After working up an appetite exploring Ruby Falls and Lookout Mountain, where does one go for a nice dinner in Chattanooga, Tenn.? Punky decided the city’s revitalized downtown was the place to look, and that’s where the Tupelo Honey Café caught her eye.
If someone ever decides to research the types of tourist attractions most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, I’d have to believe the classic cave tour would be near the top of the list. By their very nature, they’re crowded and cramped. But I’ve loved them since I was a kid. Punky? Not so much. But she good naturedly agreed to one as part of our last family summer road trip. The stopover was in Chattanooga, Tenn. The tour was Ruby Falls. The falls – inside the cave – were worth the trip.
Before Pigeon Forge and Dollywood became tourist phenomena, there was Gatlinburg,Tenn. As the closest town nestled in a valley just before you reach Smoky Mountain National Park on the Tennessee side, perhaps Gatlinburg was long ago destined to be – and remains – a huge family tourist destination, even if it seems overloaded today with cheesy artificial attractions designed mainly to take your money (e.g., Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, a space needle, and a museum devoted to salt and pepper shakers).
The scenery in and around Gatlinburg, however, remains undeniably beautiful and, at times, breathtaking. And fortunately, there are still enough places to go in town that pre-date most of today’s tourist traps, where you get a genuine sense of downhome hospitality.
I may travel like a commoner, but I am not an amusement or theme park person. Just ask Punky. She’ll probably roll her eyes. So, when we planned a two-day itinerary at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., as part of our weeklong family fun road trip last summer, I kind of felt like I was “taking one (or two) for the team.”
But I have a confession to make. Dollywood was every bit as cheesy, camp, and crowded as I anticipated. And I really liked it.
Probably
more than the Kiddo did.
Picture yourself cruising through the rolling hills and farmland of southern North Dakota early on a late summer morning. The sun is stil...
