Podcasts about great smoky mountain national park

In honor of National Park Week and Earthday 2025, we are supporting OUR national parks by sharing stories about what we love about the parks that we all collectively own (the most beautiful and ecologically significant wild places/habitats in the nation...and in the world, as some earned UNESCO World Heritage Site designations), to help encourage Americans to ask for political support to stop trump and musk/DOGE from defunding OUR parks and to stop firing our hard-working park rangers and staff who are our park defenders. In this 28 minute episode I talk about an Atlanta group of women I'm working with on National Park support projects via an Intown Women's Resistance group. They helped send in stories from people around the nation of people talking about parks they love and why (like Cumberland Island NP in GA, and Arches NP in Utah, and me talking about seeing bison and interviewing wolf biologist Rick McIntyre in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley). We encourage you all to share your own park memories with friends and on social media, and to contact your federal Senators and Representatives to demand they protect park employee jobs and fully fund the national parks, and any park programs associated with climate mitigation and DEI, and protect all OUR public lands (some of which are now threatened with being sold to private owners/industries, snuck into a recent Republican budget bill). We must stay vigilant. Here are some organizations that support parks and their employees and can keep us educated on issues and action items, recommended by friend and retired Forester from the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Kristine Johnson:  PEER: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility The Coalition to Protect America's National Parks The National Park Conservation Association "In Tune to Nature" is a weekly radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or Melody Paris. The show's website and action items can be found at https://wrfg.org/in-tune-to-nature/  Please support nonprofit indie media like our Radio Free Georgia station at https://wrfg.org/  Thank you! Take care of yourself and others, including our park employees and the wild animals who rely on our public lands. Photo Credit: Resist Destruction Smoky Bear sticker from the Alt National Parks group. Check them out on FB. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff or volunteers.   

Maybe just stay out of the woods... This week we discuss three of the most well know missing persons from the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. While these cases are from years ago their families still seek answers and yearly more missing are added to list of cases still unsolved.

A cool September afternoon on a trail in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Three friends are chatting as they hike. And then… in minutes, one of them disappears. No sound. No clue. Just… gone. Polly Melton's disappearance has left investigators and amateur sleuths searching for answers for over four decades Want more Southern Mysteries?  Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Instagram: @southernmysteries Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com  Episode Sources National Park Service: Cold Cases, Thelma Pauline "Polly" Melton NamUs: #MP14284, Thelma Pauline Melton Asheville Citizen-Times: Dogs Are Unable to Find Lost Hiker, September 28, 1981 The Knoxville Sentinel News: Search for Hiker Eases: Rangers feel woman no longer in park, October 1, 1981 Winston Salem Journal: Search for hiker continues, October 1, 1981 The Charlotte Observer: Female Hiker, 58, still missing in Smokie, October 1, 1981 Asheville Citizen-Times: Organized Search ends for missing woman, October 6, 1981 The Charlotte Observer: Terror is when a loved one vanishes in the mountains, November 20, 1981 Asheville Times: Disappearance Still A Mystery, December 24, 1981 The Charlotte Observer: Mystery not solved but ending, July 3, 1991 Find A Grave: Pauline “Polly” McAllister Melton 10 News: Appalachian Unsolved: Polly Melton Missing in the Smokies, December 8, 2017 Investigating Agency: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation 615-744-4000 Episode Music Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.  

Get ready for an unforgettable journey through history, mystery, and stunning landscapes. Join filmmaker and author Paul Bonesteel, founder of Bonesteel Films, as he unravels the story of George Masa, a Japanese photographer who arrived in Asheville, NC, in 1915 and became an unexpected hero for conservation in the Appalachian Mountains. Masa's breathtaking photos helped inspire the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, leaving a legacy that still resonates today.Paul first brought Masa's story to light in his 2002 documentary, The Mystery of George Masa, and now, with co-author Janet McCue, he's written a powerful new biography, George Masa: A Life Reimagined. But he didn't stop there. With fresh insights from a recent trip to Japan, Paul's upcoming documentary will reveal even more layers to Masa's life and impact.Tune into Speaking of Travel as Paul shares what drives his passion for uncovering Masa's story, the incredible impact Masa had on conservation, and why these untold stories matter. This is history, adventure, and inspiration all rolled into one compelling tale. Don't miss it. Only on Speaking of Travel. Thanks for listening to Speaking of Travel! Visit speakingoftravel.net for travel tips, travel stories, and ways you can become a more savvy traveler.

From the Pisgah National Forest and Great Smoky Mountain National Park to Wellness Retreats and Foodie Fun, this episode of Big Blend Radio's 1st Tuesday "Adventures in Asheville" Show celebrates the month of August as American Adventures Month. Featured Guests are Big Blend Radio regulars Steve & Karen Wilson, owners and innkeepers of The Lion & The Rose Bed & Breakfast, a stunning pink lady in the Montford Historic District. More: https://www.lion-rose.com/  Big Blend Radio's "Adventures in Asheville" Show airs every 1st Tuesday. Follow the show on PodBean: https://adventures-asheville.podbean.com/ 

Nestled within the lush terrain of the Appalachian Mountains, the leftover grist water mills are weatherworn relics of a bygone era. Since the 1870s, water cascading over the Cable Mill's wooden wheel has reverberated through surrounding Cades Cove and Great Smoky Mountain National Park. As a calm rush of water down the aged timber flume crashes over its lazily spinning wheel and into the stream below, the gears within the Millhouse chime in with the occasional soft creak and clang. Visitors who pause to listen can hear these relaxing sounds echo timeless craftsmanship throughout the hills of Appalachia. 35.58513, -83.84445

We look back at our Cades Cove Bike Ride while we record a "Truck Session" on our way home from The Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/553  Presented by: Skwala, Northern Rockies Adventures Sponsors: https://wetflyswing.com/sponsors    In this episode, we delve into fly fishing North Carolina with the seasoned pro, Mac Brown. With his experience in casting and teaching, Brown shares his knowledge on not only the techniques of fly casting and fishing but also its history and evolution throughout the years. Whether discussing his journey from the Ozarks to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park or unraveling the intricacies of fly casting, Brown's insights illuminate the art and sport of fly fishing. Read on for an insightful journey into the world of fly fishing with Mac Brown. Episode Chapters with Mac Brown on Fly FIshing North Carolina 1:30 - Mac shares how he started fly fishing as a kid with his grandfather. He was born in the Ozarks, and then eventually moved to Bryson City, North Carolina. 9:15 - He tells us what he loves about living in Bryson City, including the weather. 14:44 - He helped start the Delayed Harvest on the Nantahala River and the Tuckasegee River in the early nineties with the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission (NCWRC). 18:10 - We talk about the fishing techniques he uses in his area in North Carolina. 21:55 - He walks us through the activities they do in his guide school. 26:02 - He also does fishing shows. He mentions the upcoming shows he'll be attending to teach casting and tying classes. 33:18 - He gives valuable tips on casting. He also reflects on his experiences learning from some of the best fishers in the world, such as Jim Green and Gary Borger. With decades of teaching behind him, Mac emphasizes the importance of understanding casting techniques comprehensively and advises investing both in formal and informal learning experiences. 36:44 - He walks us through the game he and his kids play to master their casting. 39:43 - Mac recommends visiting the Fly Fishers International (FFI) website to find a casting instructor. 41:59 - He helps us understand the basics of casting and the importance of a proper casting technique. 44:39 - He talks about casting distance and teaching casting to kids. 48:34 - We dig into the role of acceleration in casting. He says casting is more of a timing game, not a muscle game. He also says that the biggest thing about casting is dealing with external surroundings. 52:46 - He talks about teaching how to roll cast. 55:53 - He's one of the Board of Governors in FFI's Casting Instructor Certification Program. 57:18 - He talks about kinesthetic relative to casting. 1:05:23 - We dig into the gear. He prefers a 10 1/2" 2wt rod. He likes the stealth rod from Temple Fork Outfitters (TFO) 1:08:05 - We talk about euro nymphing. That's how he fished with his grandfather in the Ozarks. 1:12:12 - I ask him about his definition of fly fishing. He also gives a tip on casting with heavy flies. 1:14:17 - We talk about music. He likes playing music with his kids and their electric guitars. He likes the Grateful Dead and Robert Johnson. He also mentions some other artists he likes. Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/553   

We focus on the creative process of several artists in the road ecology movement who have promoted safe passageways for wildlife to cross over and under human highways, via song, children's literature, and documentary film. Our guests are writer Frances Figart of Asheville, NC and filmmaker Ted Grudowski of Seattle, WA, interviewed in this 30-minute podcast by host Carrie Freeman. Our discussion explores creative ways these artists have inspired humans to more safely and fairly share land with free-living nonhuman animals, specifically to promote the design and build of wildlife road crossings to enable safe passage for animals across human highways --  like Highway I-40, North of Asheville NC near the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, where there are lots of bears, elk, deer, and other animals needing to migrate to feed and mate, and that highway is a dangerous barrier to their livelihood, causing vehicle collisions. You can find out more about that ongoing safe passage project and its coalition of conservation supporters at the Smokies Safe Passage website: https://smokiessafepassage.org/ In this podcast, Frances Figart tells us about her children's book (for ages 7 - 13) "A Search for Safe Passage" (illustrated by Emma Dufort) about a council of 19 animal species who work together to find an underpass that allows them to safely get to the other side of a scary and loud human road in their mountain forest. That also inspired her song "Safe Passage: Animals Need a Hand." You can see and share a cool music video of this song by Asheville band The Fates in a celtic/bluegrass style on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLbyQB5mqtU (we play a portion of this song in the podcast). Filmmaker and photographer Ted Grudowski also tells us about "Cascade Crossroads" the award-winning half-hour documentary he co-produced that chronicles the amazing story of seemingly opposite interests out West joining forces to restore a critical wildlife corridor while improving Washington State's vital transportation corridor over the Cascade Mountains -- a documentary that is actually encouraging in these polarizing times. You can watch it to inspire similar problem-solving in your own town, at Ted's website https://www.tedgrudowski.com/cascade-crossroads-documentary-film  The nonprofit Conservation Northwest also has a lot of resources on reconnecting habitats.  "In Tune to Nature" is a weekly radio show airing Wednesdays at 6:30pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station). Hosted by Carrie Freeman or Melody Paris. The show's website and action items can be found at https://www.facebook.com/InTunetoNature  Please support indie media like Radio Free Georgia at https://wrfg.org/   Take care of yourself and others, including other species -- like wildlife who need to get where they are going safely (with road underpasses and overpasses and more roadless areas to live).  

Today's show opens with Arica's recent hunting expenditures. It's been a little slow go but on a recent hunt for the first time ever she heard a buck grunting coming through the woods. Heart pounding excitement kicked in as she heard him coming closer through the woods. A doe walked right past her so she's super excited waiting on this buck to come right through where the doe did. The buck grunting edges closer through the woods and finally comes to light – unfortunately it's a button buck!! She sat for a while longer when she heard some more rustling coming through the woods, make sure to tune into this episode sponsored by GunBroker.com! Next up Brayden talks about his recent hunting trip with Phil on a private farm that really just wants them to take some deer off of it. After tree hopping for a while he finally got settled in when not long after he got a text from Phil that a buck was coming across the field. Brayden drug some Tink's 69 on the way in and Phil's buck came in right on a line following the trail. Phil let an arrow fly on this buck and got a good blood trail to start with. Unfortunately, it started to dry up as the trail went on, all the way up to a neighboring property. He let it set overnight and after connecting with the land owner next door he continued his search but unfortunately came up empty handed. Jacob covers a whole week of outdoor stories that he's had the pleasure to collect here lately. His first story goes in depth of him chasing whitetail during bow season. The absolute perfect scenario comes to fruition with a really nice 8-point working a scrape line directly up to him. He drew back and…you'll have to tune in to this episode to hear exactly what happened! He also spent some time in North Carolina on a fishing trip at Deep Creek in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. They had some awesome success starting with a nice brown trout and a few smaller ones as well. Fishing clear water creeks, he got some awesome fishing knocked out on this trip with some real trophy fish being reeled in. Circling back to whitetail he goes over his exciting weekend back chasing whitetail during rifle opener. Closing out Derek dives into his recent hunting expenditures chasing whitetail. He let a really solid buck walk on opening day that he's hoping he doesn't regret later in the season. He gives a great description of his hunting spot to set the scene on just how close he let this deer walk for a second time a few days later! After spending some time watching a small forky chasing a doe back and forth a real nice buck makes his appearance. Make sure to tune in to this episode to hear how his hunt turned out!  If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a rate and review!!  [UNCENSORED] by GoWild kicks off your week with shameful nonsense, inappropriate convictions, and unfiltered tales from the woods, waters and whatevers. [UNCENSORED] is a behind the scenes look at our adventures, failures, wins, embarrassing moments at trade shows, hilarious tales from the warehouse, and a good rant or three about the most recent tyranny from the Dark Lord of the Sith himself. The show launches every Monday morning. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. JOIN GOWILD AND GET $10: http://downloadgowild.com Check out the Sportsmen's Empire Podcast Network for more relevant outdoor content! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's show opens with Arica's recent hunting expenditures. It's been a little slow go but on a recent hunt for the first time ever she heard a buck grunting coming through the woods. Heart pounding excitement kicked in as she heard him coming closer through the woods. A doe walked right past her so she's super excited waiting on this buck to come right through where the doe did. The buck grunting edges closer through the woods and finally comes to light – unfortunately it's a button buck!! She sat for a while longer when she heard some more rustling coming through the woods, make sure to tune into this episode sponsored by GunBroker.com!Next up Brayden talks about his recent hunting trip with Phil on a private farm that really just wants them to take some deer off of it. After tree hopping for a while he finally got settled in when not long after he got a text from Phil that a buck was coming across the field. Brayden drug some Tink's 69 on the way in and Phil's buck came in right on a line following the trail. Phil let an arrow fly on this buck and got a good blood trail to start with. Unfortunately, it started to dry up as the trail went on, all the way up to a neighboring property. He let it set overnight and after connecting with the land owner next door he continued his search but unfortunately came up empty handed.Jacob covers a whole week of outdoor stories that he's had the pleasure to collect here lately. His first story goes in depth of him chasing whitetail during bow season. The absolute perfect scenario comes to fruition with a really nice 8-point working a scrape line directly up to him. He drew back and…you'll have to tune in to this episode to hear exactly what happened! He also spent some time in North Carolina on a fishing trip at Deep Creek in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. They had some awesome success starting with a nice brown trout and a few smaller ones as well. Fishing clear water creeks, he got some awesome fishing knocked out on this trip with some real trophy fish being reeled in. Circling back to whitetail he goes over his exciting weekend back chasing whitetail during rifle opener.Closing out Derek dives into his recent hunting expenditures chasing whitetail. He let a really solid buck walk on opening day that he's hoping he doesn't regret later in the season. He gives a great description of his hunting spot to set the scene on just how close he let this deer walk for a second time a few days later! After spending some time watching a small forky chasing a doe back and forth a real nice buck makes his appearance. Make sure to tune in to this episode to hear how his hunt turned out! If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a rate and review!! [UNCENSORED] by GoWild kicks off your week with shameful nonsense, inappropriate convictions, and unfiltered tales from the woods, waters and whatevers. [UNCENSORED] is a behind the scenes look at our adventures, failures, wins, embarrassing moments at trade shows, hilarious tales from the warehouse, and a good rant or three about the most recent tyranny from the Dark Lord of the Sith himself.The show launches every Monday morning. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.JOIN GOWILD AND GET $10:http://downloadgowild.comCheck out the Sportsmen's Empire Podcast Network for more relevant outdoor content!

