Honky-tonks and hiking in the Smokies
Pre- trip
We had a busy weekend prior to leaving for Nashville. Cody and I had planned a gender reveal party at a local brewery; my sister and her family came into town to celebrate with us! Sometimes I feel hesitant to plan gatherings, but it was very enjoyable and memorable for Cody and me. We had pizza and snacks. Our friends baked us the most amazing cake for the reveal. We feel fortunate to have such a great community here. And, my sister and I are having baby girls just a couple months apart! I also enjoyed spending time with my sister’s two-year-old son. We don’t have many toys at home, but he loved playing Pepper Pong. It was so funny watching him wear the red sweatbands on his wrists, running around with the paddle and balls. We went to a couple local parks and saw him experience ice cream for the first time! What a treat for me to see his bewilderment and then absolute enjoyment for this cold treat… we love ice cream!
Day 1 - Driving to Nashville
On our way to Nashville, Cody and I were both excited to eat barbecue at Iron and Oak in Asheville. We shared a plate of ribs, macaroni salad and mashed potatoes with gravy. When looking to fill up the gas tank, we saw large highway signs pointing the way to “Buc-ee’s.” We had heard about this gas station and knew there was some hype surrounding it, so we decided to see for ourselves.
Our initial impression was that the gas pumping area was huge! It was about a block long and four rows deep. The main building is bustling with customers; it feels like a county fair with stands emanating with scents of pulled pork sandwiches and roasted nuts, and patrons milling around with their Buc-ee the beaver souvenirs. The bathrooms were clean and had green/red lights outside each of the stalls, indicating which ones were available.
Cody and I were a bit hasty in leaving for our trip, so we had not planned for any trail snacks. We were excited to see a huge butcher’s case of jerky with more than a dozen different flavors. We bought small portions of garlic, Korean bbq and peppered turkey. Cody enjoyed his time at Buc-ee’s, and if we ever see one again on our travels, we will be back. However, he also wanted me to point out that all the beaver souvenirs were ridiculous; why does someone need an entire wardrobe and matching accessories with Buc-ee’s face on it?!
In the evening, we arrived at our hotel in downtown Nashville. It was very fancy and not something we would have booked on our own. It was a conference-recommended hotel, a convenient walk to the convention center and nearby attractions. Honestly, I was not very excited about this trip compared to my work conference two years ago in San Diego. My interests are not in alignment with what Nashville has to offer. I have also been feeling more tired than usual with the pregnancy and burnt out from work.
Day 2 - Conference day
Today was the first day of my work conference. I enjoyed sitting in on lectures, learning about optimizing nutrition and the use of enteral/parenteral feeding and a review of the latest studies in anticoagulation. I also had a poster presentation discussing consult etiquette in the hospital. I had a few people come over and talk to me. It seems silly that I still feel nervous talking to other doctors, but when the interactions happen, they are very gratifying. There is a sense of camaraderie when we laugh at the same jokes surrounding surgeons and hospital administration. I wonder what jokes they make about us?
Fortunately, I have no pressure to go to every event at the conference, so I spent the rest of the day with Cody. We ate lunch at a food hall (Assembly) where I had a vegetable biryani dish and Cody had a poke bowl. We walked through the city, near the Cumberland River, across the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge and down Broadway Street, the famous Honky Tonk Highway. Many patrons were in a festive mood, donning their cowboy boots and hats, as they danced away on pontoon party boats sailing slowly down the river, or on a party bus being hauled by a tractor.
Cody and I had no interest in this. We quickly weaved our way through the crowds, passing the bars. Every bar we passed had a stage with someone singing and playing their guitars. The doors and windows were wide open, streaming a cacophony of country music onto the street. I’m glad that my husband is a party pooper just like me.
Day 3
Today I listened in on advanced cardiac life support updates and hip fracture management. Later in the afternoon, I went for the keynote speech on clinical updates in hospital medicine. I had another poster presentation on fibromuscular dysplasia. Three of my co-workers also had case reports accepted, and we were all in the same row of posters. It was nice seeing them and catching up on their Nashville/ conference experiences so far. Again, despite my introversion, I enjoyed talking to other doctors as they came by and asked me about my topic.
In the evening, Cody and I shared a takeout dinner from the hotel restaurant. We also walked to Handel’s for ice cream. It was a nice wrap-up to our time in Nashville. We had to leave for the Smoky Mountains early in the morning, so we were in bed by 8pm.
Day 4 - Smoky Mountain National Park, hiking to the LeConte Lodge
Cody and I left Nashville at 4am, stopping at Buc-ee’s along the way for breakfast. Once we arrived in Gatlinburg, there was some confusion as to where to catch the shuttle bus to the trailhead; we ended up driving back and forth between two parking lots/ bus stops. There is no official shuttle system for the park, so this was a pre-arranged service specifically for the lodge. Fortunately, we were able to catch our ride in time. The plan for today was to hike up to LeConte Lodge via the Alum Cave Trail.
