I had a dream that one day

We have arrived in Atlanta and will soon be on our way home.  We enjoyed the stay in Bryson City, it was chilly during the evening but the sun shone during the day. We left Pigeon Forde on Tuesday morning on a guided tour as Linda needed to check out one more craft shop, which involved a slight detour before we crossed the mountains and into North Carolina.  The cottage was as we remembered it and you could still hear the stream flowing along and the ducks were still in the stream.  As the weather was warm we could sit outside on the rocking chairs and watch the wildlife.

On Wednesday, we had a lazy morning and watched the train go past, with the passengers waving us, see, we are even famous in North Carolina!  We had some lunch and then drove into Bryson city in the afternoon and saw the train return. There was a coffee shop, so we stopped and had a coffee – although it was not up to Starbucks quality.

 In the evening we watched TV, we tried to watch a film, however if was 7 minutes film, 5 minutes adverts, 7 minutes file, 5 minutes adverts and so on – it drove me mad and a film that could have lasted 90 minutes lasted 150 minutes.

The next day we had a wander down to Waynesville and low and behold I saw – no not a Starbucks but a Best Buy (computer shop for the uneducated). It was my turn to wander around, check prices on the Ipad to see if I could get it cheaper elsewhere, and then look at more items.  Linda followed behind asking questions like what does they do, what is that?  We were in there a good hour and no craft shops in sight.  However, she did get her revenge as there was a Walmart next door – so I had to follow her around there as she tried several jeans on and then decided 30 minutes later she didn’t like any of them, unfortunately there was also a craft section.

We then went into Waynesville and had a look around, it had a lot of quaint old fashioned shops, one which fortunately sold coffee.   I had a rest from all this shopping and checked my twitter account on the IPAD2.

After this we took the scenic route back through Maggie Valley, along Soco Road towards Cherokee. It was a windy mountain road with several bends, climbs and declines and it was pouring with rain. We saw a sign for SantaLand – but then the sign on the door said ‘closed for the season – reopens in May – perhaps Santa only comes here when its warm.

On Friday we had to leave the cottage and drive back to Atlanta. We went via Cherokee so I could go to the Tribal Grounds Coffee shop to get refreshments for the long drive ahead. The speed limits were even worse on this stretch, around 45mph and so it took several hours to get down from the mountains. It was warm at the bottom, which meant we had to stop so Linda could put a t-shirt on and take her jumper off, don’t know why she bothered she then threw milk all over it!  We had a wander through some shops and I got a pair of trainers for £10 so I was happy!

We are staying at the Hilton Homewood Suites in Buckhead, Atlanta. Traffic was very heavy as we managed to get across Atlanta, especially when my helpful navigator tells me to turn left after I had passed the junction. The room is very big, in fact is three rooms, bathroom, bedroom and lounge/kitchen with a rather big fridge. I managed to book in for our flights on line and print the boarding passes of in the business centre.

On Saturday we got up early, had the free breakfast, food always tastes better when it is free, and it was as I had amassed enough Hilton points to get the room free. We then went out to the Martin Luther King centre, had a look around and went in the Ebenezer Baptist church, where he used to preach.  After that it was back to the hotel, to do some packing, then out for the afternoon before proceeding to the airport. London here we come.

You can see some photo’s here.

I am just the chauffeur

I have had the role of chauffeur for two days, as I have driven Linda around all the craft shops in the area and a scenic drive through the Smokey Mountains. On Monday, Linda wanted to visit the craft shops and do some shopping, so I had to research all the relevant shops beforehand, then plan out the route on Google maps and then check I hadn’t missed any she wanted to visit. 

Surprise, surprise, she managed to get up early and be ready to go out on time – can’t be anything to do with the shopping trip!  I just drive, sit outside the craft shop, read a book on the Ipad2, wait till she comes back and then drive her to the next location, sit outside and wait.

We did about four craft shops in the morning (I lost count of the bags she came back with) but we did see a Staples so I was allowed a reprieve for 30 minutes to look round. I bought her a present, a Kindle as she wanted one (well I will have the new one but she can have the old one as a present). Like kids get ‘hand me downs’ – Linda gets the gadgets second hand, well, the new technology would be wasted!

After this short stop it was back to the craft shops, I did not know there was so many needlework, quilting, knitting and crafts shops in one area. I did get a slight respite when we stopped at The Tin Roof cafe for a spot of lunch. Linda had a pumpkin sandwich which was quite sweet but she liked it and then I had a turkey and avocado one and we both had coffee – I needed an infusion of caffeine as I had not visited a Starbucks all day- will be getting the shakes soon.  Linda’s next stop was the Outlet Centre and I got dragged around the shops as she decided I needed some new shorts and t- shirts. We went into one shop and the assistant asked where we were from, Linda replied London, UK and then she started trying her French out on us, Linda didn’t understand her and explained that we spoke English in London – perhaps she thought no-one outside America spoke English!

Linda then wanted to go to Wal-Mart, not sure why we came all this way to go to Asda! Evidently we needed some new jeans, hers have holes in them.  We went in and then she wants to look around the whole store (I knew I should have remained in the car) and I was instructed to find some new jeans. I identified two pairs, tried them on, they fitted so I was ready to leave but no, Linda needed to try on about a dozen pairs, all looked the same to me but I was informed they were different. Eventually, she decided on one pair as she didn’t like the others. It was now five o’clock,  I was tired as I had been driving her around since ten o’clock. She decided she had spent all my money and was shopped out, so I was allowed to drive back to the log cabin, then like a mirage in the desert I saw a Starbucks and I was allowed to get a latte to drink when I got home (once I had unpacked the car of course).

During the evening I cooked dinner and had to get the fire going, Linda must have been sleeping when they did fire lighting at Brownies or Guides! Or talking! Linda went in the hot tub again, as she liked that and also tried out the Jacuzzi before falling asleep- all that shopping must have been tiring.

On Tuesday we were leaving the log cabin and driving over the mountain to Bryson City in North Carolina. We were up early and started packing the car, and left at 10am. I had another treat today – I could drive to more craft shops- different ones in another direction. We visited two and Linda managed to find some more things to buy. Then she got bored of shopping so we went for a drive in the forest and mountains, this was similar to shopping, I would drive, she would want to take some photo’s, I would stop and then she would take some photos before I drove her to a new location.

She has managed to take 95 photographs today – so if you ask her around for dinner – be warned. We did go back to Pigeon Forde and stopped at Starbucks so I had coffee in the car for the long journey across the Smokies.  We then drove to Gatlinburg and had a look around, stopping at KFC for a snack.  It was then a drive across the mountain to Cherokee (Indian Reservation) – although I didn’t see any ‘injuns’ running away or John Wayne riding across the horizon. It was about 35 mile drive, but you can only drive at 25mph or if lucky, 35mph on some stretches.

The trees had some excellent autumn colours and Linda pointed out many maple trees to me, where the leaves were changing colour and were either red or yellow.   We saw several wild turkeys and Elk roaming wild in the forest – of course they would be better in a sarnie.  We did some food shopping and then went to the River Cabin where we were staying. Its quite warm here today and we sat outside, and some ducks then turned up to see if Linda had any food. They took what she had and then left – didn’t even stop for a chat.

In the evening, as a treat for Linda, we watched Opry Live – a celebration of country music, Linda is improving as she can put names to songs now, I do test her knowledge in the car as we can listen to country music on the radio – she is so lucky!

There are some photo's of the scenery here