Today's show opens with Arica's recent hunting expenditures. It's been a little slow go but on a recent hunt for the first time ever she heard a buck grunting coming through the woods. Heart pounding excitement kicked in as she heard him coming closer through the woods. A doe walked right past her so she's super excited waiting on this buck to come right through where the doe did. The buck grunting edges closer through the woods and finally comes to light – unfortunately it's a button buck!! She sat for a while longer when she heard some more rustling coming through the woods, make sure to tune into this episode sponsored by GunBroker.com! Next up Brayden talks about his recent hunting trip with Phil on a private farm that really just wants them to take some deer off of it. After tree hopping for a while he finally got settled in when not long after he got a text from Phil that a buck was coming across the field. Brayden drug some Tink's 69 on the way in and Phil's buck came in right on a line following the trail. Phil let an arrow fly on this buck and got a good blood trail to start with. Unfortunately, it started to dry up as the trail went on, all the way up to a neighboring property. He let it set overnight and after connecting with the land owner next door he continued his search but unfortunately came up empty handed. Jacob covers a whole week of outdoor stories that he's had the pleasure to collect here lately. His first story goes in depth of him chasing whitetail during bow season. The absolute perfect scenario comes to fruition with a really nice 8-point working a scrape line directly up to him. He drew back and…you'll have to tune in to this episode to hear exactly what happened! He also spent some time in North Carolina on a fishing trip at Deep Creek in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. They had some awesome success starting with a nice brown trout and a few smaller ones as well. Fishing clear water creeks, he got some awesome fishing knocked out on this trip with some real trophy fish being reeled in. Circling back to whitetail he goes over his exciting weekend back chasing whitetail during rifle opener. Closing out Derek dives into his recent hunting expenditures chasing whitetail. He let a really solid buck walk on opening day that he's hoping he doesn't regret later in the season. He gives a great description of his hunting spot to set the scene on just how close he let this deer walk for a second time a few days later! After spending some time watching a small forky chasing a doe back and forth a real nice buck makes his appearance. Make sure to tune in to this episode to hear how his hunt turned out!  If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a rate and review!!  [UNCENSORED] by GoWild kicks off your week with shameful nonsense, inappropriate convictions, and unfiltered tales from the woods, waters and whatevers. [UNCENSORED] is a behind the scenes look at our adventures, failures, wins, embarrassing moments at trade shows, hilarious tales from the warehouse, and a good rant or three about the most recent tyranny from the Dark Lord of the Sith himself. The show launches every Monday morning. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. JOIN GOWILD AND GET $10: http://downloadgowild.com Check out the Sportsmen's Empire Podcast Network for more relevant outdoor content! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iltifat and Blake are reunited for an epic camping trip in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Let's talk about a classic protozoan infection, and key incorrect answer choices when it comes to diarrheal illness. Want to experience the greatest in board studying? Check out our interactive question bank podcast- the FIRST of its kind here. Cite this podcast as: Briggs, Blake; Husain, Iltifat. 201. Giardia: bring extra pants. November 14th, 2023. Accessed [date].

Is there a more life-giving place than Great Smoky Mountain National Park? We don't think there is! This is the time of year this park really shines, so in this episode, we are exploring everything the Smokies have to offer.  We know that some of you are heading out there in the next few weeks to see the fall colors, so we are excited to talk about and celebrate this beautiful national park with you! Join us as we cover:  Why this park is the most visited national park in America The most popular part of this park that you don't want to miss Our favorite waterfall hike in this park What you need to know about Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail What we love about Gatlinburg If you only have time for one trail, this is the one you want to do What you need to know about the trails - and how to pronounce them The diverse ecosystems in the park What to check out on the North Carolina side of the park The best way to get Smoky Mountain views We hope you enjoyed exploring this stunning park with us! It is truly amazing, and it deserves all of the hype that it gets. There is so much magic in this park, and we know you'll love it.  If you want some help planning your trip to the Smokies and avoiding the massive crowds, grab your Great Smoky Mountains Itinerary before you go!   Check out the full show notes here.

CLICK HERE to listen to episode audio (5:58).Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments ImagesExtra InformationSources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.). Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 7-21-23. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the weeks of July 24 and July 31, 2023.  This is a revised version of an episode from July 2013. SOUND – ~7 sec That underwater sound, recorded by a kayaker on Virginia's Appomattox River, opens an episode about how scientists and resource managers learn about the finned creatures that live underwater.  We start with some mystery sounds.  Have a listen for about 30 seconds, and see if you can guess what's going on with this beeping and splashing.  And here's a hint:  If a finned creature detects this signal, it might soon have a stunning experience. SOUNDS AND VOICES – ~27 sec – “Everybody's hands out of the water?”  Beeping and splashing.  “Ok, whenever you all are ready, you can pull it.... One, two, three...” If you guessed fish sampling, you're right!  Those were sounds from an electrofishing demonstration, during a May 2013 Virginia Master Naturalist field trip about fish in streams and rivers.  The demonstration was led by Jamie Roberts, who at the time was a Virginia Tech research scientist and as of 2023 is an associate professor of fisheries at Georgia Southern University.  Participants learned about fish-assessment techniques commonly used by fishery managers and by fish scientists, known as ichthyologists.  For some more details on fish sampling in streams, let's listen to a two-minute excerpt from Dr. Roberts' session. GUEST VOICE - ~2 min./2 sec.“So one of the things I want us to notice as we're sampling is what we catch with different types of gears, with different types of methods, and then what we catch in different types of habitats. “So there's really, essentially three different types of habitats that we have here [in a stream].  You have that shallow, turbulent stuff [that] we in the stream ecology world tend to call riffles; you have these, sort of, deep, deeper still somewhat high velocity areas called runs; and you have still waters, which we call pools.  And the three gear types that I wanna play with are...electrofishing with a dip net, which we'll do in pools; electrofishing into a stationary seine—so this is a seine net; and then sweeping a seine around like crazy and just seeing what we can get, like an old-time ichthyologist.  We'll do some sampling that is more like the golden days of ichthyology, before we had $10,000 electrofishers. “Icthyologists often rely on electrofishers of one type or another to catch fish, because it sort of brings fish out of the woodwork.  Fish are in this environment that's very difficult for us to access and see through and everything, and electricity is sort of the equalizer; it makes fish a lot easier to catch.  There are electrofishers that are mounted on boats; there are electrofishers that are barges that you tow around; and this is called a backpack electrofisher.  It's powered by a DC battery that looks a lot like a motorcycle battery.  And it produces electricity that this fancy box turns into the correct frequency and wavelength and pulse type to momentarily stun fish, and while they're stunned, we net ‘em; and as soon as they get out of the electrical field, if we've done everything like we're supposed to, they just immediately come back.  So if we throw them in a bucket, they should immediately regain normal composure.” As Jamie Roberts noted, fish live in an environment largely hidden from unaided human vision or hearing.  So scientists and resource managers combine ancient technologies—like nets—with modern electronics to get the information needed to understand and properly manage fish and the aquatic areas that sustain them. Thanks to Dr. Roberts and the New River Valley Master Naturalist chapter for permission to record the fish-sampling session.  Thanks also to Raven Harris for the Appomattox River sounds.  We close with a musical selection whose title describes the water world of many fish.  Here's about 25 seconds of “The Deep Blue Green,” by Andrew VanNostrand. MUSIC - ~27 sec – instrumental. SHIP'S BELL Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo version of “Cripple Creek” to open and close this episode.  In Blacksburg, I'm Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water. AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Virginia Water Radio episode revises and replaces Episode 172, 7-29-13. The Appomattox River sounds were recorded by Raven Harris on the Appomattox River in Petersburg, Va., on April 18, 2014; used with permission. The fish sampling sounds and talk by Dr. Jamie Roberts were May 13, 2013, along Toms Creek in Montgomery County, Virginia, at a class of the New River Valley Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists Program.  Thanks to Jamie Roberts and to participants in that Master Naturalist class for permission to record the session. “The Deep Blue Green,” from the 2019 album “That We Could Find a Way to Be,” is copyright by Andrew VanNorstrand, used with permission.  More information about Andrew VanNorstrand is available online at https://greatbearrecords.bandcamp.com/.  This music was used previously by Virginia Water Radio most recently in Episode 632, 7-18-22. Click here if you'd like to hear the full version (1 min./11 sec.) of the “Cripple Creek” arrangement/performance by Stewart Scales that opens and closes this episode.  More information about Mr. Scales and the group New Standard, with which Mr. Scales plays, is available online at http://newstandardbluegrass.com. IMAGES Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (now Department of Wildlife Resources) personnel giving a backpack electrofishing demonstration to the Virginia Master Naturalists/New River Valley Chapter at Toms Creek in Montgomery County on May 6, 2013.  Photo by Bill Sydor, courtesy of New River Valley Master Naturalists Chapter.Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (now Department of Wildlife Resources) personnel leading a seining demonstration to the Virginia Master Naturalists/New River Valley Chapter at Toms Creek in Montgomery County on May 6, 2013.  Photo by Shannon Ritter, courtesy of New River Valley Master Naturalists Chapter.Jess Jones (left), co-director of the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Center at Virginia Tech, examining the settings on a backpack electrofishing device, in the North Fork Holston River in Saltville, Va. (Smyth County), June 19, 2018.  Photo by Virginia Water Radio.EXTRA INFORMATION ABOUT ELECTROFISHING The following information on electrofishing is quoted from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources blog, Alex McCrickard, “Not Too Shocking: Your Electrofishing Questions Answered,” by Alex McCrickard, November 9, 2020, online at https://dwr.virginia.gov/blog/not-too-shocking-your-electrofishing-questions-answered/, accessed July 17, 2023. “Have you watched some of the videos from aquatic biologists at the Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) and seen a boat outfitted with long, wand-like poles with dangling cables?  Have you ever showed up to a river or stream and witnessed a crew of biologists with large backpacks and long rods extending into the water?  This unusual-looking activity is called electrofishing, and it's modern science in action. “As Virginia's state fish and wildlife agency, DWR is responsible for the management of our fish and wildlife resources for the benefit of the public.  Our agency staff work hard to conserve and protect our freshwater fisheries across the Commonwealth.  The best way to monitor the health of fish populations is to catch a number of fish from one area at one time.  While our aquatics biologists are all excellent anglers, there is a more efficient, safe, and effective way to catch the fish!  Electrofishing is a common method used in fisheries science; this type of biomonitoring is truly one of the most effective ways to monitor our fisheries. “Fish can really help tell the story of the health of a certain waterbody.  They are in the water 24/7 and are constantly exposed to the elements.  Some species are more tolerant to pollution than others.  The make-up and diversity of a water body's fish population can help tell the story of water quality and inform our agency's biologists.  In turn, all of this influences sound management decisions that can improve habitat, water quality, and fish health, which benefits the general public and anglers who cherish Virginia's freshwater resources. “So, you now might be wondering what exactly happens during electrofishing?  What's going on behind the scenes during these surveys?  Our electrofishing FAQs below cover these basics. “What is electrofishing? “Electrofishing is a technique used in fisheries science to sample fish populations.  Sampling is when biologists study a number of fish from a certain area, measuring and examining them and recording the statistics.  When biologists electrofish, a generator or battery gives off an electrical current that runs through the water.  Volts, amps, and frequency can be adjusted based on water temperature, conductivity, and other variables.  Electrofishing can take place on foot with a backpack unit on a small stream or river.  For larger rivers and lakes, electrofishing typically takes place from a boat or barge. “From a boat, the anodes enter the water from a long boom off the bow.  Electrical current travels from anode cables back to the cathode(s)–in many cases, the metal hull of the boat acts as the cathode.  The electrical field typically expands 5 to 7 feet in circumference from each anode and down about 6 to 7 feet.  The size of the electrical field can vary depending on conductivity, voltage, and frequency of electrical current. “Fish are temporarily stunned as the electrical current causes their muscles to contract.  The fish then float towards the surface where they can be easily netted. “Is electrofishing harmful to fish? “Electrofishing has the potential to be harmful if not used properly; however, biologists have the training and experience to operate the equipment safely and effectively while minimizing impacts to fish.  Prior to any sampling, biologists adjust and monitor electrofishing settings to the target species in a particular habit. In some cases, electroshocking is avoided during spawning periods and habitats of certain rare and endangered species to eliminate even the perception of harm. “Does electrofishing affect different species of fish differently? “Yes, the frequency of the electromagnetic current can affect species differently.  For example, low frequency electrofishing tends to only affect catfish species.  When we sample tidal rivers to assess the catfish populations, we solely use low frequency.  High frequency sampling is often used for standard community assessment of multiple species.  Because of their larger surface area, big fish such as bass and muskie are more susceptible to electroshocking than small fish such as minnows and darters. “Electrofishing is only efficient in shallow water, so sampling is usually conducted when all species and sizes of interest are likely to be vulnerable to this technique. “Why do DWR biologists electrofish?  What's the goal for sampling and what do DWR biologists do with the fish during electrofishing? “Electrofishing is an effective method to assess the health of a fishery in a non-lethal manner.  It allows biologists to evaluate the health, variety, size distribution, and abundance of fish species on a given body of water and how that population can change over time.  Length and weight measurements further allow biologists to assess overall fishery health.  This type of sampling allows DWR to look at interactions within a fish population.  Furthermore, we can track status of endangered and threatened species or the status of spread of any invasive species.  All of this information influences sound management decisions that benefit the public who recreate on these resources. “Is electrofishing safe for the DWR biologists? “Yes, because of their training and experience, DWR biologists are safe when electrofishing.  Our biologists wear non-breathable waders that keep them from being shocked while using backpack electrofishing units.  For electrofishing boats, numerous electric cut-offs are in place to prevent accidents, and the boat is grounded.  All DWR biologists wear personal flotation devices while sampling on boats.  DWR biologists have also had formal training in electrofishing principles and techniques (for example the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service electrofishing course), which contributes to the safe operation of electrofishing gear. “In what kinds of waters do you electrofish? “Electrofishing takes place in freshwater and tidal freshwater rivers and streams.  Because of the high conductivity of saltwater, it is not conducive to electrofishing. “Can anglers use electrofishing equipment to catch fish? “No, it is unlawful for the general public to use electrofishing equipment to catch fish.” SOURCES Used for Audio Alex McCrickard, “Not Too Shocking: Your Electrofishing Questions Answered,” Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, November 9, 2020, online at https://dwr.virginia.gov/blog/not-too-shocking-your-electrofishing-questions-answered/. Stephen R. Moulton II, Jonathan G. Kennen, Robert M. Goldstein, and Julie A. Hambrook, “Revised Protocols for Sampling Algal, Invertebrate, and Fish Communities as Part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program,” U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-150, online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2002/ofr-02-150/. National Park Service, “What Lies Beneath: How Electrofishing and Environmental DNA Is Being Used to Monitor and Conserve Fish Species in Great Smoky Mountain National Park,” April 8, 2021, online at https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/what-lies-beneath-how-electrofishing-and-environmental-dna-is-being-used-to-monitor-and-conserve-fish-species-in-great-smoky-mountain-national-park.htm. Jordanna Sheermohamed, “Sea Science: Why is the ocean blue, green and everything in between?”  The Triton, April 24, 2019. Virginia Master Naturalists Program, online at http://www.virginiamasternatu

Al... a big ol' Russian boar in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park spurs a discussion on not only pigs in the Park, but pigs in America.

