Gatlinburg Trip 6/18- 6/25 DAY 1 About This Page:

[Mitzi&Kevin]

<font color="purple"> </font> Who: Me (34), DH (46),DD (19), DD (17), DS (13), DS (7)
Gatlinburg TN 6/18-6/25
I am still having problems trying to figure out how to upload pictures here so I am adding a link to look at photo album.
We had hoped to be on the road by 6:00 am but didn't leave the house until 7:00 am. We stop in Indianapolis to pick up our oldest daughter at her grandmother's apartment. The drive down was pretty uneventful. The kids watched movies and played the state license plate game, we all had fun doing that one. We stop at a rest area around noon to eat lunch. The kids kept talking about how their ears were popping, we warned them beforehand. We arrive in Sieverville around 3:30 Gatlinburg time, they are an hour ahead of us. We take the Gatlinburg bypass since we have to go to stoplight 10 to get to the chalet office and we can avoid downtown traffic. We stop at one of the overlooks of downtown and pull over so the kids can see what it looks like. Damon, the 7 yr old, is more excited about all the chalets he can see from here. lol. We find the chalet rental office and check in. We find our way up the mountain to our chalet. We had rented a 5 bedroom chalet for a little of $1500 for 7 nights. The kids loved the chalet, they all get their own room so they pick which ones they wanted. Kevin and I take the upstairs bedroom since it is the only bedroom with a television and we both need the noise to fall asleep. Our sons take the bedrooms on the main floor, DD's take the last 2 bedrooms on the lower level. We had already decided to just hang out at the chalet for the night. Unfortunately, the CD player didn't work but at least we got a good radio station, played 70's, 80's and 90's. So all the kids get their swimsuits on and head into the hot tub. We spent the rest of the evening playing pool. We get the boys to bed around 11 pm. We head to bed shortly afterward.

Next up: Day 2 Downtown Gatlinburg

Mitzi gatlinburg pictures

[Mitzi&Kevin]

We weren't in a hurry to wake up on Sunday morning, well no one was but me. Even on vacation I didn't know what it was to sleep past 7:00. I usually had half a pot of coffee down before anyone else woke up.
Sunday was spent in downtown Gatlinburg walking around and taking in the sights. Of course, all the kids kept saying was can we buy this or that. They were not happy with us telling them no, but I had everything budgeted out almost down to the penny and shopping was not in it for this trip. We decided to go swimming at one of the 3 pools we had access to. We spent about 2 hours there and then it decided to start raining, so we headed back to the chalet. The kids played some more pool and Damon decided it was time to get into the jacuzzi tub. Let me tell you, this thing was HUGE!!!! It was about the size of our hot tub, and they must have had 2 hot water heaters because it was almost half full before it even started cooling down and our daughters could also get in shower and water heat level was not affected. They had mirrors along 3 of the sides and when you looked into them it looked like it kept going on and on forever. Of course DH made an innuendo that I can not put on here lmao. We had decided that night that we would do Cades Cove, in the national parks on Monday morning.
Next up: Day 3 Cades Cove

Mitzi
http://photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

[mestitch]

Awww I Gatlinburg! My parents went there on their honeymoon and they're there right now, 28 years later!! Did you walk around The Village? Where the fountain with the fire on top is? That is my absolute fav. thing to do, hang out in the Village. That and eat at Calhoun's BBQ restaurant which is down near Ober Gatlinburg.

I can't get to your pictures b/c it takes me to a log in page

[kimdisneynut]

Great start. The pictures take me to a log on screen also.


Kim

[lauren-roxy]

Great start to your trip!! How exciting to stay in a chalet!! Can't wait to read more!! I can't log onto the pictures either.

[Mitzi&Kevin]

<font color="red"> </font> I tried something a little different, click on the following links to see pictures. If it doesnt work please let me know so i can work on it. At the moment I have 3 photo albums.
smoky mountain pictures
gatlinburg pictures
Dollywood

[Mitzi&Kevin]

<font color="red"> Day 3 Monday June 20
We awoke fairly early and decided to head to Cades Cove on this day. Cades Cove is an 11 mile loop that you can drive or bike or walk. We entered the National Park and head towards Cades Cove and stop at a place where we thought the water falling over the rocks was beautiful. While standing there we noticed a couple of guys on rocks across the river from us. Then we look to our left and see 3 people standing on a cliff and 2 girls were trying to convince themselves to jump. They eventually did after some time. I thought they were nuts myself, but I guess whatever floats your boat. It started thundering while there so we head back to the van. The kids were still playing the state license plate game and got a few new ones in the parking lot. It was a nice drive to Cades Cove, with only thundering happening at the moment. We arrive at the entrance to the Cove and decide to check into buying a little guide book that would tell us about the different places we would see in the Cove. The park official talked us into buying a new book about the park, we left there $11.00 lighter. But the book was invaluable to us. They have added colored and numbered posts throughtout the park and you can look the color and number up in the book and it will give you background on the area. VERY well written, we will definitely use it for future trips.
Just as we were getting to the first stop on the trail it started raining. There was a house original to the cove, which we would have liked to have seen but it was pouring and I didn't want to hike a quarter mile to see it. We did stop at the Baptist church since the rain had lifted for a few. Me and Scott walked around one half of the cemetery and Kevin and the rest of the kids walked on the other side. Kevin yelled over at me to get a pic of the tombstone over there that said "murdered by North Carolina Rebels" I have included that picture in the photo album. While we were walking over there, the others were on the side that I had just been on and we hear this noise and the girls jump not knowing what it was, they are all looking into the woods probably thinking it was a bear or something, but it was only a tree. We see LOTS of does and a few bucks throughout the drive. We stopped at one of the working mills but it wasn't working, the park had shut it down for repairs or something for the next couple of weeks. It was very fasciniating to see, if you get a chance you should do it. Just remember it only took us about an hour and a half to do it all as it wasn't packed at all. If you go when it is nice weather I have heard it could take upwards of 4 hours to do it.
We decide to head back to the chalet to get ready for dinner as we had decided that today would be the day we take the kids out for the nice dinner. We had talked about doing just a restaurant, but I talked Kevin into doing a dinner show since we had never done anything like that. We decided to go to Fiddler's Feast in Pigeon Forge. We decided there because we found a $3.00 off coupon and Damon didn't cost anything. We get ushered into a HUGE room. There are 3 people playing on stage. Then another guys comes out and tells us how it worked. The adults would get steak, chicken, baked beans, cole slaw,potatoes, biscuit and a dessert. Kids 11 and under would get everything BUT steak. We line up and after 20 minutes we were eating. I can only describe the meal in one word DELICIOUS!!...My 7 yr old ate everything including some of my steak. Turns out the people who served us were the same ones who played in the show. Kevin doesn't like slaw or beans so he got a couple extra biscuits and extra potatoes. All he had to do was ask. The people there were great. After we ate for about 15 minutes they started clearing the plates of the people that were done and it was onto the show. The show was fantastic, everything you would expect to hear in the Rocky Mountains. Damon absolutely loved it. The show lasted until after 10:30. I think they play longer if it is the last show and the people are having fun. We had to head back to the chalet as it was an early morning for Dollywood.

Next up: Day 4 Dollywood and kidsfest <font color="red"> </font>