What a fun time in Gatlinburg Tennessee over the holidays! This is the first time we’ve gone on an away vacation with Mr. Nine’s sister and family and we had a ball! It was so wonderful to spend some quality time with them and for the cousins to enjoy each other’s company!
We did want crisp air and snow but it was a balmy 65-70, so while nice, a big nada on the white stuff.
We have been to Gatlinburg before and some of you know it’s where we eloped to, but we had not been back in years, so this was a treat! Except for one thing! The switchbacks were the death of me and I thought for sure we would go over the mountain on several occasions! Here are some of my favorite things we did in order of their occurrence.
Hiking
Luckily, both of our families love to hike, and we have an obsession with finding water on our hikes so the trails to waterfalls were inevitable. One of them, Mr. Nine and I had done before but the other one was new to us and they were both beautiful. Funny thing was the one called Abrams Falls noted on the sign that it took 3 to 4 hours, but it was getting close to dark and we were able to do it in just two, we are speedy like that! I don’t know if the kids loved as many miles as we put in but we sure were proud of ourselves!
SkyBridge
OK, this is where I was scared blank less! The longest suspension bridge in the country opened in May 2019 in Gatlinburg. It is basically a swinging bridge with the glass bottom middle and metal across the mountain. Not only was I scared to death to go up the ski lift type thingy straight up but this bridge had me frightful. However, I was able to conquer my fear and it was actually so so cool. Talk about being proud of myself!
Beautiful pic my niece took
Ole Red
After our SkyBridge trek, we were starving, and we were excited to try Ole Red for lunch as it had been a two hour wait the night before. If you’re not familiar, Ole Red is an older song by Blake Shelton and he opened this restaurant in Gatlinburg along with one just like it in Nashville. It features scrumptious home cooking and awesome live entertainment. We just loved the band as they played all new and old-school country.
The homemade tater tots were to die for!
They were fantastic!
The homemade tater tots were to die for!
Playing Games & Being with family
Both of our families also love to play games. We played everything from Yahtzee to Quiplash which is a fun interactive phone game with the TV screen, to heads up to rummy and of course some trivia.
Yahtzee was a fav
And Mini Golf was a blast even though we lost. 2 of our team got a hole in one and Mr. Nine got 2!
Meeting Nadine
Meeting Nadine
Talk about a bonus! You know I love to meet my favorite bloggers in real life when I can. When Nadine from Life By Nadine Lynn and I found out we were both going to be in Gatlinburg at the same time, we knew we had to make a meet up happen. This girl is just as genuine and sweet in person as she is on her blog. And bonus, I got to meet her beautiful daughter Zoe, who is born on one of our sons’ birthdays and her cool husband Chris who I’m sure you all know from some of her blog posts. Nadine found the perfect area to meet called the Village and the best hot chocolate and donuts from the Donut Friar. Such a blessing to meet my wonderful blog friends like Nadine, who I have known since the beginning of my blog journey. I just love this girl!
The Island
After I left Nadine, it was time for lunch with my crew. Mr. Nine's sister and family were attending mass and doing lunch on their own. Ironically, Nadine mentioned a great place to go in Pigeon Forge called the Island where there were all kinds of shops, water displays rides and games. How funny is it that out of all those places, our family ended up seated by us at the same restaurant! We had a ball at the Island. After doing the skybridge, I was actually excited yet still a little fearful to do the big Ferris wheel. We also went to Ole Smoky and did the moonshine tasting with the boys that are over 21 and it was a blast!
The cornbread and sweet butter and my salad was so good!
View from the Ferris Wheel
Log Chapel
We knew long before we planned this trip that we wanted to show our boys where we eloped to. Luckily, our Log chapel was not destroyed by the Gatlinburg fires. It looked a little worn, but it had some new decking added on and we were able to get some pictures and walk around the property. So fun to reminisce on the lovely little chapel where we got married. We knew we wanted to spend some more time with family playing games, so it was another quiet night at home and wanting to get back to the cabin before dark because the switchbacks are even worse to drive on in the dark!
Another bonus, the road intersecting ours was called Daisy Lane with an additional homemade sign with daisies on it. It felt so comforting to think that Daisy was watching over us on the mountain.
Here is a picture of our cabin which was perfect for our families and a link if you’re interested in renting it. RENT CABIN HERE
One last morning view..
HAPPY WEEK FORWARD. MAY YOUR VIEW OF THE WEEK BE PEACEFUL!!
LINKING-UP with Creative Muster Party // Metamorphosis Monday// Tuesday Talk with Erika and Ashley // Love your Creativity // Hello Monday // Inspire Me Tuesday // Encouraging Hearts and Home
xo