On this episode I'm (Corian) flying solo as Dave is off adventuring in the Philippines.  I wanted to take some time to tell you about how awesome The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is and the top spots to visit if you have only a day, time to hike, want some solitude or other stuff. This is definitely part 1  of 2 or 3 as there is just soooo much to see an experience here no matter what your flavor of fun in. Be sure to leave a review and let us know how you are enjoying our podcast. LINKS:Teton sports affiliate linkWe are proud to have partnered with Teton Sport! As outdoor enthusiasts we have used many products for our camping and hiking needs. None have compared to the Teton Sport product line! Enjoy 15% off your first order of any Teton sport product by using our code rv_of_threeEmail us your questions or comments at: rvofthree@gmail.comJoin our facebook group: “Healthy RV living, Working & Traveling”Follow us on Instagram: @Rv_Of_Three & YouTube"As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases." "(paid link)", "#ad", or "#CommissionsEarned"Teton sports affiliate linkWe are proud to have partnered with Teton Sport! As outdoor enthusiasts we have used many products for our camping and hiking needs. None have compared to the Teton Sport product line! Enjoy 15% off your first order of any Teton sport product by using our code rv_of_threeEmail us your questions or comments at: rvofthree@gmail.comJoin our facebook group: “Healthy RV living, Working & Traveling”Want to help support our travels? View Our Amazon Wish ListFollow us on Instagram:@Rv_Of_ThreeYouTube"As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases." "(paid link)", "#ad", or "#CommissionsEarned" Teton sports affiliate link We are proud to have partnered with Teton Sport! As outdoor enthusiasts we have used many products for our camping and hiking needs. None have compared to the Teton Sport product line! Enjoy 15% off your first order of any Teton sport product by using our code rv_of_three Email us your questions or comments at: rvofthree@gmail.com Join our facebook group: “Healthy RV living, Working & Traveling” Want to help support our travels? View Our Amazon Wish List Follow us on Instagram: @Rv_Of_Three YouTube

Join Ben and Meagan as we share all about our trip to Great Smoky Mountain National Park   Check out our blog and Etsy shop   Shop through our Amazon affiliate link   Email us at yellowvantravels@gmail.com   Find us on social media:   Instagram   Twitter   Facebook   Youtube   **Links in show notes contain affiliate links**

Summary:  Even tarantulas need a little love! Many species of tarantulas are disappearing and in this episode Kiersten talk about what's happening and what we're doing to help.   For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.   Show Notes:  The Tarantula Scientist by Sy Montgomery “Farewell to the World's Smallest Tarantula?” By Jane Schneider https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2017/Oct-Nov/Conservation/Spruce-Fir-Moss_Spider “Beautiful Ornamental Tarantulas Win Global Protections from Pet Trade.” https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/beautiful-ornamental-tarantulas-win-global-protections-pet-trade-2019-08-26/   Conservation Organizations to check out: Butterfly Pavillion in Colorado - https://butterflies.org/spider-conservation-research/   Commission for Environmental Cooperation - www.cec.org Tarantulas de Mexico - https://www.tarantulasdemexico.com iNaturalist app can be downloaded from any app store   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops) Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. This episode is the tenth and final episode of tarantulas and the tenth thing I like about these hairy beauties is the conservation efforts being done to ensure we never lose them. Now it may not seem like tarantulas need conservation efforts but many of them are impacted by habitat loss, the pet trade, and souvenir trinkets. In this episode we're going to take a look at some of these threats and what we're doing to help. When discussing any animal conservation issue, habitat loss is often one of the main problems. There are a lot of us creatures on this planet and we need to get much better at sharing it with all living things. One example of a tarantula impacted by habitat loss is the spruce-fir moss spider, the smallest tarantula in the world. This tiny BB-pellet sized tarantula is found in only a few isolated pockets of the Southern Appalachian mountains. They used to be commonly found all over Clingmans Dome, a mountain straddling North Carolina and Tennessee, but they have become more and more difficult to find. Biology Professor Kefyn Catley says in 1987 he could find them all over the rocks at Clingmans Dome but in 2017 they were none to be found. These small tarantulas live at high elevations typically above 5300 feet above sea level in moss that clings to boulders. The moss grows in mats which creates a microclimate that provides warmth, moisture, and food that the tarantula needs to survive. If the moss dries out, the spider cannot survive. This is exactly what's plaguing the spruce-moss tarantulas of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Invasive insects have invaded the park and are decimating the native trees that provide shade and moisture which keeps the moss growing. The loss of these trees has also increased the temperatures of this ecosystem. This is bad news for our little friend.  The tarantulas are trying to find new habitat by moving to north-facing rocks that still harbor the moss mats they need, but these refuges are also quickly disappearing.  So what are we doing to help? First we're still studying this little arachnid. Biologists from Western Carolina University and Great Smoky Mountain National Park forestry biologists are continuing their studies of this tarantula. We must know more about their natural history and their current population numbers if we are to help them survive.  The second action we've taken is to add the spruce-moss tarantula to the Endangered Species List. In 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added this tarantula to the endangered species list making it only the third spider to be added to the list. Doing this provided scientists leverage to take steps toward protecting the habitat in which the tarantula lives. Once this was done, a third action was approved which was the targeted eradication of the invasive insect eating the trees in the park. Now, spraying insecticide around can impact more than just the insect you want to kill and the scientists knew this, so with the help of park services, they devised a plan that targeted the invasive insect with as little impact to others as possible. This is an ongoing project and I know I have my fingers crossed that the spruce-fir moss tarantula survives for years to come. For those of us that are fans of the great outdoors, we know that habitat loss is something that is a problem on every continent and in every environment. Hundreds of different animals are impacted by it everyday. Tarantulas are no exception and what is happening to the spruce-moss spider is happening to many species of tarantulas all over the world. As tropical forests are cut down to make room for cattle, as wooded areas are logged for use in construction, and as desert is torn up to provide housing for more and more humans, the tarantulas are losing their homes. What we must learn is how to share our space with them and make sure when we move in they don't have to move out. The other major threat to tarantulas is the pet trade. Those of you who may be listening to this series to help get over your fear of tarantulas are probably thinking ‘who in their right mind would have a tarantula as a pet?'. Well, I can't attest to the ‘right-mind' part, but tarantulas can actually be pretty cool pets. They are certainly not for everyone and they do need specialized care that you must be willing to take the time to give them, but they can be a very rewarding pet. As I've said before, I had a rose-haired tarantula for 12 years. She hung out in an aquarium with coconut fiber substrate, a water dish, a hidey hole, and furniture that we'd rotate to give her something new to investigate. We did not handle her much, only every once in a while when we needed to deep clean her enclosure, even though she was very even tempered. Tarantulas don't really like to be handled. Sorry for that slight detour there, I really loved Rosy, but let's get back to the pet trade. For many years the pet trade has been taking its toll on the wild population of tarantulas. We first saw it in the desert areas of Mexico where the red-kneed tarantulas are found. These beautiful red, orange, and black tarantulas have been favorites of pet owners for years. It's fairly easy to catch these burrowing tarantulas by fooling the females out of they burrow with a fake prey item  on a string, kinda like fishing. During breeding seasons all you have to do is scoop up the males that are wandering around looking for a mate. The desert used to be covered in these tarantulas and people didn't think collecting them from the wild was a big deal. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, what would it hurt if we took a few? It hurt a lot because the mature adults were being harvested for the pet trade removing those that could repopulate the area. And it takes many years for these spiders to reach reproductive age, like 8 to 10 years.  The same thing is now happening to newly discovered tarantula species like the beautiful blue tarantulas of Sri Lanka and India. These are arboreal spiders that have proven incredibly popular with tarantula enthusiasts because of their bright, gorgeous colors. They are incredibly difficult to breed in captivity; therefore, people who are interested in nothing but making money off of nature, collect from the wild to sell them to an eager market.   So what are we doing? Reluctantly not enough, because part of the problem is that we don't have an accurate count of the population numbers of most tarantulas in the wild. Scientists all over the world are trying to fix this by beginning studies to count tarantulas year after year to try and get a baseline to help develop conservation guidelines.  Another regrettable problem that impacts tarantula populations in the wild is that trade in many species is legal because there are no regulations. Trade in some species is illegal but not many. We are combatting this through CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species which has ratified a treaty approved by 183 countries to regulate tarantulas in the Poecilotheria family. This is the family that includes our bright, blue friends. This was passed in 2019, and trade still continues in these species but permits are now needed and shipments are inspected at customs. This is step toward protecting them, a small step but these regulations combined with the population studies researchers are conducting can lead to stronger protections.  The last major threat to tarantulas is souvenir shops. This may sound silly but this is one of the number one reasons bird-eating spider populations are dwindling. Tourists visiting the home of the bird-eating tarantulas can find these awe-inspiring spiders mounted under glass or plastic for sale in souvenir shops. They are beautiful and look awesome hanging on your wall but we have to remember that these were living creatures that were roaming the jungle just days before. Taking them out of the web of life to hang them on your wall is not something that should be okay. A picture is worth a thousand words and can save a tarantulas life. Now, my listeners, what can you yourselves do to help your eight-legged friends? Many things. For one, if you want to purchase a tarantula for your own enjoyment at home, make sure you are buying a captive bred tarantula. Ask the breeders where they get their tarantulas, ask to see proof of their breeding facilities, and talk to breeders who specialize in baby tarantulas that are bred in captivity. My Rosy was an adoption from a family that had purchased her from a responsible breeder.  Number two, do not buy any souvenirs that are made using dead tarantulas. If there is no market for this kind of souvenir, people will stop killing tarantulas to make them. Number three, get involved with a local college, or an app like iNaturalist, that is studying tarantula populations. So much amazing research is supported by citizen scientists and you can help make a difference. You could be taking a hike in the desert or a tour in tropical forest and reporting a siting on iNaturalist can help researchers.  I know I've gone over a bit in the episode and I apologize, but I am completely fascinated by these amazing arachnids and I want them to survive for millennia to come! Thank you so much for taking the tarantula journey with me. The conservation efforts we are taking to ensure their continued survival is my tenth favorite thing about tarantulas.    If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.    Join me in two weeks for the beginning of a brand new series discussing a wicked cool unknown animal, the caecilian.    (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.  

The air is clearing!In this episode, we discuss the geology of Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  We've been neglectful of this region of the U.S. and it's time to do these amazing mountains justice.We begin by discussing why the Smokies are Smoky.  It's an interesting and natural phenomenon that involves the immense pine forests.  After we get the biology out of the way, we dive into the geology.  We broke it down to 3 major geologic events: 1- the bedrock geology and the accumulation of a massive amount of sediment from the breakup of Rodinia (a super-continent that preceded Pangaea).  2- Deformation and mountain building from the Pangaea collision. 3- Erosion as Pangaea broke apart.  We hope you enjoy!——————————————————Instagram: @planetgeocastTwitter: @planetgeocastFacebook: @planetgeocastEmail: planetgeocast@gmail.comWebsite: https://planetgeocast.buzzsprout.com/ 

Benny Braden is a public lands advocate and accomplished long-distance hiker. In this episode, Andrew and Ryan chat with him about public lands stewardship, social media, National Park funding, and more. Also in this episode - what's up with bagging dog poop but leaving it on the side of the trail? click here for show notes: https://backpackinglight.com/podcast-58-benny-brayden-vandalism-social-media/

A field trip to Great Smoky Mountain National Park turns into a spine-chilling search and rescue mission. What actually happened to Trenny Gibson? Was there foul play? Did she see the opportunity to run away and take it? The world may never know but we want you to explore it with us.⁠ Don't forget to send us your personal stories or suggestions at notsogreatoutdoors@gmail.com. For more information, including our research sources, go to https://www.thenotsogreatoutdoors.com. Intro Music: Deadlock Outro Music: Space Journey Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

In this episode, Joshua and Caleb interview fly shop manager Chad Fouts. Chad has years of experience fly fishing in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and guiding float trips in east Tennessee. This episode is full of great tips and tricks for successful days in the park or on many of the main rivers in Tennessee. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dadsonthefly/support

