Windy City, Smoky Mountains ~ Day 11 - Cades Cove & Golf

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No torrential rain or laziness today so we were up by 8:15. We went out at around 8:45 and began making our way down to Cades Cove, only to come across a roadblock so we had to make a lengthy detour, which worked out well because it meant that we went past another shop that we wanted to look in so we managed to cross that off on the way.

We eventually arrived at Cades Cove at around 11:00 and began making our way around the 11 mile one-way scenic loop, stopping off at a few places of interest along the way.


There was normally a big queue to take pictures of this sign at the entrance to the park but this morning we were first ones there.













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We also got stuck in a ‘bear jam’ on the way round but luckily once the cars started moving off the bear was still there so we managed to see our first live wild bear in a few years of attempts. These pictures were about the best I could do whilst trying not to hold up the traffic behind me and almost getting the car stuck in mud!




We made our way around the rest of the loop eventually leaving at around 2:00 - yes it did take us 3 hours to do 11 miles, but that did include the stops along the way.

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From Cades Cove we drove back to Gatlinburg and decided to do the Hillbilly Golf course. This involves taking an incline railway up the hill and then playing your way around the course in the hillside before getting the railway back down. It’s not elaborately themed but being among the trees it means it’s nicely shaded and cool. For the record I scored 47 and Dad scored 51 on the par 41 course so neither of us are going to be threatening any course records anytime soon.









By the time we finished playing it was just after 4:00 so we went back to the cabin for a break before going out for something to eat.

We went out at 5:30 and did the now familiar drive into Pigeon Forge and went into Golden Corral where we started off with a bowl of salad each then a plate of fried chicken, pulled pork, bourbon chicken and mushrooms and finished off with ice cream. As we were eating we saw something that you don’t see every day - a wedding party came in complete with bride in wedding dress!

We were back at the cabin for 7:30 where Dad did a load of washing and we were in bed at the usual time with another free day in store tomorrow.

Day 12

[Strommie]

Lovely day. Glad you got pics of the bear

[Guest]

Another great report with lovely photos.

[DisneyMadAng]

oh how lucky for you both to see a bear. I'm so jealous. DH thinks I'm nuts but I really want to see one, I thing they are beautiful.

Your photos are brilliant and you're getting to see so much.

[qwerty]

Wow fantastic pics.What lovely golf course.Thanks for sharing.

[Guest]

How lucky to see a bear. The golf course looks fun.

[orlandosgr8]

Another great day, how lovely to see a Bear.

[DIBBadmin]

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