Our Gatlinburg Adventure (COMPLETE!) *** Conclusion added 10-07-06 *** About This Page:

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Christie [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] The falls are beautiful [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Sorry you had to rearrange your plans for the evening, but it sounds like you still had a great time (and a great meal)!

[lauren-roxy]

Great update Christie!! We have had to change our plans too due to a bathroom emergency. Sounds like you had a nice evening anyway, and the food sounded really good!!

[DyanKJ130]

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A close-up


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This photo is absolutely gorgeous!!

[Meggera]

I really [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] all of the pictures of the waterfalls. They are so beautiful!

[christiejay]

Day 7 - Thursday, July 6, 2006

Today we weren't too worried about getting up early, as we were going to eat breakfast at one of the many pancake houses in town, and then make our way on to other things. After last night's storm moved through, there was still a little rain hanging around so we didn't know what we'd be able to do. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] For breakfast we decided to eat at the Little House of Pancakes, which was right down the road from our resort, almost next door to The Alamo where we ate supper last night. Jay had one of the big breakfasts, I had pecan pancakes and Joshua had plain pancakes. Mine tasted good, but it was just too much food for me. I think I ended up eating about 2/3 of what was on my plate. While at the table we talked about our options for this morning and I discovered that Jay had left all our discount vouchers back in the room, so we had to go back to get them. For some reason, he thought that we were going back to the room after breakfast regardless.

We decided to go to Christus Gardens first since it was indoors and opened earlier than other attractions. Maybe when we finished the rain would have passed. When we arrived we were walking to the door and Joshua caught sight of the Space Needle:



We had to stop for a minute to look at it, then when Joshua's curiosity was satisfied, we were ready to tour Christus Gardens.


I just realized we were in this picture! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

We headed inside, turned in our vouchers and took turns going to the restroom while we waited for our tour to begin.

We waited in the rotunda where there are display cases of heirloom Bibles, a display of gems and precious stones of the Bible, and also a 5-part mural depicting people and stories from the Old Testament:


Creation and Noah


Isaac and Jacob


Ten Commandments and Joshua


Samson


Daniel and the Prophets

Note: Jay was taking these pictures from one spot, to make a panoramic picture. That's why the views of each panel of the mural are not head-on. But the panoramic picture would have been too big to include here.

Soon our tour began (we were the only ones on this tour) and we went into the small theater where we saw a short film that told about the history of Christus Gardens and how the scenes were created. After the film, the doors on the opposite side of the theater opened and we headed that way, guided the whole time not by a person, but by light and sound. As you finish one scene, the lights and sound start to dim, and the lights and sound come up on the next scene to let you know it's time to move on. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

You're not allowed to take pictures on the tour, so I'll briefly describe each of the scenes.

The Nativity - I love how the animals look so lifelike
Christ in the Temple - 12 years old, talking to the elders
Temptation - The Devil in this scene is not repulsive, as they want to convey the idea that temptation does not always appear to be wicked
Behold the Lamb of God - with John the Baptist
Sermon on the Mount - wide variety of people represented in the crowd
Little Children - Jesus allowing the children to come to Him
Last Supper - a recreation of da Vinci's painting, the narration identifies all the apostles at the table for you
Christ at Prayer in the Garden - a newer scene that was only added about 3 years ago
Crucifixion - very powerful scene to stand in front of
The Empty Tomb - with Mary Magdalene
The Ascension - Jesus rising through the clouds

At the conclusion of the last scene, the doors open and you enter an enclosed garden which contains the famous carving of Jesus, whose eyes follow you as you walk from side to side:





There is also this Christus statue:



You are free to spend as much time as you want here, and there are benches in case you want to sit for a while. When you are ready, you go back inside and enter a small rotunda which contains paintings of some of Jesus' parables, and also a Biblical coin display:



After this you exit through (what else) a gift shop. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] This one is really nice, though, and has a selection similar to what you might find at your local Christian gift shop. We bought the Christus Gardens booklet which has pictures, Bible verses and descriptions of each of the scenes as well as the history of the attraction, a small fish emblem to put on the car, a large fish emblem with a cross to put on the truck, and a guardian angel medallion for Joshua with his name on it.

