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

[luvnwdwgal]

This is great Christie! DH insists that our WDW trip coming up in September be the last for awhile, so I've been thinking about where to plan our next vacation, and I came up with The Smokies and Gatlinburg!! Can't wait to check out all your website info!! Thanks! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[rileysmommy]

[ QUOTE ]
[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] So where would you like to go next summer? We're hoping for north Georgia, with day trips to Chattanooga and Atlanta, and the rest of the week down time. Gotta rest up and save money for WDW again in '08!

[/ QUOTE ]

I want to go to WDW next year! I would go every year but DH and DSS like the Smokies just as well, but the drive is shorter. I know...they're crazy!

I wish I had known earlier you were going. I'm from NW TN and our visitor's center has LOADS and LOADS of information I could have sent you. Everytime we are going to the Smokies we get tons of info and coupons.

If you (or anyone else) have questions about the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area, please PM me and I'll be happy to answer what I can.

Quick notes... my family loves Splash Country (and Dollywood, but esp. Splash Country). Sevierville has the best outlet mall I've ever been to. Also, if you scrapbook, there is a great scrapbook store in Sevierville (I think it's called Scrapbook Warehouse and Clearance Center, but I'm not positive).
Please let me know if you have any questions! Have fun!!

[christiejay]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, if you scrapbook, there is a great scrapbook store in Sevierville (I think it's called Scrapbook Warehouse and Clearance Center, but I'm not positive).


[/ QUOTE ]

That is my mom's new favorite store - on their visit last spring, they went to that store 3 times! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

[christiejay]

Well, once I finished typing this update, it didn't sound like very much, but here it is, for what it's worth:


Now that all the decisions and plans had been made, it was time to kick my brain into high gear and see if there was anything I had forgotten. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] Amazingly, I didn't think there was. Jay had already put aside a little money for the trip, and I had already given him enough money to cover the cost of the hotel the first night. Although, he did make one more run to the ATM for extra cash to use for tips, snacks, etc. As for fun stuff prior to the trip, unfortunately we didn't have any type of countdown before this trip - I just simply kept up with how much longer until we left. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Jay ended up being off the week before our trip - due to lower-than-expected sales, Nissan decided to shut down for two weeks instead of just one. So he was around for all those little things that needed to be done those last few days. This time, it was mainly just errands that I wanted to make sure I took care of before we left town, not really anything trip-related. One day that week I took Joshua to the fairly new Clinton Visitor Center, which was constructed alongside the new stretch of Natchez Trace Parkway. Both opened in 2005. Our purpose in going was to obtain a new map of the Trace, and we found one. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] We spent a few minutes looking at the exhibits, and I also bought Joshua a patch with the Parkway emblem on it, to go with the other patches we got him from our last Gatlinburg trip. One day I'll sew them onto something; I'm not sure what that will be. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

I also bought some new comfortable shoes that day, and I made sure I bought some thin socks so I wouldn't get any blisters from all the walking I knew we'd be doing. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] I finally figured out that's what caused my blister last summer at Walt Disney World - I had bought some nice, thick, cushy socks thinking they would be comfortable. Well, they were, but all that material inside my shoes kept bunching up and eventually caused a blister. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] Amazingly, it was just one, and not until the next-to-last day of our trip. But I was determined not to make the same mistake on this trip. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] Knowing we would need lots of water during our walks/hikes, I also bought a new fanny pack at Wal-Mart. I located it in the hunting/fishing/camping section. It was fairly large, and had two water bottles attached, one on each side of the pouch. That should serve well to keep both Joshua and myself hydrated during the week. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

As usual, we had a session where we tried on all our shorts to make sure they still fit - amazingly they did, which was good as we didn't have money in the budget for buying new clothes! Then I started packing - an interesting task for this trip. First of all, I didn't plan on washing clothes while we were gone, and I wanted to change clothes after hiking each morning, so I had double the clothes I would normally take. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] Then, Jay decided he didn't want to use a suitcase, but rather his large duffle-type bag. Fine by me - we were going in the truck, with the bed covered for storage, so we had plenty of space. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] Then of course Joshua had his own bag of clothes. Most of my clothes went straight into my suitcase, but I had to wait until I washed clothes the last day before packing Jay's and Joshua's bags.

