July 17, 2014 Movin' on y'all

Thursday July 17, 2014

 I am freeeee!  Wheee!  Let me sniff... ooh that is good!  Whoops!  How did my paternal human catch me?

 Another cool night.  My morning walk took me across the 'crick' and around some back roads by the high school.  Pigeon Forge is one hopping town.  A gazillion different dinner theaters.  Pick your poison.  Would you prefer Hatfield and McCoys? Dueling lumberjacks?  Dolly's Dixie Stampede?  Bible stuff?  Magic?  Talk about the ultimate tourist trap!

In this neck of the woods, it is important to have the right hillbilly inflections in your enunciations.  So, let's have a hillbilly 101 lesson.  We will work with the term 'thank you'.  First, the word 'you' is almost two syllables.  It is eey-ewe.  And when you add the'thank' it is really more like 'thaink'; it's more drawn out than just a mere thank.  So, blend the two words together now.  Thai-nk y-ewe!  Y'all were reallll good!

Let me say this... Spouse better stop leaving doors open for Rudy to escape.  He doesn't go far, but he starts to play a cat and mouse game so he doesn't get caught!

 In readying Hannah for departure, we realized we left our good skillet at Paul and Merrillee's.  ARGH!  Now we have to stop at the Wal-Mart.  ARGH!  And yes, I did see some of the clientele one expects to see at Wal-Mart...  The traffic is horrendous, and from what I hear, it is always like this.  We were going to take a side road for the scenery but opted for I40 instead. 

More green.  Sheesh, does it ever change?  We pass Douglas Lake then the road takes us through the beautiful Smoky Mountains, over the Appalachian Trail.  I would love to have done part of the trail, but with Spouse barely walking, it just won't happen.  Besides, there have been so many bear sightings that they have closed a lot of the trails.

We cross over into North Carolina and settled in the town of Asheville.  We are at the base of the Smoky Mountains.  We have heard it is one of the best towns in which to live.  We visited the artist area with a series of individual studios.  Pottery, antiques, and paintings, including a whole series of old buildings that were part of a train station.  Those buildings are off the main road but so lively in their painting. 

 

 

We then went to the downtown area.  It reminded me of Santa Barbara.  It is a college town with lots of sidewalk cafes and cutesy shops.  We walked around - I hope Spouse can walk tomorrow...  After eating Thai food, we stopped to watch a concert in the park - Jeff Santiago and los Gatos Negros.  They were good.  In the picture, you may notice a guy in a red shirt.  He was a groupie!  Hippies are still alive and well...  hmmm... at least they are alive!  And to top off the day, we saw a 'pub-bike' where about 20 people are on a vehicle that they have to peddle to make it go while they drink.  Quite ingenious...