I remember when I was growing up and visiting Gatlinburg with my family, that all the other attractions in town seemed so cheesy and hastily-put-together, and Christus Gardens always seemed to be so professionally done. It still is very nice, although in recent years the quality of newer attractions in town has really improved. Of course, the story that Christus Gardens presents hasn't changed over the years, but you can tell that they have improved the scenes by adding additional elements. This time I noticed that except for one scene, all the "velvet ropes" have been removed, allowing you to feel closer to the scenes. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] Also, I noticed something else this time that I don't remember from previous visits: they appear to have added additional foreground elements/decorative items to the very edge of some of the scenes, where the edge of the platform is. Kind of serves to bring you more into the scene in a way. I was disappointed, though, to see that they still haven't fixed all the leaks in their roof, as we had to walk around quite a few buckets in one room. Maybe next time ...

Up next: We Go Up The Mountain

[lauren-roxy]

What an absolutely beautiful place Christie!!! More please!!

[Meggera]

Christus Gardens looks beautiful! I will have to show my DH the pictures and insist on visiting it in person one day. How [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]!

[christiejay]

We decided to go ahead with our plan for this morning, which was to take the tram up to Ober Gatlinburg . The rain had passed on by, but it was very foggy. We knew the weather might have some of the rides on top of the mountain closed down, but we also knew that the tram tickets would be good for today and tomorrow, so why not at least ride the tram? We found a good (FREE!) parking space along River Road (Tip: the only free public parking places not reserved for a specific business - park parallel along River Road!), and enjoyed the animals while walking to the tram station:









There is one of these display boards outside both the front and rear entrances of the tram station:



It gives you an idea of the activities offered on top of the mountain. We went inside, used our discount vouchers to get our tram tickets, and on the way to the entrance of the tram, discovered that they now take your picture before you board the tram. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] They have painted one of the walls green, then when you look at your picture at the top later, you can choose a scene to put behind you. Pretty cool idea, and also a good way to snag some more of your money! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] (At least that's the way it worked out for us.)

Soon it was time to board the tram, and it wasn't very crowded, most likely because of the weather, and since it was still pretty early in the day.



Once we arrived at the top of the mountain, we decided to walk around for a while to see which rides might or might not be open, before we paid any money to do things. We walked out back to check things out, but it appeared that it was going to be quite some time before any of the rides opened. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] So we headed back in and I took a restroom break while the boys watched the skating:





We decided we might as well wait until tomorrow to buy our wristbands for the rides so we didn't waste our money and time today waiting for the weather to clear up. We'd be able to ride the tram again tomorrow without paying again, so it all worked out. Here's some pictures of our return tram ride:









When the tram came into the station and we made our way out, I noticed where you could go down the ramp one more level and look at the machinery that operates the tram cars. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] So we went that way, looked at the machinery, then waited for the tram to go back up so we could watch everything in motion for a minute.




During all this time Jay decided that we should walk down the Parkway to have lunch at:


you can just make out the golden arches - McDonald's!

Not my favorite place and by far not my first choice, but I knew it would make Joshua happy so I was okay with it. This McDonald's was nice and airy (and busy!) and we got a seat by the door. Joshua had a hamburger Happy Meal, Jay had a quarter-pounder cheeseburger meal and I had the 3-piece chicken select meal. Joshua was excited to have received a pirate skull in his Happy Meal! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] It was Pirates of the Caribbean, a skull-shaped version of a Magic 8 Ball. To see what the answer is, you have to lift the eye patch. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] The answers on this are all in pirate-speak such as Aye Me Hearties or Walk the Plank. Pretty cute, but it did get tiresome having to read it to him every minute or so, especially since he didn't grasp the concept of asking a yes/no question. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Up next: Cars, Cars and More Cars!