In this episode we're learning about an industry that's known for having the highest standards when it comes to customer service: hospitality. First, host Kristen Meinzer talks to Will Jones, General Manager of The Swag Resort, a boutique luxury resort that sits right along The Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Will shares hospitality practices and philosophies that can help businesses deliver memorable experiences by prioritizing authenticity and improving employees' experiences. Later, you'll hear from Xio Sandoval, a leading realtor and top CENTURY 21 agent in Southern California who has an inspiring passion for strengthening community connections. Guests: Will Jones: General Manager, The Swag Xio Sandoval: CENTURY 21 Realty Masters Agent in Montebello, CA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dave Homyak is a former engineer that quit his job to go into short-term rental properties full time. Dave runs Smokey Mountain Cabin Realty, helping investors maximize their returns by investing in rental properties in Tennessee. In this episode, Dave shares his investment journey, how he quit his job, how he 1031s his way into bigger properties, what his returns look like, the most powerful price points to get into, and some tips for investors thinking about getting into this game.         https://www.facebook.com/dave.homyak https://smokymountaincabinrealty.com/ --- Transcript Before we jump into the episode, here's a quick disclaimer about our content. The Remote Real Estate Investor podcast is for informational purposes only, and is not intended as investment advice. The views, opinions and strategies of both the hosts and the guests are their own and should not be considered as guidance from Roofstock. Make sure to always run your own numbers, make your own independent decisions and seek investment advice from licensed professionals.   Michael: Hey, everyone, welcome to another episode of The Remote Real Estate Investor. I'm Michael Albaum and Today we have with us Dave Homyak, who's going to be talking to us about short term rentals out in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, and what he did to leave his job is under two years with these types of investments. Without any further ado, let's get into it.   Hey, Dave, thanks so much for taking the time to hang out with me today. Really appreciate it.   Dave: Yeah. Thanks for having me.   Michael: Now, my pleasure. For our listeners who don't know you give us a brief background, who you are, Where'd you come from? And how'd you get started in real estate?   Dave: Okay, so basically, I was an engineer, I did engine calibration for a living, I worked for Chrysler, Detroit, diesel, General Motors, bunch of companies like that, and always wanted to do something in real estate, but quite honestly was afraid to do it. So my first investment property I purchased at 53. And the reason I purchased it is because I wanted to be able to get away from my W2 income. And I had had some money saved up I thought I'd pretty good saver. But I was like, what would it take to make me feel like I can walk away and not have any anxiety whatsoever?   And the answer was pretty easy. It's like if I replace my income, then I can walk away and do anything I want. And it's gonna, I will not have to ever worry. And so basically, I set the goal for myself to replace my engineering income in two years with real estate. And I was able to do it in a little bit under a year. And that was due to getting into short term rentals. And I ended up doing it in what I had kind of researched somewhat to the best of my ability at the time. But then what ended up is that an independent third party which is airDNA they ranked it as the best market in 18 best market in 19. It's three of the top six large cities in 20 and I'm waiting for the latest report to come out and I'm sure it's going to be in the top again.   So bottom line is I happen to buy in the one of the best markets and my research indicated that was a good plan. I had no idea that it was going to work out the way it did as quickly as it did though.   Michael: That's incredible. And so we've got to ask Where is that market?   Dave: Said market is in the Smoky Mountains, which is Eastern Tennessee, the three major cities are Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville. So Sevierville is the one that people haven't heard of as much but it's equally profitable and made the air DNA dotco list basically ended up you know, I made the decision looked into apartment syndication knew I could replace my income with that didn't know if I could add it to your timeline, ended up deciding on the Smokies. I looked at the Smokies panhandle of Florida, which is also a good choice. I think Smokies are a little better. Less hurricanes there. I really wanted to go into Panama City. And that got hit about a year later. And I'm like, Oh, I'm so glad I don't have to mess with that stuff.   Michael: Dodged the bullet.   Dave: Yeah, exactly. And then Scottsdale and I ended up going to the Smokies. So started this search and started trying to figure out what I was going to do in March of 18. April is kind of apartment syndication month. first weekend in May, I actually went to the Smokies to look for the first time and ended up seeing six cabins tried to make a decision on three, picked one bought it. So end of May I had that up and running it worked great over the summer, bought another one in August and then bought a third one in November.   And in December I got when the General Motors was offering buyouts and I said, I think it's time to go. And my, my goal was actually to probably stay with General Motors through July. And basically they said if you leave now we'll pay you through July. So I said okay. I can start on, on my leaving and yeah, and all the healthcare and stuff like that that goes with it. So yeah, it worked out really well.   Michael: Fantastic. So what about the Smokies attracted you? They're just out of curiosity.   Dave: So the thing that attracted me was there were people that were making a lot of really good cash on cash return. So one of the things that makes the Smokies a lot different than most other markets and in the panhandle Florida it's fairly similar. But all these things are second homes they're sold turnkey. So if you have to furnish, if you have to buy silverware, if you have to put in beds, TVs, all that stuff, that's just more money that you're gonna have to pay. When the Smokies there's basically two contracts that get written when you buy a house.   One is the purchase agreement for the cabin or the chalet, whatever your choice may be. There's a reason that chalets sometimes work a lot better than cabins and mainly due to supply and demand issues of buyers. But you also write a purchase agreement for the entire contents of the house. So you know, you have here's the cabin price, the chalet price, and for $1, you get the contents. So I literally am closing midweek, and that weekend, I have it rented out. So that's one of the benefits of you don't have a whole lot of downtime. And the second benefit that I didn't even know about at the time or didn't, didn't have nearly as much of a priority on as I do now when I help other investors is the whole regulation.   So in the Smokies, there's not that many hotels, they cannot take nearly as many visitors into the hotels is a built up entertainment, venues, things like that. So there's no way that they can go in like they do in other cities and say we want to ban short term rentals or we want to regulate heavily short term rentals. And, you know, play that regulatory card in make what used to be a really good investment not nearly as good of an investment. And I think you see that in the panhandle of Florida, as well as the Smokies, but I like the Smokies a little better just weather wise stuff like that.   So yeah, I mean, then the other thing is, there's a couple loans that are available down there that I'm not sure if they're available nationwide, I know they're available down there, but there's a 10% down second home loan. So if you're, if your intention is to spend 14 days or more in that property that you're buying the first one down there, you can get a second home loan on it. And that's a fantastic way to get into that market. Because you know, most investment properties you're not going to get for 10% down, right, and certainly not investment properties, you know, that is a primary residence you can put down last but for secondary to put down 10% is pretty crazy.   And then the loan that just, it still makes me smile, it's making me smile right now, and I've talked about it hundreds of times with different investors is there's a 15% down investment loan. And to qualify for the loan, you have to project what the income of the cabin is. And if the cabin throws off enough income, that qualifies you on a debt to income ratio. So for example, if the cabin is gonna throw off $5,000 a month and the payments gonna be 2000. And you're maxed out on debt to income right now. You know, if you're at 40%, guess what, you still qualify because of a cash flow project. It's a cabin with projected cash-flow of 5000 a month, and that cash flows enough to cover the the mortgage payment.   So it's just, it's like one of those things that you're like, I'm pretty I get I've actually checked with my like, once a year, I check with my loan officer, the person that I've used just is this still a thing? Yep, still a thing. And I'm waiting for somebody to say I'm not sure that should be a thing. You know, but it still is now. So even if you're even if your debt to income is fairly high, you can still qualify on the for the investment loan at 15%.   Michael: That is just incredible.   Dave: Yeah, I, it makes me smile, every time I tell somebody, I still can't believe it.   Michael: Yeah, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, it doesn't seem to make sense. But if it's a thing, it's a thing.   Dave: At least for me, when I've used an investment loan down there, like the property actually made the money it wasn't like you had to stretch your make something up, like I think it's gonna make 10,000 and it makes five or something like that. It's more like if it's going you know, I said an honest five, the payment I think was 16 or 1700 a month and and it did make the five a month that I said it would.   And then where it gets really interesting is once you show them once you show the mortgage company a Schedule E and prove that it made what you said it was going to make, you now qualify for another one the next year. So basically, you can get one of these a year, as long as you wait until after you file your Schedule E and give that to the loan officer. And then if you are married, you know and if you're playing in two person mode two player mode, then you and your wife can both do one a year on that plan. And then the next year you can both do one on that plan.   Michael: Oh my gosh.   Dave: So it's a way to build, build a portfolio very fast and that market is still one of the best markets when it comes to cash on cash returns. So even though there's been a lot of appreciation, the nightly rates have gone up a lot, they had about 2000 cabins burned down in 2016. And before COVID came in, they had I think five developers come in and start to build. And it just the nightly rates have just gone up and up and up. And it's just one of those places that when the when the economy does well, that place does well, the Smokies do well. When the economy does poorly, the Smokies do well, why 60% of the United States is within driving distance of the Smokies.   And smokey, Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited National Park. And in 2009 2010, visitorship actually went up when the economy was doing poorly. And when people are like, what how do you Why do you think that happens? You know, I explained, you know, if, if you're afraid about the economy, you're not flying to Florida and taking a one week Disney Cruise, but you're still gonna want to go on vacation. So you're saying you know what, I'm going to drive to the Smokies, I'm going to rent a cabin for three days, we're going to do this thing on the downlow. It's going to be nice, but it's not going to be as extravagant. So I think even when things slow down.   There's, I obviously know a lot of people that invest down there and kind of one of the one of the questions that that we asked each other is what am I missing? It seems like there's really big upside, and not a whole lot of downside. And we haven't come up with anything. Yet that makes it scary. What am I, I very well may be missing something. But I've asked a couple guys and we can't figure it out.   Michael: So I mean, I just I love hearing all of this because as I was sharing with you when we connected before the podcast here, I just 1031ed into a property down there and severe bill. And so I'm very excited now to to get that up and running right here. And this only makes me even more giddy.   Dave: Yeah, yeah, it's pretty, it's pretty cool. I guess the other thing that I've done that I think is interesting, I think your listeners will find interesting is, the other thing I do is as an engineer, I don't sit still very well. So I'm constantly analyzing my properties. And I've owned five, but I keep trading up and 1031ing up. So for example, 2018, I bought a three bedroom, a four bedroom, a five bedroom, middle of 19, I look and I say hey, the five bedrooms doing better than the four, the four bedrooms doing better than the three. And they've all been appreciating, I know, I think I'll sell this three bedroom. So it's underperforming the other two.   So I sold the three bedroom and it had gone up enough that I actually use that 10 1031 money as a down payment on an eight bedroom. So very directionally correct eight bedroom does really well it costs me basically you know the downpayment that I put on the three bedroom and then just this you know the sale on the transfer the money to control an eight bedroom a year later. And there are different people that are doing that. So some are on a never sell anything. And I get I get some people upset on some of the real estate investment forums because they say, What's some of the worst real estate investing advice you've ever heard. And I say buy and hold and they say oh, they just don't like that.   And I'm like, I think I'm doing okay with it. And maybe I should have kept them all and just bought other ones. And then the other thing I ended up just recently doing is I sold the first cabin I bought which was a four bedroom, and I 1031ed did into this ultimate killer, like five bedroom the most incredible views. Just amazing. So that's kind of the other half of the coin is when you're looking at a lot of the when you're when you're looking to do Airbnb anywhere, when you take a look at the market. And if you if you buy the airDNA data, what you're going to see is, especially when you start to well, bigger places are there are less bigger places. So you're going to get outsized demand for the supply of bigger places, so you're able to charge more more bedrooms is better. In the Smokies a view is better a pool in the basement is better.   And what you're also going to see is that if you're running at 95th percentile property, your gross is double what your what a 50th percentile property's gross is going to be. So that isn't if you're running a 95th percentile property, your profits going to be double because you're already making a profit at the 50th percentile, it means your profits going to be you know, times three times four times five, because you've already got your expenses paid at 50th percentile. So anything about 50th percentile You really need, yeah, that's just money in your pocket.   So you really need to, I was, you know, I've made, I've made some mistakes along the way that have cost me someplace between, like a pretty lot of money and just like a lot of money. There are no small mistakes that I did. So, you know, one of the mistakes that I made was, well, if I can put 10% down, this will be I'm going to try not to put much more money and like, if something breaks, I'm going to do it. And looking back on it, there's a couple things that I could have upgraded, that wouldn't have been a big deal. That would have netted me more money in the long run better reviews. You know, when you look at that delta between the 50th percentile in the 95th percentile, it's amazing. So it's, it's worth, it's worth doing that and not kind of being gone on to put in 10%, I'm gonna try never to put another penny in unless something breaks, you know.   Michael: That's worth the upfront investment. So yeah,   Dave: It totally is worth the upfront investment. And even if it's in, let's just say it's, it's not, let's just say you only have the 10% of the closing costs, you know, the other thing is you're making, you should be making a couple 1000 a month anyway. So I mean, in two or three months, you're gonna have 567 $10,000 to spend. So maybe you wait a couple months, and then you put in, you know, the new the new furniture in the living room and refilled the pool table or whatever, get the better hot tub, whatever it is, when you feed that back in, I ended up just selling a place. And it's just doing some, I have some friends that also have properties that are identical, like literally identical to mine like same layout, same view, 50 feet away, and we were talking some numbers. And you know, they did, one guy did a really over the top renovation, his numbers were crazy, and one guy did a milder renovation. And I would I was doing some math of what it would have taken me to put in that and it'd been like under 10 grand. And basically, he was kind of he was out grossing me by about 10 grand, like, Oh, you put in the 10 grand and for the last three years, I could have made 10 grand instead of I save 10 Grand 30 grand Got it.   Michael: Right.   Dave: So it's it, you know, my mind is a is a work in progress for maximizing all these things. Well,   Michael: That's the engineer in you I totally get that as a reformed engineer myself. We get that.   Dave: Okay. Yeah, totally. Dave, I'm curious to get your thoughts because I'm sure that there are people that would argue that there are Smoky Mountain equivalents all over the place, I can invest anywhere in the country and make a good return. What are your thoughts on that? And how do you kind of narrow in on some hot markets?   Dave: I agree that you could probably make the same money. If you dig into 95th percentile stuff, if you dig into all this stuff that makes money. I think it's harder to make money in other places. And what's really interesting is what the how I made more money inn the Smokies, I've made more money, I've made significantly more money in the Smokies with appreciation than I actually did from Airbnb. So if you're making crazy cash on cash, which you still can kind of do, if you know where to look. And your appreciation is outpacing your cash on cash. That's the thing that I think some of the other markets lack. And I've known people that have had places that you know, guy that was in, in place just outside of Denver, and he was killing it in his neighborhood. And I forget if it was him, or his, basically the two of them where they were doing Airbnb in there and it got banned, and all of a sudden, everything's gone. Or you do it in some small place that maybe you're making money. But you know, how do you get that out? And how do you find the investors to come in behind that? Do they know that's a hot market?   So I think a lot of people concentrate and obviously the rental arbitrage people are just doing a just a strictly cash on cash thing. But I think if you look on, if you look at the markets that are being rated by air DNA, I think you're going to have a better overall return. Because other people are just being pointed to that direction, and they have the proof that they need if there's any, if there's any fear of the numbers, the books being cooked, whatever, and you know, some far off market, the middle of Wyoming, whatever I don't know. I mean, I've heard some really interesting numbers of people buying places in the Midwest with pools during COVID, they just they just annihilated because kids want to swim and people have money and if you couldn't go to the public pool and your kid really wanted to swim, guess what you're dropping top dollar, you're gonna beat out the other guy to get that lock in that place with a swim pool, even though it's a less expensive city. So I mean, those guys didn't really well, they're going to do now that the public pools are kind of open, I don't know.   But I think overall, I trust the air DNA data. And I think the cash on cash is available in other places, I'm not sure the appreciation is as much.   Michael: Okay. And so you actually help people find properties out in the Smokies, is that right?   Dave: I do. I do. I that wasn't my goal, my. So my goal straight up was, I was an engineer, I took my bite out, I said, I get to do whatever I want. And I don't like I don't sit still well. So I'm like, I am going to learn to fly airplanes. And my goal is to fly jets. So my goal was to fly for Delta. And so I'm like, I got my private pilot license, I got my instrument pilot license, made it halfway through commercial license, and then kind of like, the whole real estate thing kind of blew up for me.   And in even before I started working, about halfway through the commercial, or excuse me, halfway through the instrument license, I started to get people asking me, Hey, can you kind of help me do that? And can you help me find some of the best performing properties. And I think, because of the engineering background, and because I'm not afraid to do the numbers, and because I'm not afraid to run some spreadsheets and stuff like that, I'm able to better explain to some of the more technical science, math investors, why this makes the most sense. And I'm able to make them feel comfortable enough to invest there.   So I'm getting a lot of clients that have never invested anywhere, I'm getting a lot of 1031 clients, but they see the numbers and it's just like you can't not do it. And that's, it's, it's one of those things that you know, right now, depending on depending on the cash on cash that you're looking for, a lot of a lot of the places don't work. But if you know where to look and and how to make it work. It's a lot easier and, and it's one of those things that it's like, even with, even with MLS access down there. A lot of the agents don't put in the numbers that you need to see. So there's a lot of calling and texting and stuff to dig a lot of this stuff out to make sure that your clients are getting the best stuff. And I think that's what myself and my teammate do better than a lot of other agents is dig out those numbers and make our clients comfortable that they're getting some of the best returns that they can in one of the best markets.   Michael: That's awesome. So Dave talked to us a little bit about what some of these properties that we're talking about cost. And what are some of those cash on cash return numbers and metrics that you that you're seeing.   Dave: Rght. So yeah, when I got started, things were a lot cheaper, it was a lot easier. But the crazy thing is the numbers were slightly better when I got started. But they're still pretty righteous right now. So right now, it's very difficult to find, but I am finding some clients 60% cash on cash returns, I'm finding people between 40% and 50% cash on cash on a fairly regular basis. But yeah, there's, there's just some places that are under priced a little bit. And that's why you're looking just to see what it can do. And there's so many, one of the things I don't like about the Facebook forums, any Facebook forum for Airbnb, is the amount of people that say that nobody should ever take a course.   And I never took a course. And all these people said, are telling these brand new people don't take the course. And I added up what I didn't know and how much it costs me. And it's, it's like 40 or 50,000. Like if I'd taken the course I would have saved myself easily 40 or $50,000. And I'm like, You have no idea how much you can spend on a course and save money. So one of the things that we're seeing down there when we're finding these properties, right is there was somebody that was just bragging that they just filled their last two nights for 2021. And I just thought, boy, you're so underpriced. If you have your entire thing booked up every last day that that just tells me you're leaving a lot of money on the table.   So it's a combination of what you know, kind of what numbers they're generating, currently what their calendar looks like. You know, if they're completely full and they have pretty high gross while you know there's a lot of room, a lot of upside. There's just a bunch of different things like that, that we're using to find properties. And just the straight math is if you find some property compelling enough to pay $100,000 more for it. That's great. Down to roughly $500 a month in principal and interest payment that breaks down. So let's break it down to short term rental terms, you're going to rent it out list, it's going to be under 500. But we'll just call it 500. For the easy math, let's just say you're going to rent it out 20 days a month, now, in the summer, there's no you're renting it out 20 days a month, you're renting it out a lot more than that. But let's just say 20 just to make the math very conservative.   If you rent it out 20 days a month. That means whatever you paid $100,000 more for. If you can charge $25 a day, $25 a day more. For that additional amenity you're breaking even. And if you can charge $26 a day more, you're making money. And guess what have you cost in the Smoky Mountains? About $100,000? Can you rent a cabin for more than $25? A day more? If you get a view? Heck yes. Can you rent to you know, can you rent a five bedroom instead of a three bedroom for $25? More day? Heck, yes.   Yeah, there's so many of these things. So bottom line is if you look, if you want to do just straight math, and let the math guide you to what you need to buy to have the best cash on cash, you're starting to get into more expensive properties. And you know, that basically, kind of up to any price works several million is is fine. If you have the financial ability to do that, things start to make sense, things make a ton of sense. And like 750 $800,000 range, you're still making money in just about any range, you know, 300, 400,000, but you're not making as much and you don't have as much cushion.   So there's a lot of people that are like I want to start small, and I want to and I'm like you, I will be happy to help you find and buy anything you want. But let me explain to you why starting small, in my opinion is more dangerous than starting with something that's making 5-6- 7, 000 a month, right? Because guess what, you can lose 567 1000 a month and you're still breaking even versus you know, if you're making 1000 1500 a month when something goes wrong, you're now making nothing and you may be coming out of pocket. I never want to come out of pocket.   Michael:: This is mind blowing day. This is such good stuff.   Dave: Yeah, cool. So glad you like it.   Michael: As as we wrap up here and let you get out of here. What's a final takeaway that first time short term investors to be thinking about that they want to get into short term rental game? What are some of the hardest lessons that you've learned that you can help people to hear from?   Dave: One of the things I see people do is I want to stay so if there was a post I saw that said I visit Detroit on a regular basis, I want to stay in Detroit. I think I'm going to get a short term rental in Detroit. I say I will pay cash for wherever I want to stay. And if I want to stay in Detroit, I'll pay cash that I've earned in the Smokies are one of the top markets. I'm I'm very big into what's the least I like to earn money. But what I really like to do is earn money with less effort. So if I can have five or 10 places in Detroit, that earned me the same money as one place in the Smokies. I'm going with the Smokies all the time, or the panhandle of Florida or, you know, right now some of the other really hot ones Joshua Tree, Broken Bow. Some other places like that northeast corner of Pennsylvania.   There's a bunch of other markets, but I want I don't want to have I see a lot of guys do like a 40 or 50 person, kind of, or 40 or 50 property, you know, rental arbitrage grinding these things out. And that's just not me. I would say try to get the one that has the best cash flow and go from there.   Michael: Path of least resistance.   Dave: People trust me and people tell me things that they probably wouldn't tell other people. But if you knew, and you would never get any of these people on your podcast if you knew how much money that I know that friends have burned through attempting to do short term rentals poorly like 50,000 a year 75,000 a year just I thought I'd try this house. I thought people would really like it. And they didn't it's like go with the proven method, click the stuff that's working. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. You know, go to where there's 1000s of other people that have already done it.   That's the big mistake that I see people do that cost them lots of money and lots of time in the end and I don't know and just here's my other just general real estate investing advice. There's a friend there, I have a friend of mine who's very sharp. And he's basically he's put together a portfolio. He's mid 20s. And he's put together a portfolio that now basically makes him financially independent, he makes more money from his real estate portfolio than he does from his day job.   And it's like, just ask guys like that, or ask me or ask y'all like, I have this idea. What do you think? And you know, he's very happy to help people. I'm very happy to help people. I'm like, yeah, I'll jump on a call for five minutes. Tell me that you want to invest in, you know, I don't know, some, you know, I'll either tell you how to figure out whether it's a good idea, or I'll tell you why it's a horrible idea just to begin with, you know, avoid places with regulation, avoid places that you might lose money, avoid anything that you can make a couple $100 on, like, why are you doing that? Make 1000s? Like, think big. Like, it's not that much harder to do. It's actually easier. So I guess that would be the other. The other thing I would steer new investors too.   Michael: That's so so good day. Well, it kind of in that vein, how can people reach out to you to get a hold of you if they want to either invest with you in the Smokies or just want to bounce some ideas off of you.   Dave: I'm on Facebook. So Dave, homie, AK on Facebook is a way to reach me, you can message me click on me, whatever. I have a website, SmokyMountaincabinrealty.com and smokey is SMOKY. And if somebody wants to sign up, I have some introductory investment, zoom classes like a 60 minute thing. And I kind of explained what I think is important when finding an investment. I obviously say that the Smokies are a pretty good place to invest because I believe that so those would be the two the two main places to get in touch with me there's SmokyMountainCabinRealty.com, or DaveHomyak.com.   Michael: Alright, Dave, this has been great. One final question that I want to ask you. Because it seems like you are so hyper focused on one particular market. Do you think it's make sense to diversify and invest across multiple different states? What are your thoughts there?   Dave: Excellent question. I am hyper focused on the Smokies because I know those returns are incredible. I'm not necessarily saying somebody should invest in the Smokies only or the panhandle of Florida. I'm saying follow the numbers. I really have an issue with people that have multiple properties in multiple cities. And they're not doing a comparison of how much you know how much money they're earning, and how much time they're putting in. And there are properties that they have that are doing better and there are properties they have that are underperforming and It baffles me why somebody would want to waste their time on an underperforming property instead of cut that one loose and upgrade so I just wish more people would run the numbers.   Michael: This has been so great thank you again for taking the time to hang out with me and I know we'll be chatting soon because we're fellow smokey guys now   Dave: Yeah awesome really appreciate you having me on.   Michael: Take care talk soon.   Alrighty everybody that was our episode a big thank you to Dave super super cool story and I'm just total fanboy because as I mentioned the episode I also recently invested in a smoky so I'm very excited to hear that the outlook is positive. As always, if you liked the episode, leave us a rating or review wherever it is this your podcast and we look forward to seeing the next one. Happy investing

