After the conference in Las Vegas, I took a vacation for one week and went to my sister’s place in Raleigh, NC.  She was very excited about me being there and suggested that we do a small trip to a place nearby. Her initial suggestion was Washington DC, but having been in cities for so long, this option didn’t excite me much and I suggested we do a country side trip, where I get to see a lot of greenery. Since it was October end and the right season for Fall colors, we decided on a Smoky Mountains trip.

I had never heard about Smoky Mountains before that. But the fact that I get to see Fall Colors and forest excited me. Though my sister’s family had been to that place earlier, they never went on a train ride to Smoky Mountains. So, they felt that it would be a great choice for both me and my little nephew (who didn’t  experience a train journey).

We started from Raleigh in the evening and reached Cherokee by night. We stayed there in a hotel to catch our train the next day morning.

Day1: Great Smoky Mountains Railroad (Bryson City -> Dillsboro)

We had our breakfast in the morning and reached Bryson City station where our train starts. It is called Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, a heritage railroad in  North Carolina. The train had a steam engine and looked like a toy train. There were several train routes across Smoky Mountains. We chose the shortest one to Dillsboro (Tuckasegee River excursion). My nephew felt very excited to see a train for the first time, but got restless to board the train immediately as he didn’t understand the concept of waiting for the train start time. After traveling in cars only across US, I felt that it is little tough for  him to understand the concept of trains and their departure times.

Trains in US are very rare and I got to board one duing my first visit itself 😛 🙂

The train had very good seats, with a huge glass window on each side to enjoy the views. There was also a music performance in the train for sometime. Our lunch was also provided in the train.

The views from the train were amazing with scenic meadows, a tunnel and river gorges and YES, more importantly fall colors all across. We could see Tuckasegee river following us to Dillsboro.

We reached Dillsboro after around an hour of train journey. There was a one and half hour break in this historic town. It was a beautiful and quiet town with many interesting shops and restaurants. We just roamed around and enjoyed the atmosphere and the tranquility of the place.

We boarded our train back and reached Bryson City completing the historic and the scenic train journey.

From Bryson City, we drove to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was a great road drive with lake view and variety of Fall Color trees. I felt very excited to witness Fall Colors for the first time and I got reminded of many Windows wallpapers looking at those trees. I always used to think that those were created using graphics. But after looking at those trees, I understood that those photos were actually captured there.

After a fabulous drive across the national park, we came back to our hotel in Cherokee for the night stay.

Day2: Cherokee -> Clingman’s dome

We woke up in the morning and drove to Clingman’s dome, the highest mountain in Smokies (6643ft) and the most accessible mountain top.

I got to know that the name “Smoky” came from the natural fog that often hangs over the range and presents as large smoke plumes from a distance. The fog is caused by the vegetation exhaling volatile organic compounds, chemicals that have a high vapor pressure and easily form vapors at normal temperature and pressure.

It was designated a UNESCO heritage site for its huge biosphere reserve.

It was a small trek from the parking area to the top of the mountain, where there was an observation tower. The short, steep trail provides a small visitor information center, garbage cans, and numerous benches to the side of the path. The trail offers great views of Smokies.  The design of the observation tower looks very peculiar, featuring a circular observation platform which can be reached by a spiral ramp.

From the tower, we could see the 360-degree panorama of the surrounding terrain and views were spectacular. It was very windy and cold at the top.

This is how Clingman’s dome looks from the top (borrowed this picture from Google :P). This picture is definitely not during Fall colors. I just posted this for the structure of the dome.

From Clingman’s dome, we drove back to Raleigh crossing the North Carolina- Tennesse State line. Can you recollect something looking at this picture? If not, check below 😛

This pose is to imitate the heroine’s wish from “A Walk to remember” movie, where in the heroine wished to be in two places at the same time. I was both in NC and Tennesse at the same time 🙂 That was a special and unplanned wish fulfilled 🙂

We enjoyed the drive back to Raleigh along the country side.

Overall, it was a great family trip and would suggest this to anyone staying in US. It would be a perfect break from the outside world, close to the nature. There were lot of treks in Smokies for the trekking enthusiasts and we could spot an Appalachian Trial near the Tennessee State border. I would definitely want to come back to this place again and spend more time.