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.

Recipe for a Happy Birthday

1. Rent a cabin in the woods.

 2. Fulfill a lifelong dream.

3. Eat at good restaurants {those you love and some new ones for good measure}.

4. Take a hike.

5. Or two.

6. Meet friends for dinner followed by coffee and dessert. 

Dinner was at Tony's Pasta Shop & Trattoria – our only complaint is that we wished we had ate outside. The food was excellent. Afterwards we went to Rembrandt's Coffee House for coffee and dessert – definitely our favorite coffee house in Chattanooga.

Happy 30th Birthday Daniel! I am so thankful that I am a part of your life.

The House Hunting Continues...

Last night, Daniel made my day. He called me on the way home from work and asked if I would be opposed to eating out. Are you kidding me??? After being cooped up all day, I am always ready to go out.

We decided to go try Mr. T's Pizza and Ice Cream in St. Elmo. It had good online reviews and it did not disappoint. The only negative was that it didn't offer outdoor seating, but we sat by the window and watched the coming and goings of everyone on the street.

Food was good. Price was cheap. We give it a thumbs up.

Mr. T's Pizza and Ice Cream. A medium pizza and drinks was less than $10.
{via}

Before we left our camper, we wrote down addresses to 9 houses so that we could do a drive by to see if we liked their locations. One was in NorthShore – this is a transitional area that looks to be a fave with the hipster crowd. Like all transitional areas, you can be one street off the main area and feel like you are in the ghetto. The house we looked at felt like it was in the ghetto.

The only redeeming thing about this house was a huge detached garage in the back. 

Unfortunately for Daniel, I don't think I would be comfortable living at this location.

Even on a short term basis.

The next five houses were all pretty close together in the Orchard Knob area {close to the university}. These were bigger houses and 4 of the 5 felt like we could live in them. Negatives were lack of yards {in most} and no garage. Being so close to UTC, it would probably be easy to rent out one of these houses to students later on, but the houses also cost a bit more...

 

This house was super cute and had a fenced back yard. But no garage.

Finally we went to Missionary Ridge where we checked out three houses {and saw two others while driving around}. One of the houses we liked a lot and we plan to go look at the inside soon. It is priced well and probably needs some updating {which we can do}. And it has a decent yard and a two-car garage.

 

Great location with a decent yard and a detached two-car garage. 

It probably needs some updating, but we can see ourselves living here. 

This one made it to our must-see list.

In addition to all of this, Daniel found a posting on Craigslist for a house in St. Elmo for dirt cheap. It has views of Lookout Mountain. If we bought a house like this, it would be to completely gut the insides and build a basically new house. It is so cheap that we could probably cash flow the entire project and make some money down the road. The negative is that it would be a very big commitment. But at least we have acquired the necessary skills from our last home remodel.

This house would be a complete overhaul - down to the studs. 

Not sure if we are up for it, but could probably make some money 
if we want to devote more of our lives to renovation...

We have a lot to think about.

We have lists of houses to drive by in several other areas of town including Signal Mountain, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Valley and a few in Alabama.

Decision Making is Hard

{via}

It feels like fall is starting to make her appearance. The temps have dropped off over the last couple of days and we have been able to sleep with the windows open. I was actually cold last night.

The moon was brilliant last night, almost like the sun. We went outside and talked under the light of the full moon. We are seriously unsure about what kind of decision to make regarding where to live. Deciding to buy our first home was such an easy decision. This time around is a lot harder. 

TVA is supposed to make the decision in June about whether or not they will fully fund Bellefonte. We really want to be in a house soon... but in some ways it seems like the best decision would be to stay in a camper. But June is 10 months away and I don't know if we can do the camper thing for that long.

Living in a 170-sf camper has taught us that you really don't need a lot of stuff to be content – we only have 1/10 of our belongings with us and I don't miss the rest. The first night in the camper I thought that I would never be able to sleep because the night sounds were so loud – now I can't imagine a night without the night sounds. Camper living requires patience and flexibility. It is not the easiest thing we have done but I don't think it is the hardest either.

I guess we could always rent a house... but that feels like we would be throwing money away. If we bought, we would at least be building equity and interest rates are so low right now, it seems silly not to buy.

Project 52 Date Nights: House Hunting

We didn't have a "real" date this week, per se. But if you count spending time together {just the two of us}, then I would have to say this week was the first of many House Hunting dates.

We just began our fourth week of living in a 170-sf camper. We chose to live in a camper while we waited for TVA to make a decision on funding for the Bellefonte plant {where Daniel works}. August 20 was the decision day and we found out that instead of fully-funding the project at this time, they are going to fund it for a year. They will reevaluate the decision in June of 2011.

This was not an unexpected decision, but it is not a particularly helpful one. We are ready to live in a house again, but are unsure of where we should buy. We could buy in Chattanooga and Daniel can commute {1 hour each way to Bellefonte} OR we could buy closer to the plant {but if they pull funding next year, we will own property that may be difficult to sell if we end up having to move}. 

And then there is decision of whether to buy 1) our dream house; 2) a smaller property to use as rental property in the future; or 3) land on which to build a house. 

Monday night we decided to drive by a couple of properties on Lookout Mountain and grab dinner at Guthries while we were there. We are also considering downtown Chattanooga, Signal Mountain, areas around Nickajack Lake as well as land in Alabama. 

Cute house. On the upper end of our budget. 

Yard would need to be fenced for Sophie.

{via}

The main things we cannot live without is a garage {for Daniel}, a dishwasher {for me} and a fenced yard {for Sophie}. Beyond those things, we can renovate or build to our heart's content. It will be interesting to see what we end up with...

Great price for Lookout Mountain. Great winter views.

No yard and an HOA is a negative.

{via}

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 31

When I was growing up, the Anne of Green Gables stories by L.M. Montgomery were some of my favorite. We must have watched the movie a million times, but I don't recall actually reading the books.

My mom was so appalled at the thought that I had not read the book that she sent a copy home with me after my last visit to my parents house.

I have not lost my love for the story of the orphan Anne and her journey to Green Gables. Siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, are expecting a boy to arrive to help them with their farm. Instead it is talkative Anne that shows up at the train station. Matthew and Marilla both grow to love Anne as their own child, even though she manages to get herself into the most ridiculous situations. The movie really does follow the book nicely. This will always remain one of my favorite stories.

Excerpts from the book:

"Well, that is another hope gone. My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes. That's a sentence I read in a book once, and I say it over to comfort myself whenever I am disappointed." – Anne

"Why must I kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or into the deep, deep woods, and I'd look up into the sky – up – up – up – into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer." – Anne

"You set your heart too much on things, Anne," said Marilla with a sigh. "I'm afraid there'll be a great many disappointments in store for you through life."

"Oh Marilla, looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them," exclaimed Anne. "You mayn't get the things themselves; but nothing can prevent you from having the fun of looking forward to them. Mrs. Lynde says, 'Blessed are they who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed.' But I think it wold be worse to expect nothing than to be disappointed."

"I'm so glad we live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it?" – Anne

For Anne to take things calmly would have been to change her nature... the pleasures and pains of live came to her with trebled intensity. Marilla felt this and was vaguely troubled over it, realizing that the ups and downs of existence wold probably bear hardly on this impulsive soul and not sufficiently understanding the equally great capacity for delight might more than compensate.