Asheville, NC-Pigeon Forge, TN 10/30 184 driving miles; 9.1 walking miles

Wow! In a trip of contrasts today may be the most shocking. We left Asheville under Carolina Blue skies, wound our way up to Chimney Rock State Park where we enjoyed the view on the best day of the year (According to the Ranger). The we ambled down the final leg of the Blue Ridge Parkway, enjoying a picnic lunch at one of the many million dollar view tables. Not to be outdone, we entered the Great Smoky Mountains, which is at once a continuation of the parkway (In motif), but totally different with its majestic spruce trees and craggy hilltops (They call them mountains back here). The Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited National Park and every tourist on record was visiting today, the last (Awesomely beautiful) day of October. We were in bumper to bumper traffic through most of the traverse (.5 mile/45 minutes), but not to worry. We had plenty of time to look at scenery and we had an awesome mountain music radio station to listen to. The striking contrast came as we excited the National Park and tooled into Pigeon Forge, which we presumed was a sleepy little mountain town of 6,000. Maybe 6,000 live here, but today it seemed like all 2.1 million area residents were here visiting Dolly World. This place is Hillbilly Vegas minus the booze and dancing girls. It's wall to wall (5 mile strip) T-shirt shops, candy shops, arcades, go carts, amusement rides, hotels, food joints, photo booths, and did I say T-shirt shops. I mean, Wow! We went from the most pristine, low impact natural attraction you can imagine to this shockingly gaudy display of family based, Jesus saves entertainment. Dazzling! We over ate a home style dinner of turkey and fixins. Right now I'm fighting the tryptophan blues, a bloated belly, and as much regret as a country boy can muster. In other words, life is good, especially today.

Of course, we started the day at Biscuit Head. This is the BBQ Brisket Biscuit: scrambled eggs, thinly sliced potatoes, brisket in a biscuit smothered with jalapeno gravy. Deeelicious!

Luann, best ticket taker of the day.

One view from Chimney Rock.

The view from the Opera Box.

Smiley's view every day.

The view from the parking lot.

"Best" human of the day, Bud McFalls who gave us flawless directions to the back way to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Art shot of day: Mountain Pure.

Edwardo getting his heart rate up.

Selfie of the day: Devil's Peak.

Great Smoky Traffic Jam.

Pigeon Forge (Dolly's World) after dinner. Too much!