[lauren-roxy]

Great update Christie!! That was really some fog when you were on the tram ride down!! Can't wait for more!!!!

[Meggera]

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Great update Christie!! That was really some fog when you were on the tram ride down!! Can't wait for more!!!!

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[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yeahthat.gif[/img] My thoughts exactly!

[christiejay]

Since we had to miss seeing the Hollywood Star Cars Museum last night, we used our Ober Gatlinburg rain-out as an opportunity to visit it today. We crossed over the Parkway (no easy feat) and backtracked to the entrance of the museum. We used a coupon off their web site to save money on our admission, and Joshua got in free. We were told that Joshua could sit in the Flintstones' car for us to take his picture, but that was the only one. Of course Joshua didn't want to! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] But once inside, I saw a sign that said you could have your souvenir picture made in any of the vehicles for a fee. We didn't. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]


Joshua enjoyed watching Herbie while we waited to go inside - every so often he would do something.

On the first floor, in plain view of people walking along the Parkway (I guess for advertisement purposes, to pull more people in) are several vehicles:


The General Lee


The Flintstones

Plus a few others, as well as some movie props, including Charlie's Angels and Terminator 2.

Next you have to go upstairs to continue your tour. At the top of the stairs is the front half of:


Christine. There is a motion sensor and as you approach the top of the stairs, the headlights come on and the engine revs up. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] Joshua definitely did not like this part. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img]

Around the corner was a video and a few seats. We sat down and watched the video which explained about George Barris. The vehicles here are part of his collection. He owns a customization shop in California. When a special vehicle is needed for a movie they get him to customize them just what they need. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] After the video you continue your tour:


Back to the Future


Police vehicle from Back to the Future 2


The Beverly Hillbillies


The Andy Griffith Show




There was a picture on the wall showing Don Knotts (RIP [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] ) signing the glove box, so Jay got a picture of his autograph.


Interior of KITT from Knight Rider




Ghostbusters


Johnny Cab from Total Recall


drag racer from the Munsters


Jurassic Park

There were a lot of other vehicles. I would really recommend this museum to anybody, as the vehicles here represented quite a wide variety of movies and TV shows. At the end of the tour we discovered that the stairs leading down to the original exit door had been blocked off to create a fire-escape only. There was a sign asking you to go back through the museum and exit through the entrance. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] I had been wondering why so many people kept going past us!

After leaving the museum we walked along the Parkway for a while and went in a few shops. I was still looking for some large windchimes, and I was also looking for something for Joshua. I found a few personalized items in one of the stores, but Jay didn't seem too excited about them, so I decided not to get them. We came upon a small shopping center we had never stopped at before - the Elks Plaza. One store immediately caught our eye because of all the smiley faces in the window - One Happy Place. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] This store is jam-packed full of anything and everything you could imagine that had a smiley-face on it. It was really fun - who can frown when they're surrounded by all those smiles? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] There were a lot of cute things in there, and I almost bought a T-shirt - One Happy Hillbilly, but I refrained. Instead we went in one of the other shops, Souvenirs & More. It is a typical (almost tacky) souvenir shop, but wait, what is that in the back? Big wind chimes! I went to look, and finally, a decent price! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] The ones hanging up on display were the last ones left, so we grabbed them and the box and Jay took them to the counter so they could be repacked. There was a rack of carabiner keychains that had a clearance price on them, and they had one that said Josh, so Jay got it for Joshua. He loves keychains, even without any keys to put on them! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Up next: Something We've Never Done on Vacation Before

[Colexis Mom]

What a great car museum [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] And I'm glad you found your windchimes [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[DyanKJ130]

Interesting museum....strange about the exit though, huh? I'm glad you found your windchimes at a decent price!

[DrDolphin]

Sounds like a really interesting museum.

[GoofyMom]

I think I would probably freak out at first when Christine came to "life"! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]