Trip Report
Well, we're back.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip. My kids (Boy 15, Girl 12) had so much fun, they didn't want to come back. Let me give you a little run down of how the week went.
7/28-8/4
Saturday: Drove out to Sevierville in about 9 hours. Got off the interstate and headed toward Gatlinburg. Covered the 30 mile between I-40 and the south end of Gatlinburg in 2 1/2 hours. Yes the traffice was that bad. Checked in at the rental office and then drove back through Gatlinburg and most of the way through Pigeon Forge to get to the cabin. The cabin was nice but not nearly as nice as it looked on the website. Needed to be cleaned a little better too. Very dusty.
Sunday: Drove around Pigeon Forge and got the lay of the land a little. Went to a visitors center to pick up some brochures and coupon books. Went to this place next door to the visitors center
Wonderworks. Pretty cool place. Later in the day we found this place
Flyaway. My son gave it a try and thought it was the coolest thing ever. He is quite the daredevil so after we had some dinner, he decided he wanted to bungee jump here
The Track. He made the leap without hesitation. Then both of the kids did the SkyFlyer together.
Monday: Drove back down to Gatlinburg early and parked in an all day parking garage. Started walking to see what there is to see. Just a brief list of the things we did there:
Sky Lift,
Aquarium, Ripley's Museum, Hollywood Wax Museum, Guinness World Record Museum. The aquarium was by far, the best attraction there.
Tuesday: Went here
Splash Country. Got sunburned of course. Went here for dinner
Dixie Stampede. Awesome show and a great meal.
Wednesday: Son wasn't feeling good so he stayed back at the cabin while we took daughter to indoor sky dive. (See above). She loved it as much as him so we made plans to take them both to do it again. Went back to the cabin and just chilled out most of the day. Went out and got some good BBQ for dinner here
Bennett's.
Thursday: Got up early and drove through the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Bryson City, NC and rode this
GSMR. We took the Nantahala Gorge excursion. Pretty cool ride. Great scenery. The drive through the park was incredible too.
Friday: Back to the indoor sky dive first thing in the morning for both kids to fly again. They couldn't get enough of it. Then took the wife and daughter back to the cabin and son an I went to
Dollywood. No, they didn't want to go. Anyway, son and I spent a few hours riding coasters and sweating in the heat. Had a good time. Got back to the cabin about 4:30pm and went out to get a bite to eat. Kids wanted to ride go-karts so we went here
Go-Karts. Time to go back to the cabin and pack.
Saturday: Got up and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Got in the car and as we were pulling out of the parking lot, son realized he left a bag with his I-Pod, Game Boy DS, Wallet, and other stuff at the cabin. So, we went back and got it. Good thing he figured it out so soon. Then we settled in for the long drive back to Maryland. Stopped for lunch at about 12:30. Daughter asked me when we could come back. Had to tell here I don't know. Maybe next time we will go somewhere new. The rest of the way home, she sat in the back seat and cried quietly. I guess that means she had a good time.
Summary: As I said, all in all it was a very enjoyable trip. The crowds and traffic got to be to much at times but once we learned our way around town, we could avoid most of the traffic. The wife says she would not have to go back again but I know the kids would and I could see doing it again. If you go, make sure you take lots of money. I don't know if I would recommend
Gatlinburg Cabins Online. There are a bunch of other places that rent cabins and lots of nice hotels and motels too. Anyway, thats my two cents for what it's worth.