Gatlinburg in the Winter

Well, I have been on the road again. Jim and I took the youth group from church up to Gatlinburg, TN for a youth conference. I grew up going to Gatlinburg as we always camped in the mountains for our vacations. One week, I remember staying at a primitive campground just outside Gatlinburg called Greenbriar and each night the bears would all come out and raid the campsites. Our water either came from the stream or from a pipe that came out of the side of the mountain. The facilities were an outhouse that was quite a walk in the dark at night when you knew there were bears out there! Now, all that was when I was growing up. Jim's idea of roughing it is staying at a Holiday Inn!

The condos below is where we stayed on this trip. It is called Baskin Creek Condos and you can see the little creek running along beside it. That makes me think of our honeymoon that we spent in Gatlinburg thirty five years ago this coming June. I rented a little cabin structure that was in town next to a creek. Jim wasn't one for shopping, so a lot of the daytime hours was spent with me shopping and him laying there watching tv....hmmmm, that sounds familiar! He asked me if it was raining outside....I said no, that was the creek just outside our window that he had not even noticed! LOL! So romantic!

This trip I did not even enter a shop. We stayed pretty busy with the conference. Besides, the shops I loved like the Cliff Dwellers have moved out of town. Now, at night, the streets are filled with people eating funnel cakes and a lot of them smoking....not my idea of fun. The decorations are pretty that they have up from about November until early spring. My idea of a good day would be a ride out to Cades Cove and a hike to a waterfall or a ride around the Crafts Circle.

Obviously, these photos were taken early in the morning while all the revelers were still in bed. It was quiet and peaceful then and the trash cans were not overflowing with trash like the night before.

We drove through the Smokies, which I always enjoy. There was still snow along the roadway. No stops on the ride as this was not that kind of trip. We had a busload of teens! I think they were more interested in what was on their ipods rather than the beauty of the mountains.

We did go over to Huntsville after this trip, so I will have photos from the garden visit there.