Born On A Mountain Top in Tennessee...

Day 3: Monday, July 19, 2010
Born On A Mountain Top in Tennessee...

We are quickly discovering that while on vacation everything seems better – the breakfast that our chef Caitlin once again whipped up for the us, the babbling brook that was later identified as a drainage ditch, Andrew's “Mama, Mama Moo Cow” that charged at us from across a lovely green field while out on a walk (very quickly re-identified as a strong scary bull with big horns).

Today we drove from Buford, GA to Pigeon Forge, TN – through Smokey Mountain National Park. Just before we entered we stopped at a fabulous road-side park with a (real) mountain stream full of splashing kids and drunk parents – and felt like maybe we should just buy a place and begin the process of fitting right in.

The drive through Smokey Mountain National Park was beautiful, awe-inspiring, and scary as shit. Literally thought we might either burn up our tires or drive right off the edge of a windy road at any second for about 2 hours. Even Andrew got tired of the scenery after a while and pointed straight at the TV and said “Mickey Mouse.” All of this was happening while Mark insisted that, due to the fabulous 70 degree temps, we drive with the windows down. Nice for “taking it all in” - not so great for communicating directions when the navigator is in the back seat. Imagine the Royans – screaming directions at each other – winding wildly through on of the most beautiful places on the planet, our kid completely zoned out watching cartoons.

To entertain ourselves we stopped at a road-side.... Stand? Store? Tourist trap? Not exactly sure what it was but in one room there was actually a bathtub full of mud for the kids to play in. Not sure what kind of parent would allow that mid-road trip but, nevertheless, we moved Drew in the other direction with the promise of a train!

The name of this little haven was “Goats on the Roof” and, I kid (pun intended) you not, 10 minutes into our visit Mark turned and said “Are those goats on the roof?” For those of you that know him well this doesn't surprise you, I'm sure – but for anyone that was there it is hard to imagine how one could miss the 10 goats and their lively, loud bells living on the roof of this establishment – being fed food purchased from a goat food vending machine and then powered up to the roof by kids riding bicycle-like contraptions. Other offerings included this gem...

How could anyone not want to stop at a place like this?