Simon & Rosie's Travel Journal: June 2013

A lot of driving this week! From Kentucky, we dropped in on the home of country & western music, Nashville Tennessee, for a spot of line-dancing. We then drove east towards Knoxville to take a boat ride on the largest underground lake in the USA (second largest in the world) at Sweetwater's Craighead Caverns, before settling down in the uber kitsch and oh-so-American town of Gatlinburg - gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Moonshine, whiskey & wine distilleries (with free tastings), mini golf, arcades, haunted houses, fudge & saltwater taffy shops, novelty t-shirt stores, themed bars, retro restaurants and faded vintage waffle houses line the main thoroughfare of the town, which buzzes, rattles and beeps like a British seaside resort in Summer.

From here, we evaded the National Park's weekend crowds by heading into the picturesque, tree covered hills for an 8.5 mile hike up and down Rich Mountain. In scorching 33 degree heat, the air thick with the scent of warmed pine amber, we slugged through the dense forest, following a cascading mountain stream uphill. From behind a tree, we suddenly met a black bear on the opposite bank. 'The guidebook says to stay at least fifty yards from them,' Rosie says very quietly as our hearts pound away in our chests.

'...And how far would you say he is from us?' I ask, never really knowing what a yard is.

'About thirty yards...' comes her whispered reply.

With the bear now watching us very closely, we begin to take very light but very large steps forwards, up the hill and away from our new friend. With no sign of aggression or hostility from him, we were pretty safe and could relax just enough to enjoy the whole experience. As the bear stood on one side the of stream, his eyes fixed on our retreat, a very large short-eared owl suddenly swooped down from the trees - five feet of wings and feathers and two enormous round eyes. Dropping into the stream, she caught and ate a fish right in front of us and with a few pounds of her wings, launched herself into the air again and vanished into the forest. This was something that the folks stuck in their cars on the park's famous "Scenic Drive" would never see.

A full day's drive took us through North Carolina and into South Carolina for a whistle stop, one day tour of Charleston. Originally named Charles Towne by the British (after King Charles II) who first established the settlement here in 1670, a prominent role in the revolution, the first shots of the civil war and a historic downtown dotted with churches, mansions and cobbled alleyways mean that this place is crammed with history. It's also possibly the prettiest town we've ever seen, they even had dolphins swimming in the bay just metres from the waters edge.

Now, in the final few days of this, our second and last grand US road trip, we relax in our Country Inn suite (yes, a suite for under £50 a night!) at the edge of downtown Savannah Georgia. Before flying to New York on Sunday, we intend to fully immerse ourselves in the culture and cuisine of the Deep South one final time...Fried okra, biscuits'n'gravy, shrimp'n'grits, seafood gumbo and some good ol' BBQ cookin'.

En Route to Nashville we stop at the largest waterfall east of the Mississippi and south of Niagara...