Fall Vacation to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg

Very nicely written journal. I've been searching for info and you have supplied most of the answers i've been looking for. Thanx.

I've or I should say, my family and I have been coming down form Princeton, WV to Piegon Forge for the past 15 years+ and have enjoyed every trip. Sometimes, my daughter and I come by ourselves and just enjoy the beautiful scenrey. We go up to Gatlingsburg and take the Cherokee Trail by car and we really enjoy that. We stop along the way and look at the old homesteads and the beautiful streams, trees and just plain enjoy the nature itself.

One summer, my sisters, there is 5 of us counting myself, came down for a weekend and stayed up in Gatlingsburg and drove back to Piegon Forge when we wanted to do some shopping. We went to the Dixie Stempede and boy did we have some fun! We hollered and hooped and cheered so much that I actually lost my voice for awhile. They enjoyed that! We enjoyed the food, also. It is worth every cent. The show is great and if you ever get the chance...go see one of them.

Then we decided to get on a trolley, bad mistake! It was like 100 degrees and the thing was packed, we tried to get one to go up to Gatlingsburg, I think we saw every campground there was in Piegon Forge and beat it all, a little rain started fall, relief, you'd think, nope....a Mother and about 5 little ones were sitting behing us and what did we hear? "Mama, I'm getting wet." Naturally we had the windows down, anything to cool down. And to top that off, she starts to sing.......
"The wheels on the bus goes round and round." My sister sitting beside of me, said in a low voice if she had a gun she'd shoot herself!!!Just kidding. We finally got off of the darn thing at Patroit Park and to this day, we have never attempted to ride the trolley again. After it was over with, and we were all burned up, sweaty and stinky, we sit down and one of the ladies that owns one of the shops at the Old Mill offered us some lemonade and to sit upstairs in her place in the air condition. My face was blood red and my other sister's weren't much better. But we thanked that lady, never did get her name, but the lemonade was a God sent and so was the air condition. After a little rest, off we went again.

I thought maybe you would get a laugh out of this. We did and there wasn't a sidewalk we didn't sit on either. We laughed so hard and that was the best time ever, because back at home we had a sick father who was fighting cancer at the time. He wanted us to go on this trip and we did. He passed away 10/11/04 and we miss him very much and he went on his trip to a better place.

Thank you for letting me write this to you. I'm planning, along with 4 members of my family, coming down the first of September, 2007. If not then, it will be a later date in the fall, but for sure we will be there. We hope to find a place to buy down there. We love it there, the people is beautiful and the surroundings is simply great.

By for now. See you soon.
Linda

My sisters and I (4 of 5 of us) are going on a sisters get-away from 9/20-9/25. We are renting a cabin in Pigeon Forge. Thanx for the heads up about the trolley, will avoid that ride! I hope my sisters and I have as much fun as ya'll did. Maybe one day we'll see each other there! Thanks again, Linda, take care.
LW

I'm glad that you both stopped by to comment about my trip. Thanks for sharing your story, Linda, and have a good trip, LW. I will say that to us, the trolley was a god-send on some days when you're tired and have walked from one end of Gatlinburg to the other. I'm also happy to hear that my journal answered some questions. :) Take care!

If you really want a good experience without the heat. October is great, slightly more expensive but well worth it.

any ideas where to stay and what todo for a 3-day weekend? My husband and I plan to take our 5 month old son with us........

my favorite place to stay in Pigeon Forge is Park Grove Inn very nice and clean if you want to stay in Gatlinburg I like Hampton Inn also very nice and clean. Please take time to have breakfast in Gatlinburg at Log cabin Pancake House. Great food. If You are taking a 5 month old I would recommend taking a stroller to walk around Gatlinburg because there is a lot of walking but we love it.

I am taking my Dad on a road trip. We are going from Indiana to Nashville to visit my Aunt for a couple of days. We'll take in the Grand Ole Oprey while we are there. Then we are heading to the Smokey's. Should we stay in Pigeon Forge or Gatlinberg? I am having a terrible time deciding which is better. I would like to find a place where we can park the car, stay there, walk out of the hotel and be right on a decent strip of shopping (even the tourity goofy shops), places to eat or just sit and people watch. My Dad can't walk for long distances. A few blocks and we'll have to park our rears for a bit. Can anyone advise me which would be the better town to stay??

My husband and I just returned from a weekend motorcycle trip to Gatlinburg last night. We have never been there before but were told by many friends what a wonderful place it is to visit. Boy, were they right! I would have to say that it is probably one of the best trips we've taken. We rode thru the Foothills Parkway on our way to Deals Gap to ride on the famous "Dragons Tail". What beautiful scenery! The lodging and food in downtown gatlinburg was great and not overpriced. There are so many things to do, it is hard to decide when you only have a few days to do it. We packed as much in as we could in only two days. We plan on going back with the ENTIRE family (children and grandparents) and staying longer. LOVED IT.