Thanksgiving 2014

If it's the last week in November, that means it's turkey time in Tennessee!  I headed to the mountain house on Tuesday so I could start cooking. I spent part of Tuesday and all day Wednesday slicing, chopping, baking, mixing, and making a mess. It seems like when I cook a big meal I go through every dish, pot, pan, utensil, and towel in my kitchen! I quit once the refrigerator was full. 

Keith and Jeff arrived on Wednesday evening and we settled in with a big pot of soup, waiting for it to snow. It seems like we generally have snow when we are here for Thanksgiving. Sure enough we woke up Thursday morning to sleet and flurries. 

Keith spent the morning reviewing his "turkey smoking" notes and prepared to light the grill!  It was so cold and nasty outside, he pulled the grill over so that he could see the gauges from inside the house. 

We accused him of working too hard from the recliner. His efforts didn't disappoint. It was the tastiest bird we've grilled yet and the fragrance of cherry smoke is mouth-watering. 

Since Cassie the dog had some surgery, Jenny & Bobby didn't go to Florida so they joined us for the weekend. We spent the day eating and sitting by the fire. 

After dinner we just had to get out and walk off our meal so we drove to The Island. Most of the stores were closed, but we enjoyed looking at the Christmas lights and the fountain show. 

On Friday morning, we enjoyed  a big breakfast and then headed to Gatlinburg to do some shopping. We avoided the outlet madness and opted for the quaint shops on the Craft Loop and at The Village. We took every back road we knew about and found some new ones that landed us right where we wanted to be. 

Afterwards we headed back to the house for a late lunch and a nap. We spent the afternoon with Netflix and then we headed back to Gatlinburg for dinner at The Cherokee Grill. 

We spent a lazy day Saturday sleeping late and watching football. Saturday evening we headed to Pigeon Forge to see Christmas at Dixie Stampede. What a wonderful time we had! The music was great and the rodeo show was tons of fun. The whole evening put us all in a festive holiday mood. 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with the kids and now bring on Advent. 

The Big Wheel Part Two

About a year ago I wrote about the Island in Pigeon Forge. Since there have been so many additions this past year I thought it warranted an update. Last year there were only a handful of stores and restaurants open but now the Island is full of neat little shops, restaurants and entertainment. 

They kicked off the new year with their synchronized fountain show. (Just like the Bellagio in Las Vegas, only smaller). At the stroke of midnight they had their first show. The fountains are in operation all the time, but every thirty minutes they literally "dance" to music. They are especially beautiful at night when you can see the colored lights. People love to sit around the fountains in rocking chairs and wait for the fountain show. 

Last spring they had free outdoor movies on the Island. 

Not only did they screen the movie, they had games and all kinds of fun activities (based on the theme of the movie) for the whole family. For example, when they showed Pirates of the Caribbean, they had actual "pirates" who led the pirate games for the kids. Then the kids got to lie on inner tubes to watch the movie. American Graffiti was shown during Spring Rod Run so they had an assortment of old cars on display. Hop was shown around Easter and the bunny games included an egg hunt. For Happy Feet, Ripley's Aquarium actually brought some of their penguins to the Island to entertain the kids. And for The Great Outdoors the cast of Lumberjack Feud came out and put on a demonstration of log rolling. They even let some of the audience members try their luck. Oh well, you get the idea. 

This past summer several new shops and restaurants opened. You can now eat at Dick's Last Resort or Margaritaville and this winter Paula Dean's Kitchen will open. You can go to the Puzzle store and work on the world's largest jigsaw puzzle.  You can have a 7-D adventure. Or you can go sample Smoky Mountain Moonshine. If you have a sweet tooth you can grab some ice cream, candy, or perhaps a cupcake and some coffee and then enjoy it by the fountains. While you're walking around you'll see seasonal decorations and you might see some exotic birds or a human statue and sooner or later you're bound to hear some live music. 

