Gatlinburg

WARNING! LOTS AND LOTS of pictures :)

For our anniversary, my little family and I went to Gatlinburg, TN for a long weekend.  We had wanted to go spend a night or two up at Opryland (where we were married), but after the historic May flooding, the hotel isn't scheduled to open until the middle of November.  So, we decided to take a trip back to Gatlinburg.  Keith and I went up there for a sort of pre-wedding honeymoon the month before we got married (Labor Day Weekend).  I used Priceline and bid on a hotel in the area and got a great deal on a great hotel!  So, Thursday afternoon, we packed up, loaded up, and headed out to East Tennessee.  The drive took a little over 4 hours and by the time we got there that night, it was peanut butter and jellys and a bath and bed.

Friday morning we got up and went to breakfast next door.  There are as many breakfast places in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge as there are lunch/dinner joints.  Crazy really, but they seem to do some major business out there.  I mean, we ate breakfast at Flapjacks two out of our three mornings and our hotel offered complimentary continental breakfast.  :)

After breakfast we made the rookie mistake of buying an all-day trolley pass for $2 each (adult). The trolley ride is 50 cents/person (Etta was free) each way.  The distance from the hotel to the downtown area was just under a mile and the trolley wait COULD be 20-30 minutes.  But for some reason, we still thought this would be a good idea.  So, after buying our passes, we went over to the trolley stop at the hotel and waited for about 10 minutes before we realized that there was a digital sign way up on the roof of this thing giving an estimated wait time of 37 minutes (!!).  Uh...  So, we decided that since it was a beautiful day we'd try to walk in.  Well, like I said, it was GORGEOUS, perfect weather and the creek we were walking along was beautiful and before we knew it, we were in downtown. 

We had a really great day walking that main street and peeking in and out of shops and posing Etta next to all of the little Fall pumpkin set-ups they had ALL around.  Keith enjoyed sampling moonshine (I didn't dare try).  I didn't get a picture of the alcohol burning on the way down, but we posed in front of the moonshine for sale in the shop.  There are a lot of attractions in the area, but Etta is really too little for them.  We thought about going to the aquarium, but changed our minds after we realized it would cost us $50 to get in and Etta wouldn't really notice much anyway.  Next time.  Etta was a champ and hung with us all day.  When we decided to walk back to the hotel that afternoon so E could take a nap, I noticed that the purple line trolley that we needed was right there by the aquarium.  So, we ran over and jumped on.  Perfect timing!  AND we got to use our trolley pass!  Etta took a great two hour nap back at the hotel and then we walked back in to downtown to have dinner at a mexican restaurant (the trolley wait was 47 minutes!).  Dinner was YUM!  When we finished, we walked back to the hotel and showered and went to bed. 

 

Saturday was our anniversary!  :)  We went to breakfast next door again and then walked downtown again to get some candy at one of the (many) candy shops and walk around a little more.  Candy is one of the traditional gifts for the 6th wedding anniversary.  Woot!  When we decided to head back, we thought we'd try the trolley again.  It was only 6 minutes away, so we waited it out and paid our dollar (we didn't get the pass that day).   

Once back at the hotel, we loaded into the car and went for a drive in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park while Etta took a nap.  She woke up when we got to the peak of the mountain.  Clingman's Dome is the highest elevation in Tennessee.  It was beautiful up there and I was really enjoying myself until Keith informed me that we had a half mile hike up a STEEP paved walkway to the observation tower.  He also informed me that the view at the top would be our anniversary gift to ourselves.  (uh huh)  So, we huffed and puffed up this 45 degree angle mountain until..... FINALLY we made it to the top.  We even crossed over the Appalachian Trail (AT) on our way up.  Once we got to the top, it was beautiful and we got a couple of great shots.  Keith said we were on top of Old Smokey.  Then, back down we went. 

if you look kinda middle rightish you can see the parking lot where the hike began.

When we were out of the park, we drove into Pigeon Forge for dinner.  That kinda turned into a disaster.  The fried pickles were great and Keith says the draft beer was good and Etta liked the chicken fingers, but the order for our (adult) entrees apparently wasn't placed and by the time we got them Etta was DONE with the whole dining experience and I wasn't really that hungry anymore (since I'd eaten a couple of rolls, fried pickles, and some of Etta's fries while waiting for 45 minutes).  The steak was terrible, but my sides were great.  Long story to say, our anniversary meal was comp'd by the restaurant cause they were screw-ups.  I drove us back to the hotel where Keith and I exchanged our anniversary cards before going to bed.  Awww....

This morning E got us up pretty early and we packed up, loaded up, grabbed some continental breakfast to-go, and headed back home.  We got back around 12:30.  We had a great time, but I'm exhausted.  I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation.  :)