The first day at Smokeys. As per plan, we drove out to the National Park setup at the foothills of the Smokeys and gathered as much information as possible from the friendly Ranger along with as many maps of the area as possible.
The day though quite pleasant at time, was forecasted to have a really bad storm in the later part. With that in mind, the ranger cautioned us to set on long trails. She let us know that the Rainbow Falls were a pretty sight and not to be missed. Also, the New Found Gap, the highest point in the Smokeys was another interesting place. It was accessible by road itself, and the road went on through the scenic mountains towards North Carolina, had a part of the Applachain trail (one of the longest in the world) along it, and went all the way to Cherokee where there was an Indian Residency area. (The American Indians that Mr. Columbus found, not us Indians).
We decided to take on all these things, and try to get back before the storm.
The New Found Gap, definitely was a breath-taking view and we spent a good half an hour at that place marveling at the mountains and taking pictures. It was hard to imagine how beautiful it would be during the fall, but even the ‘quite-barren' mountain slopes were a view to gasp.
Next we moved on to the longest trail. With the storm showing signs of early arrival, we didn't venture too far on the trail. With about an hour spent here, and the rain now just beginning, and the hunger settling in, we decided to go to the closest eating place around…. Cherokee – about 10 miles in the other direction from our hotel. Some wise guy has said – hunger is the worst enemy. Well I would not completely disagree.
We moved on towards Cherokee, with the rain coming down a little harder, but not giving any trouble. As we reached the Indian Residency area, the rain was nowhere around. There we found this amazing little Chocolate Factory and outlet. Two talkative grannys were running the store at that time, and we had a LOT of chocolate inside us in no time. We washed it down with some coffee. But food… as in hunger satisfying food was not seen around. Most of the restaurants were closed, as it was not the ‘visitor' season which it seems starts somewhere in mid-April. So we moved on right into Cherokee. There we found a decent Pizzeria where we had stomach over-full of pizza. ( The cute oriental-looking waitress had nothing to do with the amount of pizza we ate).
With the hunger satisfied and the storm still not seen, we decided to head back to Pigeon Forge (that's where our hotel was remember?) This moment on, is where I understand the wise-crack I mentioned above. The ghats that we had crossed to get to Cherokee, were completely filled with fog – fog as dense as cotton I would say. I got a pic of that in the album by the right. Check it out – yeah the one where u see nothing. It was well.. completely white and our cars moving at about 10 mph seemed really fast. With 3 of us – Pranav from the back seat, Shishir from the driver-side seat and me in the driver seat, with our eyes peeled to the road, managed to make it through. The other four in the other car, were ahead. They made it too guys… they were waiting for us at the end of the 11 miles stretch where the fog gave way to some ‘visible' air. We had our jokes about our fog and in about 5 mins drove on towards the hotel.
Just as we got in, and were in the corridors opening the door to our room, the storm really started. Man… did it pour!!! . Nature can have its way … wow… that evening it proved its mood tantrum… again. It literally poured, for about half hour and then went off the way it had come.
That night Amey, Pranav, Shishir and me were in a really pranky mood. Especially me n Pranav. We crawled downstairs and tried to scare Satya and Amit with white sheets over our head playing ghosts. The pranks failed miserably, but we still had our laughs.
Oh oh oh! this is one of the most well kept secret till now!
We had 2 TV sets in our room, one downstairs where Ajinkya, Dhaval, Amit and Satya ‘lived' and one upstairs where the rest of us 4 ‘lived'. Each set had its own remote control. Now these controls were universal, and we had ours configured to theirs!! And was it fun to switch off and switch on their TV with them wondering whats going on ! :D.. Devilish I know! but I loved it. >:)
That night we slept at about 5.30 AM. We had this long talk about all of us and what we like/dislike about each others. Good times
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