My first Vacation...the Smoky Mountains

My first vacation was a family vacation with my parents and brother. I think I was about 9 or 10 years old. We went by car to The Smoky Mountains from West Virginia. We started off early, wrapped up in the back seat with blankets, books, crayons, paper and pencils. We played games like "I Spy", "Find the Alphabet Letter in the Highway Signs". "Count the Animals on Your Side of the Car", and "Name the Cars"....this was easy to play when we were young, cars were just Chevelots., Fords, Plymouths, Nashes, Buicks, etc. (There weren't so many different models and they didn't all look alike) We didn't stop at restaurants to eat....we stopped at picnic tables along the road. Poor Dad had to unload all the suitcases in the trunk to get to the food, coolors, and Coleman camp stove. Mom made homemade meals...kind of. Often eggs, bacon, and potatoes for breakfast...we even had a bread toaster for the Coleman Stove.....lunch: sandwiches and chips and Kool Aide.....dinner: things like hot dogs, hamburgers, DinnyMoore Beef Stew on noodles. Mom even had a table cloth, plastic plates, and real silverware....so you guessed it...that meant we did dishes every meal. Some times Mom and Dad would do the dishes and we would nap on the blanket under the trees. We had to stop at those old fashioned gas stations and there was a baby black bear at one. It was wearing a collar and was chained to a big log. It was so cute....we all petted it and had our picture made with it. The boy at the station said it loved to drink Coke and people were buying Cokes and giving them to it. It held the Coke in his paws just like a human. On the way back we stopped at the same station. There was the collar and chain and log but no baby bear. A truck driver tried to take the Coke back from him and the baby bear bite off his thumb. We felt bad for the driver and the bear! I think the town we visited in was Cherokee, NC.
There were lots of Indians and Indian things there. I had my picture made with this Indian. It was there that I decided that I must have some Indian blood in me. My Dad must be half Indian (even thought he said he was Irish.) and I must be 1/4 Indian. I'm sure I told everyone that I was Indian for quite a few years. We went to LookOut Mountain, Fat Man Squeeze, Rock City,and lots of Places of Interest in the area. My brother sat in the front seat most of the trip...when Mom would try to make him sit in the back he would say he was car sick. Then I would have to walk him around until he felt better. I do remember one time we took a short cut over a Mountain....at least on the map it looked like a short cut but it really wasn't. It was longer and rougher but it was beautiful up on that Mountain. It was a great trip and I'll never forget it.