In this episode we're learning about an industry that's known for having the highest standards when it comes to customer service: hospitality. First, host Kristen Meinzer talks to Will Jones, General Manager of The Swag Resort, a boutique luxury resort that sits right along The Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Will shares hospitality practices and philosophies that can help businesses deliver memorable experiences by prioritizing authenticity and improving employees' experiences. Later, you'll hear from Xio Sandoval, a leading realtor and top CENTURY 21 agent in Southern California who has an inspiring passion for strengthening community connections. Guests: Will Jones: General Manager, The Swag Xio Sandoval: CENTURY 21 Realty Masters Agent in Montebello, CA

Is the weather starting to change where you live? Autumn has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere and this week Kim and Tamara talk about where they have visited recently for fall travel and some other fall favorites. Full Episode Transcript [00:00:00.000] - Kim Tate It's time to fall into fall travel.   [00:00:14.670] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.   [00:00:29.180] - Tamara Gruber So Kim, by the time this comes out, it's going to be less than a month from Halloween. Do your girls still do stuff for Halloween, or do they dress up or do they go on any haunted hay rides or any of those kind of things they have done?   [00:00:42.560] - Kim Tate We have haunted corn mazes and stuff down here, and they normally get together with friends. And there's some kind of youth event that happens at some of the local farms and pumpkin patches and stuff. And we've been known to go to the pumpkin patches and do some of the kiddish activities. But with Mia being 14 now, she's kind of at the cusp of that, and she's got a sweet heart, so she still likes it. But she's not quite into all the activities as much anymore.   [00:01:10.100] - Tamara Gruber No more trick or treating?   [00:01:11.930] - Kim Tate She actually mentioned because they didn't go last year, and she said, I think I'm going to go this year. It'll be with her best friend. She's like, it'll be our last year, and we're going to go for it. And I said, go do it. That's awesome.   [00:01:23.240] - Tamara Gruber So yeah, I'm waiting to see what Hannah will do. I know her friends have really been trying to convince her to do some kind of haunted house hayride kind of thing. To me, the whole idea of a haunted corn maze sounds absolutely terrifying. Something could just jump out of you. I don't like jump scares either. As a teen, I did do a haunted hayride, but at least then you know, the direction they're coming from. They only come outside, and I can kind of sit in the middle in a little safer, but right down the street for me, they have some kind of I don't even know I've never gone, but it's this whole horror thing in one of the parks that you kind of walk through.   [00:02:00.240] - Tamara Gruber So it's a little bit more of a walk through type of thing, but they've not convinced her. So I don't know about trick or treating, though, because last year obviously no trick or treating. The year before she was going to go with one friend, but then it ended up raining. So I think they decided just to stay home and hand out candy instead. I'm not sure if there'll be one last or she'll just stay home, and we usually try to do Apple picking or some kind of visit to a farm this year.   [00:02:27.240] - Tamara Gruber I've already gone and picked up Apple cider Donuts for her. I think she's just so busy she can't really see about it this year. I'm trying to still give all the fall treats. Here's some Apple cider and Apple cider Donuts. And I made pumpkin pie dip when we had some people over recently in our backyard. And so as she's getting the fall stuff without the scary stuff, that's cool.   [00:02:52.230] - Kim Tate I grew up in Kansas City, and when I was a teenager, there's this area. And I can't even think because I know it's something like all the Kansas City listeners are going to be laughing that I can't think of this. I want to say it's something like the flats or the bottoms, or I can't remember. But there's this area in Kansas City, and it's like, known for having some of the creepiest most amazing haunted houses. And because it's this old warehouse district, right. And they would dress them all up and everything.   [00:03:19.730] - Kim Tate And that was the thing that we always did as teens. And I'm kind of glad that my girls haven't gotten into that. I do know there's one up north, that's kind of a haunted house type thing in a warehouse. But other than the corn maze, there's not as much around here, but I remember as a kid those things that freak me out so mad.   [00:03:38.260] - Tamara Gruber I'm starting to wonder if it like, haunted or not haunted, but it's just general, like, really creepy lawn decorations are like the new holiday lights. You know, how people know, there's the houses that do a really good holiday lights, and they drive around and look at them. The other day, I was driving and a home from practice, and there's a house that is absolutely terrifying. I don't know what's wrong with the people that live there, but there's basically a 15 foot skeleton. Then there's a whole line of super creepy zombie dudes.   [00:04:09.280] - Tamara Gruber And then out of the corner of my eye, I see it's got to be like, ten foot tall pig with a giant knife and an apron on. And I'm like, Where do you even find this bizarre stuff? I really need to go buy the house and take a picture of it. But I'm scared that if I do, I don't know somebody who's a little disturbed in there.   [00:04:31.390] - Kim Tate Yeah, I think I saw something a while back that spending for spending for decorations and all that stuff on Halloween is second only to Christmas.   [00:04:42.320] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's so easy. And I were talking about all the houses that we used to never be able to go to when she was little. There was the house with the giant Spider. No, we had to skip that one. There was the one that had the little smoke tunnel you went through. We had to skip that one because she was scared of everything when she was little. So we were laughing about that. But not everything has changed because, yeah, I know, literally, we couldn't even go down certain aisles and target because if something started to move and make noise, she'd have a little breakdown.   [00:05:10.370] - Tamara Gruber Oh, man, she's not the haunted house type. That's for sure.   [00:05:14.760] - Kim Tate Yeah.   [00:05:15.470] - Tamara Gruber Well, there's lots of other fun things to do, though. You just went and did some haunted kind of stuff. I know I saw your picture when you're in Disneyland, and I'm like, Whoa, that looks kind of crazy for Disneyland. But tell me what you did when you were just down in California.   [00:05:29.370] - Kim Tate Yeah. So for those of you who know Disneyland, they actually do a lot of seasonal parties. And starting in September, they do a Halloween time at Disneyland Resort, and they go out. They kind of decorate the parks with beautiful Orange swags, and they have some hand carved pumpkins decorating Main Street. And then they do a few other things this year, they have quite a cool area back in one of the regions for Coco and Dia des Muertes. And then some celebrations around that as well. And then the bigger thing that you saw my picture of was they have parties called Oogie Boogie Bash, and it's kind of crazy how expensive it can be, especially for a family, because they sell these bash party tickets in addition to your park ticket.   [00:06:19.400] - Kim Tate But you don't have to have a park ticket for this party, which is kind of nice. So you can theoretically go to the parks with normal park ticket and then buy one of these. And you can get in 3 hours before your park before the party starts. You can get in at 03:00 p.m. When the party starts at six. And so some people choose to do that, but they are sold out. So if anyone's hearing this, you need to be looking ahead to 2022 if you're thinking of doing kind of a Disneyland and fall.   [00:06:45.290] - Kim Tate But you can still go to Disneyland and celebrate stuff during the Halloween time celebrations. They do a ride overlay for Haunted Mansion, which is called Haunted Mansion Holiday. And it's got Jack Skellington, and he kind of takes over the ride. And sorry for Disney people. I should say the attraction. But anyways, so he takes that over and that lasts all for Christmas because it's kind of like him like that spooky mixed with Christmas season. So it's kind of fun thing. And then they also do cars Land also gets a big makeover and becomes radiator screams, which is kind of funny. And they do a lot of fun, like car part themed, like spiders made out of engines. And, you know, Crow bar stuff. And then they've got these fun cones and tire eyes. And each of the two rides that are not the main radio racers. Each of the two rides get a makeover with fun music and theming around Halloween. So they do that. And then the last one is Guardians of the Galaxy, which used to be Tower of Terror.   [00:07:45.380] - Kim Tate It gets a makeover at night. So kind of later afternoon evenings, it becomes Guardians of the Galaxy, Monsters after dark. And so the theming of the ride, like the story that you see on the screens and the music changes, and it can be pretty intense and scary, I think, for some people. So anyway, that's kind of the thing at Disneyland, but the OG Boogie bash party is something different. And that's what I showed your picture of. Yeah.   [00:08:10.200] - Tamara Gruber Well, I mean, Tower of Terror or Guardians of the Galaxy. The attraction itself is scary to me with that one.   [00:08:18.930] - Kim Tate I know. I see that one I can't handle. My stomach can't handle it.   [00:08:23.210] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So how long do they keep that theming before they switch over to Christmas stuff?   [00:08:28.900] - Kim Tate so this actually is ending October 31 for the season. Sometimes it goes to the first day or two of November. I think it depends on how the week falls, but there's a chance you'll see some stuff. Still, if you're there on November 1 as they take it down. But they're pretty good about getting those holiday things up. And then right back down and then the Halloween decorations will be gone. And then you'll have until about the second week of November. I think this year it's November 12 is when the holiday overlay starts happening and kind of comes alive.   [00:09:02.960] - Kim Tate And then they'll have some festival, the holidays, events that celebrate not just Christmas. So they tried to bring in like Hannukkah and Kwanza and Three Kings Day, so they're trying to make it a little more open to everyone. And then they also just launched this brand new party thing. It's just kind of like the Oogie Boogie bash party called Merriest Nights, which is a ticketed event. There's still a couple of tickets for two days open for that one. So if you did want to do holidays in Disneyland, you could look into that.   [00:09:31.820] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.   [00:09:32.510] - Kim Tate So there's a little about ten to 14 days that you get the parks without anything. And then it goes from Halloween time to Christmas time. Or I guess I should say holiday time, out of time, festive season, winter festivities. Yeah.   [00:09:50.540] - Tamara Gruber And they do some similar things, but different at Walt Disney World, right?   [00:09:54.870] - Kim Tate Yeah. So the big news with Walt Disney World right now, they are doing like a boo bash thing. That's an after hour ticketed event. I haven't heard as much about it. I don't know how big of a hit it was. And then they normally do some kind of Christmas thing. They've announced a few things down there. But the big news for Disney World right now is that October 1 is the start of their 50th anniversary celebration, and they've kind of gone all in on decor and merchandise and special things around that.   [00:10:23.730] - Kim Tate So if you are headed to Florida and Walt Disney World this fall and winter, you'll be kind of looking at that 50th anniversary. Definitely. Check out the two Halloween and winter holiday activities that they have and parties.   [00:10:39.310] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. It's good to know, too, that you need to plan in advance for some of these, or at least you might get lucky with some tickets, but it makes sense to try to think ahead.   [00:10:48.730] - Kim Tate Yeah, especially since you have to make reservations for all the park. Still. So you still have to be making you buy your tickets and make your park day reservations and stuff. And park hopping is very limited. So you pick the park, you're going to start it, and then you can't go to another park until 01:00 p.m.. I'm not quite sure on the timing at Walt Disney World.   [00:11:08.590] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's even more complicated.   [00:11:11.280] - Kim Tate More exactly, even more planning than it already has been. But, yeah, that's just a little bit of fall holidays. But what about in your neck of the Woods, about fall seasonal stuff? What kind of things are you for? Travel wise? What do you know about what do you hear about?   [00:11:30.200] - Tamara Gruber Well, we're kind of in that time where everybody wants to go all type of fall here in New England, but I just got back from a trip to the Finger Lakes in New York, and that's definitely a great destination. We were there for the grape harvest. You know, it always varies a little bit on timing when that's going to be, but definitely a fun time. And we have a beautiful weekend. It was low 70s or high 60s, but sunny, and it was just such a perfect we I went with two of my College friends, and we had a blast because I've talked about the Finger Lakes before.   [00:12:06.840] - Tamara Gruber This time I stayed in Ithaca. I was actually hosted at Hotel Ithaca in downtown Ithaca, which is home to Cornell and Ithaca College. It has that College town vibe. In the past, I've stayed at on a different Lake. I've stayed Ithaca right near Cayuga Lake, and in the past I've stayed at Watkins Glen, which is on Seneca Lake. And then one time, I took Hannah to the Finger Lakes, and we stayed in Hammondsport or Corning, which is on Keuka Lake. So there's actually eleven Lakes in the Finger Lakes region, and there's over 100 wineries.   [00:12:39.510] - Tamara Gruber And there's also a ton of craft breweries. There's distilleries, there's tons of cideries, there's tons of farms. So we did a really nice mix of, like, some wine tasting. And we also went to a cider place. But we also did agritourism types of things because it's beautiful up there. It's kind of like a little bit hilly between the Lakes. So there's so many farms or wineries where you're looking down a gentle slope to the Lake in the distance. It just gives such a pretty backdrop. And the leaves there are just starting to change.   [00:13:12.610] - Tamara Gruber So I think in the next couple of weeks, it's going to be really nice. We started with a boat tour with Discover Cayuga Lake, and that was like a little sunset cruise. They do a whole bunch of different Eco cruises. And then the next day, we went to their farmers market in Ithaca, which is like amazing tons of food and beautiful produce. Wineries, cideries, honey, there's local apiaries, so many nice things. We picked up some breakfast there and sat at a picnic table by the Lake and just enjoyed that.   [00:13:45.400] - Tamara Gruber And then we did a couple of tastings at wineries like a pairing with everyone had a charcuterie board, too. And it was just like a really nicely paced, like, really good, relaxing, enjoyable pairing. And then we did a blind tasting somewhere, which is a lot of fun. And then we visited a goat farm. And then yesterday we went to an alpaca farm. I don't know if you got a chance to see my Instagram stories on that, but they're so cute.   [00:14:13.240] - Kim Tate Sweet. Did you buy some alpaca socks or Wolf?   [00:14:17.760] - Tamara Gruber I bought plenty. I had held back at the farmers market and all these other places, but then I was like, okay, I'm supporting the economy right here, which is nice because it's a family on farm. We had signed up to do a farm tour and to take the alpacas for a walk. And I can just say from a wellness perspective, getting to see and interact with really cute, adorable animals is just really nice. It gives such a good feeling, right? Yeah. But yes, I bought a hat, which maybe I'll bring with me to Portugal.   [00:14:51.940] - Tamara Gruber Maybe you'll get to see it. I bought a little scarf. I bought this adorable little fluff ball thing that looks like an alpaca for Hannah, because that was the one thing I always say these days. She's not very jealous of when I go away and do things like she still enjoys when we get to do things together. But she's so busy and stuff going on with her own life that she's not like, oh, I wish I could come with the one. I told her I was going to an Alpaca farm.   [00:15:16.990] - Tamara Gruber She's like, Can you send me pictures?   [00:15:20.020] - Kim Tate Well, I'm jealous. Definitely. I can't wait to see your hat. I hope you do bring it because is it like a felted wool hat?   [00:15:26.650] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's kind of. I don't know what kind of like a news boy hat.   [00:15:31.760] - Kim Tate Oh, yes. I don't know what that's called. The sweeper.   [00:15:37.760] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.   [00:15:38.430] - Kim Tate Yeah.   [00:15:39.450] - Tamara Gruber I'm not a fashion person, as you know, I'm not a fashion person.   [00:15:42.030] - Kim Tate But I know I should know what that's called, but I can't think of it right now. Okay, cool.   [00:15:46.230] - Tamara Gruber So that's definitely one great destination. And I can see just from the traffic on my website. Like, what the other popular things to do are. I think even back to last year, last year, we did some family glamping, and I did some glamping on my own, and I think that that's a really nice time to do it before it gets too cold. The nights are crisp and the days are nice. You're not, like sweating in the tent. It's kind of perfect camping or glamping.   [00:16:15.590] - Kim Tate Kind of want the fires at night and stuff.   [00:16:18.550] - Tamara Gruber Exactly. So I think that's a really fun thing to do now. And there's so many places to do that now. I have a whole post on my website about places to go glamping in New England and new ones keep cropping up, which is great. But I know Vermont and New Hampshire are super popular. I think some people come a little bit too late, so just keep track of every state puts out a fall foliage kind of tracker. I have a blog post on my website about following road trips in New England, and I have links to each of those state trackers, so you can see when they expect it to be peak and stuff like that.   [00:16:56.060] - Tamara Gruber But basically the further north you go, the early it's going to be. So things are starting to really pop right now in New Hampshire, in Vermont and Maine, and that's going to continue to kind of work its way south. So one of the things that we like to do is in New Hampshire, there's a scenic drive called the Kancamagus Highway, and I have a post about all the scenic spots to stop along there.   [00:17:23.560] Nice.   [00:17:24.040] - Tamara Gruber And that is now kind of doing really well on the website. And I have a post about New York road trips to take in the fall and Vermont. I know I've been getting a lot of messages from people like, what should I do in Vermont? All of how many people are open to and yeah, exactly. The thing to think about, though, is that it's total leaf peeping season, and it is hard to find hotels on certain weekends, especially the three day weekend in October can be really tough.   [00:17:55.110] - Tamara Gruber So you might need to, you know, try to search early. It's a little bit late for that, but try to look for maybe Airbnb or VRBO or the Glamping and things like that to try to find some alternatives cool or just plan for 220 and 22. What about by you? Do you have other I mean, I'm sure between, like, Apple season and wine harvest, you must have so many great places to go for fall by you as well.   [00:18:19.280] - Kim Tate I was going to say I think Washington State is definitely a big gem for October trips or fall seasonal trips, especially people think about New England, but if you look, it's latitude, right? Not longitude. Yeah. Latitudes. We're kind of similar. And even though we are like the evergreen state, there's a lot of aspens and poplars and Maple trees out here, and we get some beautiful fall colors mixed in with the green trees. So I definitely think that in Washington State, October is also just a really nice temperature.   [00:18:53.680] - Kim Tate If you want to do hiking or drives, you definitely do have to prepare for dreary weather. I'll call it because it's not necessarily always rainy. But dreary is definitely the right word. And fall is when we do get most of our wind storms. We don't have, like, thunderstorms like I grew up with in the Midwest. But we have these massive wind storms, and that normally is in the fall when that can be a problem. So that is something to keep in mind. But otherwise, it's just so nice here.   [00:19:24.150] - Kim Tate The temperatures are so mild, and it's like you said, with glamping and things. It's cool in the evenings, but can kind of get a little warm in the in the daytime, but not too much. It depends how much of the cloud cover Burns off. But I think kind of like with the Finger Lakes. The big thing out here is the fact that it's harvest season. And there are a lot of fall festivals and wine crushing events. And I know that Chelan, which is a very popular vacation destination for Seattle people.   [00:19:52.630] - Kim Tate It's kind of a Lake community destination out here. And they have a massive fall festival that lasts from October through Thanksgiving. And so you can find stuff happening all the time there with different vendors and activities and things like that. And they have, like, an evening. They have family events during the day, and then they have these evening haunted things as well. So it's kind of a big destination. So if you're in Washington state, Chelan is kind of a big thing. And then, of course, some people may have heard of the little town of Leavenworth, which is a Bavarian village out here in Washington.   [00:20:26.820] - Kim Tate It's about, I'd say, about 2 hours from Seattle, probably it depends what traffic's like. And when you're going. And it is known for first, it's October Fest because of the fact that it's a Bavarian town. So it's very German inspired. And they do a big October festival. But then they also do a big holiday lights festival and that's very popular local. So those are kind of the main things I'm thinking about here, of course, like you said, with apples, there's a lot of cider events happening.   [00:20:56.800] - Kim Tate So if you like to drink cider, Washington State is a great place for that as well. And I think Oregon is pretty big in breweries and cideries and stuff as well. And of course, they have their whole Willamette Valley for wine. So they're pretty big as well in the fall embibing travel. Maybe that should be a term. But yeah. So those are kind of the big things that I can think of. I've heard also that I am not a fan of mushrooms, but supposedly Washington has a big mushroom festival as well.   [00:21:28.850] - Kim Tate I guess October is a good mushroom season. So if you know.   [00:21:32.620] - Tamara Gruber A and the Finger Lakes, there is a mushroom spirits distillery. Okay. I don't know much about distilleries. You know, obviously, they're they're made from many different things from vodkas.   [00:21:43.720] - Kim Tate Potatoes, but you never know exactly like.   [00:21:46.770] - Tamara Gruber I don't know what that would be like.   [00:21:49.050] - Kim Tate No idea.   [00:21:49.570] - Tamara Gruber I also saw that they were having an Apple Fest in Ithaca, like next weekend. Definitely. The Apple Fest is huge. Yeah.   [00:21:58.330] - Kim Tate We also have Washington state and even in Oregon and stuff. It's really, really big. I know you have this on the East Coast too, but pumpkin patches and corn mazes. It's just huge. Like I mentioned with when I was talking about what the kids do with the haunted corn maze and all that stuff. It's insane. In our little area. We have probably seven pumpkin patches and corn maze and stuff we could choose to go to. So, I mean, some are definitely bigger than others, but it's a huge thing out here in Washington are the at least at Western Washington is the pumpkin patches and all that stuff.   [00:22:31.820] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's definitely big here, too. We have were small state, but we have quite a few in Rhode Island, and then in Massachusetts, there's some super massive ones. I remember taking Hannah to one in Rhode Island, one where the parents didn't go in. We kind of stood outside and chatted, and then we're like, it's been a really long time. Are they ever going to make their way out? But that wasn't haunted. It was just during the day, regular regular comes. But yeah, there's so many fun things to do.   [00:23:01.620] - Tamara Gruber It's outside and a lot of the farms by us. They'll bring in food trucks and live music and sometimes like, little kiddie rides. You definitely do the wagon rides into the pumpkin patch.   [00:23:14.380] - Kim Tate Hay rides, and there's normally some animal.   [00:23:18.700] - Tamara Gruber Some cows, petting Zoo kind of thing. And then there's all kinds of great baked goods. And I love this time of year. I will still always love summer more, and I try to really get out and appreciate fall when I can, because it's just so short for us. September through mid to late. October is beautiful. You still see blue skies. The weather is great. This year has been fantastic, but by November it's Brown and Gray, so it's over. It's done. So I try to take it in as much as I can.   [00:23:57.470] - Tamara Gruber Now, even I'm sitting here looking at my window, like, Why didn't I go for a walk out?   [00:24:02.190] - Kim Tate You can still go.   [00:24:03.970] - Tamara Gruber I know. I have to get work.   [00:24:06.440] - Kim Tate I can still go. I'm with you. I definitely prefer summer. And being in Seattle, we don't have that nice blue sky. Fall day in Seattle is celebrated as if it's the best thing in the world because it's when the cloud cover definitely moves in. So that is one kind of bummer, but we definitely keep our green. I mean, I love the fact that we have green trees all year round, so there's a payoff to it.   [00:24:35.080] - Tamara Gruber Well, I think for people that are looking for some fall color and stuff a little bit later in the season because I've had people reach out to me like, we're coming to Boston in November and where can we see the best? I'm like over one, but you think about a Great Smoky Mountain National Park and so many parts of Tennessee, North Carolina, the Northern Georgia mountains that gets it in Yosemite and stuff as well. That too.   [00:25:02.710] - Kim Tate It's absolutely gorgeous in the fall.   [00:25:04.880] - Tamara Gruber And I know you mentioned Aspens. I definitely see, like in Colorado, they are really popping right now.   [00:25:09.560] - Kim Tate Like, Vail is gorgeous right now.   [00:25:11.510] - Tamara Gruber Not everything is on our time schedule since we're up here further to the north.   [00:25:18.480] - Kim Tate Well, and then we headed in November will be heading down to Arizona. And so for those people who are looking to start escaping that dreary winter, moving in the south, especially Arizona in the fall can be amazing. I'm looking forward to spending a few hours by the pool with you.   [00:25:38.460] - Tamara Gruber I'm kind of hoping that this year we can go back to previous years where I can escape my drink Gray dreary winter with some Sunshine if you the winter. So, knock wood, because Arizona. And then we're supposed to, as I mentioned, go to Aruba, and then we'll see how it all goes. But I really look forward to those little bits of Sunshine in the middle of the cold is that we have well.   [00:26:05.800] - Kim Tate And for those people that are looking for that are into cruising. I know Thanksgiving cruises are very popular. I do feel like they're doing limited capacity on ships because it seems like prices are not really moving on cruises. You're not going to be getting a steal of a deal. And I think getting to choose your cabin, it's going to be limited as well. But I don't know how long that's going to be kept up, but cruising is always kind of a fun fall getaway because you normally head somewhere warm.   [00:26:34.980] - Kim Tate I know the fall is really popular for a lot of Seattle people. They go down to Cabo and that area of Mexico in the fall.   [00:26:41.980] - Tamara Gruber So here's to a good fall. I feel like I need to go pour myself some Apple cider right now.   [00:26:47.830] - Kim Tate I'm jealous of the Apple cider Donuts. Do you know that I've never had Apple cider?   [00:26:51.550] - Tamara Gruber Donuts?   [00:26:51.940] - Kim Tate I don't think I ever have, and I would love them. They sound amazing. I've had pumpkin spice Donuts and I've had lots of fresh Apple cider, but Apple cider Donuts. I don't think I've ever had one.   [00:27:01.480] - Tamara Gruber See, now I'm going to see you soon, and I would happily bring you some Apple cider Donuts. But I will say there are nothing like getting a hot, fresh, fresh one cider donut. So can you just come visit me next fall? Yes, I will have to.   [00:27:16.960] - Kim Tate That's a plan. Let's make it happen. 2022 New England or Bust. Yeah.   [00:27:22.400] - Tamara Gruber New England. You should see New England in the fall for sure.   [00:27:26.030] - Kim Tate Yeah, definitely.   [00:27:26.990] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.   [00:27:27.530] - Kim Tate Well, you'll be my tour guide, so I think we can make that happen. It's always so busy. Like I just got back from a trip. And why is the fall always so busy with work?   [00:27:37.210] - Tamara Gruber Stuff. I know as excited as I am about Portugal. And I know that we're going to get a little taste of all there, too, because we're going to be there during their wine harvest. And we're going to get to in some of those wine events. And for those of you that are listening, pop over to Instagram and check out our Instagram accounts because we're going to be doing some really cool things, like hot air balloon and some very special wine events. And so staying at some really interesting, amazing hotels sounds like it's going to be awesome.   [00:28:09.740] - Kim Tate We're staying at some amazing places we are staying at. Now. This will give you guys a little idea, like work is work, and it's not always vacation. But we are staying at a new hotel almost every day. I think there's two times that we stay at a hotel two nights. Yeah. And we're there for 17 days. So just so you guys know, we are going to be sharing a lot. And we're not just in Lisbon, we're going to Porto and the sorts and Lisbon and and we're going to see a lot of the country.   [00:28:40.580] - Tamara Gruber And I think people are kind of used to seeing certain pictures from Lisbon in particular. And I no Porto is very popular as well. But we're going to get out into the countryside and show you and be able to help figure out what are the great itineraries to do. How can you organize it? So you're not visit our not a new hotel every night?   [00:29:01.640] - Kim Tate Yeah.   [00:29:02.180] - Tamara Gruber Exactly.   [00:29:02.740] - Kim Tate Well. And also knowing it to be a situation where it's like, what's worth? What are these gems that you're not realizing so that you're not just the standard tourists going to the Portugal is an amazing country. And so I'm so excited to get a feel for more of this country that I've already fallen in love with. And so I'm really excited about that and being able to share kind of the other because I think you and I have always said that there needs to be this balance with doing the standard touristy stuff.   [00:29:29.280] - Kim Tate It's a touristy thing for a reason. Most of the time it's worthwhile. And some you don't want to not see it. But you need to balance that with some more, not even off the beaten path, but more things that you wouldn't necessarily know about or think about. And that's why I'm so glad that we're working with the epic travel people because they're on the ground there, and they have all those little gems that they can help put us on that you and I I don't think we wouldn't necessarily have known to look for I'm really excited.   [00:29:56.480] - Tamara Gruber So of the regions we're on top of mind. Right. And then we're doing something like one of the big products in Portugal is cork. And so we're going to do a cork trekking hike. I can't wait where we're going to go and look and see how they would harvest it.   [00:30:16.380] - Tamara Gruber So there's so many interesting things, like digging deeper, traveling in a way that really gets to know the culture and totally up our alley. I'm super excited. So I know we were talking all about fall, and my whole point was as excited as I am about Portugal. I'm missing out on some of the best part of here in New England, but I'll take it. I agreed.   [00:30:39.170] - Kim Tate I mean, everything I'm looking at, it sounds like Portugal is going to be an amazing October destination. So if any of you are listening and thinking about October trips, definitely be following along Tamara again is @we3travel and I'm @stuffedsuitcase, and we will be sharing because from the research I'm doing, it seems seems like a great time to go.   [00:30:58.230] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Definitely follow along when we come back. Our next episode is going to be all about our Portugal trip. So hopefully you'll follow along and then you'll want to hear even more about it. So you'll tune in next time.   [00:31:13.160] - Kim Tate Well, thanks for joining us, as always, and we hope that you have some wonderful fall travels or local adventures planned ahead. Tchau.  

