Diet And Travel

..A Photoblog post of my random travels.
"Life is an adventure, dare it." Mother Theresa


I am sharing some of my random travel photos, these images are not only for my followers but more of a reminder for me and my hubby of where we have been and what we have seen over the years. All good memories for us, I hope you enjoy too.

One of a few trips to the Great Smoky National Park and Gatlinburg Tennessee.

I hope you enjoyed your visit and my images. As always I appreciate the comments and your visits.

" We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone." unknown


Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your day!

Oct 4- Oct 8 Blueridge Parkway, Great Smoky Mountain Nat’l Park, Gatlinburg



Oct 4.  Our first day we drove part way on I-81 and hopped over to the Blueridge Pkwy on I-64 in Virginia. We were hoping to see some pretty leaves and maybe some black bears on the Parkway. So we drove from the beginning of Virginia's Blueridge Pkwy to just south of Mabry Mill where we got back over to I-81. The parkway drive was much slower than we expected. We arrived in Gatlinburg later that evening and checked into our room for the next 4 nights at the Zoder’s Inn.

Mabry Mill

Oct 5. We woke up early and decided on a quick and free breakfast at Zoder’s. The breakfast of bagels, hardboiled eggs and coffee was just enough to keep me and hubby happy for awhile. After breakfast we headed to the Roaring Fork Motor drive. Almost as soon as entering the drive we saw our first black bear, there were a few cars ahead of us and a park ranger who clapped the bear away. We did get to watch the bear for a little while. We headed up the drive to the parking lot for the Grotto Falls trail. It is a fairly easy trail and the waterfalls is a pretty one. I was actually able to go behind the falls, which is kind of fun. Some time during this day we had a late lunch at Corky’s in Pigeon Forge. We both had the ribs and two sides. A very reasonably priced restaurant and the food was good. From there we headed back to the Sugarland Visitor Center and took the short walk to the Cataract Falls. Not much water on the Cateract falls but, it is a pretty walk. Leaving the visitor center we headed around the park to Cades Cove checking out the fall colors along the way. Cades Cove was extremely crowded, we should have saved this trip for earlier on another morning. Wildlife sightings at Cades Cove were some wild turkeys and deer. The horses were pretty too. By this time it was later evening so we headed back to our room. We learned to use the Pigeon Forge bypass to come and go from the park to our hotel. The traffic in Gatlinburg is horrible.




Oct 6. Breakfast was at the Log Cabin Pancake House in Gatlinburg. We went to breakfast right when they opened at 7am so glad they have their own parking lot and  there was no wait. The pancakes and coffee were served quickly and were off for some more sightseeing around the park. We headed to Clingman’s Dome, wished the weather could have been better. We had a cloudy morning but at least it was not raining. We were hoping for some great views at the Dome but the clouds got in the way. Next we headed towards Cherokeee and a quick stop at the  Mingus Mill, it is a interesting spot with some pretty fall trees around. Our next stop for the day was another waterfall. It was called Mingo Falls in Cherokee. The 200 steps going up to the waterfall overlook and down were a little much for my sore leg, I tore my hamstring a little more than two weeks before our trip. My Doc said it was ok to still go so I think the walking might have helped like therapy? We had dinner in Cherokee, a late lunch buffet. I can not remember the name of the place. It was good, I had the chicken and their peach cobbler was yummy. After dinner we headed back to the Cherokee visitor center in the park. We walked around the old homestead, I liked seeing the chickens walking around free. Leaving the visitors center heading back to Gatlinburg, we were excited to see a herd of elk. There was a crowd there but everyone and the park rangers were nice. I was happy there were no crazy photographers trying to chase down the animals for a closeup. The elk herd sighting was a great way to end the day and head back to our room for the night.

Clingman's Dome

Oct 7. Another morning to have the free and easy breakfast at our hotel. After breakfast we headed back out to the Roaring Fork Motor Trail. Again almost near the same spot we sighted a very young bear and a bear jam. We watched it for a while on one side on the road then crossed over to the other side, it walked on a downed tree and then decided to climb another tree. I was happy to get my bear fix in for the morning. Not far off down the drive we sighted another bear, this time crossing the road right in front of our car. Another great bear sighting on the Roaring Fork. I just love this place, further along the drive we came across a group of wild turkeys standing in a field near an old homestead? After finishing up with this motor tour we head over to the Laurel Falls, we enjoyed this hike to the waterfalls. It is an easy paved trail and a very popular trail. Not sure when but we headed down the Blueridge Pkwy in the afternoon, it was a very foggy day so we decided not to continue and got off an exit. We ended up having dinner in one of the Sagebrush Steakhouses, I believe it was somewhere around Waynesville. After dinner we made our way back to Gatlingburg via the Foothills Parkway. The sky and fog was clearing up and the views were very pretty.