The Great Smoky Mountains are classified as a temperate rainforest, and we were surrounded by rhododendrons, spruce-fir forests and moss throughout our hike. The hike was challenging for me, a constant trek up for 5.5 miles, with over 2700 feet of elevation gain. The lodge itself is at 6593 feet. The park is also known as the “Salamander Capital of the World,” however, we did not see a single salamander! You are reminded not to move or stack rocks, that would disrupt their habitat.
Some of the notable landmarks on this trail are Arch Rock about 1.5 miles into the hike. It is amazing that you get to walk through this formation! The trail gets steeper past this point and about a mile later, you encounter Alum Cave. This feature is not actually a cave, but a bluff, or concave overhang. It is made of a type of rock called Anakeesta. The formation gets its name from the deposits of alum (a mineral with aluminum sulfate). Getting to this point feels like quite the accomplishment, however, this “cave” is only the halfway point for the hike up to the lodge. We took frequent rest breaks, but we eventually made it!
The LeConte Lodge is the highest guest lodge in the eastern United States. Construction of the lodge started in 1926, prior to the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The only way to get there is to hike up the mountain, although supplies and equipment are delivered by llama or helicopter.
The cabin is primitive. Lighting is by kerosene lamp. We also had a metal bucket and access to a hot water spigot if we wanted to clean off. Amazingly, there were flush toilets, a backcountry luxury! Promptly, at 6 pm, staff rang a large iron triangle bell, calling everyone for dinner in the main building. We had a family-style dinner of soup, stewed beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, and stewed apples. A canned peach half and cookies were served for dessert.
We had a bunch of introverts at our side of the table, and Cody and I certainly were not helpful in getting the conversations started. A family seated next to us, initiated conversation, asking us where we were from. We learned that we actually had a lot of commonalities. The husband had grown up in North Carolina. He and his wife spent some time living in Vermont, before moving to Michigan. Another man and his daughter, also chimed in on the conversation, and we shared our stories of prior travels and “type 2” fun.
Day 5 - Trekking off the mountain and heading to Bryson City
In the morning, we sat next to our new friends, having a breakfast of pancakes, Canadian bacon, grits, and Tang. Check-out time was at 9:30 am, giving Cody and I plenty of time to make our way off the mountain. We took a detour trip, an extra half mile to the actual peak of LeConte Mountain. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy, and we saw nothing! It’s amusing at this point, how many times this has happened to us on various hikes. I guess it reaffirms the adage that it’s about the “journey and not the destination.”
The descent was easier, but I was still very tired. There isn’t a lot of signage on the trail, so we received many questions from exhausted hikers ascending the mountain as to the distance/ location of certain landmarks. We were happy to give them guidance and encouragement. We met our shuttle driver about 40 minutes earlier than our scheduled time. There were no other passengers, so we got a private ride back to our car, while hearing about our driver’s quests to find bioluminescent organisms and goals to meet Jason Momoa.
A quick note about transportation in the park, there is no in-park public transit system! This surprised Cody and me, since the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited US national park, with over 13 million tourists a year. It looked like a nightmare trying to find parking anywhere, with constant guidance to arrive at the trailheads early in the morning or later in the afternoon to have any hope of finding a parking spot. We also saw park officers handing out tickets to patrons who parked illegally. When we asked our shuttle driver about this, she stated that the park cannot charge an entrance fee. In 1951, Tennessee transferred Newfound Gap Rd and Little River Rd to the Park, which were the main roads to allow travel between Tennessee and North Carolina. A federal law prevented a toll fee, including park entrance fees, on primary roads. Although there are other ways the park charges fees, there was not enough money to designate for a public transit service.
We had lunch in downtown Gatlinburg at the Park Grill. Cody had pulled pork, and I had salmon. They had an impressive salad bar. I was not in any condition to keep walking, but I was determined to find pressed pennies. Once I fulfilled my objective for the perfect press, we were on our way to Bryson City, the North Carolina side of the park. We checked into our fishing-themed Airbnb, and had a quiet night of takeout Chinese food before going to bed.
Day 6 - Heading home early
When I woke up, I was still exhausted; there were other places I wanted to explore, but my body didn’t want to cooperate. Cody also did not feel great, as he was fighting off a respiratory virus. We decided to head home a day early. We went to a local coffee shop, and wandered around the downtown shops before starting the drive back. We had a couple stops along the way - Floor and Decor (we don’t have one locally) to pick up some tile for the bathroom remodel. We ate a late lunch at Panera Bread and also went to Ikea for nursery furniture. It was nice to be home and sleep in our own bed for the night!