Nashville

We had some free time before we were to catch our plane so they took us to the Opry Mills Mall and a Bass Pro Shop to walk around.  It was a very large and new mall.  On the plane home I was seated by two very nice high school boys who told me the story of that mall.  In 2010 the Cumberland River which runs past the mall and the Opry Land Hotel flooded after two days of torrential rain.  There were flood waters as high as 10 feet inside the mall and even more in the hotel.  Everything was rebuilt but it must have been a real trial for workers getting people and things to other locations.

We had a great time with Adam, Amy and Wesson.  I had talked about and planned to get a good picture of them but I didn't get it done.  Thankfully I got a very cute one just a few weeks earlier in Richfield. 

Our flight to Denver was on time but the one leaving for SLC was late.  It was 2 AM when we pulled into our driveway.  We were tired but very glad that we got to spend time with Adam's family before we leave. 

More Beautiful Stuff

We decided to take a drive in the mountain area outside of Gatlinburg before going to dinner the last night.  It was spectacular. 

As we got to the end of the loop there were some old barns and a gift store and booth.  I loved the gate by the barn.  We were able to finish the Christmas gift because there was a man there selling cutting boards that he had made and it was a perfect match for the bow saw knives we bought earlier. 

The amazing thing was that it wasn't more that a block from there that we were back in Gatlinburg with condos and hotels on both sides of the road. 

Other Places We Visited

There was a whole block area called the Christmas Village.  There were many stores filled with Christmas and other holiday decor.  There was a little village with a train and one building was like a big clock. 

Mike and I paused for a photo shot on one corner.

Next Few Days

I have things all mixed up in my mind but I'll tell about some of the things that we did while we were there.  Gatlinburg is really a high class tourist town now.  It isn't very many miles from one end to the other but it was bumper to bumper traffic.  There was a full week long Craft Fair being held at a very large convention center so we spent part of an afternoon there.  We enjoyed watching some glass blowers and Mike and I got a Christmas gift for Todd and Judy and bought one for ourselves, too.
It is a bow knife and it slices hard crusted bread, cheese and tomatoes better than anything I have seen. 

One of our favorite things we visiting the aquarium there.  One of the very best things to make it function well was a moving sidewalk in an area under the clear tank.  The moving walk made it so people were not bunching in front of anything and it was so amazing to see sharks, turtles and so many other kinds of sea life from underneath after seeing it from the top.  Following are some of the pictures I snapped. 

This was my favorite penguin.

We also saw a famous deep sea diver.

Our Trip to Tennessee

I spent hours working on a blog and something didn't work and I lost the whole thing.  I am hoping for better luck this time.

We arrived in Nashville at 1:30 in the afternoon and Adam, Amy and Wesson were packed and ready for our adventure.  We drove over to Pigeon Forge where they had rented a fun cabin.  It had a pool table and hot tub which kept Wesson very happy.                                                                                   

 

We ate a Crackle Barrel that night before going to the cabin.  

It rained off and on most of the time that we were there but we were still able to see and do lots of things.  When we entered the Great Smoky Mountain National Park it was clear but the higher we got the more moisture we got.  

I snapped a picture or two before we got into the rain.

We drove up to the highest peak in Tenn. to Clingmans Dome.  Mike and I didn't have coats so we didn't take the hike to the overlook but Adam, Amy and Wesson braved it.  They were sad that they didn't see much because of the rain but did get to see the overlook.  You can see from this photo from the web not only what their hike was but why they call this park the Great Smoky Mountains.

After we left the park we did a little shopping and got Mike a nice pair of Carhartt pants and then went to Mellow Mushroom for excellent pizza.