Smoky Mountains Day One

After 4 weekends of landscaping and lawn and garden work in May , I decided the only way to escape from all the endless projects a Master Gardener (my wife) can think up was to…. Escape. So we did some quick internet work and booked a cabin in Gatlinburg on the edge of Smoky mountain national park from Friday night through Monday night.

We were packing up on Thursday night and decided, hey, we might as well start the trek from Michigan tonight. So we did a quick estimate of how far we could get before midnight and Pricelined a hotel in Lima, Ohio. Don’t do the the hotel deals they show you, but the name your own price. I love Priceline. They were offering 2 ½ star hotels for over $100. I offered $50 and got it. If you want some help using Priceline to maximum benefit, check out www.biddingfortravel.com I learned some nifty tricks and you can see what prices other folks have gotten.

Four or five hours later, following the droid navigation was taking us though the less picturesque part of Lima. We were beginning to be concerned what the hotel might turn out to look like, when we emerged onto the edge of downtown and the brand new Wingate hotel by Wyndham. Nice room, great bed and pillows, free breakfast and one the road in under 8 hours.

Only one significant detour around a bridge on 441 in Knoxville and we found ourselves in Seviervillle TN, looking for the cabin rental company. My wife remembered then she had forgotten her hiking pole and a quick stop at Walmart remedied that situation.

TimberTops Cabin Rental Review

The cabin rental place called Timbertops, appears to do property management for a individually owned cabins. Dozens of them. It runs like a machine and we were soon settling into our very nice log cabin, with knotty pine paneling and all the amenities. Flat screen, dishwasher, hot tub etc. There are ceiling fans everywhere, hardwood floors and everything is planned for and well maintained. One thing to note, however, is that the nice secluded looking pictures on the internet are actually in a cluster of 10 or 12 cabins tightly packed and nicely landscaped. The weeds don’t get pulled much, but it is overall a very nice package. The only thing we miss is a deck looking out over the dropoff in back. There are two rocking chairs on the front porch.
Son Aaron and daughter-in-law Shannon were driving up t meet us from their home in Lawrenceville Georgia (suburban Atalanta) and they didn’t roll in till after dark.. While we waited, we tried out a steakhouse called Alamo. Since Aaron is a vegetarian and we figured he MIGHT not find too much to eat at a steak house. Steak was oak fire grilled and fairly simple, but VERY tender and the smoked taste is unique and quite good.