PIDGEON FORGE AND GATLINBURG

We drove around the area which reminded us of the Dells or Branson times 10. A tourist trap with lots of traffic, but also lots of things to do, and great opportunities for shopping. There are also shows and a thousand restaurants.

As you can see, they're in the process of putting up the Christmas lights. We did get to see some of the individual places lit up.



Dolly never did appear-I'm sure Don felt bad that he didn't get to see her!

SMOKEY MT. PARK UP HIGHER

As we drove higher, we got to see our first snow of the year, and possibly the last.



We even saw some icicles.

A little boy just finished making this snowman. How cute!

SMOKEY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

We took a drive down to Smokey Mountain National Park and the beauty can speak for itself. The visitor's center has a movie and a small museum of animals and plants.

They have some kind of a bug that's ruining the evergreens. You can see how brown they are.

There are even a few small tunnels along the way.

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE

We just spent three days in the Knoxville area and even got a few housekeeping jobs done. For those of you that think we don't do anything, since we don't rake leaves or shovel snow, maybe you'll be happy to know, we cleaned the vents and fans. Retirement is great, but not without a few chores. We also spent one afternoon in Knoxville. There's an area downtown where they had the World's Fair.



This is the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

A river runs through downtown and a paddleboat went by.

SECOND ANNIVERSARY

I was so excited about getting the blog caught up, that I forgot to mention that October 29th was our 2nd anniversary "on the road" as "fulltimers". It's hard to believe-time really does fly! I hope the half of you that want to do this someday will be able to, and the half that thinks we're crazy, will at least be able to enjoy travelling along on the blog with us! The adventure continues!

BRISTOL,TENNESSEE SPEEDWAY

We moved on to Bristol, TE, and caught up on some blogging, shopping and laundry. Today we drove down to Knoxville, and will stay until Sunday, so we have time to see the area. I can't believe I'm finally caught up, now I have to catch up on e-mails. When we were in Bristol, we were close to the speedway. I took these pictures for Greg and Vicki Mulert, our nephew and wife, because they're big Nascar fans!

APPOMATTOX, VIRGINIA

We got in a little later than we expected, so took a quick tour of Appomattox Court House National Park. The visitor center is located in the Court House with a movie and small museum. You can wander around the village at your leisure and tour the McLeans home, where the surrender happened. On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered his men to Ulysses S. Grant. For our nation it was a new beginning. Following is the Court House.

The McLeans house.

Part of the room where he surrendered.

One of the white flags of surrender.

Another house in the village.