The Great Smoky Mountains Day 1

We thought that we would NEVER see San Angelo again, but Paul has been sent here on a TDY (temporary assignment) and now we're here.  For 7 weeks.  But, like we always do, we took advantage of the long drive (24 hours) to see some of the country we've never seen.  This time it was the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.

Our first day was a half day so we only had time to see a little bit of the park.  We stopped at the visitor's center and the ranger said it would be a good idea to go up to Clingman's Dome, the highest peak in the park, to see the views before some clouds rolled in.  So we did.  The views were spectacular!  Of course they would be at 6600 feet.  We got caught in a little bit of fog but were still able to see pretty far.  Mountains are awesome.

On our way back down to the parking lot from the observation tower we saw a black bear and her baby cub!  They moved behind the bushes before we could get a good picture though.  We also started our search for birds . . . we bought a birding book at the visitor's center and spent the next few days pretending to be birders.  Birding is so nerdy and so fun.

Then we drove to Bryson City, NC to check out our cabin.  We found this gem on VRBO.com and it was exactly what we wanted.  The views from the deck were gorgeous!  Paul sat out on the deck every morning reading and watching for birds.  It was basically paradise.

That night we went to dinner at Jimmy Mac's in Bryson City and got huge hamburgers and key lime pie.  We planned out our next day and went to sleep.