A Weekend In The Great Smoky Mountains
As part of our Tennessee stop for our honeymoon, we visited the place where we got engaged, The Great Smoky Mountains! For this part of the trip, my mom came to spend time with us and visit her very first National Park! Below we’ll share our favorite places we visited over the weekend!!
Drive through the Smokies! We stopped at some of the pull-offs so she could see the beauty of the Smokies.
Hiking Clingman’s Dome. Every Smoky Mountain trip we either drive up to see the view from Clingman’s Dome or if weather permits, we HIKE IT! This time was very special because my track star momma hiked up with us for the first time. It was clear who were the athletes (Javi plays hockey and my mom ran track) and I whimpered behind with my little legs 🤣 The VIEWS make it forever worth it!
Drive through Cade’s Cove Loop - We absolutely loved this scenic drive through the Smokies. We were able to see a momma bear with two little cubs and some deer. We also walked around the remains of some cabins. We go through Cade’s Cove Loop every time we visit so seeing bears with my mom made it even more special.
Our next stop was the Gatlinburg Sky Lift Park. We went all the way to the top, enjoyed the views and took a walk across the cable bridge 1,800 feet in the area! Tickets were $32 each and the views were absolutely worth it! Although when we visited, it was a little crowded (late August), there was plenty of space to run around and enjoy the views from the top. This is a pet-friendly park and we saw several dogs enjoying themselves!
Cookie Dough Bliss to crave the sweet tooth on the Gatlinburg strip! I had the birthday cake cookie dough and it was DELICIOUS!
The Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster - Because my mother and I are the ultimate adrenaline junkies, we decided to try this Alpine Coaster. Little did I know, this would be payback for all of the headaches I gave my mom as a teen because she did not hit the brake ONCE the entire way down. She had a freaking blast, me, I thought I was going to fly off!!!
Santa’s Claus-et- Ok, I confess we stop here every time we visit Gatlinburg because it’s such a fun spot! It’s Christmas all year long (and you know how much your girl loves Christmas). Our favorite area is the food area of course where they have samples of jams, jellies, salsas, butters and dips. Yes, we usually leave with a ton of goodies from this place and they were so nice and allowed Luna in her backpack!
Shopping: We walked around the Mountain Mile mall strip and visited some of the stores. Our favorites included Coffee Armory that serves Black Riffle Coffee that gave Luna a pup cup and REI! This spot is also pet-friendly so Luna had a blast running around. They have huge game boards and some fun attractions for the little ones.
Stays: We stayed at the following locations. At the first, we got a visit from two “friendly” bears who wanted to come in and hang out.
If you’ve been to Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge, please share what your favorite spots are in the comments below!