Laurel Falls

Oct. 8.  Time to start the long drive home to Maryland. We checked out of the Zoder’s ( I posted a separate review on Zoder’s Inn) we gassed up the car in Pigeon Forge which is much cheaper $3.39 , for some reason the gas stations in Gatlinburg did not advertise their prices. We stopped for a nice breakfast at Mel’s Diner in Pigeon Forge. We were both happy with omelets and usually enjoy diner food. Here we said goodbye to the Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg and Tennessee. It was a great trip and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I am sorry for the long read.

 

Black bear seen in Shenandoah Nat'l Park on the way home

 

Above are shots of the Grotto Falls, A Dark-eyed Junco, Fall colors, Cades Cove horses, Wild Turkey, behind Grotto Falls, Smoky Mountain colors, deer, Cades Cove.



On our first full day, hubby and I drove to the Roaring Fork Motor Drive and headed for the parking lot for the Grotto Falls before it got too crowded. At the beginning of the drive we saw a black bear, I did manage a blurry photo before the park ranger clapped it away. We did the 2.6 mile roundtrip hike to the waterfall. I even walked behind the waterfall, a first for me after many different waterfall visits.

 

I was checking out the color along the Grotto Falls trail.

Later in the day we headed to the Cades Cove drive, here we saw horses, wild turkeys and some deer.  It was very crowded and took a while to do the 11 miles of the motor tour.

 

Some of the pretty Smoky Mountain colors.

 

Since, the birds were hiding from me and my camera I decided to take some shots of the horses. They are pretty.

I was happy hearing and seeing the birds moving quickly all along this Grotto Falls trail. It was very birdy trail, just not a good day for taking bird photos.  I hope you enjoyed hiking to the waterfall with me and seeing the Cades Cove Horses.

Thanks for the visit, enjoy your day!

There is a boardwalk that meanders thru the Cape May park.  Cape May is a great place for birding. There are always great birds to see in Cape May. The sky was a beautiful blue and not a cloud in the sky.

I am linking up my travels with Scenic Sunday

Last Sunday and Monday hubby and I enjoyed an overnight at the Showboat Hotel and Casino. They offer great deals for their hotel rooms on the internet for Sundays- Thursdays. We had a room on the 20th floor with a slight view of the ocean and a great view looking toward the sunset and the bayside.

 

This was the part of the view from our room. The first evening it was a little foggy. Dinner was at the House of Blues restaurant. Nothing fancy I had a great salad and pizza and hubby had the ribs.

We also had a view of the wind farm , which is located on the bayside. Across from the wind farm is the Edwin Forsythe NWR.

 


We were out on the boardwalk early in the morning this is the Showboat Casino and the new casino-hotel called the Revel. We had a great breakfast at the Johnny Rockets restaurant in the Showboat. I enjoyed the little view we had of the beach and ocean while we were eating our breakfast.

 

Above is a view of the boardwalk and casinos it includes the Taj Mahal towers and the Showboat.

 This is Trump's Taj Mahal Hotels and casino. The Taj Mahal hotel has two towers. I really like the design of Trump's hotel& casino, but we were very happy with our room at the Showboat.



We were up early to watch the sunrise on Atlantic City's famous beach.

The new hotel-casino called the Revel has a ball on the top which turned colors in the shot above the ball is green. It reminded me of a large golf ball?

While we were there on the beach watching the sunrise the ball turned green, blue and red. It would be cool to stay a night in this beautiful new hotel. It seems to be the tallest hotel/casino in Atlantic City.

Before we checked out of the Showboat, I got some more shots of  Atlantic City's skyline and beach.

Another view from the Showboat was the lighthouse on the bayside.

Thanks for stopping by my post. 

Thank you for visiting my blog and post and for the lovely comments. I hope everyone has a great week ahead and Happy Birding.

This weekend hubby and I visited the Barnegat lighthouse and state park to see the ducks. Winter is the time to really see some great ducks like the Harlequin and the Long tailed Ducks.

Long Tailed Ducks...the male has a white head with a brown neck patch and dark wings. They breed in the northernmost Canadian and Alaskan tundra. It is great that some spend the winters on the Atlantic coast.

Harlequin Ducks....the male has white stripes on head and chest and a white spot at ear. They also breed in northeastern Canada and the Pacific northwest and winter around rocky areas on the coast.

Barnegat Lighthouse

Thank for the visit, have a great day!