Crossville, Tennessee to Sapphire Valley, North Carolina 11/01/2013
NOVEMBER 1, 2013 (Friday)
Moving day. I’m trying to be a kinder and gentler mover and I think the day went pretty well. We got up around 8:00 AM in order to take showers and get ready to leave. This resort also asks that you empty out all the garbage, take off your sheets and put all the dirty towels in a pile in the dining room area. There is also a 10:00 AM check out deadline. We were out around 10:00 AM and went to a Subway for breakfast. The drive was supposed to be around 3 ½ hours (but took longer because of our little detour).
Michael and I had emailed about some tickets to the Biltmore in Ashville, North Carolina. Tickets for the home are normally around $65.00 but there were three on Craigslist for $40.00. We were a little hesitant to buy on Craigslist but we did and they wrote back saying they were still available. We tried calling again on the ride when we got to around Knoxville, Tennessee, but didn’t get an answer. Since we weren’t sure if we were going to get an answer about the tickets today or not, we decided to go ahead and take the route to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We looked on the map and saw that we could reach Sapphire, North Carolina by driving through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
We were so glad we decided to go this way. What a beautiful – no, SPECTACULAR drive this time of year. All the amazing colors were in full “bloom” and just gorgeous. Also, the views were unbelievably beautiful. We also decided we’re going to go back to Gatlinburg because it just looks like such a fun town with lots of things to do and see.
During the ride through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we received a call from Tony about the Biltmore tickets. We told him we wouldn’t get getting them today but wanted to pick them up on Tuesday. We told him we would call him on Monday night and arrange a place and time to do that. We figured we could do a tour on Tuesday afternoon, right after we got the tickets.
We are now three hours ahead of California time. We got to our new resort, Fairfield Forest at Sapphire Valley. It’s lovely. Right on a National Golf Course. Beautiful and new looking unit with INTERNET and a WASHER AND DRYER. I’m loving it. Lexi isn’t, though, because she has to sleep on an uncomfortable couch once again – but it’s only for another month or so. I keep telling her it’s better than being homeless under a bridge.
We left, once we unpacked and settled in, to go to the nearby restaurant, Sapphire Brewery. We were told they would have music and such. The music was being set up and wasn’t due to start until around 7:30 PM so we missed it. Our server, Jake, did an excellent job of selling us all a beer. Michael got a Caesar salad with chicken for dinner, Lexi got a salmon dish, and I got some chili in a bread bowl. It was all really good.
After dinner, we went to the grocery store, around 2 miles down the road. It’s very similar to a Safeway in layout and what they offer (Starbucks, etc.). Did a little grocery shopping and then headed “home.”
That was our day. Hope yours was great!