My family LOVES to travel! We love to just get away, try different things, eat out, and learn a thing or two. So when a beach trip didn’t pan out with spring break schedules, we looked for a place we could go for just a few days. Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountain National Park instantly came to mind. We’d been there a couple times before, but not since the kids were very young. We also decided we’d really focus on the hiking part this time with our newfound love of nature.
Along the Way
[quote]To break up car trips, we always like to find a cool stop for the kids to get out and run around.[/quote] On this trip, I was lucky enough to find a Groupon for Oak Ridge Children’s Museum. Price wise, this place is a STEAL, even without a Groupon. Each room has a really cool theme and the kids learned a lot. Something that was not expected was how much the hubby and I learned. Apparently the town of Oak Ridge, TN was once a gated high security city of 75,000 tasked to build the atomic bomb during WWII. So while the kids were playing, we were learning. Added bonus: there was an Aldi down the street (our favorite grocery store) so we stopped by on the way to the cabin and picked up groceries!
Other places to stop and stretch out:
Berea, KY – wonderful arts and crafts community, home to Berea College, and historical Boone Tavern
Harland Sanders Café and Museum – Corbin, KY
Where to Stay
There is no lack of places to stay in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area. There are condos, timeshares, cabins, resorts, camping and more. Due to budget and the size of our family, we opted for a cabin. We stayed at Good Ol Rocky Top. It worked out very well with the grandparents on the main floor and us with the kids in the walkout basement with two queen beds and a futon. The kids LOVED the pool table, hot tub and that it was directly across the street from the indoor/outdoor pool. We also loved that the location was very close to Dollywood and the “main strip” as well as the fact that there was no steep mountains to climb to get to it.
Other Places to Stay:
Zoder’s Inns & Suites – 402 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN
Camp LeConte Luxery Outdoor Resort – 1739 East Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN
Or even camp inside the GSMNP
What we did
Our first night in Gatlinburg, we started off with dinner at Cherokee Grill. The crab cakes, spicy mac n cheese and Neva’s potatoes were delicious! The bread they serve was really tasty too! Parking behind the restaurant is free as long as you show them your receipt on the way out. After dinner, we “walked the strip” and found lots of photo ops. We also shopped at some great stores including Sugarlands Distillery, Smoky Mountain Mall, Mountain Cheese and Nuts (as well as the candy store across from it), Beef Jerky Outlet, All Sauced Up, Shoot Em’ Up Cinema, and played arcade games at Frannie Farkle Arcade.
Day two began with hiking. We stopped off at the Sugarlands Visitor Center to purchase the kids Junior Ranger Programs. They are only $2.50 each and have 11 pages of fun activities for the kids to complete around the park. Once they complete 8 of these, pick up a bag of trash, and participate in a ranger led activity, they become Junior Rangers! We also purchased a Scavenger Hunt book. We then drove to the furthest point in the days adventures, the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, Mingus Mill, and the Mountain Farm Museum. We were able to complete some activities in the Junior Ranger book like looking at how the Mingus Mill was constructed and identifying in a picture how buildings in history were constructed. After exploring the Mountain Farm Museum and completing another page in the Junior Ranger booklet, we started along the Oconaluftee River Trail, a 1.5 mile round hike along the Oconaluftee River. We learned how the Cherokee Indians used Evergreen for medicinal purposes and spotted orange rocks in the river which were highly treasured by the Cherokee Indians.
Sadly, our hike was cut short by rain, so we ended up driving a few more miles into Cherokee, NC for lunch. I wish we would have looked into this area a bit more. There was a lot we could have done including:
- Museum of the Cherokee Indian
- Oconaluftee Indian Village
- Santa Land
- Lots of shops and gift stores
- Cherokee Bear Zoo
We did, however, stop for lunch at Sassy Sunflowers Bakery and Café. We purchased two soup and sandwich specials for us, chicken salad and egg salad with vegetable and potato soup. The kids all had grilled cheese. Everyone raved about how good it was so we will for sure stop again in the future.
After lunch we headed back towards Gatlinburg. Its approximately an hour drive, so the younger kids got a chance to take a nap and the older kids had a blast searching for bears as we drove up and over the mountain. We stopped at the Newfound Gap half way so the kids could complete another page in the Junior Ranger book. It was fairly cloudy so the “view” the kids drew mostly included clouds. Once back into Gatlinburg, we stopped at Herbert Holt Park. Its located just as you enter Gatlinburg, along Parkway, at the north side. If you aren’t paying attention, you’d probably not even notice it was there. The boys had brought their fishing poles so this was a great place to stop and catch some trout. Warning: there is no fishing on Thursdays in the city of Gatlinburg. We did not know this until the end and I had not read it anywhere online so I’m warning you now. They have restrooms, areas to have a picnic, nice playground area, restrooms and also a nice flat platform for children under 12 and handicap to fish. My husband was told by several locals that the river is stocked every Friday morning and that is the best time to fish. We personally caught and released, but you can take them to eat.
That evening, we had dinner in Pigeon Forge at the Blue Moose Burgers. Although there seemed to be a large wait, and they initially told us a 20 min wait, we were seated in about 5 minutes. My son is 7 but loves chicken wings, so when I saw wings on the kids menu, this place was a no brainer for our family. My husband also really enjoyed a unique burgers…..the grilled cheese burger which he claimed as amazing.
Just down the road was MagiQuest, which was our after dinner adventure for the night. I had purchase a deal for this on Groupon before we arrived. The kids got to play the MagicQuest game (with loaner wands), play black light miniature golf, go into the mirror maze and play laser tag. It took a lot longer than expected but the kids had a great time.
We still had a lot on our to do list that we didn’t get to, so the kids are already begging to go back this summer. Other attractions we hope to visit soon:
–Dollywood and Dollywood’s Splash Country
We also have a list of restaurants we’d like to make it to during our next trip:
–English Mountain Trout Farm and Grill
Already been to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area? Share your favorite places to visit, favorite place to stay or favorite place to eat.
Hilarious pic of your son in the fat guy ‘suit’! Great review lady!
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