After a good breakfast with Di, Jim, Judy and her daughter and grandaughter Caro and I took off for a sightseeing trip to Clingman's dome. We kept seeing this rocky little mountain river. Finally I found a spot to pull over so we could look better. I used my persimmon walking step as a unipod and to get down to the water. The water was almost ice cold.
I did reasonably well driving up Clingman‘s on the straight aways. The curves where we were near the edge caused my vision to narrow to a pin point. I am glad we took so many pictures because I really did not see the scenery. .
We pulled over at a scenic overlook for a quick look and stayed about 30 minutes. The pictures of the clouds were made while I was standing on the hood of the car. The mountains in the view were about 10 miles away. Quite a view.
Eventually we go to a intersection where the road branched to Cherokee and Clingman‘s Dome. There were rest rooms and lots of parking. Turns out the turnout facilities were constructed by the CCC and WPA. The Apalacian trail passes through. I though about our adventurous grannies who take Hostel and Smithsonian tours and those who drive all over New Jersey. I can just imagine them walking the trails.
Caro loves to take pictures that demonstrate either my big butt or saggy gut.
We got to the parking lot near the top of Clingman‘s Dome just before I began to panic. The engine light kept flashing on and off. When Caro‘s back was turned I added oil and felt the radiator. Felt kind of warm but not hot. We wandered around the parking lot looking out of the surrounding country side. We could see a small lake or a wide river over in North Carolina but I couldn’t find one on the map. There were a lot of straggly looking trees with clusters of bright red berries about the size of small cherries. I found no one, not even self proclaimed natives, who could identify them. They were pretty.
I still marvel at people and their refusal to be bound by signs. There was a clear new sign warning of the dangers of climbing the rocks. Right above the sign was a guy standing on the top of the rocks. I had watched him read the sign and then climb the rocks to apparently get a better view.
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