Campgrounds are a way of life in Western North Carolina - and have been long before the current camping craze which helped bring more than 12-million visitors to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park last year. BPR went to Laurel Bank Campground in Haywood County. Camping there is more than a weekend activity or a vacation. It's life - and family. Sherrie Lynn McArthur still remembers growing up at Laurel Bank Campground in Cruso. She is now 66 years old. "I was raised here, went to school on the school bus from the campground. People would say, 'you smell like a campfire.' And I look at them and say, 'I live in a campground.' And they never really understood that, but the camp has been here for a long time," said McArthur. McArthur's father Harold Crawford started building the campground in the late 1960s and put up the first official site in 1970. "This property that the campground is, [it] was a very old poor pasture for cattle, horses and hogs. He first built this swimming hole

From 1933 to 1942 thousands of men across Tennessee created some of our most treasured outdoor places like our Tennessee State Parks and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. These men were part of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal-era program to employ and train young men to complete projects in support of the environment and conservation. Across our state and country, the impact of this program can still be seen today. In this episode of River Talks, we talk with Matthew Gailani and Amanda McCrary Smith from the Tennessee State Museum. Matthew is a museum curator and Amanda is the curator of Textiles and Fashion. Together they share the history and impacts of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Tennessee and beyond. Finally, we will share how history may be repeating itself with the Civilian Climate Corps. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thecompact/message

In episode 33, we look at the strange disappearance of Thelma Pauline Melton in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in 1981.https://www.etsy.com/shop/EeriePodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/EeriePodcastEmail me: eerieapodcast@gmail.cominstagram @eeriepodcasthaddieSources:https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/pollymeltonhttps://www.nps.gov/orgs/1563/cold-cases.htmhttps://www.basictrendy.com/what-happened-to-polly-melton-unsolved-case/https://charleyproject.org/case/thelma-pauline-meltonhttps://sasquatchchronicles.com/the-disappearance-of-thelma-pauline-melton/

Recently returned from a long weekend in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We got in a little hiking, tailgate eating and tunnel driving. Come along as I recap the trip!Big things are happening with the podcast! #treadlightly #leavenotrace #overlandcurmudgeon #dumblifeSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/HighPointOverland)

Our destination is the Great Smoky Mountain National Park with author and expert backcountry fly fishing guide, Rob Fightmaster, Fightmaster Fly fishing, Townsend, Tennessee.  The Smokies are backcountry angler's dream with over 800 miles of trout streams with the higher elevations holding native Brook Trout and the lower elevations wild rainbows and browns.  With over 30 years of experience, Rob is a self-described “mountain guide” specializing in backcountry angling in and around the Park.  He was named One of the South's Best Fishing Guides” by Garden & Gun magazine, been featured USA Today, Southern Living, Forbes, and Fly Fish America. Currently, he's head instructor for Little River Outfitters Fly Fishing School.  Rob explains what the top anglers are doing to catch more trout and covers tips on elevation, chest packs, wading boots, and top flies, plus a hair-raising story of being stalked by a bear.     With Host, Steve Haigh About Rob Fightmaster: Top fly picks for the Smoky Mountains: @DestinationAnglerPodcast  (Facebook and Instagram) Book Rob: Fightmaster Flyfishing  https://fightmasterflyfishing.com/ Little River Outfitters  https://www.littleriveroutfitters.com/ Follow Rob:  Instagram:  @fightmasterfly Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Fightmaster-Fly-Fishing-119409374737699/ Twitter:  @FightmasterFly Richardson Chest Fly Box – Rob mentioned this:  http://www.chestflybox.com/ Our Sponsor: JP Ross Fly Rods & Company - Jordan's fly rod company specializing in small stream rods:   https://www.jprossflyrods.com/  Facebook @jprossandcompany   Instagram @jprossflyrods Destination Angler: The Destination Angler Website and Show Notes:   http://destinationangler.libsyn.com/ Get updates and pictures of destinations covered on each podcast: Instagram or Facebook: @DestinationAnglerPodcast    Join in the conversation with the @DestinationAnglerConnection group on Facebook: Comments & Suggestions:  host, Steve Haigh, email shaigh50@gmail.com Available on Apple, Spotify, or where ever you get your podcasts Recorded June 10, 2021.  Episode 42. Music on the show by A Brother's Fountain, “Hitch Hike-Man”.    Podcast edited by Podcast Volume  https://www.podcastvolume.com/

In 1969 six year old Dennis disappeared while playing hide and seek in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  On an annual camping trip with his father, grandfather, and older brother Dennis vanished without a trace in less than five minutes.  Did he succumb to the elements?  Was he kidnapped?  Could he have been attacked by a wild animal?  Listen and let us know your thoughts. For a list of our sources, please click here. Don't forget to like us, love us, share us, and review us on Apple podcasts and/or all other platforms of your choosing. Follow us on all the platforms below:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eerieabsurd/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eerie_absurd/and a barely used Twitter: https://twitter.com/eerie_absurd 

"Experience adventure through our eyes" Is how we open our YouTube adventure series, because hiking and outdoor adventure isn't common in the south Bronx. Neither is Backpacking but we did it... on today show we discuss our first time backpacking which we did in Great Smoky Mountain National Park(campsite 18), it was part of a week long road trip. One that took us through 5 states for this big event. Stopping at a halfway point, Shenandoah Valley, Va., to camp for the night. This is part one because we're still in Tennessee. Are you ready for this week's adventure? Jump in the backseat and take a ride with us. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/t-anthony-bland/support

Land snails???? Come on, how do they fit with Backyard Ecology? True, land snails aren't the most charismatic organism in our yards and communities, so it would be easy to just write them off and ignore them. Most of us probably do that on a regular basis. But, land snails are extremely important to our ecosystem and in some cases are critical to the survival of much more charismatic organisms. Not to mention, they can be pretty fascinating in their own right if we just give them a chance. On today's episode of Backyard Ecology, we talk with Dan and Judy Dourson. Dan is a wildlife biologist, author, illustrator, and educator. Judy is an educator, author, editor, and researcher. Dan and Judy have had really interesting careers that have taken them from the mountains of Kentucky to the jungles of Belize and places in between. However, much of their recent work has focused on land snails. Although they are often overlooked, land snails play vital roles in the ecosystem. They help to recycle nutrients. They move spores of fungi and other organisms to new locations. And they are an important food source for everything from firefly larvae to songbirds and raptors. In some cases, like that of Florida's snail kite, a species' entire diet is made up of a single species of land snail. If those land snails go extinct, then so would the other animal (in this case the snail kite) that depends on them. The eastern U.S. has the highest biodiversity of land snails in all of North America. If you happen to live in the Appalachian Mountain region, especially along the Tennessee / North Carolina border, then you are in an area that is especially rich in land snail biodiversity including many species that are found nowhere else in the world. However, no matter where you live in the eastern U.S., you likely have a dozen or more species of land snails in your yard. Some of those species will be native, while others (like the ones that eat our vegetable gardens) are likely exotic. I love the fact that land snails are something that we can all find in our yards and communities if we just take the time to look for them. And maybe that is the point – just taking the time to slow down, look, and appreciate all the little things that we so often take for granted. Encouraging land snails in your yard isn't hard either. Basically, all we have to do are the same things that we would do to encourage pollinators, songbirds, or other wildlife – no separate “land snail garden” required. My mind often focuses on the ecological importance of an organism, so I was surprised to learn that land snails are also being studied for their ability to address a number of medical issues. This has the potential to create another realm of valuable benefits that land snails can provide beyond their ecological benefits. There's just so much that we don't know and still have to learn about land snails and other organisms, especially the less charismatic ones. In the end, I think Judy had the absolute best quote of the day when she said, “You only protect what you learn to love and you can only love something if you know its name.” That is so true and is part of the reason why I include episodes like this which feature some of those undervalued species. I recognize that I don't know enough about land snails and I'm as guilty as the next person of overlooking their importance. So my goal through conversations like this, is to learn more and gain a greater appreciation for some of these less well-known organisms. I've definitely been inspired to start looking for and identifying some of the land snails in my area. I hope you have been too. Links: Dan and Judy's relevant books: Land Snails of West Virginia Land Snails of Belize, Central America: A Remarkable Chronicle of Diversity and Function * Land Snails of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and Southern Appalachians: Out-of-print, available as pdf upon request Dan and Judy's email: theroguebiologist@gmail.com Backyard Ecology's website My email: shannon@backyardecology.net Episode image Greenbrier tigersnail (Anguispira stihleri) Photo credit: Dan and Judy Dourson

Tuckaleechee Caverns is known as “The Greatest Site Under the Smokies.” And why not? It is the home of the tallest subterranean waterfall in America, at 210 feet. Ruby Falls, in nearby Chattanooga, claims to be the tallest, however, it is a mere 145 feet (wink, wink). On the plus side, visitors to Ruby Falls can actually see more of the waterfall there than you can at Tuckaleechee Caverns. Even so, Tuckaleechee Caverns is a wonderful attraction and well worth your time.The cavern is not about the waterfall, it is about the whole cave experience. Some of the interesting things you will see are massive stalactites, stalagmites, a “bear” rock formation, a wishing pool, and a fresh water stream flowing through the caverns with water clean enough to drink. At one end of the cave is a room large enough to hold a football field at 400′ x 300′ and 150′ deep. You can enjoy exploring Tuckaleechee Caverns with your entire family.A gift shop at the entrance is full of fun stuff you will want to take home. The t-shirts and ball caps are some of our favorites.Marc and Ann also visited The Chocolate B'ar, a great little shop selling homemade chocolates, coffee, and soft drinks in Townsend. It is a great spot to relax, eat some chocolate, have a drink, and sit by a warm fire. Tell Kevin we said, “Hi!”My Smoky Mountain GuideTuckaleechee CavernsThe Chocolate B'arTownsend, TN

This week we meet up with Fisheries Creel Clerk, Paul Shaw, to learn about the synchronous firefly and the snappy sync. Paul’s fascination with these critters came about when he visited Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. His interest grew and he started researching other areas to see fireflies and learn more about them. We will also get a visit from Gerry Middleton, a retired TDEC consultant and biologist. Gerry will “fly” in unexpectedly and give an interesting demonstration of the mysterious firefly. You don’t want to miss it! All this and so much more right here on Tennessee WildCast. #tnwildlife #itswhatwedo www.tnwildlife.org

This week, acclaimed North Carolina traditional Oldtime husband and wife duo Frank & Allie Lee recorded live at Ozark Folk Center State Park. Also, interviews with this talented twosome. “Since starting to perform rural Southern music together in 2016, the feedback we have heard most often from folks across the country is that watching our show makes them happy. We feel happy when we sing in harmony and share our music. Passing on that joy to our listeners is why we perform. When we drive home from a gig, we reflect on the happy faces in the crowd. If we made you happy, then we feel that the show was worthwhile. Living in beautiful Bryson City, North Carolina near the Great Smoky Mountain National Park with our daughter and rescued kitties, we are known for singing old songs, playing the banjo, building community through teaching music, and making screen-printed t-shirts.” - https://www.frankandallie.com/promo-material In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, musician, educator, and country music legacy Mark Jones offers a 1976 archival recording of Ozark original Almeda Riddle performing the traditional English ballad “The House Carpenter,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives. In his segment “Back in the Hills,” writer, professor, and historian Dr. Brooks Blevins investigates historic outlaws of the Ozarks. Many famous outlaws including Bonnie & Clyde and Pretty Boy Floyd have hidden out in the Ozarks. Brooks guides us through this cult of criminality, recounting details of the infamous Battle of Springfield Massacre in part four of this series called “Public Enemy.”

The Tuck Fly Shop Crew sits down with legendary River and Fly Fishing Guide Ken Kastorff to discuss Nantahala River Fishing. Listen in to hear how the events of 2019 impacted fishing and rafting in the Nantahala River. Ken shares a unique perspective on how the events that happened in 2019 may have been blown out of proportion on social media outlets, news print, and local TV News. The Tuck Fly Shop Crew sneaks in a local fishing report and Ken reveals his favorite bourbon.After listening to Ken you will be ready to hit the Nantahala River in the near future to chase some awesome trout. Ken is the Owner/Operator of Endless River Adventures and you can reach Ken at 1-828-488-6199 and check out the website at https://www.endlessriveradventures.com for more information.You can reach the guys at Tuckaseegee Fly Shop by phone at 1-828-488-3333 or email at info@tuckflyshop.com. Be sure to check the website at https://www.tuckflyshop.com. Feel free to email the Tuck Fly Shop Crew:bobby@tuckflyshop.comdale@tuckflyshop.comjack@tuckflyshop.comshannon@tuckflyshop.com

The Tuck Crew Discuss their Top 10 Items that may be "useless but very useful" from some of the top manufactures in the fly fishing industry. There also may be a mention of the famous squirmy wormy, so tune in to hear that.

Bobby Bennett, co-owner of Tuckaseegee Fly Shop talks about the trials, tribulations, and joys of being a fly shop owner in today's marketplace. Listen as Bobby describes his journey that lead him to his current status of owning two shops while maintaining his sanity.

Kathie Odom lives in Knoxville, Tennessee – not far from the beautiful Great Smoky Mountain National Park. I first met Kathie and her husband Buddy almost two years ago at the Plein Air Painters of America workshop hosted by the Booth Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. She is an exuberant painter and enthusiastic student. Her paintings are filled with light and texture that capture the nostalgia and beauty of homes, buildings, farms, and landscapes scattered along smaller, less-traveled roads bypassed and unnoticed by hurried motorists barreling down crowded interstates. Her artistic vision helps us slow down and take note of the beauty of wherever she finds it. It's the landscape near her home that captures her heart. Scenes close to home are what she yearns to paint. Kathie’s development as a fine art painter was remarkably fast. She’s only been painting since 2009 – when at the age of 50 – she took her first painting workshop that was a gift from her husband. Ten years later, she was featured on the cover of the January 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine and has been published in several other journals. She is a member of the Salmagundi Club, the American Impressionist Society, the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast, the Arts and Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville, and Oil Painters of America. You are in for a treat in this fantastic conversation with Kathie Odom in this episode of the Artful Painter. Links for Kathie Odom: Web: https://kathieodom.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathieoart/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathieoart/ About the Artful Painter: Subscribe to my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIo1YmQXnMm21b-Slkr69Tg Send me an email: https://carlolson.tv/contact My Artful Painter Sketchbooks: https://carlolson.tv/artful-painter-sketchbooks Artful Painter website: https://theartfulpainter.com Carl Olson on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artful.creative/  

Our final Great Smoky Mountain National Park case investigates the disappearance of Dennis Lloyd Martin, a 7 year old boy.

