Kristen's Fall Break gave her Friday and Monday off, but we signed her out for a couple of extra days. Unfortunately, she would have lots of homework to work on while we were away. Good thing we would have lots of driving time.
Chris and I and Kristen left for Charlotte, North Carolina on a 9:45 am flight out of Denver. The flight was 3 1/2 hours long on one of the smaller United planes.
We arrived in Charlotte mid afternoon and were impressed with the new and fairly un-busy airport. White rocking chairs dotted the hallways.
After gathering our luggage, we picked up a rental car from the line of cars at National. The selection wasn’t great but with just three of us, we were able to fit easily enough.
We grabbed a quick lunch at Chick-fil-A and were then on our way to Cherokee, North Carolina. The big draw for many in Cherokee (on an Indian reservation) was a huge casino. That, and it was close to the entrance of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Interesting fact: the National Park does not charge an entrance fee.
Once we exited the main freeway and drove on the secondary roads toward Cherokee, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery, changing Fall colors, and the Blue Ridge mountains.
We finally found our hotel in Cherokee and were wholly unimpressed. There were very few options for dining, and the guy at the hotel front desk cautioned, “Stay away from Burger King.” We even ventured into the casino to Brio Tuscan Grille, the only restaurant that we could eat at with Kristen as she didn’t have to walk by the casino floor to get to it. Unfortunately, Brio had an hour and a half wait. We opted for Wendy’s.
Kristen and I shopped for a few groceries at Food Lion, lunch stuff as we were heading into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the morning; Chris had found that there were very limited food options within the park. We got the fixins for sandwiches, snacks, carrots, and a few treats.