I am coming to you from the beautiful sunny 80 some odd degree weather of Gatlinburg TN!!! We arrived at 2:45pm this day and have had a ball during our first afternoon here.
We booked our room through Priceline.com earlier this week and I must say, we got a pretty good deal. Our room is simple with a couple of amenities such as refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, free waffle breakfast every morning, outdoor heated pool, hot tub AND the best part is that is is located right on the strip in Pigeon Forge. So all of the outlets and shopping are actually within walking distance.
We are going to Smoky Mountain Knife Works and Russell Stover Outlet in the morning and then the Belz Outlet Mall afterward. Tomorrow evening we are going to do the Fun Time Trolley to go into Gatlinburg.
The Fun Time Trolley are these cute green trolley cars that travel from the Super Walmart in Pigeon Forge all the way to the other end of Gatlinburg. They cost .50 cents a person every time you get on. So all 4 of us can get on the trolley for $2 and go all the way into Gatlinburg, do our looking and shopping and chair lift riding and then another $2 to come back to the hotel. It costs minimum of $5 to park in downtown Gatlinburg…plus the gas to get there. So it is way cheaper to ride the trolley. PLUS, the trolleys use alternative fueled vehicles that do not depend on foreign oil to operate. The trolleys stop in over 100 places in and around this area so we are bound to have a great time.
We spent this afternoon driving around Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge so we would know where every thing is. We had dinner at this restaurant called Corky’s. Not the best highlight so far. We went to Walmart and picked up some drinks and snack items because vending machines are rip offs.
Then, we came back to the hotel, changed into our bathing suits and spent the next 3 and a half hours in the wonderfully relaxing heated outdoor pool. Justin is very afraid of water and can’t swim and I have very seldom seen him put his face under the water. Within 30 minutes I had Justin going under the water and having a blast. I loved seeing that. Of course, he now has NO excuse for all of us going to Splash Country on Sunday!
I will update later….maybe even with pictures! 
