(Click on pictures to get a larger image)
The porch wraps around two sides and the spa (hot tub) is off the back porch with a view of the valley and the mountain on the other side. We can hear dogs barking occasionally back there, coming from down in the valley. The upstairs loft is huge with a separate area for the bathroom and jacuzzi. There are two hide-a-beds, so you could have 8 people here, but I think that would feel very crowded. Two is perfect, and four would be cozy. The kitchen is large and open, with lots of counter space and a table with two benches for eating. The couch is directly in front of the fireplace with the TV off to the side, perfect. Jason is loving the fireplace and the large supply of firewood and kindling.
We headed off to the Alamo for dinner where Jason had the best steak of his life. He shared a piece and I’d have to agree with him. I decided to try BBQ shrimp with bacon wrapped around it, a first for me. I decided I prefer my shrimp without bacon and BBQ sauce. We hit the grocery store and picked up food for the week and then headed home for dessert. (Oh, not that, it’s a family-friendly blog.) We had the top layer of our cake remade for our anniversary and shared a couple slices of cake. (Love love love the buttercream icing from ele cake/Taste of Elegance/Woody’s bakery!!)
Sunday morning we woke up to rain falling. The rain turned to sleet and then the sleet turned to snow. We weren’t worried at first because there was no snow in the forecast. Jason started a fire in the fireplace and we decided to wait out the snow before heading out. We also took the opportunity to sit in the hot tub while the snow was falling. The hot tub is on a covered deck, but the snow was still falling on us. Hours later the driveway was covered with snow and due to the steepness, we decided to stay in until the snow melted. We walked around outside for awhile and had some trouble walking back up our driveway, we decided at that point that staying in was a wise decision.
While we were making dinner the lights flickered and then the electricity went out. About a minute or two later it came back on. Our dinner was done and then the electricity went out again. This time it didn’t come back on. We called the rental office and they suggested we drive into town to get flashlights and candles, just in case. We brought some from home, so thankfully we didn’t have to make that trip. It was still daylight out so we sat upstairs, where there are windows on all sides, and played Uno. We planned on sleeping downstairs on the hide-a-bed in front of the fire if it got cold in the cabin. Thankfully, about an hour later, the electricity came back on.
The temperatures Sunday night got down into the ‘teens, so we were expecting the layer of sleet under the snow to turn into ice. Monday we woke up to light snow still falling, but we could see breaks of blue sky in the clouds. We kept watch on the driveway and the snow melted pretty quick. By noon we were able to head down the hill and into town. We ate at Bennett’s BBQ for lunch and then headed over to the tram to Ober Gatlinburg. (We did this last year too.)
It turned out to be a beautiful day, although it was still chilly in the 30’s. We took the tram up the mountain to Ober Gatlinburg where they have skiing, snowboarding, tubing, ice skating, and a bear exhibit. Of course, like last year, what we were interested in was closed - the tubing and the bear exhibit. We went up to the lounge and watched skiers and snowboarders come down the mountain. The tram ride back down the mountain was spectacular with the views of the snow-covered mountains. I’ve said a few times that March is an ugly time to go to the Smokey Mountains, but with the snow, it was beautiful!
When we got back to our car, almost all the snow was melted off of our car, except for a mound of snow on top of our antenna topper. We had to leave it up there, just to see how long it would last. We got back to the cabin and the view of the mountains around us was so clear, we could see the cabins on the other side of the mountain. The scenery from the upstairs bedroom is just amazing! We headed to the Peddler for dinner, one of our favorite places to eat dinner. We love the atmosphere and the salad bar has the best fixings for a salad. Jason loves the marinated artichoke hearts, I like the bean sprouts and sun flower seeds. (Jason got steak and decided that the Alamo has better steak.)
Tuesday morning was still cold, but clear. Skies were blue with just a few light, fluffy clouds. We ate breakfast and lunch in the cabin and then headed off to Ripley’s Aquarium. Few people were at the aquarium, so we had time to look at each exhibit as long as we wanted to. (This helps when you’re taking pictures.) There’s a large shark tank with tubes that you walk through, or ride on a moving sidewalk. We took our time going through the tubes, looking at all the sharks and other water life. The pictures I took didn’t quite turn out, so I ended up taking a lot of video of the fish. At the end we decided to go through it again, and that time I put the camera down and just watched everything. Amazing! At the end there was an area where you could reach into a tank and “pet” a sting ray. I did this once at the Monterrey Aquarium and was excited that Jason got to experience this. You have to push your sleeve way up, because the sting rays like to swim just out of reach and you’ll find you’ve stuck your entire arm in the water. Jason got to touch them a few times, but I only got one good chance. And yes, I stuck my entire arm in the water and got my sleeve quite wet. I think they feel like wet velvet. Jason said they feel slimy.
After the aquarium we walked around Gatlinburg, looking at some of the stores. Last year I saw a shower curtain that I really wanted, so we found the same store and their shower curtains were on clearance. Unfortunately, the one I wanted was completely sold out. They had the waste basket and Kleenex box cover, but these were expensive and only 30% off. We continued to walk around until the shops started to close around 5pm.We brought the lap top so we headed into Pigeon Forge to find internet access and check emails. We ended up at the Atlanta Bread Company (very similar to Panera) and ate dinner there. We stayed until they started closing at 7pm. (Definitely the off season.) On the way back to the cabin we stopped and rented a couple of videos. We wanted to watch Australia but they didn’t have any left. We ended up with Vantage Point (very good, but the rewinding and seeing the same part again got annoying) and Pineapple Express (we were hoping this would be funny but turned it off after half a hour).