And you might not see it, but there's always some kind of treasure hunt going on. If you follow their Facebook page you'll get a hint about where to find the hidden object. For October they hide a skull somewhere on the Island every day and if you find it, you win a prize! Do you know where this one is?

It was tucked away at Margaritaville. Speaking of Margaritaville, their hotel is now open. So if you really like the area and you have the money you can just stay there. The rooms are gorgeous and if you get cold sitting by the fountains you can walk over and sit by their fire pit. 

But the main focal point of The Island is The Big Wheel. 

Now we probably never would have forked out the money to ride it, but my lovely daughter and son-in-law gave us a VIP pass for four people. (If you don't know what to give people who have everything they're ever gonna need, give them an adventure!  We've received certificates for a wine tasting, a walking food tour, and skeet shooting.)

My sister and brother-in-law came to visit and we decided to take the ride.  We were a little apprehensive about the height, but I cashed in my certificate and we headed for the wheel. They took our picture and then put us in the glass-bottomed VIP car and up we went!

The views from the top are amazing!

We had a blast!  I'm sure we'll be talking about it for years to come. 

So if you ever want to have tons of fun, grab some friends and head to the Island in Pigeon Forge. You'll be glad you did!

It Must Be October

If the temperature is falling and the leaves are turning and the acorns are falling it must be October!  We started our October off with a bang by taking a short road trip over to the Cataloochee Valley. Our trip planner/navigator (Jeff) guided us to the Little Cataloochee Trail. I must say that the ride over was quite an adventure. We drove from Gatlinburg to Cosby where we got on I-40 headed towards Maggie Valley. That is probably the worst stretch of interstate I've been on in a while, thanks to the narrow lanes, concrete barriers and lots of big trucks! We finally got off the interstate and headed to the Cataloochee Valley.  We passed roads with names like Tater Patch,  Hoot-n-Holler, Saddle Ridge, and Rough Creek. We left pavement behind and continued our journey on narrow, washed out, twisting gravel roads. We crossed scary bridges. 

And finally we arrived at the Little Cataloochee Trailhead. 

We saw lots of interesting plants along the way. 

We hiked up and down until we finally arrived at the Hannah Cabin where we had a mid morning snack. 

Jeff continued on to a church, but Keith and I headed back to the car. The end of the trail is always a welcome sight. 

After our hike we headed over to Cataloochee Valley. 

There were several buildings to explore. We saw the Palmer Place, with it's exhibits and barn. 

We were fascinated by the ramp leading to the hayloft. 

We continued our journey down the road to the Palmer Chapel. It looked like the perfect spot for a picnic!

After lunch we headed to the Beech Grove School. 

And then our trip started to get really interesting because we heard them and they were really close by. Who/What you ask? Why the elk, of course!  You see you go to Cataloochee in October because October is mating season for the elk. And when elk mate, they make noise. It's called bugling. (When you get through reading this go look up Cataloochee Elk on YouTube and hear for yourself.) What a racket they make! We were serenaded all during lunch and once we were fed we decided to go looking for them. 

We saw several elk bedded down in the shade since it was the hottest part of the day. 

The ranger assured us they would come out in the open in the afternoon. In the meantime, we continued exploring the area. Our next stop was The Caldwell House. This has got to be the finest old home we've seen in the park!  It had lots of rooms, fancy woodwork, closets, and a wrap-around porch. 

After our tour we headed in search of elk. The ranger said to "just follow the cars and you'll find them. "

So we headed back down the road and found lots of cars pulling over. Yep, there were elk in the field!

I was in photographic heaven!  

After I took about a million shots we got in the car and headed home. On the way back we discussed which adventure we liked better - the Cataloochee Elk or the Syncronous Butterflies. What a tough choice!  We decided that seeing and photographing the elk was our favorite sight and experiencing the fireflies was our favorite experience. With the fireflies, no photo does it justice - you just had to be there!

Another great adventure in the books!