OK, so its not really Marc Alaimo Day, but it IS Marc Alaimo’s birthday and as he is my favorite villain from Star Trek, he gets a shout-out.
Every night since coming down to the Smokies, the weather has been warm enough that I was more likely to kick my blankets off than huddle under them. Last night the thermals came out. I’ve camped in much colder temps (I doubt it even went below freezing last night), but I was spoiled from the last few days and kept waking up when my nose escape the blankets and went numb. So I gave myself permission to sleep in this morning. 😉
This morning I photographed some beautiful deer grazing in the woods, dappled with morning light filtering through the trees. I also re-photographed some waterfalls and cascades in slightly different light than I had before. Beautiful, crisp, laid-back, productive morning. I love mornings like this one.
After that I drove over to Cosby to check out the campgrounds there. I was not overly impressed. It seemed to be lower down out of the mountains, few landscapes to see and there were buses of children there on a field trip. The last was the cincher – I ran away. I did think to check out some of the other places in the area, but its a very run-down little town without much charm. The local motel runs for $140/WEEK.
I wandered around on country roads for a while til hunger rang, then I headed back to Gatlinburg and MY mexican restaurant there. Vegetarian fajitas are even more amazing when one has had nothing by water and energy bars all day. The same waiter (I wonder if he is also part owner or something because I think I’ve seen him on every visit here in the past four years) saw me to my table and waited on me. He’s very charming and remembered that I needed plastic utensils (I’m allergic to cobalt which is in most metal dinnerware…and I forgot my bamboo ‘silverware’ at home).
I’m going to go explore some back country roads and see what there is to see…