Roadside attractions are known for using hyperbole and strange gimmicks for getting people to stop and spend their money. One of the strangest in Pigeon Forge is Gatorland, known as the souvenir store with the giant alligator over the entrance advertising "live alligators" inside. The truth is there is one caiman inside the store. It's a big caiman, but it is definitely not an alligator and there is definitely only one. On the other hand it's a free animal exhibit and Gatorland's prices on souvenirs isn't terrible. Just keep in mind "live alligators" translates to "one live caiman".
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Hiking Meigs Mountain Trail is a little harder than I originally anticipated. It's a steady uphill that plunges sharply down into the Kings Branch Camp at about 3 miles. The issue is you have to turn around and climb back up that 500 foot descent.
Being in the Elkmont area this is a good wildflower trail in the spring. Lots of violets, some Fraser's sedge, and the only place I've seen trout lilies in the park thus far. Trout lilies are so slow growing they take seven years to flower, so finding large areas of them is nice.
This is the best time of the year for hiking and Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains has lovely early flowers in the spring. It's also a fairly easy hike as it doesn't gain a lot of elevation.
I hiked the Cucumber Gap loop which is about 6 miles round trip. Elkmont is also home to the historic cabins in the Smokies that were a resort back in the 30s. The park is restoring the cabins to semi-ruins and they're interesting to walk around.
tCheekwood's first outdoor even of the year is Cheekwood in Bloom, a display of spring flowers heavily featuring tulips.
There were windmills added to this year's display. The main shortcoming of this exhibition at Cheekwood is that the flowers are rather limited to the entry of the gardens. There are flowering trees blooming, but the majority of the flowers are near the entrance which causes something of a bottleneck when it comes to people trying to get photo ops.
There are several areas of daffodils in bloom at this time too. When the weather is nice during the exhibition expect the gardens to be very crowded.
First road trip of the year was to Shiloh National Battlefield in southwest Tennessee. I knew the Battle of Shiloh was important in the Civil War, but I was fairly unfamiliar with the details of it. That was okay because the visitor center offers a 35 minute movie about the events of the battle that makes events very easy to follow. We grabbed lunch at Subway and brought it with us and ate at the park before going into the movie. Everyone is given a map to the driving tour then which has 22 tour stops.
There is a small bookshop/gift shop we hit up before going on the driving tour. The tour is well marked with nice signs that tell you what road to follow and where to stop. There is a recreation of the original Shiloh Church meeting house that was destroyed during the battle and the map has good descriptions of all the stops.
There is a stop that includes a 1.1 mile walking trail around the Shiloh Mounds that has interpretive signs about the Native American village that used to be next to the river and was on the battlefield. There were a lot of artifacts excavated from this site that was abandoned by the inhabitants about 500 years ago for reasons unknown. The trail is a good place to stretch your legs while on the tour and get a good view of the Tennessee River.
At the battlefield we were given a voucher for free entry to the Tennessee River Museum in the nearby town of Savannah. We'd passed it on the way to the park and stopped by on the way home. The museum is small but has a large collection of Native American artifacts that have been found in the area and at the mounds. These include the very impressive pipe stand of a kneeling man that managed to make it through the centuries in very good condition. The museum is very proud of it as it touts the item as being a noted one nationwide.
The museum also details the importance of the Tennessee River to the economy of the region with regards to both trade and the mussel industry. There are also a lot of Civil War artifacts from the battlefield. They are planning on expanding the museum according to the lady at the front desk by adding a replica riverboat feature soon.
This season at Cheekwood there is only a minimum going on since winter isn't a good time for a botanical garden that is mostly outdoors. February Cheekwood did host Orchids at the Mansion, a month where the Cheekwood Mansion is stuffed with orchids to attract visitors. This is probably the least busy I've ever seen at Cheekwood, but the day was rainy and the weather was cold.
The main display of orchids is in the solarium and the small group of people who had showed up on a rainy day where snapping pictures of the arrangements. This is the last weekend the orchids will be at Cheekwood. The bad weather really hurt the exhibit this month, but the flowers are well worth seeing.
Rowdy Bear Ridge Adventure Park is one of the newer adventure ride areas in Pigeon Forge. The park features a laser coaster, snowless tubing, and an alpine coaster. A place where parents can turn their kids loose for a while as they sit at picnic tables, the outdoor setting has been ideal for a pandemic. Add to that good Groupon deals and I had to try this place. I must say the tubing was actually more enjoyable to me than the Pigeon Forge Snow tubing simply because it isn't as fast or scary. The hill looks bigger, but the track isn't as fast as the ice at Pigeon Forge Snow. This is just a fun time. Well worth the Groupon price for a fun ride that feels less out of control.
Pigeon Forge Snow is the year round indoor snow attraction that came to Pigeon Forge several years ago. There is a snow play area, but the main attraction is the snow tubing. While the tubing accommodates young riders, the ride is very fast and seems dangerous even though it isn't. Between this and the other tubing attraction I tried at Rowdy Bear, this one is the far more "scary" because the speeds are faster.
With over 1 million lights and 111 trees decorated, Cheekwood offers one of the best Christmas lights displays in Nashville. The botanical garden started the offering of night time entrance with light decorations several years ago and it has grown since. Along with the grounds being decorated, there are actual reindeer on site and the mansion is also decorated. This year the theme was the Nutcracker. The Chihuley glass sculptures are still here, so that gallery is also open in the mansion.
The lights are well worth the trip and are one of the more spectacular displays in Nashville.
More and more murals are popping up around Murfreesboro, a nice way to turn free space into art. For a quick tour, there are several around the square that can be walked to from each other. New ones are popping up around town all the time with a few being added to some restaurants recently. The one on the Bug Man office off of W. Loki is probably my favorite.
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AuthorA librarian who likes to travel and experience life. CategoriesArchives
June 2022
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