Great Smoky Mountain Railroad

The reason for Jim's and my trip to Bryson City, NC, was to ride the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad (http://www.gsmr.com/).  I was so excited by the prospect of riding a train for 4 1/2 hours through the mountains, for a month I felt like a nine-year-old waiting for Christmas.  Now I'm wondering why in the world anyone would want to ride a train anywhere for 4 1/2 hours.
The railroad offers two main excursions, the 4 1/2 hour Nantahala Gorge Excursion, which includes a 1 hour layover at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, and  the 4 hour Tuckasegee River Excursion, which has a 1 1/2 hour layover in Dillsboro.  I chose the Nantahala Gorge Excursion and made reservations for a first class ride.  (I made the 500,000th reservation!  Unfortunately, no prizes or special anything was offered for that honor.)
Our car was the Silver Meteor, a 1940, 48-seat dinner car.  The air conditioning alone was worth the first class cost, considering the August heat and humidity.  Our table mates, a wonderful couple from Illinois, were hilarious, thank God.
The problem with riding the GSMR during the summer is all the green, which is 98% kudzu.  (By now it's probably 99% kudzu.)  The Yankees aboard, God bless them, had never seen "cooed-zoo", and were delighted by the green mass enshrouding everything in sight.
The train travelled along the Tuckasegee River, on to Fontana Lake, and stopped in the Nantahala Gorge.  At the far end of the line, the engines unhooked from the cars and travelled along a side track to the other end of the train in order to pull the train backwards on the return trip.  This means you're stuck viewing the same scenery (kudzu) you had watched on the trip out, unless the passengers across the aisle trade tables with you.  Happily the attendant in our car asked passengers to switch tables.  Happily, also, drinks were served half-way through the trip, which made the ride home bearable.
The Nantahala River and Fontana Lake are pretty, and watching rafters struggling over the rapids is amusing. I imagine autumn's views would be so much better. It was also nice to see the locals waving at the train with all their fingers and not just one.
This was an enjoyable trip, but tiring.  Our fellow passengers were great, and the attendants were the best.  I would like to ride the train, again, but to Dillsboro, and in the fall.