… what a wonderville … er, wonderful … world. Sorry about that.
I’ve felt a little bit like a Sara Lee pastry today – I’m wearing layer upon layer upon layer.
We stayed at Cindy’s AirBnB in West Asheville last night and it was a delightful stay. Our own sitting area, bedroom, bathroom and a little kitchenette area (if you can call a bar fridge and a coffee maker a kitchenette).
We met Cindy as we were heading out to the North Carolina Arboretum and had a brief chat. She told us that we were welcome to use the gas fireplace in our sitting area so we did, and it warmed the place up beautifully.
It was cold again today. I got dressed for the cold and took the suitcases out to put them into The Don II’s boot/trunk and I noticed that he had ice on his roof.
Hardly surprising considering that it was -1°C again.
I loaded up The Don II and then went back inside into the warmth of the house and started sweating like a fat kid in a marathon. It is really difficult to dress suitably for both inside and outside.
Layers. Layers are the answer.
We went for a drive into downtown Asheville after we left Cindy’s to have a look for some souvenirs and everything was closed.
Asheville is a pretty little township, but nothing too much exciting happens there.
MBW wanted to have a look at the 237 room Biltmore Estate which was built by George Vanderbilt on 8000 acres in the 1890s.
We got there to find that the tickets were approximately USD $100 each to get in a have a look around, and decided that we could spend our $200 better on something else.
Even the guardhouse is bigger than our house!
So we took a spin along the Blue Ridge Parkway instead. It is a really pretty, really beautiville … er, beautiful … drive in the Smoky Mountains.
Sorry again.
The drive was truly breathtaking. The photos don’t do it justice.
We got about 10-12 miles along the parkway and then the road was closed, so we turned around and headed back into Asheville NC to find another way to get to Waynesville, where we would enter the 441 to get over the Smoky Mountains.
Let me explain the whole “ville” thing.
Americans are many things, but in this part of the country they are not very imaginative when it comes to naming towns.
Asheville. Waynesville. Greenville. Linville. Tonight we are in Knoxville. Tomorrow Nashville.
We discovered today that Jolene has a bit of a speech impediment when it comes to pronouncing placenames.
Asheville is pronounced “Asher-ville”.
Waynesville comes out as ”Way-nes-ville”.
The Walmart Supercentre is a “sup-per-centre” with the emphasis on the “per”.
We got to Waynesville NC around 1.00pm, found Walmart and bought some supplies for lunch. They like fried chicken here.
Matter of fact, I’m getting pretty fond of it too.
We also bought some potato wedges to go with it. They sell wedges in North Carolina by the wedge.
So the conversation went like this:
Deli lady: “Can I help y’all?”
Me: “Can I have some fried chicken please?”
Deli lady: “Huh?”
Not a good start. And here I am thinking it was her that talked funny.
MBW came to the rescue and ordered some fried chicken, and then asked after the wedges.
Deli lady: “How many wedges would y’all like?”
MBW: “10 wedges please.”
Just for the record, we did have salad with our fried chicken and wedges 🙂
Now I appreciate that I am no fashion statement as we are travelling around, but I have noticed an increasing tendency of North Carolina men to wear bib and brace overalls. Even shopping.
I’ve always been of the belief that nobody can wear bib and brace overalls and make them look good, and that view has been confirmed in North Carolina 🙂
We found a little Baptist Church just down the road from Walmart, and set up there for lunch. It was still pretty cold so we ate in the car.
From there, we took off to get over the Smoky Mountains so that we could arrive at tonight’s AirBnB in Knoxville at a reasonable time.
The Blue Ridge Parkway was closed so we asked around and found that the 441 was the next best option. Apple Maps reported it as being closed due to weather, but Google Maps said it was open.
Jolene was confused.
We stopped at a McDonalds for coffee and asked the locals, and they confirmed that it was open. So off we went.
At the start of the 441 we came across an Indian Reservation visitor centre. They confirmed that the 441 was open but that we needed to take it easy and watch for snow and ice.
No 80mph over the Smoky Mountains.
It was a truly spectacular drive, and possibly the highlight of our trip so far.
And then we found it. The Tennessee/North Carolina border.
In the picture above, you can see a big patch of ice on the road.
We got into Pigeon Forge TN around 5.00pm and MBW got to try a funnel cake. I can’t describe it, but it’s the next best thing to having a beignet 🙂
And probably as fattening 🙁
Pigeon Forge is one weird place. It’s a bit like the Las Vegas of Tennessee.
These are some of the buildings on the main Street.
Hmmm.
We arrived at our AirBnB around 6.15pm and had breakfast for dinner. Don’t ask.
We were cold and tired and didn’t feel like going out again, and have probably exceeded our daily limit of fat, grease, coffee, and fried chicken … so we had granola and yoghurt and grapes for dinner.
This is what our trip today looked like – 194mi or 310km.
So here we are in Tennessee. And having a ball!
We haven’t met our hosts yet – hopefully they will be home soon and we can get to bed.
The title of tonight’s post and our chosen song is an absolute classic, and in recognition of the spectacular beauty we saw in the NC/TN Smoky Mountains today.
What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong) – 1967. Enjoy!
Ciao
#G&KTAKEUSA2019