Great Smoky Mountain Tennessee Vacation Guide
There's nothing like a little insider information...and this page is designed to give you as much help as possible planning your vacation to the Smokies. You'll find links for good web sites that have weather, gas prices, construction zones, favorite vacation destinations like the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Dollywood, Ober Gatlinburg and other Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg attractions. As an extra, we provide a regularly updated listing of upcoming events, new businesses and even restaurant reviews. Bookmark this page to check back later for updates. We want you to have a wonderful vacation and hope this page gives you a little extra help planning it!
Helpful Links
Vacation News
December 10, 2007
Just returned from a 4 days of cabin cleaning and holiday decorating in Gatlinburg. Lights are beautiful at night as always. Best part is that you get to enjoy them until the end of February so there's plenty of time to enjoy Winterfest in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.
While I was there, there was a massive fire at the Carousel Mall where Jim Gray Galleries is housed in Gatlinburg. It's the two story circular building on the Parkway on the left as you come into Gatlinburg from Pigeon Forge near 321. News reports say faulty wiring in the roof caused the blaze but plans are for the structure to be rebuilt. Thankfully there were no injuries.
GrandView has a brand new deck, thanks to almost 2 weeks of construction that were just finished December 13. I'll be updating the photos as soon as possible. For those of you planning to stay at GrandView, you'll now have more than twice as much deck space as before and there's now a stairway leading from the top level to the lower level. When spring comes, I'll be purchasing new deck furniture. It's hard to find chaise lounges in the winter!
TreeHouse is really coming along nicely with the replacement of the hot water heater, new gas fireplace and new heat pump. This year's total outside renovation plus interior updates and improvements have turned it from ho-hum to a real head turner. We've gotten wonderful emails and calls from TreeHouse guests who say it was more than they ever expected.
Swaying Pines got a new heat pump/AC unit and water heater too this year...the stuff that you've got to take care of to keep things running well. Water levels at the community lake are way down because of the drought so we're hoping for rain and snow to help replenish the lake.
All kinds of new restaurants and shops in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg...too many to menion here now. Wait until you get there--the choices are endless.
