My father-in-law used to be a professor at Eastern Illinois
University. As a plant physiologist in the Botany Department he
oftened accompanied the Botany Club on its annual trip to the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park starting back in the early 70s.
The Botany Club usually, if not always, stayed at Bales Cabins.
Since I was lucky enough to go on two of these trips -- being the
boyfriend/fiance of a professor's daughter -- I got to experience
the splendor of the accommodations. "Rustic" would definitely be
putting a positive spin on things. But they were clean -- mainly --
and inexpensive, and after a long day hiking to Charlie's Bunion or
Ramsey Cascades or Andrews Bald or Grotto Falls folks weren't too
picky about the thread count on the bed linen.
Bales Cabins no longer exists. The owners sold the property to
developers who built multi-storey hotel/condos in their place.
Coincidentally my family just spent a few days at one of those
condo properties, and my father-in-law pointed out that we were
practically staying at Bales Cabins again.
So I placed a cache in memory of Bales Cabins. Nothing exciting;
just your basic park-and-grab. Bring your own pen.
FTF HONORS GO TO
Flowerdoc!!!
FTFPP (FTF
Post-Publication) HONORS GO TO Super_Nate!!!
