I went to Car Heaven!

Good evening guys, it’s later than usual tonight, it’s been another busy day on the road.

Just to give you an example of how busy we’ve been, I just realized today I took 415 pictures!
We woke up this morning in Knoxville, had breakfast (I made my first waffle of the year, actually I made two! LOL), and the headed to Sevierville where we saw the Muscle Car Museum.

I would recommend it to anybody who loves cars, especially old cars, as it was really a great experience. They have roughly 90 different models on display, for a value of $5 million dollars. Chevy, Pontiac, Ford, you name it, they have it! ;-) It was also very interesting to read where the cars came from, who the owner is, and how much money had originally been paid to purchase the car.

So, if you’re passionate about cars, and you’re in the Knoxville area, I would definitely recommend you to stop at the Muscle Car Museum.

If you’re passionate about aircrafts, you’re a Air Force Vet, or you just like those big silver birds, then you should pay a visit to the “Tennessee Museum Of Aviation – Warbird Collection”, as it has a very interesting exhibit of Air Force memorabilia, and it also displays a collection of aircrafts (and their personal stories), and helicopters.

The “Tennessee Museum Of Aviation” is also in Sevierville, very close to the Muscle Car Museum, you can’t miss it!

After that we headed south to Gatlinburg, TN, going through Pigeon Forge (which is between Sevierville and Gatlinburg on US 441). Now, what to say about Pigeon Forge?!?! “Dollywood” is there if you’re interested in amusement parks, roller coaster, etc. US 441 looks like Disneyland, it’s amazing, all sorts of hotels, from the cheapest Motel to some quite expensive Hotels.
Once we entered Gatlinburg, I spotted one of my kid’s dream materializing in front of my eyes…What am I talking about? General Lee from the Duke Of Hazzard obviously! ;-) This is also part of the reason why I took so many pictures. The Sheriff’s car was also there, as was the towing truck! This is the kind of “America” I like…!

If you want to waste $12 a piece, I would certainly recommend you to take the “Sky Lift” (I haven’t spelled it wrong, that’s the way they call it!). It’s like one of those regulars ski lift you take when you go skiing, only more expensive, and less thrilling. The good thing is that I got some great shots from up the mountain (and those pictures are piling up! LOL).

General Lee from the "Duke Of Hazzard" (You can see more pictures on Flickr):

We left Gatlinburg in the afternoon on US 441 which is also the only road going through the park. This scenic by-way is spectacular to say the least, so much that I had to stop several different times to enjoy the scenery, but also take pictures.

The entrance to the Park:

Our loyal "Buggy" somewhere in the park:
36 miles after on the other side of the park the first village you go through is Cherokee, NC. I’m actually pissed I didn’t get the chance to take a picture of the TN/NC border sign, as there wasn’t any on US 441, oh well, go figure!

Cherokee is really a small center who, I take a guess here, lives mainly from all of those Indian Artifacts shops they have on the main street, but also from the Indian Casino who certainly has huge revenues, and little or no taxes if I’m not wrong.

We finally got to Asheville, where we’ve been lucky enough to find a hotel downtown for a decent price. Being only a few steps away, we walked through downtown Asheville, and find out that some places at night look a little bit too dark! Dinner at a French Restaurant on Lexington Ave.. They have an outdoor sitting area which is really amazing, it feels like dining in one of those Paris backstreets (but it could also be Italy without a doubt). Food was good, I had a crepe, Hap had trout. Tuesday night is also their All you can eat Mussel day! Too bad I don’t like Mussels…We also had an onion soup as an appetizer which was pretty good.

Tomorrow we go visit the Biltmore, and that should take pretty much all morning/afternoon I would say. The evening looks quite open, I have some ideas already in my mind, but right now I’ll say goodnight to you, and call it a day, it’s been a loooooong one.

Goodnight folks,
Nico