Blogs from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, United States, North America
May 20th 2011
Today was another day in the Great Smoky Mountains. I spent quite a bit of time deciding where. The park is huge, and much of it is located away from roads. I eventually chose the Roaring Fork auto tour, because it has a wide variety of experiences in a small area. The first challenge with Roaring Fork is finding it. The road first goes to Gatlinburg. This town is a miniature Pigeon Forge, with a similar range of cheesy entertainment and shopping options. The big difference with Pigeon Forge is that all of this is wrapped in pseudo-Bavarian architecture. The town wants to look like a quaint village in the Alps. The issue for me is that it’s not in the Alps, it’s a tourist trap in ea... read more
Full on Southern US hospitality
Published: October 1st 2010North America » United States » Tennessee » Gatlinburg
July 23rd 2010
We've made it to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, for Keith's National Marine Education Association conference. We're sharing a room with Bob, who Keith knows from past conferences, but Tessa and I get to meet him when he kindly drags himself out of bed on our arrival after midnight. We all fall into our beds, looking forward to moving into conference mode and checking out Gatlinburg the next day. Well we're into full culture shock now after Central America. Gatlinburg is the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited National Park in the States. This is touristville for Americans and they certainly go all out to entertain. The town is bursting with all sorts of family entertainment options, there's a huge (2 storey) replica of the gorilla from King Kong, famous cars from films and ... read more
Great Smoky Mountains
Published: June 29th 2010North America » United States » Tennessee » Gatlinburg
October 7th 2009
Day 171 (Wednesday 07/10/09, NJJ) In the morning we passed from South Carolina into North Carolina. Around 12.30pm we arrived at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Travelled north through the park. Visited a mountain farm museum then on to view Clingman's Dome for a mile round walk. Passed from North Carolina into Tennessee. In the evening we checked into a Super 8 motel. ... read more
July 27th 2009
Sister Julie & Godson Ryan came for a fun-filled week. Even took a tour of UT! ... read more
The Mystical Magical Medicine Show
Published: July 27th 2009North America » United States » Tennessee » Gatlinburg
July 27th 2009
Richard is playing the nasty slimy treacherous villian at his brother's theatre Sweet Fanny Adams. That's not all he doing but you'll have to come see for yourself to find out the real scoop!... read more
July 12th 2009
Fra indianerreservatet gikk turen til Gatlinburg, som egentlig bare var et tilfeldig stopp på veien til Charleston i South Carolina. Vi tok inn på et lite og trivelig sted som eies av to eldre, kanskje en smule enfoldige mennesker. Veldig søtt par. Kona var oransj i ansiktet og hadde grønne øyenbryn og var veldig veldig glad i sine små teppetissere (to veskehunder). "Sæy, aææim a nææis littl f'rrbåll!" (Say, I'm a nice little furball) Mannen var beskjeden, men tydelig stolt og patriotisk. Byen minner litt om Hemsedal i påska...!... read more
Fall - Winter 2008/2009
Published: March 14th 2009North America » United States » Tennessee » Gatlinburg
March 14th 2009
Well it is time to update this site. In November 2008, we visited Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, TN to see some friends and tour the area. How absolutely the mountains were. It was fall and the trees had turned color. What a glorious sight. We stayed a week before we headed for Breeze Lake Campground, Brownsville, TX.... read more
Back on Eastern Standard time...
Published: November 14th 2008North America » United States » Tennessee » Gatlinburg
November 14th 2008
In true Mary fashion I have a story for y'all... Last night, unbeknownst to us, our hotel was robbed. The clerk was lured away from the desk under the guise that a guest needed towels. Someone has placed a phony call to lure her away and while she was delivering the materials to the room, which happened to be unoccupied, money was stolen from the drawer. What I find strange is that I actually think whoever took the money may have been casing the joint earlier. Around 10pm I heard a knock on our hotel room door. My parent's were already asleep and I wasn't about to open the door to someone I didn't know. I heard another knock and then the person walked down the hallway. I didn't hear any more knocks on any ... read more
She was going as far as Gatlinburg............"somewhere in the Smoky Mountain rain.(sun)......"
Published: October 7th 2008North America » United States » Tennessee » GatlinburgOctober 6th 2008
Thankfully Gretchen agreed to ride with me again after the near incident of last night. The sun again shone on us as we headed off on a very scenic road taking the long way round to Gatlinburg at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains. We headed out on 11W-TN thru Kingsport and along the base of the Clinch Mountains.The scene was rural with rolling hills and a four lane highway almost devoid of traffic.We pssed thru towns loke Stiggersville(where do that get these names!!) and Bean Station(not sure at all where that one would have come from!!) Lunchtime came as we entered Morristown and headed for the mall expecting to find a food court.Not so in this instance.So we opted for a pizza place and for our 20 min lunch there we were the only ... read more
