I got my bags packed on a roll heading out there and I'm ready to go looking real good

in my passport photo.

Amateur Traveler, episode 3.45. Today the Amateur Traveler talks about small towns and

breweries and the most visited U.S. National Park as we go to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Western North Carolina.

I know that I should be heading home, but maybe not, maybe not today. Welcome to the Amateur Traveler. I'm your host Chris Christensen. Before we get

into this week's interview I do have just two news stories for you. The first one

I thought was odd and yet clever and that is that goats are soon

going to be joining the Chicago-O-Hair Airport maintenance crew. The idea is that

they're going to graze goats on the runways, or at least right next to the runways,

to keep the vegetation clear so that there will be fewer birds, fewer bird strikes and keep the grass short.

So someone's job is going to be the airport shepherd.

Interesting work if you're looking for it.

And then in an idea that is, I think, one of the worst travel ideas. it is a

a idea that is I think one of the worst travel ideas I have ever heard.

Hayden Pierce, a Tasmanian businessman, is hoping to turn a 1950s era morgue of a psychiatric hospital into a hotel near Hobart, Tasmania.

What a terrible idea and no I don't think I would stay there for links to both of those

stories check out the show notes at amateur traveler.com I'd like to welcome the

show Nathan from wanderly magazine dot com who's come to talk to us about

Smoky Mountain National Park and Western North Carolina. Nathan welcome to the

show. Thank you Chris. Happy to be here. Now I have never been to Smoky Mountain National Park and so I was

surprised when I learned how popular a park it is. Well I think one of the big reasons for that

is it's in the middle of the east so it's so much more

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