Windy City, Smoky Mountains ~ Day 12 - An early morning visitor

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Dad was up at 8:30 this morning and at 8:40 he called me downstairs as there was a bear walking past the cabin! I grabbed my video camera from the table and managed to get this video as he walked past the cabin opposite us and down over the hill out of sight.



We saw him again when we went out but he took one look at me and walked off into the trees before I could get a picture of him.

It was raining again this morning so we decided to cross another indoor item off the list and drove to “The World’s Largest As Seen On TV Store”, which basically sells all those gadgets you see on TV that never quite work the same when you get them home. We had a good look round and were tempted by a couple of things but came away empty-handed.

We made our way back towards Pigeon Forge and stopped off at Tanger Outlets where there was a Disney outlet (today’s Disney reference) but it wasn’t a patch on the ones in Orlando and again we came away with nothing. We then went next door to Ripley’s Old MacDonald’s Farm mini-golf where we played ‘The Udder Course’ and I went round in a 5 over par 44, with Dad beating me by one shot on 43.












Continued

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From the mini-golf we carried on back towards Gatlinburg, stopping off to take a photo of the new Titanic exhibition that is being built. As you can see the museum is going to be in the shape of the Titanic and will be similar to the other Titanic exhibitions around the country.



Next stop off was the Mountain Valley winery where we tasted a few of the wines (only two sips for me) and bought a bottle each of Mountain Valley Peach, Mountain Valley Blush and Mountain Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - all three for $37.26.

From the winery we came back to Gatlinburg and went up the Space Needle, which is a 407 foot tower with a 360 degree view of the town.









Once we were back on the ground we wandered up to another complex of shops we hadn’t been to before where we admired the scenery



And then stopped off in a shop where I saw three bear figurines that I liked the look of and as I couldn’t decide which one to get I bought all three.




We then got back to the cabin just after 3:00 where we had a short break and Dad did another load of washing before going out for something to eat at around 5:30. The dining establishment for tonight was Bennett’s Pit Bar-B-Que, a restaurant just off the main Parkway in Gatlinburg where Dad had a combo of pulled pork, brisket and sausage and I had the Hickory Smoked Sausage, both with barbecue beans and fries and we had a root beer each. The total including tip and after 10% discount was $40.

We were back in the cabin by 6:30 where the rest of the evening was spent sitting about, Dad did a final load of washing and we were in bed at the usual time ready for our final whole day in the Smokies tomorrow.

Day 13

[irongirlof12]

love those cute bear ornaments.

great views from the top! bit scary tho

fab video of the bear, must have been really hard to get as they are quite shy

[tennisfan]

Love the bear ornaments. Fab views

[Pegasus928]

Great video of the bear. Dhey normally come up to the cabins or was this one particularly brave.
And you do like your heights and views don't you. It convinces me that you should try Skycoaster in Old Town next time you are in Florida. You can stay up there and admire the views all you want as you have to pull the rip cord yourself to let yourself down (albeit straight down 125 foot, screaming like a girl with arms and legs flailing wildly - or was that just me )

Another thing I have noticed is how cheap the meals have been. That must have been a welcome change from a Disney holiday - and just goes to show how pricey things must be at WDW for our American friends that visit.

[Chilly]

Cute bears

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Originally Posted by Pegasus928

Great video of the bear. Dhey normally come up to the cabins or was this one particularly brave.

From what I've read it's quite common. It wasn't the last bear sighting either...stay tuned.

And you do like your heights and views don't you. It convinces me that you should try Skycoaster in Old Town next time you are in Florida. You can stay up there and admire the views all you want as you have to pull the rip cord yourself to let yourself down (albeit straight down 125 foot, screaming like a girl with arms and legs flailing wildly - or was that just me )

Just had a look on YouTube - I don't think so. If I did do it I think I would need to take a change of underwear.

Another thing I have noticed is how cheap the meals have been. That must have been a welcome change from a Disney holiday - and just goes to show how pricey things must be at WDW for our American friends that visit.

I'm don't really like table service meals so we stuck mainly to the buffet restaurants that had coupons which helped to keep costs down but yes it was a nice change.

[Pinky166]

Lovely photos.

That bear was very brave....either that or hungry!

[Snowy-girls]

Love the vid of the bear .Shame about the rain again-but at least you have other stuff to do .I love pulled pork-i am assuming it's the same taste as in WDW .
I love the bear figurines-especially the last one.x.

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Originally Posted by Snowy-girls

Love the vid of the bear .Shame about the rain again-but at least you have other stuff to do .I love pulled pork-i am assuming it's the same taste as in WDW .
I love the bear figurines-especially the last one.x.

The pulled pork was great and yes just the same as WDW.

I like the last one as well. The one in the hammock was by the door as we walked in the shop and I thought "Oh, that's cute", then I saw the ones on the slide and thought the bear on his back looked really cute, then I saw the ones with the canoe and laughed at the thought of these three bears carrying their canoe down to the water. I couldn't decide which one I liked best so I totted up the cost for all 3 and it was only $44 so I thought I might as well have them all - I wouldn't mind but I only went into the shop with Dad because it was starting to rain.

[Goofysmate]

Another good day and i liked the bears carrying the canoe

[Lizzybear]

Wow it seems Ripley's has quite the little empire in TN Even though Gatlinburg is a city it really seems to have that cosy small town America vibe all nestled in the forest like that Love the bear ornaments, they're the sort of thing Steve would no doubt roll his eyes at if i'd bought them but secretly like!

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Originally Posted by Lizzybear

Wow it seems Ripley's has quite the little empire in TN Even though Gatlinburg is a city it really seems to have that cosy small town America vibe all nestled in the forest like that Love the bear ornaments, they're the sort of thing Steve would no doubt roll his eyes at if i'd bought them but secretly like!

They do - as well as the golf course and the aquarium there's a Believe It Or Not Museum, Haunted Adventure, Moving Theatre, Mirror Maze and Guiness World Records Museum. So just a few things to keep people busy then.

[arieljasmine]

Wow, the bear video is fantastic - from no bears to two in as many days!

Another fun looking mini golf course and the stores sounded good too.

And I adore the bear figurines, so cute, sure I would have NEEDED to buy them all too!

Laur's xx

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Originally Posted by arieljasmine

Wow, the bear video is fantastic - from no bears to two in as many days!

I know - I think that morning is my favourite moment of the trip, it was just so unexpected to see a bear there and we were so lucky that Dad just happened to be in the right place at the right time.