Well one of our favorite places to vacation is
Gatlinburg Tennessee. It’s a beautiful little town
in the heart of the Smokey Mountains just off
route 441.  We like to stay at the hotels in the
middle of town. The prices are reasonable and
we always are sure to use a coupon to save even
more. The Riverside Hotel is where we normal stay.
From the Riverside you can walk to just
about every place in town.

Why go to Gatlinburg?
If you like mountain music you will find it all
over in the evening around 6pm.
Local artist perform and you’ll love it.
If you like to eat this is the place to go,
all around Gatlinburg are little shops selling
all kinds of treats. If you enjoy looking at
arts and crafts I don’t know of a better place
to be. There is a loop that goes from the aquarium
in town out to all the small arts and crafts shops.
The trolley is inexpensive and worth the dollar or
two for the ride. Get a brochure so you know where
you want to stop on the arts and crafts loop.
You can stop and check it all out and the trolley
will come by about every 30 minutes to pick you
up and bring you to the next stop.
You can spend the whole day on this loop.

In Gatlinburg we found our favorite place to
eat is Bear-Land Grill. It is located north of
441 on Airport Road. Lori is the cook and
she’s the person to see if you are hungry.
You will not walk away hungry from
Bear-Land Grill located inside
the Bear-Land General Store.

Bryan at Bear-Land Grill

Next thing to do in Gatlinburg is to leave
the Bear-Land Grill and head towards the
forest on Airport Road. Make sure you have
your camera with you because this is a road
that loops into the forest and there are lots
of bears there. Just about every time we ride
this road through the mountains we see bear
and deer. Drive slowly and look up also.
Turns out lots of bears climb those big trees.
The whole loop ride takes about an hour to
do and you end up at the west end of Gatlinburg.
West end is where the arts and crafts loop starts.

Another great thing to do is a day trip to
Cades Cove. This is a 12 mile road deep
in the heart of the mountains on the
Tennessee side just south of Gatlinburg.
You take route 441 back into the mountain
and make a right turn onto Little River Rd.
The turn is right at the visitor center.
It is a long ride and but is very scenic.
Once at Cades Cove you want to drive
slow and make sure you stop at some of
the historic places. They have old churches
and homesteads it is all very interesting and
you most likely see many animals walking
in the fields.

Check out some of our pictures of Gatlinburg
and Cades Cove on the Frugal Way Pictures
Gallery site.
Feel free to add some of your pictures.