After driving up the wrong side of a mountain, we got some good sleep and headed out for a new adventure on Monday, August 8. Our Smoky Siesta continued after leaving Chicago, visiting family, enjoying Nashville, and cursing GPS directions in the mountains.

Hiking the Oconaluftee River Trail

We had breakfast on the porch of the cabin and our view… well, it was pretty awesome! After a relaxed morning, we hopped in the car and drove over to Cherokee, NC.

Oconaluftee Islands Park

This town sits in the Eastern Cherokee Indian Reservation at the southern entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park… complete with its own Harrah's casino!

Painted bears all over Cherokee, much like Chicago's "Cows on Parade"

We ended up at Oconaluftee Islands Park, which is a grassy island that sits in the middle of a river. Quite a few people were fishing, playing in the water, or riding the current on tubes.

Steve finds a bamboo forest!

We made our lunch and enjoyed a quiet time just people watching. The island itself wasn't much to write home about, and frankly could have used some upkeep, but it was something different that we enjoyed.

Amy (& Ubster) at the National Park entrance

We explored the town a bit, and after determining that we really didn't feel like getting fleeced by obvious tourist-targeted "Learn about Native Americans" stuff, we continued on to the entrance of the National Park.

Brand new Oconaluftee Visitor Center

Back in April, the new Oconaluftee Visitor Center opened, becoming the first new visitor facility to be built in Great Smoky Mountains National Park since the early 1960s. Prior to the construction of this new building, guests were greeted by a dinky 1,700 foot shack that was retrofitted from a Ranger Station.

Can you read Cherokee?

The new building is very attractive & modern, yet rustic. It also is quite energy efficient, right down to some pretty odd water conservation elements in the bathrooms.

Visiting Smokey in the Smokies

There's a re-creation of a mountain farm on the property, a nice historical setting befitting a National Park. Additionally, a short hiking trail (Oconaluftee River Trail) follows the river behind the Visitor's Center, which we decided to explore.

Steve pauses for a photo before attempting a backflip dive

With "Ubster", er, Male Baby Tanner, tagging along with Amy, we knew that we'd have to take it easy when it came to trails at the Smoky Mountains.  This path was a good starter, as it was quite flat, but fun.

Nice stonework on this bridge

Most of the trail sat right next to the river, winding through the woods. At a couple spots you could get to the water's edge and watch people float by on tubes. We even hiked under a bridge which could have simply been built as a utilitarian overpass, but instead it had a nice National Park look to it with some quality stonework.

Not Bike Friendly: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

It was during this hike that I really wish I would have brought my bike with me. It would have been fun to ride and very scenic. Oh well.

Ooh! Cheerwine Sherbet!

On the way home we stopped off at a Food Lion and picked up some Cheerwine Sherbet. What is Cheerwine and why did we care about a frozen version? Well, for that you'll need to read my story over on BevReview!

It was a good, relaxed day overall, which we needed after all the traveling and getting lost the day before. Plus, you can't go wrong with Cheerwine to end your day!