January 04, 2006
Our Trip To Tennessee, Part IV
Off we went to Douglas Lake and Dam, which wasn't too far away. TB and Heidi were eager to take pictures. Brandon was our tour guide for part of the trip and he was very knowledgeable about the area!
Heidi took this picture out the window of our car.
"I'm six feet under!" This is normally where the swimming area would be.
Ouch! I wouldn't want to step on this--fortunately it's not in the swimming area though. It makes a rather cool picture.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day for an outing.
We went up to the dam for more pictures. Brandon told us how the Tennessee Valley Authority built the dam in 1942 and pointed out a sign that gave us other vitals, like the height and length.
Heidi and Kristin got a lot of that good red Tennessee mud on their shoes from tramping around on the lake bottom and had to scrape it all off before getting back into the car.
There was so much more to see but we were getting hungry and so we decided to go pick up something to eat. I took this picture out the passenger side window as we left.
On our way back to Sevierville, there was a rather scary accident that happened right in front of us! One vehicle cut off another. That driver jammed on his brakes and the fellow driving right behind him was following too close. We heard a screech and then bam! as the 3rd vehicle smacked into the back of the second. The first driver was probably totally oblivious, as is usually with careless drivers. Anyway, none of us were hurt.
After lunch, we visited some more and then as it got dark we had to say some reluctant goodbyes because we had a long drive back the following morning. Next time we'll stay longer!
There was still a lot of traffic on the way back to our hotel but at least we finally knew why! We looked for a place to have dinner but were out of luck as every place we wanted to stop was totally crowded. There is a Shoney's right up the street from our hotel and we finally ate there. The food was just okay but not terrible.
The next day we went home and once again TB drove the whole way back. We made some great time, even when we hit some traffic around rush hour in the Baltimore-Washington area. The only problem we had was a wrong exit off the highway once we got into "home" territory--isn't that always the way? Anyway, we ended up on some street in Collingswood and wouldn't you know there was some kind of police action going down right there in front of us. It was a very tense few minutes until we could get past that, find Rt. 130 North and then get going in the right direction again.
In spite of all the traffic in Sevierville and that little excitement in New Jersey, we had a wonderful time and look forward to going back!