant surprise, what with one of his friends turning out from nowhere. Talk about coincidences!! :-D There were many Indians walking towards us, but Sri didn't notice them. As soon as we passed, we heard a voice call out "Rama!" and we turned back. It was Sri's friend and senior Joy. We returned to our car after exchanging pleasantries and phone numbers, totally amused at the fateful meeting :) Later went back to our hotel in a place called Kodak (the name always made me smile thinking about "Kodak" moments :-D) and decided we were done for the day. An 8 mile trek is something, you know. We rested and had dinner at an Indian restaurant called Kashmir in Knoxville. The food was really good :))

Next day we were off again on a drive to Cherokee Orchard road for another trek to yet another falls. The Smokies are full of waterfalls and we actually visited only 3 of them. Well, the rest, some other time perhaps :) The falls we trekked to on 3rd July 2005 was called the Rainbow falls and it was a round trip trek of 6 miles. This trek was totally forest and there were very less number of people as it was a winding rocky trek. It was cool and very lovely. I took loads and loads of photos. Half-way on the trek, it started raining!! Sri opened the umbrella he got for us, but I ran without it ;-) By the time we reached the falls, we both were half-wet :-D The fall was a bit thin, but extremely calm and quiet. Here it is:

There were no people and it was as if we were alone in the forest with a waterfall and rain for company. Sounds like a very romantic scene from a movie right? But we were more worried about catching a cold and a fever, rather than romance, sad but true :-D The rain got heavy and we had to stand there under the single umbrella for what seemed like hours. Here's a snap of us:

We knew we'd get late if we stayed there. So, though it was raining, we started on our way back. Thankfully the rain stopped after a while. We stopped at a small stream and washed all the dirt of ourselves, rested for a while and enjoyed the peace around us. Every direction was worth being photographed and made into a desktop wallpaper (shows typical S/W engineer thinking :-D).

After reaching our car, we decided no more treks for the day (There was another falls called Grotto falls nearby, but we were too tired for the 3 mile round trip trek). We drove on the very famous scenic route of the Smokies. Thats the route from Gatlinburg in Tennesse state to Cherokee in North Carolina. The route was full of tunnels, streams on the road-side, trees and scenic mountain views. We also stopped at the border of TN and NC, which is a place called Newfoundland gap. It is at an altitude of more than 3000 feet and has a viewing tower where people stop for a breather. There lots of people and surprisingly many of them were Indians :)

We drove on to Cherokee, where we stopped and had ice-creams, lemonades and french-fries. Cherokee is a beautiful place with a stream flowing throughout the town. People enjoy rubber float rides in the stream. It was in all very pleasant and we strolled for sometime before returning to our car and drving back to Gatlinburg. Took a pizza from Pizza hut back with us to our hotel and it was really good :) That was dinner and we were done for the day :)

Next day i.e on 4th July 2005, we had no more energy for treks and set out to Gatlinburg. The city is famous for its amusement parks and aerial lifts. Our first visit was to a ropeway which took us to the top of a hill. Next we visited Ripley's Moving theater 4D which had 2 4D shows and both were lots of fun. Later we went to Ripley's Haunted adventure which was pretty scary what with cobwebs falling on you in complete darkness and a man with a bloody electric saw coming after you :-D We knew it wasn't real, yet really enjoyed it.

Our next stop was Ober Gatlinburg which is a ski resort in winter. It had an aerial tramway all the way up to a mountain. From there there were ski lifts to higher altitudes :-D Why stop when you can be bit more close to the sky? :-D We went on that too, upto Mt. Harrison which had an altitude of more than 3500 feet :) It was so cool out there, the view around us was breath-taking :) Later we got down from the ski lift and enjoyed some of the rides on Ober Gatlinburg. One was the alpine slide, which is a water-less slide. It has a small car kind of thing which you can accelarate/break. I raced down against Sri and it was really fun of the best kind. We laughed like little kids all the way down :) Later we also enjoyed a water slide on a rubber float :) Had lunch of so-called patti-less veg burgers (:-p) and french-fries with salsa and cheese :-D That was good :) Then took the aerial tramway back to get down. It started raining here and heres us in the tram with the rain, wind and the view :)

Our last stop was the Ripley's shark aquarium. It is, I feel, the best designed, planned and maintained aquarium I've ever seen. So many fishes and sea-animals, artificial waterfalls and huge glass enclsures. It also has a tunnel-shaped viewer where I felt as if the water was around me and above me. There were sharks swimming around:

There were also Sting rays, Jelly fish, crabs etc. I touched 3 sting rays in the "Touch-a-sting-ray-bay" :-D The jelly fish reminded me of the "Finding Nemo" movie where the 2 fish go jumping "boing, boing" on jelly fish tops :-D I enjoyed it all :) For more photos of the Smokies, click on any of the photos :) Limited offer, as usual ;-)

That was it. We left Smokies towards our home satisfied with one of the most wonderful trips I have ever been on :) They say, you have to visit the Smokies every season, as the view is different each time. We finished our summer trip. If we are here for the autumn and winter, the Smokies will surely get a visit from us again. There's still lots more to see and a long way to go....