Gatlinburg, TN - December 2008

Over the holiday break, Ken and I decided to do a little traveling. Initially, we wanted to make the drive out to the Black Hills in South Dakota, but were strongly recommended not to attempt doing so in the winter given that South Dakota is just as bad as Iowa when it comes to snow and ice on the roads. Instead, we decided to go someplace a little warmer but just as beautiful. We settled on the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee since neither one of us had been there before and because we could get a relatively good deal on plane tickets out of Iowa to Knoxville.

I'll spare you all the terrible details about trying to fly out of Iowa in late December, but suffice it to say that it took us 2 days and much switching of flights to get us out of here. First, fog in Cedar Rapids forced all flights in/out of CR to cancel. Then an ice storm the next morning meant that flying out of Waterloo would be just as impossible. We finally decided on just driving the three hours to Minneapolis to make our flight to Knoxville. From there, it was smooth sailing, er...smooth flying.

We spent about 5 days in and around the Gatlinburg, TN area. We started off in the Pigeon Forge area, the home of Dolly Parton and Dollywood, and made our way through Gatlinburg and the large area known as the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. As we drove around the park, we also dipped into a little bit of North Carolina and a Cherokee Indian Reservation.

We saw some fabulous waterfalls around the area and enjoyed being both low and high in the mountains, the low areas known as coves or hollows. In one historical area known as Cades Cove, we saw many of the original settlers' cabins built in the early 1800s when people (i.e., the white man) first came to settle in the mountains. It was interesting to learn about their way of life and how then 100 years later they were forced to leave those tiny communities so that the National Park could be established.

I was really hoping to see a bear there as they do inhabit the mountains, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) we didn't come across any. The weather was decent the whole time though and we were able to get away with wearing long sleeves and light jackets most of the time, except for when we were high in the mountains. There was at least a 20 degree difference between the bottom and top of the mountains. Basically, we got so used to the light jackets that we froze our tail ends off when we got higher up and actually got out of the car.

While in Pigeon Forge, we also took in a few shows. The whole area is really built up for tourists and is sort of a cross between Branson, MO, Wisconsin Dells, and Las Vegas. There is no gambling, but a lot of musical shows and family entertainment. Because we wanted to see a non-Christmas show, our options were a bit limited. We settled on two shows that featured more oldies-style music: one had a Grease-themed show with an Elvis impersonator and the other was all impersonations of famous singers: Conway Twitty, Buddy Holly, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, and of course, Elvis again. I liked the first Elvis better, but the second one had some good show credibility. He had the "motions" down better though the first one (pictured here in blue) was a bit better looking, in my opinion. The Tim McGraw was very impressive and as good as the real deal if you asked me.

By the end of the trip, we were pooped and ready to come home. A quick stop at the USO for some free food and comfy recliners in the Denver airport helped revive us for the second leg of the trip and then, of course, the 3 hour drive back home from Minneapolis to Waterloo.

The next big project is the wedding in March. It's hard to believe that it's almost here.