Gatlinburg Recommendations

If you plan on visiting Gatlinburg in the near future, I thought I would toss out a couple of recommendations based on Daniel's birthday weekend.

First of all, we got a smoking deal on a cabin through www.vrbo.com. We have been using Vacation Rental By Owner {VRBO} for the last 5+ years and always manage to find excellent places to stay. This year we discovered that you can get some good deals by waiting until the last minute and then requesting a discount. Another reason we like VRBO is that you can search for pet friendly places to stay.

This past weekend we stayed at the Apple Tree House in the Arts and Crafts area of Gatlinburg. It was $75/night plus a cleaning fee which brought our total to $206 for two nights. This is a one bedroom cabin that sleeps six {there is a king size bed, a futon and a pull out couch}. This cabin also boasts a game room, kitchen, hot tub and two full bathrooms {more than we needed}. It is a kid and pet friendly cabin. We would definitely recommend it. Our only negatives are no wifi {you can plug your lap top into the wall}, the TVs are small and no washer/dryer. But for the price, we give this cabin a thumbs up.

I already wrote about Bluff Mountain Adventures, but if you are looking to ride four wheelers, this is a great deal. Good price and a fun, guided ride. Definite thumbs up.

As for restaurants...

Friday we ate at the River's End Restaurant in the Nantahala River Gorge at NOC. It is a favorite for the views. We are fans of the food and stop whenever we get a chance.
 

Saturday we ate breakfast at the Log Cabin Pancake House. Daniel has been coming here his entire life and we have been coming together for the last 10 years. It is one of our favorite breakfast spots.
 

Saturday night, we tried Big Daddy's Pizzeria in Pigeon Forge. They are a brick oven pizzeria with fresh-made artisan doughs. This was the first time we had eaten here and we give it a thumbs up.

 

If you are in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area, we would recommend all of these places.

Project 52 Date Nights: Four Wheelers

A few weeks ago, I asked Daniel what he wanted to do for his birthday {we generally skip on presents and like to make memories instead}. The first thing Daniel said he wanted to do was to go ride ATVs in the mountains. He had been looking for a place to rent decent sized four wheelers and the only place he had found was in Knoxville. It was expensive and we would actually have to haul the ATVs to whatever trail we wanted to ride on. Considering the cost, Daniel was almost ready to just buy a used ATV off of Craigslist.

So I did a little research and came across Bluff Mountain Adventures in Pigeon Forge. They offered a variety of guided rides for a good price AND the vehicles were 4x4 Yamaha Kodiak 450s {more than big enough to make Daniel happy}. In addition, they were really cheap. Our options were to do the Mountain Trail Adventure Ride {easy with lots of scenery} for $60 or the Ridge Run Ride {some good views, lots of technical maneuvering} for $70. Daniel wanted to do the technical ride.

The thought of riding four wheelers in the mountains sounded like a lot of fun {much better than his alternate desire to go skeet shooting for his birthday} and even though I had only ridden four wheelers once before, I figured I could handle the technical ride.

Even though I had very little experience on a four-wheeler, I have ridden jet skis, motorcycles and mountain bikes. All of these experiences came in handy and we both had a blast riding up and down steep hills {on difficult terrain}, around tight turns and through big puddles. It was AWESOME! We would totally go back.

After our ride, our guide told us that we would have a lot of fun on the custom ride {$90 for an even more challenging course}. Another cool thing about this place is that you can keep you tickets {for life} and get a 15% discount on your next visit.

We would HIGHLY recommend this outfitter.