We chose to take a ride on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad Nantahala Gorge Excursion to catch the leaves changing. The trip is 4.5 hours round trip starting from the Bryson City Depot and travels 44 miles to the Nantahala Outdoor Center with a layover and then back. With the kids’ schedules, we went early October because they had a 3 day weekend. I wish we would have waited another 2-3 weeks. The leaves were starting to turn but not as vibrant as I would have hoped.
On Sunday morning, we hopped in the car and headed up to Bryson City. Bryson City is a quaint little town with lots of shops and restaurants. It was decorated so cute for fall. We had lunch at Pasqualino’s Restaurant. The atmosphere was great with a local artist singing. This would be a great date night spot. From here, we headed over to the Bryson City Depot so we could walk around the model train museum. I have taken Mediums on the Polar Express ride here when he was younger. The model train museum is amazing and my late grandfather would have loved it. It is quite nostalgic for me to go here reminiscing on watching my grandfather proudly display his trains for the family.
The ride was great! Due to COVID, we wore masks and all the trains were open air rides. The views were great along the Tennessee and Nantahala Rivers. I added a box lunch for everyone as part of the package. There was misting rain off and on creating some dreamy fog. While the weather and timing were not ideal, we had a great time.
The stop at the NOC was well timed and gave us a chance to move around. We have been here several times so we didn’t go in any of the shops. The sun was attempting to peak through the clouds on the way back.
Afterward, we headed toward Dillsboro, NC where we had a hotel reservation. Assuming we could get some dinner in Dillsboro, we didn’t stop along the way. Much to our surprise, everything closed by 8. We ended up driving to Sylva and stopping at the Lazy Hiker. We were able to order a pizza for the kids just before the kitchen closed. Keep this in mind! Even the Huddle House closed at 8pm there. The food was good and we were essentially the only people there. The kids loved it because there was a playful dog and the atmosphere was fun.
Smalls and Talls Outdoors 