Thanksgiving at Smoky mountains

What better than spending the long weekend in a nice cabin house with a beautiful view of the mountains willing to reveal their fiery colors and a lake that is dried up. Hope it does not sound too bad coz it was certainly not bad- the house was amazing. although it probably would have been worthwhile to stay at such a place when you can actually enjoy the outdoors. Thanksgiving weekend was too cold for me. The mountains were beautiful- I felt sad seeing the remnants of summer (dried up plants which would have borne some wonderful wild flowers). As always with a big group there is always the issue of where to go and what to do, but there were a few of us who actually followed the herd. So fortunately I not contribute to the 1000h planning sessions!!!
So day 1- a hike and then whatever was the plan, crse did not work that way, nature would have it otherwise.. Anyway, we did do the mistake of taking "the most" congested route through any Natl Park..a 11 mile scenic loop has never been so frustrating, at the end of it was a decent trail (Abrams falls, I think was the name). May be I would visit the great mountains in springtime to enjoy some wild flowers and some good hikes (was not keen on hikes- it was cold...and it had snowed about 16inches up at higher elevations). For all that chagrin we were rewarded with the appearance of hoofed-deer (for want of a better name), some wild turkeys and the star of the show- a black bear!!! yes yes..he stood unperturbed while we stared at him from a safe distance (we were in the car)
Day 2 The Indian settlement was nice and probably nicer if you were willing to lighten your wallet. It was funny coz there were people in the gang who came to Cherokee for some action and did not realize that it was just a settlement where tourists come, spend money and generate revenue for the natives (in fact main form of revenue comes from casinos a.k.a legal gambling). We did manage to get to the highest point of the mountains-clingman's dome Drive almost all the way and then a 0.5 mile hike (quite steep and very cold!) Pity we spent most time in the car because the cabin house where we stayed (Dandridge) was quite far from civilization. We did have our share of fun at the cabin with some "oh-I-would-never-watch-this-again" movies to party games.
The one thing I would have loved is a leisurely walk in Gatlinburg, a quaint little town/city, all decked up for the holidays.

So if you are planning to go to the mountains- Avoid the scenic loop if you can, and look around you never know who might pay you a visit!!!