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Return trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Good to be back for some exploration and some hiking!

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  Cades Cove Scenic Loop It had been almost a year since we last visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.  My wife and I were wrapping up our 10 week long cross country road trip that would take us to Southern California and back, back to our home in North Carolina. Last time we visited the Smoky Mountains, we chose to stay at a Quality Inn in Gatlinburg .  We enjoyed the comfortable room with nice views of the West Prong Little Pigeon River and the Moonshine Mountain Coaster .   We stayed out on the balcony, especially during the evenings, watching the aforementioned roller coaster across the street from the hotel, hearing the loud screams of people as the coaster would descend every few minutes.  Alpine air was absolutely refreshing during the early February evenings, and we really cherished the sound of the roaring river below, creating a perfect “white noise” for us to sleep well into the Tennessee night.   On our second trip the...
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Let’s stop complaining about the inflation and do something about it: Tip and observations on current state of affairs…

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  Since the last couple of years, I’ve been hearing lots of complaints everywhere about high prices for everything, like housing, cars, groceries, gasoline.  For the most part, I concur.  I saw average home prices rise close to $420,000 here in the United States for example, wondering how young couples can ever afford a home, unless they have a combined income of $140,000!  Just as a comparison, the average home price in 2004, just twenty years ago, was around $195,000. I don’t know about you, but $140,000 combined income is no laughing matter.  For those of you wondering why I mention this number of $140,000, the answer is simple:  mortgage banks typically want  prospective buyers to earn roughly 1/3 of the price of the home.   Price of cars are through the roof.  Case in point: all American car companies like Ford, GM, and Jeep love manufacturing big, profit generating trucks and SUV’s.  They seem to be hell bent on creating bigger and...
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Top attractions in Knoxville, Tennessee: Ijams Nature Center and downtown Knoxville

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  Ijams Nature Center, Knoxville, TN The last time my wife and I visited the city of Knoxville, Tennessee was in October 2003.  We were getting ready to leave the rat race of New York behind for the perceived paradise of Hawaii, which would come the following month. We were excited for that move, a new chapter in our lives.  Before leaving the “mainland”, we wanted to make sure we see more of it, before leaving.  To that end, we really tried our best that same year. First, it was the 3 week long west coast road trip, going from New York City to Colorado and back.  It was followed by this 10 day long trip that would take us to Knoxville, Memphis, then to New Orleans.   Knoxville was more a layover destination on our second road trip that October.  We stayed just one night, on our way over to Memphis.  We knew we needed to rest up to break up the trip, as the driving distance from New York City to Memphis is over 1100 miles. Knoxville seemed like a...
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