Vacation 2014: Cades Cove
Sunday morning, we headed to Cades Cove , one of the most popular areas in the park. It is the place you are most likely to see wildlife and we saw a mama bear with three cubs and a deer while there. We were so excited to see the bears, especially as part of a large crowd which seems the safest place to be when in the vicinity of a mama bear with cubs! The Cherokee hunted and fished here and settlers began building in the early nineteenth century. There is an 11-mile loop road to drive along with stops along the way. You can tour settlers' cabins, smokehouses, blacksmith shops, and mills. One night we watched a program about the area on the local travel information channel and we saw interviews with people who grew up on the land that became part of the national park. It was beautiful to hear how happy they were that the beauty of the land has been preserved, although it was a hard decision for their f...