Re: Gatlinburg Tennessee Trip: Suggestions
 

It's funny. I've driven across the country, through the Rockies, the Canadian Rockies, Glacier National Park, etc. Yet, one of my most randomly semi-dicey-but-still-not-really mountain drives I've encountered so far may have been driving up to our cabin in Tennessee, haha.

We were driving a front-wheel drive Ford Escape on clean, paved roads. Yet, they were steep enough to require a little bit of extra juice, were usually just a single lane, and popped in a random switch-back here or there. Really wouldn't have been an issue at all if I wasn't living in constant fear of a car coming down at the same time I was gunning to get up (particularly if it was a time of day when the sun was shining directly into my front window).

Looks really un-extreme on video but when driving it at first, I was constantly on guard about what I'd have to do if another car happened to emerge over one of those blind hills coming downward.

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I'm being overdramatic, really. Never a serious problem. Just more of a "Of all the mountain areas to catch me off guard, it's an established cabin neighborhood?"

Most of the normal roads through the Appalachians won't even be like that though. Very manageable. Probably the only other observation I had, as a native flatlander, was the increased aggressiveness of semi-trucks in the mountains, due to their weight and downward momentum and whatnot.

Re: Gatlinburg Tennessee Trip: Suggestions
 

If you get a chance to go down into Pigeon Forge, find Big Daddy Pizzeria, they have a couple locations. Get the goatcheese pizza. Mmmm! Delicious. I go to Gatlinburg for vacation every January & it's the only time I've had goat cheese, but I get it every year.
Also, in Gatlinburg, if Aquariums interest you, Gatlinburg has anexcellent one.

Re: Gatlinburg Tennessee Trip: Suggestions
 

Closing in on on heading out, we got the Zip lining booked at Climb Works and our Class 3-4 white water booked at Smokey Mt Outdoors. Most of the other stuff we are going to wing it from this thread LOL.

Thanks for all the advice guys, I guess my only thing to be mindful of, using low gear on my wife's Accord when going down steep hills so I don't burn up the brakes.

14 hour drive from good ol Louisiana, should be a fun road trip. I think we are going to do some food reviewing on the way, stopping at neat little restaurants along the way.

Re: Gatlinburg Tennessee Trip: Suggestions
 

Also the Aquarium is affiliated with Ripley's so you can get some nice discounts by buying combo tickets for Aquarium plus other places. Off of the top of my head I know they have the "Believe it or not" Museum and a Haunted House. I think they have a putt putt golf course and mirror maze place too, but I don't think I've been to those.

Re: Gatlinburg Tennessee Trip: Suggestions
 

Huge thanks to everyone in this thread for helping me and my wife choose some things to do. We did the downtown Gatlinburg thing one day, hitting up Smoky Mt Moonshine, Flapjacks, Skylift, and the Aquarium. The following day we explored downtown Pigeon Forge and ate at Harpoon Harry's & Huck Finn's Catfish. We also went to Cades Cove & after hiked up to Laurel Falls, really pretty area. Finally we ended it all with zip lining at Climb Works and Smoky Mt Whitewater rafting the upper river, it was a awesome experience.

Big thanks J on recommending Climb Works, they were incredibly professional and the lines were top notch!

Here is just a couple photos from the trip

Re: Gatlinburg Tennessee Trip: Suggestions
 

Glad you enjoyed your trip to Tennessee. We live in middle TN but visit Gatlinburg pretty regularly and really enjoy it other than the sometimes insane traffic getting into town.

Re: Gatlinburg Tennessee Trip: Suggestions
 

I just started looking into getting a cabin and staying in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area for next October as a "modest" getaway and possible "pop the question" stay.

For now I'm shooting for 3-4 days and have really only priced out a couple cabins through Cabins of the Smoky Mountains. What rental company do you guys use or recommend? How far in advance should I book? I figure October is their prime season so I don't want to lose out on "peak" colors.

Apart from the lodgings I haven't done much research yet for attractions and activities (apart from reading this thread anyway). Some things that looked cool was the Ripley's Aquarium (I'm a sucker for those), dinner theater, hiking/Canopy tour (though I have a "thing" against heights), and obviously touring shops/downtown.

I also had the thought of making the 90ish minute drive to The Biltmore Estate for a day trip. We were there about 3 years ago during the Spring and it was amazing. I can only imagine how it looks during the Fall.

Anyway, any additional impressions or recommendations would be great. I'm just trying to get a rough figure so I can start saving for next year.

Re: Gatlinburg Tennessee Trip: Suggestions
 

Cabin wise we got lucky, the cabin was given to us free from one of our sales reps who owns it. I can get in touched with them (husband/wife) if you want to price them as an option. It would be the cabin you see in the pictures above.

Activity wise, do like I did, read this thread, make some loose plans, and then just wing it while there. Its a time of kicking back relaxing, taking in the sights of a new place, and doing some unplanned exploring. Outside of those, schedule only things like zip-lining or white water rafting. Now with that said, I HIGHLY recommend those two activities. Extremely worth the time and money!