Gatlinburg 2011 Trip Report: Mon. Oct. 17

On Monday, Shawn wanted to golf, so I dropped him off at 8:00 at the Gatlinburg Country Club and I kept the car for the day. I planned on shopping all morning, but spent more time just driving around the area and exploring. I found a few back roads to get between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge to avoid the traffic so that was nice to find and to know for future trips there.

I ate breakfast at a Flapjacks in Gatlinburg.  I had french toast, bacon and eggs.  After breakfast, I decided to drive up Ski Mountain Road and go to OberGatlinburg since we weren’t going to ride the tram up there. I had heard that was a very steep road to drive. Steep would be an understatement. That road was ridiculous and at one point, I missed a turn and ended up on a very narrow one lane road. I didn’t think I was every going to find a place to turn around. I made it to the top near Ober only to find a sign that said the rest of the road was closed until Ober opened up at 10:00 that morning. So back down the road I went, and immediately to a gas station. I didn’t want to be stuck out on those roads and run out of gas.

I headed back to Pigeon Forge and went shopping at the Carter’s store and got Gavin some new jammies for Christmas. Then I headed into Seiverville to find this statue of Dolly Parton that sits on the courthouse lawn. I was flipping through the GPS for attractions and saw that there was a covered bridge nearby so I went see that too. I had read about it online earlier, but didn’t pay that much attention to it. Shawn called after this and I went back to pick him up.

We stopped at McDonalds and got some lunch to go and headed into the mountains to go to Clingman’s Dome. The drive up to Clingman’s Dome was beautiful; the weather was beautiful and the scenery was beautiful. We stopped at a few pull-off’s along the way to take pictures. The closer we got to the top, the more excited I got to go up there. The day was sunny and clear and I knew that there would be a great view from the top, unlike the last time we went up there; Shawn didn’t believe me, he figured it would be foggy like before. I also was in layers that day and had my coat, scarf, and gloves in the car. Last time, it was FREEZING so I wanted to be prepared. I didn’t need my coat that day and probably could of shed a layer that I had on. It was WARM walking up that hill! Hee!! From the parking lot, it is a half-mile, steep, uphill walk to the top of Clingman’s Dome, which has an elevation height of 6,643 feet. Once you reach the top, there is a concrete observation tower with 360 degrees panoramic views. On the day we were there, the view was very clear and we could see 20+ miles away. I wanted to stay up there forever, but of course we couldn’t. The walk down was a lot easier than the walk up, however it was hard on my knees and piggies. I was so glad that I was able to make the walk up, granted we had to stop every 20 feet for me to breathe.

After we left Clingman’s Dome, we stopped at the pull-off for the Newfound Gap for a few minutes and then headed into Gatlinburg for the night. I had been wanting to ride the Sky Lift to the top of the mountain, so I did that. Shawn is afraid of riding it, so I had to go by myself. It’s such a relaxing ride up that mountain, and at the top you get your picture taken. Each time I’ve gone up, I’ve bought my picture. There isn’t really anything at the top other than a gift shop and scenery. After I came down, we went and had dinner at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp House. The food was alright, but highly overpriced. I’m sure we paid more for the atmosphere than the food. After dinner, we just strolled around and shopped in some of the little stores along the walk. No sweet treats for us that night!

Every time you turn on a TV to the local channel in Gatlinburg, there is a show about Alewine Pottery.  They've been playing it the last 5 times we've been there.  The morning I was out driving around, I ended up in the Arts & Crafts community and drove by Alewine Pottery.  Naturally I had to pull over and snap a picture. 

The covered bridge I found in Seiverville.  It's called the Harrisburg Covered Bridge.

Statue of Dolly Parton on the Seiverville Court House lawn.

The beginning of the hike up to Clingman's Dome.

Probably our first picture on the hike up.  I still have a smile on my face so it must of been early in the hike.  Hee!

If you can't tell in this picture, the hike is all uphill.  And that's a steep hill!

Ahhh...we are almost to the top.  Seeing this completely put a smile on my face!



Shawnie taking a picture of me taking a picture of him :)



These people were going to hike the Appalachian Trail.  They were starting at the trail head at Clingman's Dome and were going to hike for 3 days and end up at Cades Cove.  More power to them!

I should of at least walked on this trail for a little bit so that I could officially say I walked the Appalachian trail!  The AT runs from Maine all the way down to Georgia, close to 2,000 miles!

