Beauty and the beast: Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Tennessee is an odd state. Until 1994, this place was reliably Democratic and relatively tolerant. It produced Al Gore for Christ’s sake. Now, we elect people who vote to permit guns in bars.  When Stephen Colbert mocks you, you know you’ve got to apologize for your elected representatives. Despite our somewhat questionable politics and our lamentable history of sending legions of people to die in Texas, Tennessee is graced by one of the most spectacular landscapes anywhere.

The sheer prettiness of Roaring Fork in the Smokies in the fall. Suck it Texas - Tennessee is way more attractive.

The combination of water, fog and forest in the fall produces spectacular hiking scenery. Wet leaves on rock are slick and I have planked unintentionally on more than one occasion..

Seriously, it's ridiculously gorgeous.

When socked in by fog, the forests are very quiet and still and you can pretend that Gatlinburg was destroyed in an epic catastrophe** even though you are two miles from it.

Alliteration: fog in the forest in fall.

No trip to the Smokies would be complete without a bear sighting. I love bears. Black bears rock and if you are respectful of them, they will put on a nice show for you.

Acorn snack time for the black bears

** No such luck.

* Note * – I took none of the pics. Troy was the photographer that gets the credit here.