We made it to Alabama a short while ago and checked into our motel....where there is lovely, lovely WiFi....
Alabama is lovely too and I am delighted to be here....
However, today I fell in love with Tennessee. I have only been here once before, more than four decades ago.......at night....we picked up a kid in Virginia and drove him home...but that is another story for another day....
Virginia is oaks and evergreens and corn and soybeans, so pretty it almost seems staged.
Georgia is fascinating. I have always liked it there. We stopped at about the nicest rest area I have ever visited in North Carolina...even the crickets chirped with a sweet southern accent. It was so quiet and green and peaceful...
But Tennessee has everything. We came upon the Great Smokies just at break of day. The mist covered them like a mysterious blanket and offered an almost absurd contrast to the Snowbird Snares that jostled all glitzed and gaudy along the flatlands. It was easy to see where they got their name.
Then we were climbing, bumper to bumper, curve to curve, a 360 once as the road swallowed itself with a tunnel and then spit itself out higher up.
Words cannot describe the beauty, but thankfully there are cameras to take care of that.
Even outside the mountains I found the part of the state we crossed to be utterly enticing, enchanting....and fun. From ruby mines and whitewater rafting places every few yards....I could come back and do that some day, the mining, not the rafting. No zip lines for me either.....to hearing a Carolina Chickadee on top of a mountain...I was entranced and full of joy.
A new favorite state to add to Florida...and of course, NY, which is home, after all.
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| All photos taken in Great Smokey Mountains National Park |
Oh my gosh. Alabama. That's where I "came into being" in Evergreen. Mom and Dad came back to Ohio to deliver me . . . but I've always wanted to visit the place.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures!
So glad you are safe and having a good time. Love you. Mom and Dad
ReplyDeleteI love how you know how to love loveliness wherever you find it! And how you make it so vivid for us by your beautiful language. I'm reminded of trips we used to make to Florida from Michigan every winter when I was a little girl, and how enchanted I was by the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee. That was back in the 1940s and 50s, before Interstate highways and we had to drive through every town and we knew we were finally in the real south when grits appeared with our breakfast eggs even if we hadn't ordered them.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the tour, and of course the prose.
ReplyDeleteAs a Tennessean who has been enjoying your blog for many years, I have to say, Welcome! I'm so glad you got a chance to see our scenic mountains (in daylight this time!) and share the sights through your beautiful photos and descriptions. Hope you will come back soon!
ReplyDeleteCathy, how cool is that! And thanks. it is pretty neat to be here..a Mockingbird first thing this morning followed by Fish Crows. i have discovered that one can bird anywhere that there is outdoors.
ReplyDeleteMom, love you too. Who knew that I liked to travel? Alan makes it fun.
Jacqueline, thank you so much for your kind words. My first trip south was in the 70s. Very different then too, although not as much I'm sure. We have mostly been eating at chains to save time, but I remember having grits in truck stops on that first trip.
Nita, thank you and thanks for visiting!
Anon, thank you so much for your kind welcome. We had a lot of fun yesterday and saw some incredible beauty.
I too have fallen in love with the Smokies! They are so incredibly beautiful and even though I love where I live I didn't want to come home
ReplyDeleteAnn, we have been twice and both times were simply magical. Sorry you and your dad had to cut short your trip. Looked like you were having a great time!
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