Shawnie and I in front of Clingman's Dome.

Shawnie and I at the top of Clingman's Dome

Views from the top of Clingman's Dome

Views from the top of Clingman's Dome

Me taking a picture of Shawnie who was taking a picture of me :)

Shawnie and I at the Newfound Gap pull-off.  It is also the North Carolina/Tennessee state line.

Shawnie at the Clingman's Dome sign

Me at the top of Clingman's Dome!  I'm so glad I made the hike this time!

 

Me at the Clingman's Dome sign



Me at another pull off on our way back into Gatlinburg

Shawnie at another pulloff on our way back into Gatlinburg

A cute little walking bridge at a pull off on our way back into Gatlinburg.



I'm going up the side of the mountain in the chair lift.  I love doing this and wish I could get Shawnie to go up with me sometime.



The view from the top of the mountain after riding the chair lift up.

Gatlinburg 2011 Trip Report: Sun. Oct 16

Sunday morning, we got up early, got ready, had breakfast at the hotel, and then headed into the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  We stopped at the Sugarland’s Visitor Center to go to the bathroom and then hike the Nature Trail located behind the park.  I had read about the Fighting Creek Nature Trail online and decided to give it a try.  Since Shawn and I are both trying to lose weight (although all the sweet treats we had this week didn’t help), I thought being as active as we could on this vacation would be great.  I had Googled a few different trails/hikes for us to do and we enjoyed each one.  The trail was relatively easy and was only a 1.25 miles round trip.  About ½ way through the trail, there was a log cabin.  The whole time we were on the trail, I was on the lookout for bear, but didn’t see any.  I love, love, love looking for bear when we are in the Smokies.  We didn’t see any bear, but did come across about 6 wild turkeys when we first started the trail, and then ran across 2 more as we were finishing up the trail.  We also saw quite a few squirrel and chipmunks.  

After we left the visitor center, we headed out to drive the Roaring Fork Motor Trail and hike to Grotto Falls.  RFMT is a 6-mile long, one-way, loop road through the Smokies that offers rushing mountain streams, glimpses of old-growth forest, and a number of well-preserved log cabins, grist mills, and other historic buildings.  The hike to Grotto Falls was about 3 miles round trip and there was a 25 foot waterfall that you can walk behind.  This trail was a bit more difficult than the one earlier in the day, and it was definitely a workout.  I felt like we were never going to make it to the top, but we did.  The waterfall was beautiful and the hike down the hill was even more beautiful.  Hee!!  When we first started the trail, we saw some people coming out of the trail using some wood walking sticks.  I mentioned to Shawn that we need to get us some sticks and they offered us theirs.  I was so thankful that they did.  They helped get up and down the trail a lot! 

We didn’t eat any lunch that day, but did munch on some snacks when we got back to the car.  After we finished the RFMT drive, we headed back to the hotel to change and drove into Knoxville for dinner.   When we were in Florida last fall we ate at a Brazilian restaurant called Texas de Brazil and it was delish!  As we were driving through Knoxville on the way to Gatlinburg, I saw a billboard for a Brazilian restaurant called Brazeiros so we called to find out about it and knew we wanted to eat there.  Brazeiros was just as yummy and I would highly recommend it to anyone!  It was late when we were finished with dinner, and since we didn’t know the area, we didn’t do anything else and headed back to the hotel.  We did stop at another ice cream place called Mad Dogs Creamery.  It was absolutely delish as well.  We went back again later in the week.

These pictures were taken along the nature trail at the visitors center.

These pictures were taken at a pull-off along the Roaring Fork Motor Trail.  I had the tri-pod in the car for the one of us together, but it was a pain to set up each time so there isn't many using it.

The rest of the pictures were taken along the hike to Grotto Falls.

I wished I would of had someone take a picture of Shawn and I together at the waterfall, but I didn't :(

Gatlinburg 2011 Trip Report: Sat. Oct. 15

Saturday, October 15 finally arrived!  It’s vacation time baby!  We got up early that morning and started getting ready for vacation, packed the car, and drove both cars to Rockport.  Mom watches the dogs while we go on vacation, so we dropped Shawn’s car off to her to have for the week, then we went to Beth and Tommy’s to tell everyone bye and so I could visit with Gavin for a little bit before we left for vacation.  We said bye to everyone and headed on our way.  

