Riding the Rails in NC

On Tuesday morning our alarm woke us up at 8am so we could get ready for the Great Smoky Mountain Railway. The depot was just 10 miles from the hotel in Bryson City, NC.

We spent about an hour listening to the depot band (I feel bad for these performers who have to do the same shtick day after day, a couple times each day), who had a repertoire that included "Route 66" and "City of New Orleans," both of which we got to hear twice that day.

We boarded the train at about 10:15 and were greeted by Diane, our spunky guide. Our rail car was about half-full, which gave us the opportunity to stretch out a bit and occupy a four seats (2 forward, 2 backward). Kate and I took turns on the window seat, enjoying the beautiful views from the left-hand side of the train. The route took us to past the Nantahala Outdoor Cener (NOC) to Nantahala Gorge before we headed back to the NOC for a lunch layover. Kate and I had pre-purchased box lunches, which we enjoyed while viewing the raging Nantahala River. The vistas on the return ride from the other side of the train were more breathtaking.

After the train returned us to Bryson City (a total of 4 1/2 hours), we dropped into the train store next to the depot. Kate will tell you that I was drooling most of the time we were in the store. I couldn't believe the quality and diversity of HO-scale products that have come out since I stopped modeling about 15 years ago. While there were lots of attractive buildings, rolling stock, and locomotives, I behaved myself. Kate and I bought each other small gifts in the store to commemorate the rail journey; she earned herself a pink striped engineer's cap, while I am now the owner of a cute set of miniature people. After 30 minutes in the store, we decided that we should leave before I bought something that wouldn't fit on the plane for our return flight. We hit the road headed towards Clemson.

The trip from Bryson City to Clemson, SC was like reliving the trip from Knoxville to Cherokee the previous day. Steep and curvy mountain roads, this time lit by daylight and not covered by much rain, made it a very slow go. I remarked a few times that the GPS seemed to indicate that we weren't making any forward progress. At 25 mph it certainly seemed that way. We finally crossed the state line into Oconee County and I was happy to point out all of the famiilar sights to Kate as we travelled down US Route 123. The one that excited Kate the most (or should I say I have taken the most ribbing about) was the Square-D factory in Seneca.

We rolled into Clemson at around 7pm and went directly to the restaurant suggested by Matt Gevaert. In the space that was formerly Parcheesi's is now a wonderful new tapas restaurant named Sole. We're still not sure how to pronounce the name (sole as in the bottom of a shoe -- or so-lay as the French might say it).