Arrival in North Carolina

We had a nice leisurely trip to Waynesville, NC today though it was not without construction zones and highway accidents.  We wanted to take the scenic route; however, after talking with two truckers, we decided that taking the interstates was the better choice.  As it is, I-40 is fairly narrow and quite windy  in places once you turn south toward North Carolina from Tennessee.  There are even a couple of tunnels along the way.

The Smoky Mountains really are quite smoky in appearance, but beautiful and lush green.

We are staying in a large campground near a creek and about 30 miles from Asheville as we could get a Passport rate (50% off the regular rate) for the entire week which is not always the case.  This is a significant savings and worth driving a bit.   Since we want to see more than just Asheville, this gives us a central point to take in Smoky Mountain National Park and other areas as well as visit Asheville and the Biltmore Estate which was our main reason for coming.  

I have not commented about the weather lately, but suffice it to say, we have had a few rain storms, some more fierce than others, but for the most part our last two weeks have been sun shine with clouds, low 90's temperatures, but high humidity.  So what else is new in this part of the country.

This evening we took a drive to Maggie Valley for some ice cream.  This is definitely a tourist area with lots of RV parks, campgrounds, motels, cabins, and lots of gift and other tourist type shops.  It reminded us of Ruidoso in New Mexico and other summer and winter winter resorts like Chama, Angel Fire, Red River, etc.