Quick Getaway : Gatlinburg, TN

Friday evening we packed up the car and headed to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Instead of staying in a hotel, like normal tourist, we opted to camp out in the Great Smokey Mountains. This was somewhat of a special little trip for me because I have been to the town once, but that was when I was 12. From what I do recall, the Great Smokey Mountain National Park was not a part of those memories, which was one reason why I wanted to stay there.

I made reservations through the website a few days prior to the trip since I read that July was one of the busiest months of the year. After a few hold ups, mainly traffic related, we made our way to the Elkmont Campground. As late arrivals we skipped checking in and headed toward our campsite. Elkmont is the biggest campground in the park with 220 sites, however, we managed to find our plot of earth.

You would think that after setting up our tent, and a 3 hour drive, we would be ready to relax.......but nooooo.....I was ready to head straight to the action! I never imagined exactly how much traffic we were in for, but I hardly cared because I was thrilled to be there. Has there ever been a time when you were happy to be in bumper to bumper traffic?! It's sick. Speaking of traffic, at any given time, whether walking or driving, you were constantly surrounded by 360° of chaos. Not that I don't pay close attention usually, but you had to be on high alert to get around that town.



Walking the strip reminded me so much of our Las Vegas vacation last year.
I have my mind made up that Gatlinburg, TN is like the Hillbilly Las Vegas.
Not that I didn't have a great time, but if it walks like a duck......
We didn't pay to do the space needle, but it reminded me of the Stratosphere where we had dinner at the "Top of the World Restaurant".
Although, the Stratosphere was 5 times as tall.



Saturday evening took us on a ride up the mountain on the Sky Lift.
The view was spectacular!



Walking through the souvenir shops was about the only other thing we did while we were in town.
The Village was a set of shops that were tucked in a nook off the main road.
The different shops were all done in various styles of architecture,
the Bavarian styled building was my favorite, but I didn't really get a good photo to share.



For dinner, I wanted a soft pretzel......so that's what I had!
It was delicious :)



Aside from the plethora of airbrushed t-shirt stores, olde tyme photo huts,
and pancake houses, candy stores were also plentiful.
We bought a 1 lb. box of Aunt Mahalia's Salt Water Taffy.
The box of taffy has been hit pretty hard, it's almost gone!
It's Cody's fault, he eats 2 to my 1......don't lie, you know you do :o)





I'll leave you with this cause it makes me laugh.
Giddy up!