Cherokee, NC

My roomie and I woke up at 7:00 am and hit the road at 8:30 am. I went to Cherokee for extra credit in my Native American culture class at USC and my roomie went with me since she has never seen a real Native American before. We made great time to Spartanburg, SC, we arrived there around 9:30 am. We made it to the Smokey Mountains around 11:00 and I had to face the trauma of driving the parkway on the reservation. I've never driven a parkway in my life until now, even though it was beautiful and breath taking.....

I WAS FREAKIN THE HECK OUT THE WHOLE TIME. I'm a southern girl who has never driven in the mountains yet alone the Blue Ridge Parkway. I was pretty much going 10 mph with people riding my ass. It was horrible. Defiantly getting better at driving in the mountains, at least I hope I am. We finally arrived at the main drag in Cherokee. The first thing we did was hit the casino.

Mind you, my roomie and I are only 20 so we couldn't get into the real casino even though we tried. So we had to sneak into the hotel which was beautiful might I add. The hotel had shops, an indoor fire pit, and so much more. I could see why people never leave the hotel while staying in Cherokee. We ate at the buffet within the casino and it was amazing. best buffet I've ever had.I had the Asian section with some delicious apple pie and bear claw for dessert. That kept me full for the whole day.

 After we ate, we just toured the casino since we couldn't get into the real casino due to our age. So we just watched some old white people gamble. I've never understood the purpose of just wasting money but at least the reservation gets the money. 

After that we went to the main drag of Cherokee and I was unimpressed at what I saw. I saw at least three drunk Native Americans 'entertaining' tourists. I'm pretty sure one fell to the ground when I drove past them. As I study more and more about Native Americans in today's time with federal vs reservation laws it really disappoints me to see them exposing themselves as if they are just some show.  So needless to say I was very unimpressed by the main drag in downtown Cherokee. However, the river was a nice little spot and my friend and I fed ducks until they decided to chase after me when I ran out of food.

 We also took pictures with my favorite statue of a bear. They are everywhere in Cherokee but this was my favorite because of the beautiful artwork painted on it. The bear was located outside the casino's hotel.

The one thing I noticed while touring Cherokee was that I didn't see many teenagers around or citizens of the nation. Yes, some worked in the casino but very few. Yes, there were natives in their attire entertaining tourists. I just did not see people walking around Cherokee like people do in Columbia. And seeing teenagers, good luck with that. We did drive by a skate park when we were lost and saw a few. So, that is a topic I am going to bring up in my class. Overall, the location is breath taking and it was worth the trip all and all. I do want to return in spring to see a powwow and tour the Indian village when it is opened for summer.