For all those miscellaneous items, I used the PassPorter packing list, plus my usual list I use when I take Joshua anywhere for an overnight stay, plus a short list of items that we usually don't take on vacation, but like to have with us in the mountains. I started piling things up on the dining table and trying to figure out how best to pack it all.

After a trip to Wal-Mart to buy the rest of the food we would need to take with us, I worked on packing and preparing that. One of the things that I found slowed us down on our drive up the Trace last time was having to fix all our snacks and meals each time we stopped to eat. Trying to be more efficient, I worked out a system. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] My sister thought I was absolutely crazy, but it worked! I figured out everything we would need for each meal stop (morning snack, lunch, early afternoon light snack, late afternoon snack and supper), then went ahead and put as much as possible together a couple of days before we left. I included Joshua's snacks in snack-sized ziploc bags, as well as individual packs of Pringles, napkins, bananas, crackers, and cookies in ziploc snack bags as well. Everything except the sandwiches which I made up the night before we left. Then I put everything we would need for each stop into a separate Wal-Mart bag, and labeled the outside of the Wal-Mart bag with the time of day we would be making that stop. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] The idea was to grab one bag each time we stopped which would have everything we needed in one place, supplemented of course by drinks and sandwiches which would be in the cooler.

So let's see, I had Joshua's travel bag packed full of fun things for him to do along the drive - mainly the same stuff that stays in that bag, and only comes out on trips so he won't get tired of it. We also packed the handheld V-Smile game he got for Christmas. I had all my travel books handy to read along the way, as well as a couple of small cases of CD's to listen to. We had several cases of drinks and a couple of boxes of food - for breakfast, picnic lunches, our July 4 cookout and snacks. Three bags full of clothes for once we reached our destination, plus another bag of clothes for our first night's layover so we didn't have to unload all our bags. The already-prepared meal bags, plus a couple of extra bags of food that I couldn't manage to pack in the boxes. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] Of course the cooler. Then there is that usual box of stuff that I didn't want to pack in the back end of the truck due to the heat that I knew would build up back there. I think that's all, so it sounds like we're about ready.

If you read my trip report from WDW last summer, you know that we have a homemade cover for the truck bed. And after a year of occasional use, it was time to give it another couple coats of paint. So Jay worked on that project in the garage for a couple of days during that week, and also cleaned up the yard - mowing, weedeating, grassblowing. It ended up being a good thing that he had the whole week off, it helped to keep him from feeling so rushed getting all that stuff done. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]

So it looked like everything was under control, and we just had one more day of waiting. Next up: Day 0, a day of washing clothes and no sleep!

[lauren-roxy]

I'm glad that I am not the only Type A person around Christie!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I feel more in control when things are organized!! Can't wait for the next update!!!

[GoofyMom]

Wow! Sounds like you really thought everything through and, other than laundry, you are ready to go!!

[luvnwdwgal]

Wow! I am impressed with your organization! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]

[christiejay]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm glad that I am not the only Type A person around Christie!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I feel more in control when things are organized!! Can't wait for the next update!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

I used to not think I was that bad, but the last few years this planning bug thing has really taken me over ... But yes, it does give a sense of having things under control, that if something comes up I've got a solution for it or an alternative plan.

