Hidden Treasures

Every now and then you happen upon some hidden treasures.  That’s happened to us several times this week.  We are on vacation in the Smoky Mountains, staying in a rented cabin in Bryson City. 

We didn’t have any concrete plans for the week.  Chris wanted to go to the Cherokee Indian Museum and go to the Smoky Mountain Knife Works in Sevierville, Tennessee but those were the only things on the list of things we really wanted to do.

So, we decided that we would be fluid and just do whatever we felt like.

On the drive up, we stopped for an unplanned view of Tallulah Gorge, and visited the little gift store on the side of the road.  It was way too cold and windy to stand there for much more than a minute, but we did it. We enjoyed the little hidden treasure we found on the side of the road.

Now that we are 5 days into our vacation, we’ve been so lucky to have had a few more hidden treasures come our way.

Some of them just happened in the past day or two because we spent most of Monday and all day Tuesday in the cabin, just relaxing.

Wednesday we struck off to Sevierville to visit the Smoky Mountain Knife Works.  We couldn’t take the direct route of 441 because it was closed for a huge landslide, so big in fact that the proposed re-opening date of the road is May 15, 2013.

Heading out of Cherokee, we went through Maggie Valley and I remembered that my grandparents often went to Maggie Valley when I was a child. It was nice to ride and look at the place they so enjoyed visiting. I am going to ask my mom if there are any vacation pictures from Maggie Valley that I could take a look at. 

My memory isn’t what it used to be, but I’m thinking that maybe one time they took me and maybe my sister on a trip with them to Maggie Valley, but I could be making that up…

On the way to the Knife Works, we were winding our way around the mountain roads and came to Chestnut Hill, Tennessee home of Bush’s Beans.  There was a museum, general store and café.  I asked Chris to humor me and stop for us to take a look.  We ended up spending a couple of hours looking around and having lunch at the café. 

We were impressed with the atmosphere, it was bright and cheery and the people seemed to love what they were doing.  Chris said the Reuben he got was one of the best that he’s ever had. 

We got to laugh at the Duke commercials they were showing in the museum.  We bought a few gifts in the gift shop.

We talked about the visit for a little while, about how much we enjoyed it, and the best part, that it was an unexpected pleasure.

A childhood throwback was one of these signs:

After the Knife Works visit, which was almost not a good visit due to the quite unexpected astounding lack of knowledge of the employees of the World’s largest knife showplace, we started a meandering drive around the mountains of Tennessee looking for chert.

 

We wound our way through neighborhoods and came upon a boat launch on the Holston River.  The river is part of the Tennessee Valley Authority and the water has been lowered so Chris was able to walk along the riverbed and look at rock to his heart’s content.  For me, just seeing the slice of life off of the beaten path on those Tennessee roads was a hidden treasure.

How interesting to see how people in different areas of the country live.

 

Yesterday was the day we set aside to go to the Museum of the Cherokee Indian.  The museum was much larger than either of us thought it would be and we spent several hours there.  Once we left there, we weren’t exactly sure what we were going to do.  We saw the sign about the road being closed, and the area of the slide was only 6 miles away, so I asked if we could at least go to the road block and see if we were able to get a view of it.  Chris said sure, so we took off.

 

 

We got to the road block, and as guessed, we couldn’t see anything.  We assumed that they would have it blocked well in advance of the slide, and they did.  On the way to the slide though, we saw a sign for the Mingus Mill grist mill and the Mountain Farm.  We decided to stop at both on the way back.

 

Mingus Mill was tucked back into the woods and even though the temperature was in the 60’s, the icicles were still hanging around.

 

A young family of 3 came up as we were leaving and I offered to take a family photo for them, they were very appreciative – said they never get all 3 of them in a shot.  Always makes me feel good to do something like that for someone, especially when they seem so happy and it is helping them to preserve a memory.  I know I’ve enjoyed it when people offer to take a photo of me and Chris when we are tourists.

Next stop was the Mountain Farm.  We stopped off in the Park Ranger Station for some information about the farm and then took off on our self guided tour.
 

 

A few gratuitous shots of myself.

 

 

The Park Ranger told us that early in the morning, or around 5 or so in the afternoon was the best time for elk sightings.

 

 

When we were leaving the park, I asked Chris to slow down so I could get a picture of the elk crossing sign, because I felt certain that was the closest I would get to seeing an elk. Just past the sign, we saw a rafter of wild turkeys and slowed down for some photos.

 

We didn’t really have a plan, but the Park Ranger told us about Mingo Falls so we thought we’d head in that direction.  As we are going through town, I told Chris that all of the cars ahead of us were stopped.  So, as we get closer Chris was able to see what the cause was – ELK!  There was a herd of elk crossing the road right through the middle of town.

What an unbelievable sight!  I took as many photos as I could.  I was so excited that we did get some elk watching in as our best hidden treasure of the day.  When we had first seen the sign for the elk crossing, I told Chris that I hadn’t even considered that elk would be part of the wildlife of the area, and then all of the sudden, we’re sitting in the car watching a herd of them cross the road in front of us.  Even the locals came out of their homes to watch.

 

Our day today started off with a great morning!  I had googled things to do in Bryson City and of course, most of them are warm weather driven activities, but one of them was a pottery class at Pincu Pottery.  Last night Chris and I were discussing our week and that we only had one more full day left and I mentioned the pottery class.  He said he was interested, so right then and there, sitting in the restaurant, I called and set up an appointment for 10 am this morning.

The entire morning was just absolutely a blast.  If you are ever in the area and want a truly lasting memory, go visit Elise at Pincu Pottery for a class.  She glazes and fires your creations and then ships them to you in about 3 weeks.  I can’t wait to see ours!  In the 2 hours, I made 4 projects and Chris made 3.

We both were just amazed at how well we did, but with Elise’s instruction and expertise, you almost can’t go wrong.