A Quick Weekend Getaway to Tennessee

Our trip to Ohio at Christmastime wasn’t my husband’s idea of a relaxing getaway. Though it is always wonderful to visit with friends and family that we don’t normally see, rushing around and trying to visit everyone is a tad bit stressful. There just never seems to be enough time to appease everyone.

For the most part, we managed to make everyone happy this time around, with one exception;  my husband. He just didn’t feel like he got that break that he really needed. So we planned a weekend getaway that would hopefully do the trick. Destination? The Sevierville/Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area of  Tennessee.

Since my husband had requested tons of fun, we thought it would be great to visit some of the area’s top attractions.

Though this was already a spur of the moment trip, as is our custom, things changed at the last possible moment. Originally, we had plans to stop at Chattanooga Friday night before we continued on our trip. With the weather forecast looking particularly gloomy, we decided to delay our departure by one day until we had an idea of what the unpredictable weather would do. 

We woke early Saturday morning and drove straight to Tennessee, about a five hour drive. Arriving in Sevierville, we did find quite a bit of snow and some slick roads. The good news (for us) is that the weather kept the crowds at home.

Our first stop was the Smoky Mountain Knifeworks, located just off the interstate on 66 in Sevierville where my boys happily shopped.

Nearing lunch time we stopped at Long John Silver’s, one of our favorite fast food restaurants, to fill our bellies and waste time until our reserved entry to The Titanic Museum.

After that sober tour we lightened up with a trip to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, stopping along the way to admire the snowy scenery.

Spotting a sign that read “Air Soft Guns for Sale” led to us hitting the strip in Gatlinburg for a bit of shopping. Not only did the boys leave with something they loved, so did my daughter.

We rushed back to Pigeon Forge to meet one of my best friends from high school and her family at Ci Ci’s for dinner.

We’d considered taking in a show but after actually stopping to rest a minute we decided we were ready to call it a day so we checked into our hotel just down the street.

We slept in a bit on Sunday so instead of the traditional La Quinta breakfast, we opted for warm glazed creme filled doughnuts at Krispy Kreme before continuing the fun with one final stop…Wonderworks.

We filled up on gas, grabbed subs from Subway…so much for experiencing one of the area restaurants…and we were on the road to home.   

We had a very busy but, incredible weekend. Though we’ve been to the Smoky Mountain area on several occasions in the past,  we’ve mainly spent the time hiking and exploring the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. This was the first time we really experienced the more commercial side of things and we did it with some amazing discounts that are offered to homeschool families, but only if you know to ask for them. Stay tuned, I’ll share more about those later this week.

Have you ever been to Sevierville, Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg?  What has been your family’s favorite attraction?