I have a temp gauge in my blazer, and am running a chevy 350. What is the normal operating termperature? I have seen smoke rising off of the radiator and off of the engine. I'm not sure if it's just spilt oil that's burning or if the engine is at critical temp.

 

I would think "normal" is whatever temperature thermostat you have. Older carbureted engines were typically 180, more modern engines are raised to 195-ish. Since the cooling system is under pressure, you're not really in danger of it boiling over until you get into the 220 and up range (some might argue 230 and up).
Now, if you have a 180 degree thermostat and your engine is running at 200 or 210, you have a different problem such as an undersized radiator for the application(assuming no clogs and the water pump,fan clutch and radiator capare operating properly).

 

Yeah, it's whatever the t-stat is set at. If you don't know, you would have to pull the t-stat housing off and have a look at the sensor. Or you could just get a cheap infrared thermometer and see what different parts of the motor are running.

Was the smoke like real smoke or was it just water evaporating off of things (steam)?

 

it didn't look like water evaporating. the location where it was coming off the engine had oil spilled on it, so it may have been that, but i'm not sure why it would be "smoking" at the radiator as well.