"Off the Beaten Path"

Some of you know that we're part of a group of about 50 cabin owners in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area who communicate virtually every day through a Yahoo Board. Recently, this message was sent to the Board.

I have a guest coming in about two weeks. They have never been to the area and are not opposed to doing some of the touristy things, yet they would really prefer to do some things off the beaten path. They are not really into the crowds and I thought maybe some of you might have ideas on what to do around Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg/Park that might have less crowds and be fun for a family of three (couple with a 12 year old son).

Here's what I wrote back (along with some photos to illustrate what I reported.

Hmmmmm. Something off the beaten path? With 10-15 million people showing up every year, I think the path is pretty "beaten." But here are a couple of things we recommend that the 12-year-old might like:

-There are tons of miniature golf courses in Pigeon Forge, of course. But there's one in Gatlinburg that's a little different - Hillbilly Golf. Here's a link: http://gatlinburg-attractions.com/hillbilly_golf_.html. It's on the parkway, north of town, kinda "off the beaten path." You ride a little tram up the mountain, then "play down." Our 11 and 14-year-old grandsons loved it last September.

-If they're into dinosaurs, the Dinosaur Museum, on the parkway north of Pigeon Forge, is fun (it's on the east side of the parkway, kinda near Tennessee State Bank, I think). Here's a link: http://www.dinowalk.com/tn/index.html. Be sure to watch the movie when you first go in. It's long - about 30 minutes - but worth it, even though it's just on a little TV screen. Our boys loved that, too.

-The other thing they liked was Wonder Works - the upside down building. It was lots of fun for us, too. Here's the link: http://www.wonderworkstn.com/.

All these things are expensive, but watch for coupons at the Visitors Center or at the entrance to Wal-Mart.

Oh - another one that's way out Dolly Parton Parkway, east of Sevierville. It's called Deer Farm (http://www.deerfarmzoo.com/). It's like a small zoo. Our kids have enjoyed that and asked to go back.

Other than that, just tell them to drive the parkway and see what they find. Oh yeah, I hear there's a national park in the area, too. And for really good scenery, there's nothing like the Roaring Forks Motor Trail. Here's a link: http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/roaringfork.htm.

Hope they have a good time - and I hope you do, too.

A very cool panoramic photo of Gatlinburg

Just got this link to a beautiful panoramic photo of Gatlinburg. It's too big to post here (it's 19 mb). But here's the link:

http://www.spwhite.com/archives/653

After the picture loads, you can click on it to enlarge it - then scroll around. It looks like it was taken from the top of the "Space Needle" tower in downtown Gatlinburg.

Enjoy!

Air Hockey Puck

If you've stayed at Smoky Mountain Tower recently, you know that the air hockey game has been unavailable. Our game table is a combination - offering both air hockey and foosball. The air hockey part works with a special "hover puck." It's that little thing in the center of the table on the picture below.



This hover puck has a little motor in it that supplies the air, rather than the larger tables that have air coming up through the table. The motor has a rechargeable battery in it that gets its charge from a plug-in charger.

The problem with this puck is that it can't be left on charge more than 3 hours. It appears that somebody didn't follow the directions and overcharged the puck, which blew the motor. As soon as we found out about it, we ordered a new puck from Sportcraft (the manufacturer). We thought we'd have it back in a week or so, which would have fit our timing because we could have brought it over to Gatlinburg.

But Sportcraft took more than 6 weeks to get us the puck - and then sent us the wrong thing! I think we've got it worked out, though. They're overnighting me a new puck and charger, which I should have on Monday. We're going to meet some folks from Gatlinburg on Thursday and we'll ask them to take it back. So we're hoping everything will be up and running again by next weekend.

November specials

After talking with Angie, we've decided to continue our October special rental rates into November. So check this out:
-Stay 2 nights and save 10%
-Stay 3 nights and save 12.5%
-Stay 4 nights and save 15%
-Stay 5 nights and save 20%
-stay 6 nights and save 25%

These specials are valid for stays from November 1 through November 24. We're already booked for Thanksgiving (Nov. 25-29).

Hope you can stay with us at Smoky Mountain Tower. If you hurry, you might get to enjoy the last of the leaf colors. I understand it was a pretty good year!

One more post about the I-40 rock slide

Okay, I won't keep belaboring the point. Instead, here's a like where you can keep up with the information: www.citizen-times.com. And just to give you a good overall look at the slide, here's an aerial view.



This came from the Asheville Citizen-Times Web site. As a sidelight, it looks like the trees are just about at their peak. So you'd better hurry if you want to see the color this year. There are still a couple of open days at Smoky Mountain Tower this week, and some good dates in November. Check our Web site at www.SmokyMountainTower.com for details.

More on the I-40 Rock Slide

The news isn't good. The estimate is that it could take up to 3 months to clean up the rock slide. In case you haven't seen it, here's a photo from the Asheville Citizen-Times:



For more information, go to http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091026/NEWS01/910260312.

I-40 Rock Slide

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has just posted this special alert:

DUE TO A ROCK SLIDE, I-40 IS CLOSED IN BOTH DIRECTIONS AT MILE MARKER 3, NEAR THE TENNESSEE STATE LINE, WEST OF ASHEVILLE, IN HAYWOOD COUNTY .

Due to an earlier rock slide, both directions of I-40 are closed at mile marker 3, near the Tennessee State Line, in Haywood Co., West of Asheville. The road is not expected to reopen for several weeks.

Detour: Motorists traveling on I-40 West are advised to use I-240 West, to I-26 West out of Asheville, to Johnson City, TN, then take I-81 South back to I-40.

There's actually a better detour from Asheville to Gatlinburg that will not take as long. Continue west on I-40 to exit 27 (Waynesville). Exit here and follow the signs to Cherokee and the National Park. Go through the Park (south to north), following signs to Gatlinburg.

Based on past history, this rock slide will probably affect traffic all the way through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. We'll try to keep you posted here, or you can check out the NC DOT site at https://apps.dot.state.nc.us/TIMS/default.aspx.