Trip West - Maggie Valley - Bush's Bean Tour

 Today we headed to the Bush Bean Factory with a group of 18 from Winngray Camground

The factory is in

Dandridge, TN

 

 

 

It's a huge facility

 

 

 

After touring the gift shop we head to the Cafe for lunch

 

The Chocolate Pinto Bean Pecan Pie was delicious 

 

Then we head to the Museum.

Nothing like a walk through a can of beans!

The secret is well protected

Gary's worth a lot of beans!

We even get a souvenir photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trip West - Maggie Valley - Devil's Courthouse

 We did a drive to check out another area of NC.  The usual winding drive throught trees.

We have found that in NC you can't get there from here in most places.  Mountains in the way make it take twice as long.  Here to check out a campground.  Turned out to be too small and more expensive so we head back home, this time via the Blue Ridge Parkway

The parkway is always a beautiful drive

We stop at the Devil's Courthouse as it is only a short 1/2 mile hike

Indian Lore says that the Devil holds Court in a cave up there.

It starts as a paved up hill trail

Guessing the speed bumps are for the trip down not up!

It goes from paved to rocky

But we finally reach the top

The parking lot

What a view

Easy to see why the Pelegrine Falcons nest here!

Can't believe we only have 6 more days here!  Hope we can do at least one more hike.

Trip West - Maggie Valley - Flyfishing and Elk Hunting

 Gary signed us up for a 4 hour fly fishing trip.

We met our guide in Cherokee and followed him

into the Great Smokey Mountains

We arrive at the fishing spot and our guide Johnny gets us geared up

If the fishing spots were easy to find you wouldn't need a guide!

Nice spot!

Gary you can see has done this before

Meanwhile I wait for Johnny to put another fly on after I lost the first one in a tree

We walk along the road to 3 different spots. 

 I got a bite at each one but was unable to snag it

Gary did catch one but I was too far away to get a shot - catch and release

In spite of not catching anything, and fishing in a 10 min. downpour, I was finally getting the hang of casting.  We went a half hour beyond our 7 pm finish time so we headed home when it was getting dark

Our license is good for 10 days so the next day we head to Cataloochee Valley to try our luck there.

It is a very winding mountain road

Join us for a spell!

Nice view for a building lot but it's pretty much as straight drop down

Tucson is excited to go fishing

Get some practice in

Not much luck, the creek is running pretty fast and still a lot to get snagged on.

We pack it in and go Elk hunting instead.

My first shot is in the campground.

We move up the road to where there is an open field.  There are a couple cows on the far side

I don't think they know what to think of these double humans walking by

I cross over the bridge to see if there is a trail on the other side but it is a dead end

We move to the other side of the field and park - Gary hears whistling, so I walk over to where the school is and there is a short trail to the field.  I spot these guys off in the distance, I just missed a Bull go up the hill

We head back out towards the entry where there is one last field.  

Just before it by the Church, we spot a Mother and her calf.

Dinner time!

Such a good boy!

The field next door has more

and last but not least on the way out

I like fishing and hunting!