Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee 3/13/2014

MARCH 13, 2014 (Thursday)

Got up to snow and cold. Day turned out to be blue skies and glorious (but a bit chilly). The high was around 45 degrees.

We left around 9:30 AM to meet our tour group at Johnny Carino’s in Pigeon Forge at 10:00 AM. We took the tour about “Taking Better Photos,” with Jim Eastin. Jim Eastin didn’t give the class, Colleen did. Colleen is the lady who gave us the introductory class on Tuesday evening. This was her first official tour and she did a great job. The tour was around $65.00 for the two of us. (They had a special – half off.)

Coleen teaching, she did a good job, except for when she yelled at me for playing with my phone. — Colleen teaching, she did a good job, except for when she yelled at me for playing with my phone.

We “reviewed” what we had learned from our earlier class, then we had lunch there at Johnny Carino’s. We had been given a paper with our lunch choices on it when we first arrived. During lunch we were given a disc to listen to in our cars as we drove to the various places. The disc was the voice of Jim Eastin telling stories and history of the area. Very interesting. After lunch we went to our cars and caravaned to the different sites. Colleen led the way and made sure we kept in the exact order so she knew if she lost someone. So glad we went on this tour as we would have never seen the Great Smoky Mountains National Park like that before. Saw Cataract Falls on the first stop. So lovely. We went to an old cabin that has been restored and is now used for weddings. We stopped at a wooden bridge, another waterfall, and a couple other stops. At each stop we were encouraged to use the new information we had learned to take the pictures. I confess I still like using automatic setting. At the end of the tour we ended in the town of Townsend. It’s about 25 miles from Gatlinburg and is considered a relaxing and laid back opposite of Gatlinburg. We went to a railroad museum there, which was quite interesting. We met some lovely people on the tour – Lois and Tina, as well as some people we had the original photography class with – Bob and Jeannie.

Tina and Lois, very nice teachers in various states of retirement. — Tina and Lois, very nice teachers (from Kentucky) in various states of retirement.

Refurbished to show how the wealthy families second homes looked in the early 1900's. — Refurbished to show how the wealthy families second homes looked in the early 1900’s.

Picturesque stairs leading to the back patio.

Seth Engine, made for mountains. — Seth engine, made for mountains.

Gear driven, independent drive wheels, top speed 2 mph.

Mr Townsend, a nice guy that clear cut the forest, made lots of money and — Mr. Townsend, a nice guy that clear cut the forest, made lots of money and worked very hard.

A "set off" house, for a family of 7. Hauled on the train, and set off for the family to make a home. — A “set off” house, for a family of 7. Hauled on the train, and set off for the family to make a home.

Any kind of bloom. — Any kind of bloom and Edie is on it.

The tour ended at around 4:00 PM and we got “home” around 5:00 PM. Lexi called out for a pizza for dinner. I am doing laundry, and Michael is processing photos. That was our day. Hope yours was wonderful.