Day 2 In Tennesee. Waterfalls, Duskywings, Beer, and Moonshine....

 Yesterday,  Dave and I had some time to kill before the big Rehearsal Dinner.  After I posted the last Blog Entry,  We headed out for the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.  It as just  down the road! 

There is a busy road that is narrow and winding.  I think the park was only 7 miles away, but there were a few scenic turn outs that we took advantage of.  This lookout showed the entire city and the cable car that took you to the top most mountain.  

Our plan was to check out a picturesque  water fall that was near the road.  However,   as with most touristy things in brochures...  It was flooded with Tourists!  

Now I like people just as much as the next guy.   But when you are out trying to experience nature,  you want to do it in a quiet, peaceful, and perhaps even reverent way.    And a wee bit of solitude  helps!

 But this was NONE of those things!   Kids were running around screaming,  people were photo bombing each other.  With the narrow path there,  you practically had to stand in line to get your picture of the falls!  It did not take long for Dave to suggest we head up the trail a bit and lose most of the people. 

The nice thing about tourists, is that many of them are out of shape and lack the motivation to actually "work" for the shot.  So climbing a fairly steep trail for nearly a half mile makes the majority of them fall away.  (They can't hand the challenging task of walking up a path.)  Now if that makes me sound like a snob... Well,  I guess I am.   I have had to walk several miles down paths and up mountains while hauling fishing gear just to get to a secluded lake.   Once there, the trout were jumping and rising like a boiling cauldron.  It was like a Heaven! 4

My point is that you can't have places like that if EVERYONE and their kids and dogs and grandmothers, and rollers and strollers and oxygen bottles are there flooding the area.   The next waterfall, though smaller, was far more peaceful.  

While hiking,  we noticed a number of Butterflies out.   I saw several from the car, but the dominant ones along the trail were Duskywings.   ( I identified it on the path!  All those years of chasing butterflies and I still have the ID chart in my head.)   There certainly are a large number of them for those who like to split up the species... But I will settle for the common name.  

There were also a number of swallowtails ( black and tiger) and some whites.   Tough to ID them while driving down the road, but I'm fairly certain I could ball park it. 

As the time neared, we planned a link up with Joey and the wedding party.   They wanted to grab a drink at a local pub and chat a bit before heading out to the dinner.   It took us nearly 15 minutes to travel 5 miles due to the traffic.  It was similar to Disney Land only there were cars driving down the road!   We were forced to park a mile away from the pub and walking to the Gatlinburg Brewing Company.  The beer was good but rather expensive.  ( Because you are visiting a tourist town!)  

After folding a tip and catching up with the Wedding party,   the bright idea of visiting the "Moonshine" district come up.   Everyone agreed that would be worth blogging about, so they all Shanghaied  me and forced me to go.  

I had the peanut butter chocolate coffee thing.   (Not sure what the name was, but it was good.)  Once again,  the drinks were rather expensive,  so that limited our consumption.   You would think that since you are enjoying a product that is made locally that it would cut down on the shipping cost. Thus the savings would be passed off to the customer!  (Like eating Lobster in Maine!) But NO!   Because this is a touristy place.  (Let's continue to blame the tourists for everything... Shall we?)  

In the end, it is probably a good thing, because no one wants to get hammered the day before the wedding. (Except perhaps the groom...)   And wake up with a Hangover.  So keeping the prices high is actually possibly doing everyone a favor.   They can sample without losing their eyesight!  (That is a Moonshine reference...  Where drinking this type of Alcohol will cause blindness...  for those who don't know.)  

With everyone fully caught up and ready for the rehearsal,  I headed back to the hotel and tried to relax.   I walked to the Local Casey's and god some grub.   I sat by the river and fed the geese.  I even watched the Groundhogs play around on the other side of the river.  It was very therapeutic and relaxing.  And even though it was in the middle of town,  it appeared that I had the entire area to myself.  Possibly because everyone is out trying to get their "Natural Experience" on instead of seeing the nature that is right outside their windows.   I am not complaining!

My brother called and we had a nice chat.   Ed and Bill Arnold had brewed up a batch of Homemade IPA beer and they invited my brother over for a sampling.   From the sounds of it... And the way the conversation devolved... it sounds like they sampled more than a sample.  ( If you know what I mean....)

But that was always how it was back in the day when Mr. Noorman would tap into his homemade Wine.   Uncle Bill, Dad, and Mr. Noorman would sample a bit more than they should and they would tell stories and laugh loudly at jokes.  Usually, ( Around this time of year)  the Kids, Mark, David, Me, Eric, and Ed) would be cleaning a 5 gallon bucket of Smelt that the Noormans had brought home from their Spring Smelt Dipping.    While the old guys sampled wine,  The Moms would fry up the fish after we cleaned them.  Those were good times.  

So tonight is the actual wedding.   I wanted to squeeze in this blog post before heading out and gathering more pictures and experiences.  I'm not sure what to expect from this, but I'm sure I will find something blog worthy to write about.   It seems my creative writing skills have been overflowing since last Thursday.   And I think that is a good thing.  Because when you have the time,  sometimes you have to do the things that inspire you.   And every second counts...