Wednesday morning we got up early and headed out for pancakes at Flapjacks. (Mom and David - the one across from Brookside Resort.) We had a huge breakfast (slightly overpriced, even with the 15% off coupon) which we couldn’t finish, and headed off for Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountain National Park. We stopped by the visitor center and got a few booklets to help us get around. About 45 minutes later we got to Cades Cove and started driving around. About half of the buildings on the loop are a short walk from the road, but a few were up to half a mile away. With the sunny skies and the mountains surrounding the cove, the scenery was perfect. There were few people on the road, so we got to take our time and just take everything in.
We noticed a road to Parson Branch Road, but couldn’t get to it due to roads being closed for the winter. We noticed later that the roads would open up on March 6th, so we started thinking about heading back out there on Friday. (Some maps call it Parsons Branch and others call it Parson Branch.) We headed home and made an early dinner and then watched the sunset on the back patio. Beautiful!
Thursday was a lazy morning and we ate breakfast and lunch at the cabin. We headed out to the arts & crafts loop to do a little more shopping. We thought it would be more of the same that we saw in downtown Gatlinburg but we couldn’t be more wrong. The loop was full of craftsmen and artists who were working on items to sell. With every shop we went to we got to meet the people who made the goods and chat with them. We were usually the only people in each shop, so we had their entire attention. It was hard not to get attached to the people and their work. We ended up buying a bear print by Grace Dyer at the Fireside Gallery for the cabin, and some fudge and candy. If we had a lot more money, we would be coming home with a car full of pottery, jewelry, wood carvings, baskets and prints. (Jason just corrected me and said we’d rent a U-Haul trailer and take one of the 8’ carved grizzly bears home.)
We ate dinner at the Bear Creek Grill. Once again, over-priced even with the 15% off coupon. Usually the food we get that is over-priced is quite yummy, but I was disappointed with this place. We were basically the only people there and our medium burgers came out without any pink at all, my toasted buns came out almost burnt, and the fries tasted like something they warmed up from yesterday. The room was beautiful with a pleasant view of Bear Creek, but I wouldn’t recommend it. We had planned on going to karaoke that night, but my throat was still sore so we just stayed in and watched Survivor and CSI.
Friday we were up for an adventure. We ate breakfast at home and then headed out for a day of driving and hiking. We decided we wanted to hit those roads that opened March 6th, including Parson(s) Brand Road. We believe it’s actually Parson Branch Road and the sign we saw is spelled wrong, but we’re not complaining to anyone. You might want to check out a map while reading through the next paragraph: Great Smoky Mountains Park Map.
The plan was to head back to Cades Cove and head down to Forge Creek Road (a 2-way road) and then to Parson(s) Branch Road (a 1-way road). Because the road is 1-way, we’d end up out of the park in North Carolina once we headed down the road. So we were going to drive clockwise around the park to Townsend and have lunch there if we didn’t find anywhere before this. We would then head back into the park and go hiking to Laurel Falls. And then finally finish up the day by driving around the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail on the other side of the park. This is another road that wasn’t open until March 6th. Then dinner at the cabin and a long soak in the hot tub.
Sounds perfect right? But it never works out as planned. We headed to Cades Cove and decided we couldn’t wait until we were on the other side to get lunch and tried to find something on the way. Nothing. So we snacked on cheese crackers and Girl Scout cookies. We get to Forge Creek Road and it’s still closed. We parked the car to see if we could walk to Parson(s) Branch Road and gave up after walking close to a mile. It was a nice walk by ourselves and I got a few pictures that I really like. So we hop back in the car, finish the loop and get lunch at Townsend anyway. Afterwards we headed to Laurel Falls and hiked up (and up and up) to the falls. More great pictures and back down (and down and down) to the car. Then we headed to the Motor Nature Trail and once again, the road was closed. We still had a great day and enjoyed the long soak in the hot tub.
We decided to hit the town our last night in Gatlinburg. I’ve been to the Smoky Mountains quite a few times and never found anything to do in the evening. That night we found Puckers, which has karaoke every night at 9pm. (woo hoo!) We found a table in the corner and Jason went to find a karaoke book. Turns out there are no books, you just walk up and tell them what you want to sing. The DJ finds your song on his computer and then enters your name, and you’re automatically put in the rotation. (How cool is that!) Jason put in my old stand-by, “Runaround” and within a few minutes, the DJ called my name. Between rotations, they would play dance songs, so I got to do a little regular dancing, line dancing, and of course more karaoke. I ended up singing “Video Killed the Radio Star” and “Flag Pole Sitta” (by Harvey Danger) before we called it a night. I have to say that was one of the best nights out I’ve ever had. (And one of the nice things about Puckers is that if you get drunk enough to start being annoying, they ask you to leave. They also don’t let intoxicated people come in. We witnessed this a few times and were impressed.)
Saturday morning we started packing and cleaning. Check out time was 11am and we had plenty of time. So we spent some time taking in the view from the rocking chairs on the back porch. We headed back to Flapjacks and got the same waitress. We wanted to hit Hillbilly Golf before we left but changed out minds when we realized it was $9/person. We ended up wandering around Gatlinburg a little longer and finally decided to head home at 11:30 am. On the way home we had a little problem with a plastic part under the wheel well coming loose and rattling quite a bit. We stopped in Southern Kentucky at an auto parts store and quickly fixed the problem. We finally got home a little after 6pm. We loved seeing our little fuzzies again, but we were really looking forward to seeing our “new” bathroom. But that’s another blog for another day. :)
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