CHRISTMAS IN GATLINBURG
Visiting Gatlinburg, Tennessee for an anniversary weekend, the Fat Bald Guy and his Faithful Hiking Companion did not get a hike in...but we sure did walk a lot... and really had a great time. The village does not disappoint...it is what it is...a tourist village full of shops, amusements and lots of people. We did get some great photographs and had lots of fun too!
We stayed at the Park Vista Hotel...high above the town...it is an older hotel 15 stories high...and provides great views not only of the town but of the surrounding mountains.
At Christmas, the village is alive with lights and festive spirits. The Park Vista and other hotels are served with a convenient 50 cent a ride trolley service. And believe me, you do not want to drive in Gatlinburg on Saturday night before Christmas.
Along the street are countless Christmas displays of color and traditional stories. Stopping by toy drumming soldiers and a 1950 Chevrolet pickup truck loaded with Christmas Trees, I got a pretty nice shot "Cruising Gatlinburg".
Eating at Blake Shelton's Restaurant "Ole Red". Not only did we get some good eats, we were entertained by a rising country music star Emily Miller. Five Star country eating right there but I tell you be careful with the "Tennessee Buckshot", it is a mighty powerful alcholic concoction.
Not far up the street from Ole Red Restaurant is the best kept secret of Gatlinburg, the moonshine distillery of Doc Collyer. In an unique marketing tactic, the distillery offers samples for a mere $5.00. I enticed my Faithful Hiking Companion to join me by telling her that the samples were in plastic communion cups...but did not tell her that there were 18 varieties of Doc Collyer moonshine to sample...as Uncle Claude once said: "I are having a good time!"
Along with great Christmas Lights and stores, you can for a considerable fee partake in many of the amusements. A chairlift ride to the top of Crockett Mountain will get you to a swinging bridge, another chairlift ride will take you to the mountain top
Anakeesta Village. A fancy cable car will take you to Ober Gatlinburg for skiing fun. There are arcades on every corner and several haunted houses. Restaurants and drinking establishments of every taste. And nice people everywhere you look.
We were pretty pedestrian in our tastes walking around taking photographs and watching the people...we did go up on the Space Needle for a bird's eye view of the village and took pictures of the swinging bridge and the beautifully decorated Christ Museum.
Right outside the city limits of Gatlinburg is the Great Smoky National Forest, the crown jewel of which is Clingman's Dome, the
second tallest mountain east of the Mississippi. A thirty minute drive up the mountain gets you there but between December and March, the access road is closed. But the Blue Ridge Mountains never disappoint and we received a great Christmas Tree view of Newfound Gap.
Also nearby is Dolly Parton's commercial enterprise located at Pigeon Forge. Where Gatlinburg has contained its commercial charm within the compact valley where the village in located, Pigeon Forge has become a continuous strip of commercial enterprise, the likes of which would make Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce envious. Nevertheless hidden within Pigeon Forge is an old grist mill...that the Fat Bald White Guy had to photograph.
Leaving Gatlinburg we took a drive along the motor vehicle nature trail of the Great Smoky National Park. There we found the homestead of Noah "Bud" Ogle. It made us appreciate the life of early mountain settlers.
No doubt Gatlinburg will see us again soon. There is too much left to explore. Take a trip there too, there is really something there for everyone. But watch out for the bears!
