Gatlinburg for Christmas
This Christmas my partner and I decided to rent a cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Our cabin was appropriately named Heavenly Vision because of the spectacular panoramic view of downtown Gatlinburg.
My partner’s 7 year old daughter was there with us and we were very active. The first day we walked through downtown with Maya (our 10 week old Malamute). We were unable to walk very far because people kept stopping us to pet and inquire about our dog. One man from Miami (apparently there were plenty of people vacationing from Florida) repeatedly offered to buy the dog from us even after we told him it was not for sale. There was a strange mix of people from New York and Miami peppered with rednecks here and there.
It is amazing how a dog can bring out smiles and goodwill from strangers and people who you would never expect to “baby talk” to a dog.
At night, downtown Gatlinburg looks like the perfect little Christmas town with colored snowflake lights on all the street lights. During our stay we went horseback riding,hiking,sledding,and managed to visit the Ripley aquarium petting stingrays and horseshoe crabs.
We ate at several restaurants but my favorite was Cherokee grill which has a modern Americana menu and was reasonably priced. The interior has a Frank Loyd Wright arts and crafts feel. The food was good to very good. My partner ordered a steak which was a little dry but the acorn squash with butter was delicious.
The Ober Gatlinburg Ski resort was OK as there was not much man made snow and only two slopes were open. However, we managed to get on the ski lift and bob sled down a couple of times.
Overall, a great Christmas Vacation.
Related posts:
