Happy Friday everyone! I recently took a break from our craft fair and stopped in at the Gatlinburg Festival of Trees, at the Mills Center just after Thanksgiving. In the picture above you might be able to see my reflection in the ornament, with the trees all around...
When you come down the hill at the end of the Roaring Fork Motor Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, stop in at Ely's Mill. It's a neat little gift shop that dates from the 1920s with local crafts, and honey taken from the hives that stand in the field...
HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone! I'll be spending the day down at the Gatlinburg Convention Center in the Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Fair. Come on down and visit if you are in town. The William Britten Gallery will be closed today, but will re-open tomorrow.
First storm of the season! Little ice pellets raining down. Mt. LeConte shrouded in a snowstorm. Travel over Newfound Gap in the Smoky Mountains not advisable. Bring it on! Snow us in! Heat up the chocolate.
Say hello to Ulli. I gave him a ride from Gatlinburg up to the Appalachian Trail at Newfound Gap early this morning. Ulli is a television producer from Berlin. His plan is to hike for 10 days, then come out of the woods and make it somehow up to New York City where...
This day in 1977 Elvis Presely died at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, TN. Just down the road from Gatlinburg, in Pigeon Forge, the memories live on. It's a good show there, and never ceases to amaze me how Elvis had so much charisma that over 30 years after his...
This morning, out walking the usual loop through the deserted development behind my cabin, suddenly there are big, muddy bear tracks crossing the road! There is a mud-hole from recent rains beside the road that he plowed through to get his muddy feet. The boundary of...
Gatlinburg kicked off the fabulous Farmer's Market this past Saturday. The inaugural season will run through the weekend before Thanksgiving, every Saturday from 8-11:00 am. A good crowd turned out for the first morning. There was music, and some intriguing booths.
Ok, I know it's a tourist attraction, but it's really very good. My four grandsons can tour me through this place and identify every single fish. They know every display and all the facts related to those displays. Very impressive, educational. Now I couldn't begin to...
You might see almost anything on the Parkway in Gatlinburg, a quiet mountain hamlet near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For example, strolling the street after lunch at Bubba Gumps the other day, I happened to encounter a young woman with her pet kangaroo....
Usually by the end of February, winter is losing its grip in our quiet little village on the edge of the Smoky Mountains. But this year we've still got the twice-weekly snowstorms, still wearing the triple layers, still the hot chocolate and tea, the howling wind at...
Still the snowcap on Mt. LeConte, still the cabin fever. So head downtown for a walk-around. Gatlinburg on a winter weekday can be slow, with few tourists on the Parkway promenade. The wishing well is frozen, and hardly a brave soul on the chair lift. The ticky-tack...