SNOW!!! Yes that is snow in this first photo!
I took the afternoon off of the convention work and we went to Gatlinburg up in the mountains at the north entrance to Smokey Mountain National Park. Finally I got to ride the Tram to Ober Gatlinburg! Yea! We have been here 3 other years and one time it was rainy and foggy while here. The second time, the Tram was shutdown for service changing from winter ski season to summer tourist season. The third time it was beautiful and sunny but thunderstorms rolled in and they stopped running the tram. This time I finally got to ride it!
These photos are all taken on the tram and show the beautiful views of the mountains. We had never realized all the cabins and cottages that are built on the mountain sides. There are thousands of them.
The view above is from our table where we ate lunch at the top of the tram. It is not the top of the mountain. From here, you take the ski lifts up to the very top of the mountain. There was snow left over - they just closed the skiing down two weeks ago. It is hard to imagine people were skiing two weeks ago since our temps have been in the 80's.
The above photo is the two runs of the Alpine Slide - they look like white tire paths. It is a dry sled-type of ride that comes down the mountain.
The above photo shows the tram coming up to the upper station. The photo below shows the black bears they have on exhibit.
The rest of these photos are scenes from our trip down the mountain.....
The upcoming tram passes us on our way down. You can see Gatlinburg down in the valley just to the left of the tram.
Click on the above photo and see some of the blooming dogwood and redbud trees. In the photo below you can see our Lexus parked right in front of the white building.
After our tram ride we drove the Artist Loop and stopped at Smokey Mountain Dulcimers where I got my dulcimer last year. Mark Edelman was very encouraging to this floundering player!
Here are some scenes from the show.
These photos are all taken on the tram and show the beautiful views of the mountains. We had never realized all the cabins and cottages that are built on the mountain sides. There are thousands of them.
The view above is from our table where we ate lunch at the top of the tram. It is not the top of the mountain. From here, you take the ski lifts up to the very top of the mountain. There was snow left over - they just closed the skiing down two weeks ago. It is hard to imagine people were skiing two weeks ago since our temps have been in the 80's.
The above photo is the two runs of the Alpine Slide - they look like white tire paths. It is a dry sled-type of ride that comes down the mountain.
The above photo shows the tram coming up to the upper station. The photo below shows the black bears they have on exhibit.
The upcoming tram passes us on our way down. You can see Gatlinburg down in the valley just to the left of the tram.
Click on the above photo and see some of the blooming dogwood and redbud trees. In the photo below you can see our Lexus parked right in front of the white building.
This weekend was the grand opening for the new entertainment complex The Titantic complete with an iceberg on the other side. It sounds like it is an interesting museum/entertainment - it certainly is in a unique style building.
Next we stopped at Christmas Village. It is the largest Christmas store I have ever been in and we ended up on visual sensory overload!
Checkout the Santa and sleigh in the photo above. The stars in the sky twinkled and a train was running around the edge of the room. In the photo below, the train is crossing the bridge from one side of the room to the other.
