Unique and different places to visit in the Smokies While the broader world thinks of the Smokies as the neon glow of Pigeon Forge, of moonshine distilleries and go-kart tracks and pancake houses, the truth is the Smokies are vast. There is a lot going on in the mountains. Even if you had a lifetime to explore, you wouldn’t be
My GPS suggests I take a shortcut through the mountains. Should I take it? We ran a story in my newspaper – or I should say the newspaper where I work my day job – probably 12-15 years ago about a woman whose GPS rerouted her in the mountains up near Cocke County, in Hartford, I think. She followed the
The wonderfully named Savage Gulf State Park is growing If you limit your Tennessee visits to the area around the Smokies, you’re going to miss out on some epic natural beauty. I learned this years ago. I was the sports editor for the Advocate & Democrat in Monroe County. The newspaper served Sweetwater, Madisonville, and Tellico Plains. We didn’t get
Planning your way to Smoky Mountain perfection In the Smoky Mountains, perfection, if you’ll forgive a bit of poetic license, is like the Little Pigeon River. It’s fed by a series of prongs and tributaries and streams from all sorts of sources. Finding perfection is to follow the path of your passions until the reach the main waters flowing throw
Between Townsend and Pigeon Forge, these are the things you shouldn’t do in this under-appreciated part of the Smokies Growing up in Blount County, not far from Townsend, I had three routes from which I could choose when heading to Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg. Which route I chose often depended on my destination. We could cut through Seymour and head
What do the continuing issues on I-40 mean for your mountain vacation? It was déjà vu all over again. A torrential downpour hit the Smokies – right at the Tennessee-North Carolina state line – dumping between 2.5 and 3.5 inches of rain in about two hours. The downpour caused multiple small mudslides. The massive amount of flooding also trapped travelers
A Local Explains the Allure of Blount County’s Somewhat Secret Tourist Attraction When we moved to Blount County in the summer of 1990, we got a lot of advice from locals. The best places to visit in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the secret spots where you can enjoy the mountains away from the throngs. We were told
Everything you need to know about the Cherohala Skyway There’s a road running across the mountains connecting Tellico Plains, Tennessee to Robbinsville, North Carolina. And if you catch it on the right day, when the sky is the right blue and fluffy white clouds dot just the right places, it seems like the top of the world. How many miles
A local talks about his favorite things to do and see driving in the Smokies In the days before my mom and stepdad married, they were in a courting phase. The kids today would call it dating. At a certain point, when the relationship started getting serious, my brother and I were introduced to Joe, the man who would become
The Best Smoky Mountain Playlist Building a perfect road trip playlist is part art and part science. But you also need some alchemy. You want the songs to fit around a certain theme to help build the hype. For example, some Beach Boys music for a beach trip. A little Sinatra for New York. Some Disney Magic if you’re heading