[christiejay]

Oops! I realized I forgot to add something to our Planning section. About a couple of weeks before the trip Jay decided it was time to get a new digital camera. He'd had his old Kodak since 1999 and taken over 3300 pictures with it. Plus I had accidently broken the clip that held the battery pack in, so it was being held together with 3 rubber bands! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

He picked out a Canon PowerShot at Best Buy, and gave Joshua his old digital camera to use on the trip. So I've included a few of Joshua's pictures - for most of his you'll have to tilt your head slightly to one side as he couldn't really get the hang of holding the camera level. But most of the pictures are of course from Jay's camera, which is why I'm so surprised I forgot to mention it. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Day 0 - Thursday, June 29

Oh, and another thing I thought about was that I should probably explain why I have a "Day 0" in my trip reports, especially since I haven't noticed anybody else doing this. Well, on our trip back in 1999, it was just the two of us and we wanted to arrive at Fort Wilderness at the check-in time of 1:00. Rather than spend the night on the road, we decided to drive all night and we left at 8:00 that evening. (No, it didn't work out well, but that's another LONG story...) Well, I needed a way to refer to that departure day, and I didn't want to call it Day 1 since it started at almost bedtime and we wouldn't be arriving at WDW until the next day. So that's when I started the Day 0 thing. And even though we don't drive through the night anymore, there's always so much to keep track of the day before you leave on a big trip, that I just kept the designation. Now, on with the report!

Today was our last chance to make sure we had everything ready for our trip. Jay still had a few things he wanted to get done as far as cleaning up the yard and things like that. On my end, I needed to wash clothes and go over all our plans one more time so I wouldn't forget to do anything before we left. Since nobody was going with us on this trip, we didn't have to wait on anybody or coordinate any schedules this time. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

I had planned today to be a regular schedule for me and Joshua. So once we were up and ate our breakfast, I started washing clothes. While the washer was running, I got on the internet and started gathering information. I wanted to make sure nothing had changed on things such as road and trail closures in the National Park. I also checked on the weather forecasts, and it was typical summer weather, which included a chance of showers each day, but no storm fronts moving through. I could have started putting a few things inside the truck, such as our travel goodies and music, but Jay was cleaning the inside of the truck and replacing the small section of the back seat with our homemade bench to support the cooler, so I couldn't really access the truck at this point. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img]

After lunch, I finished washing clothes and started packing our bags. I also started packing the rest of our food and drinks. As I got everything ready, I would bring that suitcase/bag/box to the front door so Jay could load things up as he got ready. I also made sure our VCR timers were set to record the July 4th specials I'd be missing while we were gone. I'm a sucker for special presentations! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

That evening my sister came by for a few minutes after she got off of work. She was picking up our house key so she could look after our cat while we were gone and bring the mail in each day. After she left to go to her house, I finished packing our bags. We all pulled out the clothes we were going to wear tomorrow and laid them out. Next, we pulled out a set of clothes for each of us to wear the next day (Saturday) and anything else we would need at the hotel tomorrow night. We only wanted to unpack one bag at the hotel, instead of all 3. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] As soon as we made sure all our other bags were ready to go, we took them outside to load up. I had helped Jay put the truck bed cover on, and he was ready to begin putting things in! First went our luggage, then extra food and drinks to restock our cooler with, and then all the other junk I thought we would need. Of course half of it wasn't used, but if we hadn't taken it, we would have had to buy it, right? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

Joshua's bedtime rolled around and then there was one less person to be running around the house, but I still had what seemed to be a lot to do. Jay had gassed up the truck last night before he went to bed so we didn't have to worry about that. Mainly I was still trying to figure out how I was going to fit all the other odds and ends in the truck without them being loose. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] As usual, I just decided to put things in Wal-Mart bags and tie them up, and once again use our miscellaneous box to set on top of the cooler. Then I realized that I still needed to make our sandwiches for tomorrow's full-day drive. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] With all those sandwiches fixed, along with the other food and drinks that we were taking, there was no way it would all fit in the cooler. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] So what we decided to do was to take our two small lunch boxes to put the sandwiches and drinks in, and keep them cool with our ice packs. Since the hotel we had in Nashville as well as our resort both had freezers, we could refreeze the ice packs each night. This would allow us to also use those small lunch boxes for our picnics in the National Park each day and not have to lug the big cooler to the truck every day. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Next I plugged in the cooler to start getting cool, and made a list of all the things that would need to be put in the cooler in the morning. That would be Jay's responsibility - to load the cooler, while I got Joshua up, dressed and fed. Then I made the sandwiches and stored them in the refrigerator and it was already past my bedtime! Finally, my last chore was to make sure we had everything else we would need on the trip, but that for whatever reasons, couldn't be loaded in the truck yet. All this stuff was either piled up by the front door or sitting on our bathroom counters, ready for us to grab and go in the morning. It seemed like everything was in order.

