Vacation 2011 ~ Pit Stop in Tennessee

Sunday November 6, 2011

We awoke early to embark upon a new adventure.  There is a huge flea market here that Mom and Dad like to visit Great Smokies Flea Market in Sevierville, TN.  They have booths all over the the outside and around the building.  Doggies are even allowed to walk around on leash outside but they are not allowed in the building.  There is one in Sweetwater that advertises on their website they are dog friendly so Mom emailed and the lady said yes dogs are welcome as long as their feet don't touch the floor.  What?????  Why do people think all dogs can fit into a purse or cart?  I guess that means as usual when Mom and Dad goes shopping it will be one at a time so someone can keep us company as we wait in the EmmaMobile.  That's ok because if we have been on a long walk it gives us a chance to take a nap before our next walk.

Can you guess we went first?  Here's a hint.

How many cookies will this get me?

Lets go

Off to the flea market for a very quick peek.  Mom wants to get the princess (Bella) a shirt because she forgot to pack her jacket and her shirt.  She gets chilly and shaky.  It has been a bit cooler this year than usual.  Normally down here it's t-shirt weather and comfy.  Mom also used our new GPeeS thingy to find a new park we didn't know was in the area.  Funny how my google searching doesn't always show us everything there is to do.  I sure hope Mom is quick and not Mom quick, but real time quick.  I wanna see this new park they are talking about.

I knew it.  Mom was not real time quick.  What takes her so long.  She comes back after an hour and says she didn't even see half of the inside.  She's been here many times it doesn't change much same vendors, same stuff.  She found a homemade dog treat vendor and was inquiring about the ingredients because they weren't listed.  The lady wouldn't just let her look at the paper she had to read them to her and it took forever.  According to the lady she determined there were two kinds of treats that didn't have any ingredients Bella is allergic to so Mom got us some of those and off she went to find the pet store vendor that sells toys and clothing for doggies.  She got stopped by the Sugar Glider vendor.

They saw Mom coming and they knew she was an easy target.  They quickly allowed her to hold one.  She said it was very soft and friendly.  It has tiny little claws that allowed it to climb all over.  They had them in the color above which  is just a photo Mom found online because she didn't have her camera with her but wishes she did and they also had a snow white female.  They really wanted to sell her one and assured her they would be fine with dogs because supposedly the owner also has 3 dogs and the dogs do just fine with their 250 pair, total of 500 sugar gliders.  Ok, stop talking!  That's a huge red flag that says you are more interested in making money than making sure these beautiful little darlings are going to good homes.  Do they even make sure the buyers know how to properly feed and care for them.  I guess we should have known that's the kind of people that sell animals at flea markets.  The people working the booth were out in the aisle way with these little guys trying to lure you in like the eye glasses cleaners or the "as seen on tv" or gimmick vendors.

Are you wondering if we have a new tiny sibling in our pack?  The answer is..........................No.  Mom wanted one many, many years ago.  Long before us doggies came into their lives, but now they are just nice to admire and play with when the opportunity arises.  Mom said maybe when she  is too old for dogs maybe then she would get one.  Really, can you ever be too old for a dog?

Mom finally made it to the pet toys and accessories booth and she had trouble finding something she thought would fit Bella.  She got her a pink camo hoodie, 2 ribbiting frogs for Bella and Pea, and a grunting duck for me. 

 Finally, Mom is back to the EmmaMobile and we are off.  We are going to Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge.  According to comments we found online dogs are allowed on leash but people have had encounters with others allowing their dogs to run off leash.  Why do humans have to ruin things for us doggies?  Do they not realize how good they got it to have such a nice thing in their area?  They should be so happy they can take their doggies with them that they are more than willing to keep their dog on leash.  We decided to be brave and go check it out.  We were hopefully that with 360 acres of land we wouldn't have any encounters with naughty humans. 

When we arrived there was a nature trail starting at the end of the parking lot and a paved trail at the entrance to the parking lot.  There was a woman there with her dog off leash heading for the nature trail so we took the paved trail. 

We passed this old barn

The view was beautiful.  It was sunny and warm and absolutely delightful.

Then we spied a sign that said Homestead Trail.  We wanted to see what the old homestead looked like so we meandered around through a leaf covered trail.  The changing leaves are so pretty.

To our surprise there was a modern house at the end of the trail.  That's ok because the it's really all about the walk, being in nature and enjoying the sunshine on our backs and the crunching leaves under our feet and spending time together.  We turned around and walked back the paved trail and continued on and there was another old barn with a quilt block painted on it.

Mom and Dad said they would love to have a huge area like that all fenced in for us to romp and play to hearts desire.  An area like that could hold a lot of agility equipment for Bella and there were would so many sunny spots to get my tan on I'd never have to frequent the same one twice. 

Guess what we came upon further down the road..........I think this is may have been the homestead and maybe there was a trail that went through or around the newer modern we come across earlier.

Old houses sure do have a lot of character.  It looks like they may be trying to restore this one.  The scroll work trim is gorgeous.  We peeked inside and it even still has the original stone fireplace.  I bet it will be lovely when finished.

Another barn

The last barn and the end of the paved trail concluded at Seclusion Bend.  There was a natural trail along the river that we explored for a ways. 

We didn't go too far because we had already been walking and walking and walking and we still had to either go back the same way or trek through the natural trails without a map.  We decided to turn around and go back the same way. 

What a pretty refuge the animals lucky to have such a beautiful and safe place to call home.  Hmmm, I wonder where their couch is.

 This is definitely on our list of things to do when we return next week.  We are hoping to hike the natural trails so long as there aren't off leash doggies there.  Mom doesn't think other doggies should be allowed to rush up in our face or hop about all around us while we are on leash. 

Next stop is for Dad.  It's Smoky Mountain Knife Works.  It's a nice guy store and it even has a lot things for Mom to look at like cookbooks, kitchen gadgets, books, and knick knacks. 

Next stop is another walk for us.  We took Sweet Pea to one of the Greenway trails we have been to before. It's a trail on each side of the river with a picnic area and gazebo on the one side.  That's the side we walked today.  Last year when we were here we walked the other side and it goes from hoses to horses.  Maybe we can show Pea the horses next time. 

There were some really pretty roses blooming along the trail.  Bella loves to sniff pretties.  She is always checking out the ones at home.  Mom showed her "pretties" as a baby and she has always sniffed them and been interested since.

We had a very full day of shopping and walks.  The first walk was really long so we didn't walk the entire length of our side of the greenway. By the time we returned to the hotel we were exhausted.

Emma