To describe the many attractions near the Smokies would require an encyclopedic guidebook. Nearby are TVA’s “Great Lakes of the South,” Biltmore House and Gardens, large national forests, Oak Ridge’s American Museum of Science and Energy, and other features too numerous to mention. Here are just a few features often associated with a Smokies vacation. The Blue Ridge Parkway. From the northeast the Blue Ridge Parkway makes a delightful highway approach to the Smokies on the North Carolina side. The parkway is administered by the National Park Service and connects Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It meticulously follows the southern Appalachians for 755 kilometers (469 miles). It is a roadway designed for motor recreation and so provides leisurely travel free of commercial development. All along it are trails and scenic viewpoints. In season, wildflowers and fall colors can be stupendous. Just before the parkway reaches the Smokies it enters the Balsam Mountains, from which you look directly across at the Smokies. Just after Soco Gap on the parkway you can turn almost due north onto a spur road into the national park’s Balsam Mountain Campground and its Heintooga Overlook area. [Illustration: _Several lakes created by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) dams provide open water recreation opportunities, including excellent bass fishing, adjacent to or near the park._] For a free map and folder detailing services, lodging and accommodations, and points of interest, write: Superintendent, Blue Ridge Parkway, 200 BB and T Building, One Pack Square, Asheville, North Carolina 28801. The Gateway Cities. For many people a trip to the Smokies is not complete without taking in the sights of Pigeon Forge, Townsend, and/or Gatlinburg, Tennessee, or Bryson City or Cherokee, North Carolina. At either end of U.S. 441 these municipalities go all-out to serve the tourist trade. Restaurants and motels are major industries along with curio shops, art galleries, and the theme villages that characterize our American tourist scene. [Illustration: _The Blue Ridge Parkway has its southern terminus at the North Carolina entrance to the park. This is Craggy Gardens, near Milepost 364, famous for its Catawba rhododendron displays._] Taken together these surrounding municipalities offer most facilities and services you might need during your stay in the Smokies. Cameras and photographic supplies, groceries, pharmacies, local literature and guides, banks, and countless other services are available.