No we are not travailing in a Balloon but it may have been easer than dealing with Travilocity.
can Not wait to Visit our West Coast Family!!!!!
OK lets get packing Deb, Do Not forget they now charge $25.00 for the second piece of checked luggage.
Found a good web site for the Smokys.
http://greatsmokies75th.com/welcome-to-the-great-smokies-75th/
We will only be home until June
and immediately unloaded the RV. By 6: 30 PM we were beat and hungry so decided to go out for dinner when our Daughter-in-law Tiffanie Grandson Steven and Grandaughter Adeline came in with a container of Gowumpkies for us. Tiffanie is a great cook so they were absolutely delicious and appreciated.
Drive. 
After a leisurely start to the morning it was back on the road and Skyline Drive. Once again the scenery was beautiful. 
Ron is not happy that we 
are 
heading home and would like to stay on the road indefinitely despite the high gas prices. We put another 300 miles behind us and settled in for the night at WalMart in Hazelton, PA 
We’ve stayed in this WalMart before and knew it was quiet and safe. The store is one of the most organized and clean of all the WalMart’s we have been to.
so we decided to complete the route and travel the 
105 mile Skyline Drive that runs through Virginia.
is a series of “frothing”cascading so a must see for us. The trail 
to the falls is a 1.5 mile round trip hike. The hike down was fairly strenous since it is all downhill over rocky and very steep terrain. Bothe Ron and I felt we were up to the challenge beause we had hike up and back to Clingman’s Dome at a much higher elevation.
SEE Video:
Steep is a relative term I guess becsue it was a very strenous uphill walk but after sone heavy duty sweating on my part – not Ron’s we made it back up the to the trail head.
we enjoyed the many deer that were grazing around our RV and the crazy littl bird who sat on the arm of our side mirror and thought he was mating with another bird while looking at himself in the mirror. 
8 PM and Ron doesn’t have the energy to drive any further. Tomorrow its off to Sky Line Drive where we’ll be spending the night either in the Loft Mountain National Park Campground or the Big Meadow National Campground.
We were good with that as it got us into a secured place for the night. There will be a site for us tomorrow night.
and a mountain bobcat. The area was congested but not as bad as we were led to believe.
the 
winding mountain roads and felt like we were in another world. The sounds of rushing water, with streams and views were spectacular. Within the walls of the mountains were multiple small waterfalls that we love. We noticed a loud buzzing sound and thought there must be a saw mill in the hills behind us. We didn’t find out what the buzzing sound was until the next day when we arrived at Cades Cove and heard the same loud buzzing sound. We learned that the sound was coming from the cicada insects. Very interesting, check out the Link.
is the highest point on the Appalachian Trial 
with an elevation of over 6600 feet. The ride to Clingman’s Dome through the Smokies was again a spectacular drive with views of that were breathtaking. 
But not as breathtaking as the hike up-up-up to Clingman’s 
Dome. It was half mile up on 60% grade. The old legs, lungs and heart got a work out but we made it. On arrival to the top of the trail there is a steep walkway up about 4 flights to the Dome overlooking the Smokies. It was well worth the trip since the views of the Smokey Mountains were stupendous despite the literature reporting that due to air pollution and smog the view of the Smokies has been reduced by 50 to 60%. The hike down was easy and we were able to appreciate the views even more since we were able to breath without difficulty. I do believe the altitude didn’t help much either.
We continued our trip stopping to enjoy the views. It was recommended that we do another loop within the forest that is also another one -way loop. Once again we were in awe of the untouched beauty of the landscape. We walked to a waterfall, small compared to others we had visited) but still beautiful. This area made us felt like we were in an enchanted forest.
beautiful cutoffs, trails and vistas. It was an incredible journey with views of the Great Smokies, waterfalls and general beauty throughout the area. The drive reminded me of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We did take a hike to Hidden Creek which was really hidden because it had dried up. We stopped by a lake and enjoyed the quiet and view. It was then on to Bald River Falls 
deep within the forest. 
Interestingly, we 
were stopped at a check-point by Forest Rangers who were requiring all drivers to provide proof of license, registration and insurance. We thought that odd but then heard later that evening that a murdered was on the run in a stolen car. 
There were police everywhere that evening.
Over 75 years ago during an excavation of a 420 ft. deep elevator shaft to the original Lookout Mountain Cave, a small opening was found at the 260 foot level. Leo Lambert and his co-workers went through that opening and spent the next 17 hours crawing on their hands and knees. They heard the sound of water in the distance. When they came into a large opening they were awed by a magnificient waterfall deep within the cave. Lambert had his wife crawl though the cave with him to the waterfall and named the falls in honor of her - Ruby.
Although the falls was great I’m not sure what would possess anyone in their right mind to crawl on their belly for 17 hours not knowing what they 
were really crawling to. During the crawl there 
was only one small area they could actually stand in long before they came to the falls. I guess he was a true explorer without claustophobic tendencies.
giving the incline the unique distinction of being the steepest passenger railway in the world. We were somewhat disappointed in the experience because it was not very exciting compared to the ride up the Cog Railway in N.H.
Folklore has it that a young brave named Sautee fell in love with a beautiful Cherokee maiden. Unfortunately for them their tribes wer in a bitter feud. They ran away together but Sautee was captured and thrown from the tip of Lover’s Leap. Nacoochee, the maiden, was so distraught she quickly jumped to her death. The area is now fenced off – no repeat performances are allowed.
became a part of the Fairyland Caverns. In 1964 
Jessse completed a gigantic landscape known as Mother Goose Village. The walk through this area was amazing and I must say there didn’t seem to be a fairy tail or rhyme she missed within each diorama.
