Keith wanted to run and I wanted to walk so I walked all the way to the Sugarlands Visitors Center. Since it was getting late and the trail was pretty deserted Keith said he would get the truck and pick me up at the Visitors Center. It was closed but there was a ranger hanging around outside. She asked me if I was "waiting for the bears". Apparently, they've been having a lot of bears hanging out at the center. They came in one morning and there was a bear in the bathroom so now, for the first time ever, they have to lock the toilets at night! On another day, a bear was hanging around watching them empty the trash cans. I was glad when Keith showed up with the truck. I wouldn't want to be there alone after dark!
On Thursday, I started cooking for the weekend and Keith planted flowers on the deck. We spent Thursday afternoon exploring the River Walk in Pigeon Forge. The River Walk along the river (duh) goes from the big city parking lot at the Island all the way to Patriot Park (behind the Old Mill Restaurant). The city has done a wonderful job with this walkway. It's a very popular and scenic stroll. Our round trip was 3.1 miles.
After our walk we decided to try a new restaurant that just opened a couple of weeks ago in Pigeon Forge - Harpoon Harry's Crab House. It is located on Community Center Drive, one block off the parkway. It was very good! I had a delicious Seafood Cobb Salad with shrimp and scallops. It is a very large restaurant. We sat "outside" on the patio. It's one of those covered porches with roll-up doors, but they had the doors closed because it turned rather cool that night.
After dinner, since we were on Community Center Drive, we decided to go check out the Community Center. You see, now that we are card carrying Silver Sneakers (Medicare) people, we have free access
to lots of fitness centers, including the one at the PF Community Center. It's a very nice facility, complete with indoor pool. For a small fee we can use the bowling alley next door. That would be fun on rainy days or winter nights. Pigeon Forge is a small, modest town, but, thanks to The Great Smoky Mountains and Dolly Parton, they get a lot of tourists. Of course, you probably knew that, but did you know that revenues received in PF last year amounted to a billion dollars? That's a lot of sales tax so PF is blessed with excellent public facilities. On Friday, we did some things around the house and got ready for our big weekend. After the kids arrived, we kicked things off with lasagna on the deck. After dinner, we decided to go check out some of the new attractions on The Island. We were interested in the new ropes course, but once we saw it we chickened out.
I made a new friend (Carl) and I stopped to say hello to my old friend (Pirate Statue). My old friend must be mad at me because he never said a word.
We met Carl at the 7D Adventure. We decided to go in and try our luck at shooting Zombies. As I expected, Bobby beat us all and I came in last. It's hard to shoot Zombies with your eyes closed! I don't do too well on 3D moving rides. You'll just have to try it out and see for yourself!
We checked out some of the unusual things at the new Emory 5 & 10. Bobby had fun trying on the masks.
We capped off the evening by viewing the fountain show. That's Paula Deen's new store (downstairs) and restaurant (upstairs) in the background on the left. I probably won't be eating there since it's not in my (calorie) budget! (I've seen the menu! Sheesh!)
On Saturday, after a big, sinful mountain breakfast, we headed towards Cherokee to hike the Oconaluftee River Trail. It goes from the Oconaluftee Visitors Center to Cherokee (1.5 miles). We were hoping to see elk calves but it was pretty warm outside so they were hiding somewhere in the shade.
After our hike we had a nice picnic on the porch at the Visitors Center and stared at the view.
We spent the rest of the afternoon resting and watching Jack Ryan on Netflix. In the afternoon, I let Cassie the dog out to go do her business. She has been getting a little deaf or just plain moody because lately she doesn't seem to want to come back inside. She doesn't go far. She just sniffs every tree and bush on our property. I kept calling and she kept ignoring me. I was afraid she would get hit by a car so I started up the driveway to lead her back. Once I got to where I could see the road, lo and behold, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. I turned and there was the biggest black male bear I have ever seen here! I'm yelling, "Cassie! Bear! Dog! House! Now!" Cassie finally saw the bear and the bear saw Cassie and they both turned and started running in opposite directions. We made it safely to the house and the bear headed up the hill. After that, I never had trouble getting Cassie to come back inside.
We went to dinner at The Park Grill in Gatlinburg. We had our usual waiter (the one who always reminds us "what he served Brett Favre when he dined there". It was delicious.
On Sunday, we had another sinful breakfast and then headed outside for corn hole. Jeff beat everybody, as usual. After working up an appetite we had an impromptu homemade pizza party out front under the shade tree.
I was anxious to eat and get that food back in the house in case the bear came back. After lunch we had a little sign hanging ceremony. Most of the rental houses in The area have cute names like "Misty View" or "View-ti-full". Our house used to be called South Pointe back before we bought it. We wanted to change that and toyed with some names and chose one we liked but never did anything about it. Well, Jeff ordered us a sign and we put it up. So now we are officially called Smoky Pointe and we've got the sign to prove it!
After our ceremony, I spent the rest of the afternoon prepping for our big dinner. Jenny and Bobby had to go home on Sunday night, so we celebrated the holiday a day early. I chopped and marinated all the ingredients for Killer Kabobs. I like trying new recipes from Pinterest and I came across "20 Kabob Recipes". Some of them sounded so yummy I just knew we had to try them. I couldn't make up my mind which ones to try so we had three kinds! So Jenny and I prepped and Keith cooked:
Steak & Pepper
Mango Chicken
Talk about a flavor extravaganza! We mixed and matched and tried all three. Every bite was so good. Keith said "he didn't know what Pinterest was but he sure did like it!" We all agreed that this may be the best meal we've cooked here on the mountain. And it all tastes even better with that view!
After dinner when Jenny and Bobby left, Keith, Jeff, and I went back to PF to walk off our meal. The ducks joined us.
On Monday, we got up and headed out for one more hike. I chose Grotto Falls because it was the first real hike we took here three years ago. It's the only waterfall in the park that you can walk behind.
After our hike we headed to Ole Dad's in Gatlinburg for club sandwiches and homemade potato chips. Afterwards we headed home to rest. We had one last dinner of leftover kabobs on the deck before Jeff headed back. And another big holiday weekend comes to an end. Now it's time for me to get back to my healthy eating and exercise routine!