I did all the driving that day while Shawnie snoozed in the car.  We stopped for lunch at a Cracker Barrel somewhere along the way.  I had the veggie platter with dumplings, mashed potatoes with gravy, carrots, and fried apples for dessert.  We shopped in there a bit and I bought a couple little Christmas gifts for some friends.  After lunch, we got back in the car and were on our way! 

I absolutely love going to Gatlinburg and look forward to each trip we make down there.  When we got into Seiverville/Pigeon Forge, we experienced a lot of traffic, but that really was the extent of traffic for us all week (and I was thankful for that!).  In fact, it took us about an hour to go the last 4 miles to our hotel. 

We arrived at our hotel, Vacation Lodge, and checked in and unpacked the car.  I booked our hotel based on the reviews about it on TripAdvisor.com.  It had both good and bad reviews, but since we aren’t real picky people, I figured the good reviews outweighed the bad reviews.  I’m glad I followed the advice of those with good reviews.  Our hotel was nice, and had an exceptionally nice price.  I think we paid around $350 for 6 days/5 nights stay, which is very cheap considering the time of year that we went.  We got a non-smoking king suite room with a comfy, comfy, comfy king size bed, fireplace, TV in the bedroom, kitchen area with sink, microwave, refrigerator, large bathroom, and a living room with a couch and second TV.   The room was extra large and super clean, which were both pluses in my book.  I’m so leery about staying in hotels anymore.  The bed was very comfy, so that was a huge plus as well!  My only complaints were that there wasn’t a desk/table for me to use the computer/scrapbook at, and that there wasn’t any laundry facilities onsite.  Shawn’s complaints were that there weren’t any exercise equipment onsite, and there wasn’t an indoor pool.  Other than that, the hotel was great and we will definitely stay there again. 

After we unloaded the car, we headed to Fuddrucker’s for dinner.  I had the chopped steak dinner with salad, potato wedges and garlic bread.  This is my fave meal from there, and like always, it was yummy.  We stopped at Baskin Robin’s for ice cream and I had a double dip of chocolate and strawberry in a cup, even though I had already told Shawn we weren’t getting any dessert all week cause we have both been trying to lose weight.  I’m weak; he’s weak; we both enjoy the sweet treats, especially on vacation!  After the sweet treats, we headed back to the hotel to unpack and get a good night’s rest. 

Fall Fest Fun

This past week was the West Side Nut Club's 80th Annual Fall Fest.  It is supposed to the 2nd largest street fair next to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  I can believe it!  It's a week of nothing but eating, eating, and more eating.  LOL!!  They also have rides and games, but the best part is the eating.  There are over 130 food booths all lined up and down both sides of Franklin Street for blocks.  I went Wednesday night after work and got some supper before church.  I had a deep fried twinkie (in fact, I had one every time I was down there!  They are delish!), a huge pork tenderloin sandwich, and some german potato salad.  Friday evening I went after work and met up with Angie and the girls while Shawn worked at the Wish Upon a Star booth until 7:00 p.m.  That night I had chicken and dumplings, a deep fried twinkie, fried green beans with horseradish sauce, and apple cider.  Then Shawn and I went back Saturday morning for the pet parade.  I had chicken and dumplings, a stromboli, and a deep fried twinkie.  I got an ear of corn too, but didn't like it so I only had a bite or two of it before pitching it.

Normally Shawn and I go down Saturday evening for the main parade, but this year we didn't get too because of a prior church event.  So in place of that, we went Saturday morning to the pet parade.  It was cute and there was lots of kids and pets dressed up. 

This was Franklin Street at 9:30 Saturday morning.  I couldn't believe how many people were here already!

The pet parade at 10:00 Saturday morning and all the people already lined up and down Franklin Street eating!

A couple of cuties and their tiny weiner dog puppies in the pet parade.

A UPS Puppy :)

A cute bumble bee puppy!

The pictures below were "borrowed" from the West Side Nut Club's Facebook page.  I put them on here so you can see exactly what the Fall Fest is all about!  There was lots of carnival games and rides; however the games are expensive to play and the wait times and lines for the rides were ridiculously long!



I love these two night pictures I found.  It shows you just how big the festival is and how crowded it is.  The weather this year was perfect for it!  It was warm and no rain.  I remember years that you had to have an umbrella and be bundled up!