July 2007

Still More Vacation

Just wanted to show that, yes, the sun does shine in Maggie Valley! I was beginning to wonder! But, we woke up this morning to a brilliant, sunshiny day. So, we took advantage of the weather and walked about 1.5 miles up the road and back - stopping to do a little souvenir shopping and sightseeing.

This is another view of the creative landscaping in front of our motel - an outhouse and a still (and Gary - he is not part of the decorations!).

This is elk country. There are several different bronze elk statues along the main road. They are all anatomically correct - Gary is pointing to that fact in the upper photo! I tried to be discreet when I photographed them! Anyway, elk were released in the Cataloochee Valley in 2001 - probably about the time they were released in Eastern Kentucky. On Monday, we headed to the valley where they are living, but as the road went from marked, to unmarked, to narrow unmarked, to gravel, Gary was sure I was mistaken about the location and turned around (when we were really half way there) and headed back down the mountain. Even after I showed him the map that clearly states that the road becomes packed gravel, he refused to go back. So, I never really saw a real live elk, but I have seen plenty of statuesque elk in town!On our return from our walk . . . .

After the walk, we decided to head back out the Blue Ridge Parkway to see what some of yesterdays sights look like in the sunshine. See next post!