On the way to Maryville, several cars were pulled over at one point and, sure enough, there was a young bear cub on a large flat rock in the middle of the river that weaves its way alongside the road. His paw in the water he was calmly fishing and ignoring all the people watching him. I only saw him for a few seconds but it was such a pleasure to watch a young bear in his natural habitat before he sauntered back into the woods.
Maryville is a very attractive city with a small downtown area. The shop owners are super friendly and we had an amazing salad for lunch at Sullivan's on the main street where you could not have asked for fresher food, better service and sweeter southern hospitality. One at a time, all the wait staff came out to the cozy sheltered patio to meet Zuma, who never sees why she deserves so much attention. One girl brought her a huge bowl of ice water. Maryville is a very dog-friendly town.
We walked the main street and browsed in some lovely shops, chatted with several really nice Maryville residents and wished the downtown core was bigger. I should have taken more photos, it is small town Americana, we totally love these special places.
This fun bench in front of the ice cream parlor caught our eye!
As did this huge, charming folky wall mural painted on the side of a brick building:
Leaving the lovingly-maintained downtown with its charming shops and shopkeepers, we found a busy section of chain stores and malls. It goes without saying that is what keeps America's small downtown sections small. Sigh.
We stayed at a very nice La Quinta and were warmly welcomed by Bekah, then the other girls at the desk who couldn't have been more kind and helpful. When it came time for us to leave the following day, Zuma went into goofball mode with Bekah and another girl. Zuma clearly felt at home bouncing around the lobby with her new friends. Thank you all, we had a great stay!
The Cherohala Skyway is a National forest Scenic Byway. 43 miles in length, it wiggles and winds its way up and down the mountains and through the Cherokee and Nantahala Forests (hence the name Cherohala). We started at the small mountain town of Tellico Plains in Tennessee and ended in Robbinsville, North Carolina, with elevations ranging from just below 900' to over 4,000'. All three of us were practicing our jaw exercises to keep our ears from popping. We notice Zuma gets restless as we ascend and descend on these drives so we feed her a cookie, then she is able to chew her way out of the discomfort and temporary feeling of semi-deafness. Tellico Plains is a quaint, friendly mountain town with art galleries, antique shops, half a handful of restaurants and a bustling bakery.
People were leaving the bakery loaded up with
bags and boxes of cookies, muffins and pies.
We started on our Skyway journey and, because there are only a couple of places to pick up lunch, we stopped at a small cafe beside the river for a sandwich. Pet-friendly, we had the covered deck to ourselves. The water in the river was crystal clear and lunch was divine!
Then we began our 43 Skyway 'mile high drive' and stopped frequently to take in the views. The weather was perfect, the sky graced with billows of white cotton ball clouds:
Wildflowers line the way, ever-changing splotches
of cheerful colors:
A short side trip off the mile high journey along the Skyway, we followed the signs to Bald Rock Falls. We noticed there was a group of people cooling off underneath the 100' waterfalls!
If you look to the right,here are four of the six people emerging from their refreshing mountain shower!
As much as we love coastal living in Maine, we both agree there is something extremely special about the mountains.
It is a great privilege for us to experience their majesty.
The next time they call, we will go.
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