Gatlinburg Vacay 2013: Tuesday

We slept in a little later on Tuesday morning and then got ready and headed out for the day.

First stop, the new Ferris Wheel at the Island in Pigeon Forge.  The night before we bought the night/day ticket so we were going for our day ride.  Definitely more amazing views during the day.  The ferris wheel is new and just opened this summer.  It's a definite must do when in the area.

After the ferris wheel, we drove over to Dandrige, TN to visit the Bush's Baked Bean's visitor center.  We actually saw this two years ago when we were on our way to the Biltmore House in Ashville, NC.  I investigated it then and decided we would visit it the next time we were in the area.  It had great reviews on Trip Advisor and everyone was right.  This was a neat little must-do, at least once, if you are in the area.  Lots of great photo ops, gifts in the gift shop, and very interesting videos on the Bush's and how the process goes from the bean in the field to the canned beans on the store shelves!  We didn't get to meet Jay or Duke, but we did get a photo taken inside that they print out and give you for free!  And then Shawn and I took these silly photos outside the visitor's center!

This bag is filled up with beans!  If you stand each bean end to end, they would be almost as tall as the Empire State Building!

Shawn's weight in beans!

They also have a restaurant you can eat at, but we already had plans to drive over to Cosby, TN and eat lunch at Carver's Apple House.  I read about it on Trip Advisor as well and it had great reviews!  Those people weren't kidding, their food was yummy, and the views were amazing!

I ordered the daily special and got chicken and dumplings, mashed potatoes and corn, and it came with a drink and dessert...homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing that was amazing!  Shawn got the fish, mashed potatoes and cole slaw.  And both meals came with apple fritters with apple butter, apple cider, and apple cider rolls. 

After we ate, we perused their produce area.  I have to tell you, I was completely in shock at the amount of apples they carried and the amount of people in there buying multiple paper grocery sacks full of apples!  I just stood there looking around at all the business going on around me!

Who knew I had a candy store?  I bet Gavin would love me even more! ;)

After we left there, we headed back into Gatlinburg and went to the Ripley's Aquarium.  We came here our first year in Gatlinburg and thought it would be fun to go back.  It's a nice aquarium.  I think my fave part was the water tunnel that you stood on the walkway and it took you through it.  I also enjoyed watching all of the huge stingrays swimming around.  Reminds me of seeing them in the ocean last year in Florida!

I also got my smashed penny! 

After the aquarium, it was time for dinner at Jose's Cantina, which conveniently was located right across from the parking lot of the aquarium.  We actually asked if we could park in their parking lot since we were having dinner there later and they said we could.  Thanks for saving me $10 in parking Jose's!  Someone had told me their food was good and we enjoyed it.  Our favorite was the double decker taco Shawn got. 

After all that, Shawn wanted a sweet treat at the Marble Slab Creamery and then it was back to the hotel to sleep before we started the next days activities!

Gatlinburg Vacay 2013: Monday

Monday. Our first official day in the Gatlinburg area.  It was a busy day!  It started out really early and ended really late!  Needless to say, by the end of the day, we were both exhausted!

 

Shawn golfed Monday morning at Laurel Valley Country Club.  I had told him about the reviews on Trip Advisor and they had free golf on Monday's, all you had to pay for was the cart.  He called Sunday on our way into town and  made a tee time of 9:20 a.m. We were up around 7:00 a.m. Monday we were out the door by 8:30 a.m. that morning.  It was foggy on the drive to the golf course and when we got to the course, it was super foggy.  I wasn't sure if he would be able to play or not, but he did.  There were actually quite a few golfers out there already playing when he got started. 

 

 

 

 

After I dropped him off, I headed to Cades Cove.  My absolute favorite thing to do in Gatlinburg is to drive through Cades Cove, and I wanted to do it a couple times while we were gone.  Can you believe the difference in the day that 30 minutes makes?  At Cades Cove, it was sunny and blue skies!

 

  

 

 

 

Anytime you see a congestion of cars in the cove, you know there is usually a bear sighting.  However this congestion was due to some large bucks up at the edge of the field.  Stink, I wanted to see a bear.

 

 

I spotted a buck myself, but it was in a different part of the cove.

 

 

 

After I had driven through the cove, I headed back to pick Shawn up from golfing.  He was only on the 14th hole, so they drove me out to where he was playing and I rode the last few holes with him.  The course had some amazing views!

 

 

 

 

After golf, we ate lunch at the Apple Valley Country store and had burgers and fries and shared a delicious fried apple pie!  We did some shopping in their gift shops!  They had one shop that was a flag lovers heaven!

 

 

After lunch, we drove back into Gatlinburg down Little River Road and stopped at a couple of the pull-offs.  One of them has a waterfall you can see from the road!

 

 

 

Once we got into Gatlinburg, we decided to park near the Space Needle since we wanted to do that and were going to eat dinner just down the street from it.  We are on vacation and it's only natural for my husband to continue working :/  Don't get me wrong, I am blessed and happy that my husband is a hard worker, but I dislike waiting around for him when we are planning on doing something, especially on vacation!  I thought this picture was funny because it depicted him working, the space needle we were going too, and me taking a picture while waiting for him!

 

 

 

Got the Space Needle smashed penny!  I actually found another smashed penny laying on a race car game Shawn and I were playing.  Sweet...two pennies!

 

 

You can see all of Gatlinburg from the top of the Space Needle!  We had been up there one other time, but it was at night.  I loved the views during the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loved that Shawn's iPhone takes panoramic pics!

 

  

We walked around downtown Gatlinburg some before eating dinner at Blaine's Grill and Bar.  It's our favorite restaurant in Gatlinburg. 

 

A huge transformer outside the Ripley's Believe It or Not.  Gavin...Uncle Shawn wanted to take this picture for you :)

 

 

Love watching them make taffy.  Also picked up mom a box of it for watching our furbabies back home.

 

 

We ended up going back up in the Space Needle after supper since the ticket was good for a day and night view.  It's amazing to see the city all lit up!

 

 

After we left Gatlinburg and were back in Pigeon Forge, we decided to go check out the new Ferris Wheel at the Island.  We ended up buying a day/night ticket there and rode the ferris wheel at night and then planned on going back the next morning to ride it again!

 

 

 

Part of Pigeon Forge lit up at night!

 

  

 

These two pictures of Shawnie crack me up!  We were stopped at the top of the ferris wheel and were taking a few pics....

 

 

...and then it started moving again!  Needless to say Shawn wasn't a fan!  LOL!

 

 

After the ride at the ferris wheel, we headed to our favorite sweet treat place, Mad Dogs Creamery, but it was closed so we ended up at Baskin Robins and then headed back to the hotel for the evening.

 

Once back at the hotel, I had a little mishap....the memory card was in the card reader which was plugged into the laptop and the laptop slide off my lap desk when I was getting in the bed and crashed to the floor.  I was sad my little card reader bit the dust, but happily I found a card reader slot on my laptop and was able to transfer my pictures to the laptop.  I was also happy that my memory card wasn't ruined! 

 

 

We had a great first day in Gatlinburg and can't wait to see what the rest of the week will bring!