Southern Comfort

I’ve heard it said that the further south you travel in the states the nicer the people are. I have done a lot of traveling around the eastern part of the United States, north and south, and I have to admit I think it’s true.  I’ve noticed this “southern hospitality” in hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, and just people in general out on the street.  Could it be that the warmer climate creates an atmosphere where people tend to be more laid back and tranquil?

I have written before about the road trips that my mom and sisters began to take in 1990 after the loss of my dad and brother.  I would now like to share another one of the more memorable trips we took in May of 1991.  Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  The Great Smokey Mountains.  Gatlinburg together with its sister city, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, have become two of my favorite vacation destinations.

That year we stayed at the Rocky Water Motor Inn which is located at the entrance to Gatlinburg where the Little Pigeon River runs between the road into Gatlinburg and the Inn.  Sitting out on the patio of our room that spring, I remember the feeling of peace I felt just letting the sounds of nature fill my senses and help to heal my grief-stricken mind.  It seemed like the perfect vacation for all of us that year.  It was also close to the trolley pickup so that we could leave our car parked and use the trolley cars that shuttled people around wherever they wanted to go.  That first day, we hopped the first one that stopped at the pickup booth in front of the Inn but when we were ready to return to the Inn we had a bit of trouble deciding which one to take. We knew that the trolleys were color coded for various routes but being new to the area, we were unfamiliar with the layout of the towns. This was when we got to experience, for the first time, that “southern hospitality.”  While we were in a huddle debating about which trolley to take a man stopped and in a southern drawl told us we needed to walk up to the trolley booth and catch the next trolley.  We were not used to people being so nice so we were skeptical.  Plus we all have the habit of “over thinking” a situation.  We thanked him, walked down to the trolley booth and when it came we, of course, didn’t get on it.  As we stood there studying the city map at the trolley stand, the nice gentleman came along again, pointed his finger at us and in his sweet southern drawl said, “Now, y’all didn’t listen to me.  I told y’all needed to take that last trolley.”   We laughed and admitted to him that we just didn’t follow directions very well.  He explained to us that Gatlinburg was actually made up of two streets, one going in one direction and one going in the other.  Sounded easy.  So when the next trolley came we took it.

There was so much to do in the area that we literally were running from one thing to the next for the three days we were there.  One thing I suggest you must do if you are ever in the area is ride the tram up the side of the mountain.  The view is breathtaking!  The year we went we found a ski lodge restaurant at the top and a few shops where we found freshly made fudge.  If there is one thing that my family has in common it’s a sweet tooth!  We must have purchased about 20 pounds of fudge then rode the tram back down to the foot of the mountain and walked through an inside shopping mall.  My sister, Annie, mom and I discovered a huge candy store that must have had hundreds of different kinds of candy.  When my sister, Jean, who had lagged behind caught up with us and found us at the candy store, she shouted an exasperated voice, “We just bought 20 pounds of fudge!  Why are you in a candy shop?”  Red faced and laughing, we left the store.

By the time we were ready to go back to the Inn, we were very tired and made our way down to the corner where we saw a trolley approaching. Annie hopped up on the step to ask the driver if he was going back to our Inn.  Mom, who was suffering a bit of altitude sickness from the tram ride (later in our room we decided it might also have been because we made her carry all the fudge!) chose that precise moment to topple backward and for some strange reason called Annie’s name all the way to the ground.  Ironically it was Jean and I who were standing beside her.  We reached down, slipped our hands in her armpits and lifted her to her feet again before she had touched the ground for two seconds.  The driver jumped out of the trolley and helped my mother to her seat, offering to call an ambulance.  The other occupants of the trolley watched us with concern.   After the EMTs checked Mom out and made sure she was okay, we all settled into seats and the trolley continued back to our Inn.  Now, this is where any normal family would have been shaken by the incident, but not us!  As soon as we made eye contact with each other, we had to smile, then the smile turned into a giggle, then the giggle turned into a chuckle and soon we were all in a “full-fledged belly laugh.”  The people around us gazed at us because we were having such a good time at my mother’s expense.  This made us laugh even harder.  The laughter bubbled up out of us uncontrollably, our hands over our mouths, trying to stifle it, unsuccessfully, all the way back to the Inn.  Back in our room when we finally settled down for the night and were lying in bed, Annie expressing how delightfully comfortable it felt to finally rest, quipped, “Oh, Mom, now I know why you laid down in the street.”   It was another hour before we stopped laughing and got to sleep!

Over the years I have returned to the Great Smokey Mountains several times, to Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge, either with my sisters and mom, my husband or friends.  Every trip there is etched in my memory with great fondness; but it is this first trip that remains my favorite.

If you have never had the pleasure to travel in this area of the states, do yourself a favor and plan your next road trip there.  Experience a little “southern hospitality.”  You won’t regret it.

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