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park has a budget of only $19 million dollars. Since 1993, Friends of the Smokies has raised more than $64 million to fund priority projects in the park...and they need your help. President, Jim Hart and CEO, Tim Chandler joined Hallerin to discuss their needs and their 25th annual telethon.

Join Haley and Austin discussing two more disappearances in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Mark Hanson and Geoffrey Burns Hague.

Our first episode goes into the woods The of Great Smoky Mountain National Park, investigating the disappearance of a 16 year old girl on a school trip. Was it an accident or something more sinister? Listen to Haley and Liam discuss this and more!

Did you know that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited in the United States? Find out what to do in the park and the surrounding area, including Pigeon Forge, on this week's podcast. We are chatting with Tennessee native Sarah Wilson from The Wandering Rumpus to get her take on visiting the Great Smoky Mountain National Park with kids. ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about summer travels 11:20 - Talking with Sarah Wilson 13:12 - Where is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park 15:15 - How long to spend 20:04 - Time of year to go 23:54 - Staying in the park 26:19 - Must dos for families 32:52 - Favorite place to take a family photo 33:55 - Sarah’s favorite travel gear 37:20 - Coming up for Vacation Mavens ABOUT SARAH WILSON Sarah is a Nashville-based freelance writer, editor and communications consultant. Sarah writes about kid-friendly Nashville and expanding her family's worldview through travel, food, books, and engaging in our local and international communities at The Wandering Rumpus. Sarah, her husband Brad and their three girls have traveled extensively - both locally and internationally - and are making big plans to do much more wandering with their little brood - around the world and in their backyard -  while sharing tips, encouragement, and laughter around travel and experiences with kids. Follow Sarah on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterestand Twitter. TIPS FOR VISITING THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located in East Tennessee but also spans into North Carolina. If you are just planning to visit the national park you could spend a long weekend and have a great time. Spending a full week you will be able to explore the park as well as some of the surrounding area. Dollywood is a theme park in Pigeon Forge started by Dolly Parton. You can actually learn quite a bit about the areas history when visiting the theme park. It is very well made and a great way to spend a day while you are in Tennessee. Summer is always fun but tends to be busier like a lot of places. During the fall you could see the changing of the leaves which is always beautiful along with festivals. There are two weeks in the spring/early summer when you can see the mating of fireflies in  open fields. They actually get so busy that they open a lottery for parking in April. You can also see the migration of monarch butterflies that happens in late September early October. During the winter time they will close certain areas or trails of the park. But this usually just depends on the weather. Most of the National Park is meant for camping in a tent, but there are also places to rent cabins. You will want to make sure you are booking spots several months in advance to make sure you get a reservation. Laurel Falls Trailis a great hike for families. It is only about 2.6 miles to and from the waterfall. Most of the trail is paved so you could potentially bring a stroller. Clingmans Dome Trailis also another great hike for families. It will take you to a lookout point which is the highest point in Tennessee and has really beautiful views. If you and your family like to take bike rides, there is an eleven mile loop called Cades Cove Loopthat is closed to all cars until 10am on Wednesdays and Saturdays starting in mid-May thru to mid-September. If it interests you, there are some great guided tours you can take on horseback along different trails in the Smoky Mountains. In the summer months there is an active black bear population, so be sure to practice bear safety if you are planning to go hiking. BEST PLACE TO TAKE FAMILY PHOTO Sarah suggest getting a photo in front of a wooden Smoky Mountain sign that you will find at the main entrances. Besides that you can get some great photos at any of the lookouts you visit or even just standing with a trail sign. FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Sarah recently has been wearing Pranapants that she has loved wearing whether she is at home or traveling. MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST 10 Best Things To Do In The Great Smoky Mountains National Park With Kids 5 Things I Love About DollyWood Cobbly Nob Cabin Rentals Laurel Falls Trail Clingmans Dome Trail Cades Cove Loop Cades Cove Bike Rentals Smoky Mountain Riding Stables Surrounding areas: Knoxville, TN Chattanooga, TN Asheville, NC European Christmas Market Episode 106 FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!  

Story one is the tale of the Greenbrier Restaurant ghost. Story two is a string of mysterious disappearances from the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Here’s what we’re drinking this week: Oatmeal Cookie Moonshine – 10/10 Appalachian Apple Pie Moonshine – 10/10 Did we get anything wrong? Want to tell us about a personal experience … Continue reading Cabin in the Woods →

- The feature of this episode is an old time Appalachian tradition, saving seeds, particularly bean seeds. Seed saver Ben Cohen has written a brand new book entitled “From our Seeds and their Keepers”, A Collection of Stories, with forward written by Bill Best. We hear a story of a bean that Ben has saved and returned to the Cades Cove Museum in Blount County, TN that was originally from Kermit Caughen - one of the last people to live in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. - Amy shares a soup bean recipe to share with you that might rival your Mamaw’s. - Fred Sauceman shares a segment on a variety of Appalachian beans, terms of Appalachian bean preparations, and a story of the “Noble Bean” that was saved by Seed Saver Bill Best of Berea, Kentucky.

A Small Place With A Huge History - Historian Dan Pierce talks about his new book "Hazel Creek: The Life and Death of an Iconic Mountain Community." Its demise raises questions about how stereotypes of Southern Appalachian people cleared the way for absorbing the community into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

A fun and helpful podcast episode is in store for you this week as we look at Five Top Must-Visit RV Places that you have never heard of. As Jennifer and I have traveled the country this summer, we’ve been asking RVers to give us a report on their absolute favorite places. We expected them to be the standard bucketlist destinations, like Alaska, or Yellowstone or the Maritimes. Instead, they were much more obscure, places not in the major RV guidebooks, places unique and very appealing. You’ll hear them all coming up in a few minutes in our interview of the week segment. Also this week, lots of RV news you need to know, a very handy clean up tip from Jennifer, the best on the road apps in our traveling technology segment and much more. Click the player below to Listen Now or scroll down through the show note details. When you see a time code hyperlink, you can click it to jump directly to that segment of the podcast. [spp-player] Show Notes for Episode #198 June 27, 2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time="2:31"] Mike and Jennifer at Glacier National Park last week MIKE Well here it is the 4th of July Holiday is almost here and June has sped right by! JENNIFER It sure has. We just pulled into our driveway for a brief stop at our sticks and bricks home in Michigan after being on the road pretty much the entire month. In all we covered 4,384.7 miles from the time we left the driveway until last night when we pulled back in. We traveled through nine states making our way to Montana and Glacier National Park, where we just finished an awesome Roadtreking gathering attended by more than 130 people from all across North America MIKE There’s a post on the roadtreking.com travel blog with a full report and lots of photos from the gathering. And we’ll also have a video on it…. Just as soon as I have time to edit it. We came back with 9 videos in the can ready to be edited. But since each one takes about 20 hours to complete, I have my work cut out for me. JENNIFER As we reported last week, we did great going out and keeping to our “330 Rule” of driving no more than 330 miles in a single day, or stopping by 3:30 pm local time so we can still be refreshed and not too tired from the road. That gives us lots of time to explore… and shoot those videos! Coming back…. Well, let’s just say it was hammer time, pedal to the metal all the way, though we did stop by 3:30 one time. MIKE Except it was 3:30 AM! That was Sunday night. We stopped on the way back in the Wisconsin Dells and did our regular 9 PM Sunday night You Tube Live report on our RV Lifestyle Channel. But then we made the tactical decision that because we didn’t want to drive through Monday morning traffic in Chicago – which even during no rush hour time is horrific – we would drive through the night and avoid the traffic jams. JENNIFER But there was still lots of traffic… even at 1 in the morning. We debated taking the ferry across Lake Michigan. They have ferry service from a couple places in Wisconsin. But we couldn’t justify spending $400 to get us and the RV across. So we drive around, spent what was left of the night in a rest area just inside the Michigan border, and then made our way home. MIKE So we’re back in our sticks and bricks house. There’s lots of laundry to do and some house and yard chores but we take off in just a few days for our next Roadtreking gathering, this one to Bryson City, North Carolina on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We’ll be camped on the Natahala River there, a beautiful white water river and we will have calm river float tours, raging rapid runs in a raft for those willing to brave it, zip line rides and, of course, lots of good socializing. JENNIFER And we still have openings. We’ll put a link on the shownotes for this episode where you can get details and sign up.

On this episode we talk about the Synchronous Fireflies that that live in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park – congregating in one of the most historical towns in the Southeast. In fact, this town is now a campground. Elkmont campground.  Elkmont used to be a logging town and was located where the existing Elkmont Campground […]

In Episode 40, The Camel and I continue the discussion on hiking news from 2016 in a show recorded right before our annual Klondike hike on the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  Forewarning, we talk felonies, guns, and politics - subjects that get The Camel particularly fired up. So listen in, and we'll brace ourselves for the feedback!  'Cause we talk arson, kidnapping, self-defense, and about the political leadership of our country.  And if that doesn't make you smile (or cringe), click here for some photos from our Klondike hike to get a look at why we head in to the backcountry in the first place. Subject: Hiking News Review (Great Smokies Show)Interviewee: The CamelInterview Date: January 26, 2017Runtime: 52:39 Download Now: Hiking News Review - Great Smokies Show (WMA format 50.8 Meg);Hiking News Review - Great Smokies Show (MP3 format 50.4 Meg)

On this episode Ariane goes Solo….on a 300 mile trek on the Appalachian Trail and she’s taking you with. Ariane will be backpacking through 3 states and hiking on up some of the toughest mountains in the Southeast. Including the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. This first episode shares with you, Ariane watching the Sunset […]

In this 12th episode we share our feelings, thoughts, and prayers to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and Gatlinburg, TN. The wildfires that swept through Gatlinburg, TN on Monday will go down in the history books for sure. There was devastating loss, and brought tears to so many people that have visited the Park, […]

What an amazing place to ride horses in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Gatlinburg, TN, it is the official place to ride inside the park! In fact, there are two places but New Zealand Broadcaster, Stu Frith and Journalist Victoria Gaither rode Sugarland Stable and Trails. The views are amazing, the trails are the best, peace and quiet with the only noise water running. Listen to our wonderful experience on the trail and tell Kenny if you visit Victoria and Stu says hello. The entire staff are awesome! To learn more check out this website http://www.sugarlandsridingstables.com/

For the first time since the Great Smoky Mountain National Park’s establishment in 1937, all 2,900 miles of the park’s streams are now open for fishing. The reopening of Lynn Camp Prong following a seven-year native, brook trout restoration project marks the park’s complete stream fishing availability, which is great news for both local and […] The post 19 Major Gatlinburg Fishing Streams Now Open appeared first on Visit My Smokies.

Wears Valley, TN, often referred to as the hidden gem of the Smoky Mountains, is actually one of the best places to spend time while you’re visiting the area. When you’re looking for the ultimate relaxation while being surrounded by the natural beauty of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Wears Valley is the place […] The post 4 Reasons Even The Locals Love Spending Time in Wears Valley, TN appeared first on Visit My Smokies.

In Episode 21, JD (aka Trail Hard) tells us about his passion for hiking and backpacking in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park - the most visited national park in the United States. On the show, we discuss his quest for a third map in the "Smokies" - or the completion of every trail in the Park.  While a "map" is technically ~900 miles, a hiker walks roughly 1500 miles to complete it.  And JD is on his third map - dang!  Fewer than 400 can even claim one! So he definitely knows the Park and JD offers up some of his favorite trails, vistas, campsites, and hidden treasures in the Smokies.  He also shares some weather, wildlife, and comaraderie in the backcountry and gives some tips to those that are out for a day, weekend, or multi-day trip in the Park. For more on JD, you can click to his Trail Hard website to find some cool gear or hook up with him for one of his "meet up" hikes with the Great Smokies Hiking And Adventure Group. Subject: Great Smoky Mountain National ParkInterviewees: JD (Trail Hard)Interview Date: February 4, 2014Runtime: 1:20:16 Download Now: Great Smoky Mountain National Park (WMA format 54.5 Meg);Great Smoky Mountain National Park (MP3 format 70.0 Meg)

Update: On Tuesday October 15 Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory reached an agreement with United States government officials to reopen the Great Smoky Mountain National Park at midnight on Wednesday October 16 through Sunday October 20. Plans extending the park opening past Sunday have not yet been announced. Original Story: Due to […] The post Great Smoky Mountains National Park Update appeared first on Visit My Smokies.

When visiting the Great Smoky Mountain National Park there are several types of lodging to choose from. You can find everything from secluded cabins to hotels on the main strip through town. This makes the surrounding areas of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville the ideal vacation destinations. No matter what your style or needs, you’ll […] The post Where To Stay In Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, or Sevierville appeared first on Visit My Smokies.

The Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage is a wonderful five day event held annually in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. This is an excellent opportunity to explore the fauna and wildflowers found in this area during the springtime. Visitors can enjoy motorcade tours, historical walks, indoor seminars, and art classes. Held from April 23rd to the […] The post Have Your Camera Ready For The Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage 2013 appeared first on Visit My Smokies.

The area surrounding The Great Smoky Mountain National Park  is the ideal location for conventions, business meetings, and expositions. Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville not only provide some excellent convention centers for such functions, but they also provide plenty of lodging, food, and attractions for guests. Nothing compares to staying in one of the local […] The post The Smoky Mountains Area Convention Center Options appeared first on Visit My Smokies.

While the Gatlinburg Parks are best known for the Great Smoky Mountain National Park it also has Ober Gatlinburg high on a mountain top in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in the Great Smokey Mountains. Visitors reach the ski and amusement facility by a tram from downtown Gatlinburg or by car. The ski and snowboarding facilities include nine […] The post Gatlinburg Parks Creating a Winter Wonderland appeared first on Visit My Smokies.

In Episode 6, Kirk (aka SoulGlo) and John (aka Hawkeye) talk about their introduction to backpacking in the early 1990's. In the show, we discuss trips to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and hikes from Newfound Gap to Ice Water Springs Shelter, Charlie's Bunion, Peck's Corner Shelter, Mt. LeConte, n2backpacking.com/hikes/north-carolina and Kephart Shelter. Kirk's fear of bears is quickly diverted to fear off the aggressive Smoky Mountain shelter mouse and he offers some strategies for dealing with them. From the Smokies, we migrate the discussion to the nearly 11,000 mile Linville Gorge Wilderness which has multiple trails (including the Bynum Bluff, Conley Cove, and Pinch In Trails) that drop roughly 2000 feet to the Linville River where there are some outstanding campsites in the Gorge. John discusses route finding at dusk, backtracking to the trailhead, and nearly suffocating in his sleeping bag at night. And finally, we finish with one of the most scenic backcountry destinations in the southeast at Mount Rogers National Recreation Area (and more specifically the Grayson Highlands State Park). We talk about Mt. Rogers, which at 5729' is the highest point in Virginia, and the wild ponies that roam the open meadows of near Massie's Gap along the Appalachian Trail (which may, on occasion, poke their head in your tent at dawn). Subject: 90's BackpackingInterviewees: Kirk (SoulGlo), John (Hawkeye)Interview Date: June 28, 2011Runtime: 31:12 Download Now: 90's Backpacking (WMA format 15.2 Meg);90's Backpacking (MP3 format 29.9 Meg)

Big Announcement! We're headed to Great Smoky Mountain National Park! Mike and Dusty share their upcoming Smoky Mountain adventures and talk exercising those civic duties. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gaze-at-the-national-parks/donationsWant to advertise on this podcast? Go to https://redcircle.com/brands and sign up.