Thursday, November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!! Hope you eat lots and slack alot more.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Vacation Day 8

Day 8, November 3

On the drive home. Nice weather, we made much better time going home.
















This is in Knoxville something from the World fair (Paul knows, I can't remember what it is), we took a different route leaving Gatlinburg and it took us through a small part of Knoxville.





















Good picture of paul, very bad one of me, I was laughing so hard when the camera finally snapped, this is somewhere in TN.















Vacation Day 7

Day 7, November 2

Last full day in TN. Went to breakfast at the Log Cabin Pancake House. It is an actual log cabin, it was chilly this morning and they had the fireplace going. Went to the Dixie Stampede show, it was the holiday show. They had camels, horses, goats, sheep, pigs, donkeys and ostrichs. No pictures were allowed but we took some of the building. We had to eat dinner with our hands, they served, a whole chicken (small one), pork, potato, corn on cob, biscut and apple pastry. It was alot of fun.

































Vacation Day 6

Paul and I got up and went shopping again. I think we hit every outlet mall in a 10 mile radius. Spent way too much money at the scrapbook clearance store, everything was 50% off. Had lunch at Fuddruckers. Kind of cloudy today and trying to rain. The leaves get prettier everyday.

















Vacation Day 5

Day 5, October 31

Spent morning in Gatlinburg. Ripley's Aquarium was first. The tunnel under the tanks was very cool. Lots of different kinds of sharks.































Tried to go to lunch at Hard Rock but they were packed.






Ended up having lunch at Shoney's. Went shopping afterwards. Got lots of goodies for family and us. Went back to the room so Paul could work on homework. Dinner at Olive Garden and boy were we stuffed afterwards. Took lots of night pictures of Pigeon Forge on the way back.

Vacation Day 4

Day 4, October 30

Up early, ate breakfast in the room, drove into the state park and went to Cades Cove, another auto tour. First two pics are from the drove up there.



































On the drive up the colors were incredible. Cades Cove was OK, but not alot of interesting views. Took over an hour to drive 11 miles. On the drive back saw a group of people on the side of road, pulled over and there were 3 bears!!! There were two smaller black bears and one larger one. The larger one was coming up the hill and didn't seem concerned with all the people. My pictures of them didn't turn out too well, but Paul got some great shots on the video camera.















Coming down the Mountain saw this view of Gatlinburg.















Came back to town, lunch at Cracker Barrel because we were starved. In the evening went shopping in Pigeon Forge (outlet malls!) and Seiverville. Dinner at a Chinese Buffet.

Vacation Day 3

Day 3, October 29

Breakfast at Smokey Mountain Pancake House.















Picked up maps at the Great Smokey Mountains Welcome Center. Took an auto tour of Roaring Fork, up the mountain on a little road with lots of twists and turns. On the way down there were lots of little waterfalls and the stream ran along side the road.
















Went to the Arts and Crafts community, it's off the main tourist route, back in the hills. Bought some souvenoirs and saw alot of great artisan work. Took a wrong turn and found a great view of the mountains in a cemetary.















Ate a late lunch on the deck of an old fashioned shake shoppe. Came back to the room and looked at the pictures and my poor attempt at video tapping, must remember to turn off camera when not taping. :) Dinner was BBQ. Drove out to Dollywood but it was dark and couldn't see anything but the parking lot.

Vacation Day 2

Day 2, October 28

Up very late, went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast/lunch, very good food and prices. Weather is perfect, about 60 degrees, sunny skies, beautiful. The colors are perfect, we hit the leaves at their peak.

















Went to Boyd's Bears, a very neat building built to look like a barn, it's ontop of a hill so you get great views. This location is closing and had sale prices!!!!
































Drove through Pigeon Forge, stopped at a "As seen on TV" store, wow lots of crap. We had a good laugh and left. Drive around, went to walmart (yeah baby!) and stocked up on snacks. Went to dinner in Gatlinburg at a nice seafood place. It was a chilly night but very clear.

Vacation Day 1

October 27, Day 1

Lots and lots of rain and fog on drive down. There was a terrible accident in KY right before TN. Got stuck in rush hour traffic in Seiverville, TN on the way to Gatlinburg (Seiverville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, pretty much run together). Took us an hour to go about 20 miles. The resort is gorgeous, the room is very nice, but a little bit of a hike uphill. Went to Gatlinburg for dinner and walked a few blocks unilt the rain started again. Both Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are very commercial and lots of neon signs, glad Paul was driving, I was too busy gawking out the window like a country hick.

No pictures to share, was too rainy.