Pigeon Forge & The Smokey Mountains

A quick hop over the Appalachians on Interstate 40 brought us to Pigeon Forge, TN.  We looked at numerous campsites, including those associated with our various memberships, but finally settled on Creekside RV Park because the membership parks were either too far away, under construction, unable to take a reservation, or had reviews on RV park reviews that were unacceptable.  Creekside is a “pay as you stay” park and cost us $195.33 for six days.  This price includes the extremely high Tennessee tax of over 13% … so don’t be fooled by lower quoted rates that do not include tax.  We don’t usually stay in parks of this sort, as we prefer our much more affordable membership parks, however, Pigeon Forge had been a favorite of my parents, so I wanted to see what the attraction was (more on that later).  The park itself was satisfactory.   We had a very nice pull-through site ($2 extra per night for pull through) with 50 amps, a cement porch, and good free wifi.  There was a pool, but it was closed and there were not any other amenities … just good basic parking.  The staff is friendly and very helpful, both with finding the right site and with information on the town.  There is a free trolley that will pick you up at the front of the park and take you into town (and back again), but we didn’t use it.

Since we left Branson at Christmas rain has followed us all over the South, and Pigeon Forge was no exception.  It rained three of the six days we were there.  Our first impression of the Pigeon Forge area is that it is a duplicate of Branson, Mo.  If offers many of the same shows such as: Dixie Stampede (owned by Dolly Parton in partnership with the Herschend Family Entertainment under the HFE division - The Dollywood Company), Redneck slapstick comedy, murder mystery theater, etc. as Branson.  However, we did not see the same high-end entertainers (Oak Ridge Boys, etc.) that Branson hosts … at least not during our stay in late April/early May.  The town does have considerably more kid-friendly attractions including arcades, go-cart speedways, water parks, and assorted carnival rides.   If our kids were still at home, we would choose Pigeon Forge over Branson, which caters to an older crowd.  Of course Pigeon Forge has Dollywood (formerly Silver Dollar City - Pigeon Forge) while Branson boasts Silver Dollar City… once again a draw.  We took advantage of the many places to eat including Smokey Mountain Brewery … a great place for sandwiches, fries and beer.  We split a Reuben with water … very nice, if on the pricey side.  We enjoyed our visit to the Mellow Mushroom Pizza restaurant.  We split the large, house special pizza.  Ate half of it then and got another meal the next day.  It ran around $25 for the pizza … tax and tip brought the bill to $33.52 (remember the extremely high Tennessee tax!).  Mel’s Diner was a nice place for dinner (and breakfast if you get there before 11 a.m.).  I had the meatloaf sandwich and Lynda enjoyed a chilidog.  It is a fun place with a great 50’s theme including appropriate 50’s music and lots of neon.  We ate on Monday night at Carino’s Italian special.  On Mondays you can get the family sized platter for the price of the regular meal.  The family size will feed four easily.  We split the spicy shrimp and chicken with penne pasta and still took home enough for lunches for the next two days … this is a great deal and Carino’s  is a chain with stores across the U.S.  Here are a couple of pics.

On the fireplace at the Mellow Mushroom

Kim at the Mellow Mushroom

Mel's Diner

We drove to Smokey Mountain National Park and stopped in at the Visitor’s Centers at Gatlinburg and Sugarland.  Sugarland is the main Visitor’s Center and is worth the stop.  It has a very nice display of flora and fauna in the area and the rangers are available and willing to answer any questions you might have.  We took the Little River and Laurel Creek roads to the Cades Cove Loop Road.   This is a beautiful drive with plenty to see and many pull-offs for sight seeing.  Cades Cove is an 11 mile-long one-way loop that takes you by many historic homes, churches, and a small replica village.  It is very interesting as you can visit any or all of the homes along the way.  In addition, the village has a blacksmith shop, gristmill, and visitors’ center.  We saw deer and wild turkeys on our visit along with numerous smaller bird species.  We considered the Smokey Mountain National Park trip the highlight of our visit to this area of Tennessee.  Here are a few pics.

Deer are found all over the park

Typical two-story  cabin

Air Conditioning

Baptist Church

Methodist Church

Grist Mill - Outside

Grist Mill - Inside

Carport

Cantilevered Barn

Blacksmith - Note lack of chinking provides ventilation

Another two-story house

Beautiful scenery

Gatlinburg is altogether different from Pigeon Forge.  While Pigeon Forge caters to families, Gatlinburg is definitely aimed at adults.  There is a place to sample whiskey and another to taste moonshine and the main street is lined with shops that would drive any kid to whine … antiques, souvenirs, jewelry, etc. etc. etc.  Parking is expensive in Gatlinburg running from $5 to $15 depending on how lucky you are.  We drove off the main road thinking we would get a better deal and pulled into a $10 lot … we turned around and pulled out.  We finally found the $5 parking in a lot under the Ole Smokey Moonshine Distillery.  Since we were there already, and we planned on staying in Gatlinburg for a few hours we sampled the moonshine.  They offer 10 samples of various flavors …  we did not try them all … we are too lightweight and experienced for that.  After walking around town for a couple of hours we returned to the Distillery with sore feet and tired bodies.  We decided to eat at Dick’s Last Resort because it was handy and we didn’t want to walk anymore to find another place … this turned out to be a mistake.  Dick’s is advertized as serving its meals with sarcasm and insults.  It is located right next to the Moonshine place and is obviously there to cater to those who imbibe in too many samples.  Since we were sober, however, we found the place annoying and trashy … although they serve a good burger and fries.  In Dick’s case the atmosphere outweighs the food and we would not recommend this restaurant for anyone over 30 or under 21.

Entertainment in the Holler

Until next time … keep doing what you love.