Slept in this morning since the days have been long and I haven't gotten enough sleep. Spent about a half hour tracking down a hotel for the evening (read a long succession of reviews of cheap Nashville hotels mentioning crime/prostitutes/strange diseases...) before finding and booking one. I also bought a ticket for the show tonight at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville (of which more later). I was told to arrive around 6; leaving the hotel at 11:30, I figured I had a few hours to kill before the 3 - 3.5 hour drive to Nashville, so I headed back into Smoky Mountains NP.
The ranger yesterday had recommended the Cades Cove loop drive to me yesterday, but warned that it takes a couple hours, so I passed on it (since the sun would have set on me). Sounded like the perfect thing to check out today. The Cades Cove road runs for 28 miles inside the park, much of the way alongside a very nice creek:
I spent much of this part of the drive sitting behind a few cars that were moving at a slow, but reasonable pace; it was a good opportunity to sit back and see the sights. After the 28 miles of windy driving, the road terminates in a picnic ground, campground, and "scenic loop road", which takes you in an 11-mile loop around a meadow, with some sights along the way (log cabins, etc). This road was scenic and nice...for about 10 minutes. After that, I got caught in a line of cars marching along at around 5-10 mph; low enough that I was hitting idle speed in 1st gear. My one great complaint about the park is that people do not understand the signs indicating "slower cars use turnoffs" and "do not stop in the middle of the road". I cut the loop short to about 6 miles using a road through the middle, but still ended up trapped in a line of cars (and one school bus) about 30-long. This small loop excursion had eaten up an hour on its own! Since I was now running short on time, Murphy's Law guaranteed that I would get stuck behind more slow-moving cars on the Cades Cove road, where I saw people taking pictures out the window for miles at a time, never once using a turnoff to let the line of cars behind them pass.
When I finally got back out to Pigeon Forge, it was already 2:30, so I had time enough just to get gas and some sandwiches at Burger King before hitting the road directly for the Opry. And then, about an hour in, I was saved by the following sign: "Now Entering Central Time Zone." I'd completely forgotten about the time zone change, and had a full extra hour to work with, making a more relaxed schedule. After an uneventful (except for more slow cars, this time parked in the left lane, getting passed by semis on the right), I checked into my hotel in Nashville and headed out to the Grand Ole Opry.
The Grand Ole Opry (or rather, the broadcast of the live show) is the longest running radio show in the US and has featured many of the biggest names in country music. In other words, the style isn't the stuff I usually listen to. Regardless, I figured it was probably the most quintessentially-Nashville thing I could do (and it's hard to make live music bad), so I decided to check it out:
The Opry show featured a variety of performers, ranging from Western (cowboy-type music), to bluegrass, to different styles of country.
(Western band "Riders in the Sky". They were on the Toy Story soundtracks!)
(Bluegrass band the Grascals)
(Female country trio Point of Grace)
(Country Music Hall of Fame member "Little" Jimmy Dickens. He's not much taller than the guitar he's playing.)
(Charlie Daniels and the eponymous Band)
Even though it's not my usual brand of music, I had a great time at the Opry show. I wouldn't call all the performers my favorites, but most of them were pretty great, and I'd definitely see it again. Also, the live performance of "Devil Went Down to Georgia" at the end was awesome.
Tomorrow: Nashville, TN to Memphis, TN
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