Of course I was the last person to go to bed that night. How does it always turn out that way? I tossed and turned for some time, trying to remember if we had forgotten to pack anything. I remembered my Tylenol PM for tonight, but I should have taken it a little earlier than I did. However, once I fell asleep it helped me stay asleep, even through the clicking of the timer Jay had plugged into my lamp for while we were gone. Morning would still come too early, though!

Next up: Day 1 - will we ever be able to leave on time?

[lauren-roxy]

You are just about on your way Christie!!! Can't wait to hear about Day 1!!!!

[Colexis Mom]

Almost there Christie [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[rileysmommy]

OK...I bet you (and everyone else) thought I have lost my ever-loving mind!!! I didn't realize you've already BEEN on this vacation!!! I have thought all along that this was a pre-trip report (well, I know it's a pre-trip report so far, but I mean I thought you were doing like a "countdown report")! What a Nerd I am! This is why I could never be one of those speed readers - I miss some VERY IMPORTANT DETAILS! Alright, I've got my screws tightened now...more please.

[luvnwdwgal]

Looking forward to more Christie! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[christiejay]

Day 1 - Friday, June 30

We got up a little earlier than our regular time, as I knew I ‘d be on the phone for a few minutes, and wanted to get a little head start - more on the phone call later. While I went through my regular routine of getting myself and Joshua ready, Jay packed up the cooler and loaded it and our other things into the truck as I got them ready. Our departure time was set for 8:00, which is when I usually leave the house each morning to take Joshua to preschool, so I didn't really have to make any adjustments in our morning routine. On our ‘04 trip we ended up leaving about 20 minutes late and were unable to walk on the first nature trail I had chosen. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] So I was really hoping to leave on time this trip so we wouldn't fall behind schedule right off the bat.

Well, as you can imagine, things didn't go quite as I had planned, and we once again left 20 minutes behind schedule. One of these days, we'll manage to be on time ... The first 10 minutes were my fault - I had called our vacation club to try to make a reservation for next summer, as today was what I thought would be the first day I could do so. Another misunderstanding on my part, as I soon found out that I would have to wait until September 1 to call. That was fine, but then I had to spend about 5 minutes explaining to the operator why it wouldn't work for us to bank our points with RCI and do an exchange. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] Then in the midst of all that confusion, I forgot that I had left dishes in the sink last night which needed to be rinsed and loaded into the dishwasher. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] So while I did that, Jay and Joshua headed outside to the truck. Now the next 10-minute delay was because of Jay. He had told me a few minutes ago that he had the tripod set up in the driveway and wanted to take a picture of all of us in front of the truck before we left. So after we locked up the house, we had to pose, set the timer on the camera, take a couple of pictures, then Jay had to repack his camera and tripod. A short delay, but at least the picture turned out OK:



While Jay took care of the camera and tripod, I helped Joshua get into his booster seat and get buckled up, and got in my seat and made sure all my travel books were within arm's reach. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] When Jay closed the back door on his side, he realized that he was going to have to turn the cooler around and reroute the power cord, as the way he had it turned, the fan on the side would be completely blocked. So there went another 5 minutes that could have been avoided to begin with. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] Anyway, we had shut the cat (recovering from a tail amputation - stupid dogs! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] ) in the kitchen and den, raised the thermostat and made sure all the doors were chained and dead-bolted. We were finally ready to get under way!

