An insider’s guide on what not to do when visiting Pigeon Forge, the surrounding area As someone who frequents Pigeon Forge, I know too well that when planning a vacation, in the words of a musical maestro, it’s about knowing when to hold them and knowing when to fold them. When you plan your next trip to the Smokies, I want
A Local Offers Tips on What Not To Do at Gatlinburg’s Most Frequented Steakhouse The dining options in Gatlinburg are vast and varied. You can choose an elevated experience at a place like The Greenbrier, The Peddler or Chesapeake’s. You can eat some of the best (literally) BBQ in the country served on checkered plastic tablecloths while seated at mismatched
A Local Offers Tips on What Not To Do When Hiking in the Smokies There’s something primal about the great, wide places of the world. You feel it standing on a lonely shore, looking out over a great grey ocean. You feel it on the precipice of a canyon or valley, looking across a wide expanse. And you feel it
A local offers his advice on 5 things not to do when booking, attending dinner shows in Pigeon Forge Dinner and a show. Sounds like the perfect night out – or matinee – in Pigeon Forge. Dinner theaters have long been part of the fabric that is Pigeon Forge. But it’s only in recent years that everyone wised up and
A local offers tips on what not to do at Gatlinburg’s popular pancake spot The Pancake Pantry is an iconic Gatlinburg institution. It was born in 1960 when a pair of Hoosiers decided to move to the mountains and open the first pancake palace in East Tennessee. They were quickly able to acquire the building and the land and then
A local offers advice on mistakes to avoid to make the most out of your next trip to Ober Gatlinburg I had given up on Ober Gatlinburg in the autumn a couple of years ago. In the days after Halloween, the park hadn’t transitioned from fall to winter. It was understaffed and underfunded. Then Joe Baker and his partners stepped
Don’t do these 7 things when renting a cabin in the Smokies There are a lot of factors you want to consider when you book a cabin in the Smoky Mountains. For example, you’ll want to book at a good price, get a good view and find a convenient location. But have you ever considered what NOT to do when
A local offers advice on mistakes to avoid to make the most of your next trip to Anakeesta It arrived one day without much fanfare, just seemingly appearing on top of the mountain. Self-billed as Gatlinburg’s “theme park”, there wasn’t a lot to do at Anakeesta that first season. However, a program of steady improvements has seen expansion nearly every
A local offers advice on mistakes to avoid to make the most of your next trip to the SkyBridge With Anakeesta drawing traffic across the valley and Ober Mountain under new ownership, the competition for your “SkyDollars” has never been higher. But the eldest of the major mountaintop attractions isn’t ready to wave a white flag of surrender. The park’s
A local offers words of wisdom on what not to do while riding the Tail of the Dragon There’s a road through the mountains of Tennessee into their North Carolina counterparts. Over its 11-mile stretch, it features 318 curves. It’s known as the Tail of the Dragon – or U.S. 129 to those less poetically inclined – and it is