Artisans At Work

From our base camp at the River Plantation Park we set out for the next two days to view Gatlinburg. Since the weather prediction was for sun we decided to visit some of the 170 artisans and craftsman located in the hills above the city. This is a community of artists located on the Arts and Crafts trail. As you can see by the slideshow, we watched painters, potters, weavers, clay throwers, sculptors, tilers, and all sorts of artisans display and manipulate their work before our eyes. The loop harboring the craftsmen was about 12 miles long so it took much of the day. Later we drove into the Great Smoky Mountain NP to the renowned Cades Cove. It took about forty minutes to get there and then we were faced with the loop thru Cades Cove which is another 11 miles. We looked at each other thinking what did we do here. But after all this, we had better see what we came to see. Well, the vistas were grand but all we saw were deer. Trouble is, we can see them up close and personal on our back patio in Pennsylvania. We decided to head back home and tomorrow we would do the town. Prior to getting into Gatlinburg, we were cruising through Pigeon Forge and Robin saw a quilt haven. I have never seen so many quilts in my life. And the one on our bed is all of six months old, so she felt it was time for new one. She put it on the bed later while I was showering and it was so much like the old one that I asked here when she was going to replace the old quilt. Not a good thing. Then into town and ride the ski lift to the top of the mountain and gaze down at our new digs. We lunched on the best gyros we ever had in the middle of town. We perused the stores, ate ice cream, and watched a young man make fudge. We were the quintessential tourists. And if I put another bit of sugar in my mouth, I was going to explode. It was time to head back and work some of this off. The RV hadn’t had a bath in some time and all these road miles made it appear as if the Griswold’s were lacking in water. So it was wash time before the rains came so we could head down the highway and not be conspicuously dirty.