We drove across town and entered the Natchez Trace Parkway at approximately milepost 90. The plan was to not make any stops until after we crossed Highway 16, as that's the road to Jay's sister's house and we could make those stops at some other point in time. Even after that point, I was still planning on skipping over some of the stops that we had made in ‘04, especially if that stop only included an info sign that we had previously read. So our first planned stop was at Myrick Creek, milepost 145. This was about an hour's drive, as the speed limit on the Trace is only 50. There was a slight detour going through Jackson, where a new bridge is under construction, so that added about 5 more minutes to our trip. Soon we arrived at Myrick Creek, however, where there was a trail. But since I was already in the mode of having to make up time, I announced that this trail would have to wait for another trip, and that we would be having our snack here instead of a little further down the road. There was one picnic table here, and some brick walls by the exhibit shelter, and I let Joshua choose where we should eat. First he said picnic table, then the bricks, but after we got up to the bricks, he was very sure that he had told me he wanted to eat at the picnic table. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] So we walked back to the picnic table and had our snack. It was so easy to reach under my seat in the truck and pull out one pre-prepared bag that had all our snacks in it. I also grabbed Jay a Coke and Joshua some milk out of the small coolers, and we had our picnic:


Joshua took this picture of me. Yes, I had cereal - I poured the dry cereal in a disposable bowl, then covered it with saran wrap and secured that with tape on the bottom and tossed it into the snack bag. I poured milk from Joshua's insulated straw cup and still had enough left in the cup for Joshua to drink with his snack.


Another shot taken by Joshua.



After we finished I put all our trash back into the snack bag and disposed of it in the adjacent garbage can. See how well this system worked?! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] We loaded up and pulled back onto the road. I think it was during this stretch of the drive that somebody pulled out literally in front of us. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] There are lots of small roads that intersect with the Trace, and there was a car stopped at one of these intersections. Then, even though we were right there and there was nothing to obstruct their vision whatsoever, they proceeded to cross the road in front of us. Jay had to slam on brakes and swerve to the edge of the road to avoid hitting them - it all happened so fast he never even got the chance to honk the horn at them. It was like they never even looked our direction at all, as they were not even trying to hurry to get across in front of us or anything. I don't understand what people are thinking sometimes. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] Well, we were a little shook up at the near catastrophic start to our vacation, but we kept driving and soon calmed down.

Shortly we arrived at our next stop - Cole Creek, milepost 175. We were still a little bit behind schedule, but there was a trail here that said it only took 5 minutes to walk, and I thought it would be nice to stretch our legs for a little while.




There are signs like this at all the stops along the Trace to explain the significance of the site to you. Sometimes you get a little history lesson, and sometimes, like here, you learn a little about nature.

We headed down the steps to start the trail and immediately ran across this tree:


Somebody had been busy!

Then we headed toward the bridge to begin our loop around.



Jay went on ahead and as I crossed the bridge, I saw an animal run into the grass. It was small and brown. Not a squirrel, possibly a beaver, although I couldn't see the tail to make sure. Now I love walking trails in the woods, but not when I know there are animals right there. So the rest of the trail I was jumping at every noise I heard, and keeping a sharp lookout all around me. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] Here's a shot of how grown up the trail was:



Soon the trail turned and went across another bridge that ended at the parking area. On one side of this bridge you could see a beaver dam. I'm not sure why a beaver was cutting down a tree up at the other end of the trail - it seemed a pretty long way to have to transport the wood, but what do I know? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] Joshua and I headed up to the sidewalk while Jay stayed behind to test his camera with some nature shots. This was the best one:



Meanwhile Joshua and I were waiting by the steps, where some time ago a tree had fallen over. Where its roots used to be, there was now a puddle of muddy water. The root system was huge, and we were looking at it when out of the corner of my eye I saw something move: a snake! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] It was brown and was moving down part of the tree into the grass and water beside it. I only saw it for a moment, but I backed Joshua up and told Jay it was a snake, and to watch out for it as he came up the trail behind us. I didn't know if it would cross the path or not, but it didn't. My guess is that it was a water moccasin, but we never saw it again to check it out. Instead we got in the truck and back on the road!

Next up: A WDW Reference is Inserted Into My Gatlinburg TR!

[luvnwdwgal]

Thanks for the update! I'm far from being a "nature" gal! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]