Travel Tuesday - A Saturday in Gatlinburg

We have had many great trips over the last three years that I have failed to blog/journal about.  I think I'll try to catch up on some of those over the next few months.  First up. . .someplace close to home.

A couple weeks ago we woke up on the first Saturday in March with nothing on the calendar and a beautiful day ahead.  After begging to go to the lake ("the boat is winterized -- it will freeze again this year", and proven correct when we had 7 inches of snow on the ground exactly one week later) we decided on Gatlinburg.  We only live about 45 minutes away and as we were driving in it struck me how lucky we are to visit a place that people plan and budget entire vacations around.  And with good reason -- it is full of things to do and a lot of natural beauty.The drive in, as long as you are early, isn't too bad.  I'm almost always the passenger which works really well for me :)

We stopped in Pigeon Forge for breakfast -- a new-to-us place called the Sunliner Diner.  

I would definitely recommend -- there are so many breakfast places in the area it can be hard to choose -- here it was more about the atmosphere and it's not just a "breakfast" place -- they have a full menu including cocktails!

Super-cute interior too :)

Seriously, we ate.it.all. . .

And then headed into Gatlinburg where traffic had picked up while we were enjoying our meal :/  Luckily the parking lots were still fairly empty and we paid our $20 to leave our car near the main attraction we had driven over to experience:

The Skybridge!

We've heard so much about it but never visited.  After getting our tickets we headed up on the chairlifts:

And here we are at the top!!  Because of the time of year it probably wasn't as beautiful as it is other times, but as a new experience it was pretty great.  Come to find out, this is Gatlinburg's oldest attraction.  It was affected by the fires in November 2016 and completely rebuilt.

I love the mountains. . .not necessarily to climb, but to look at :)Tom pointed out to me here that we parked our car in that center structure. . .and the rest of the view, before the mountains, is pretty much Gatlinburg.  Not a huge place because of the topography, obviously, but they've squeezed a lot in this valley!  We spent dozens of weekends here over the years with the kids playing soccer -- always trying to drive in as early as possible and escape right after the games.  Tom is not much for crowds -- at this point in the day the town was just waking up, which was great for us.

 

That is the skybridge, which we had just walked across, with the glass in the middle to look through.  it was a fairly windy day so it probably swayed more than normal but nothing dangerous.  There was then the Sky Trail around the bottom that we walked around. . .

And the Tulip Tower!

This is the bridge we had to cross to get to it. . .

This was a little more hairy to cross. . .I don't think my Mother-in-Law would have liked it too much.

There was a lot of history to learn as we climbed the levels of the tower. . .when we travel we enjoy learning new things about the area and how it fits in to the culture and landscape of our country as a whole.

Although the attraction will sell you pictures all day long, we asked someone when we were at the Tulip Tower to please take our picture :)

Like I said, at this point in the day it wasn't very crowded.  There was a place, when you got off the chairlift, that you could shop, get something to eat (or drink!), restrooms, etc.  Also, this really nice sitting area that we spent a few minutes relaxing and enjoying.

It was certainly not an "all day thing" but a nice hour or so to spend up there.  

We got incredibly lucky -- after we descended and headed out to shop, they closed the attraction due to high winds.  We felt so bad for those that had bought their tickets and wanted to spend as much time as we had up there -- so, if you ever go, keep in mind the wind report.  I think they were acting in an abundance of caution -- the other lift attraction across the road was still operating.  It was a beautiful day but very windy (which I love -- as long as it's a warm wind and not a cold one!).

Tom indulged me in a lot of shopping -- something he hates but I guess he loves me more???  We got a lot of walking in and I just enjoyed browsing in all the stores and little side enclaves.  I told him I wish we had been hungry enough to eat and eat -- there were so many different places to stop and get a bite.  After a walk up/down/around main street, we went back to the car to drop off some things I had purchased and headed to lunch at a place Tom had spotted -- Tom & Earl's Back Alley Grille

I would recommend this place too :). It was bonus that we were able to eat outside!  

Cleaned up our "plates" again -- I had a quesadilla with a side salad (although their cream corn fritters were calling my name too -- just no one to share them with) and Tom had a burger.  

There were around 10 girls in uniform and a mom sitting right next to us so she and I got to talking about tournament weekends -- ha!  I do miss those days. . .we traveled with some great people back then and I loved cheering my kiddos on.  But, for now, we are in a season of rest (hopefully there will be weekends in the future with grandchildren!) and we will enjoy where we are.

By the time we left traffic was very heavy, but we were full of Vitamin D, had our 10K steps in, bellies full, and some fudge to bring home to share.  

Don't leave without any of that (or caramel apples)!

It is a luxury to just "get up and go" like this. . .especially to such a fun place.  Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge isn't for everyone, but it is popular for many and a good get-away for us last-minute.  Our youngest came home on Sunday and it turns out here was there the same time we were!!  They ended up going to "the attraction across the street" (Anakeesta) and staying the night with one of his club groups.  Great minds think alike ;)

Love,

Jenni