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A Local Shares Absolute Top-Tier Bucket List Items You Must Do in the Smokies at Least Once When I think about my bucket list of things to do in the Smokies, the checklist naturally tumbles into a handful of categories. For instance, there are things to do in the mountains, like seeking out a distant waterfall. And there are things to do in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, etc. Some things can be done throughout your life. You can seek out wildflowers and dangle your feet in the various branches of...

The Best Couples Activities in the Smokies Gatlinburg and the surrounding Smoky Mountains are often considered to be a family vacation destination. But that doesn't mean that you can't have a romantic getaway in the Smokies..... Read More If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one. 🦋Dolly Parton🦋 🚨 Trending Posts🚨 5 Things Not to Do at Dinner Shows in Pigeon Forge According to a Local A local offers his advice on 5 things not to do when booking, attending dinner shows...

A Local Breaks Down the Correct, Approved and Appropriate Way To Say the Name of the Mountain Range in Which the Smokies Are Located I’m a little sensitive about how I pronounce things. I was a big reader growing up – I believe I may be legally obligated to use the term voracious. So, I developed what would be considered a big vocabulary. However, while I knew what the words were, could spell them and use them perfectly in a sentence, I’d never actually heard them. And so more than once, I...

While many Smoky Mountain Restaurants are marketed as being a ‘mom and pop,’ these are as authentic as you’ll get As a writer, I sometimes become attached to the literal meaning of words or ideas. You spend your life mulling the minutia of second and third definitions – or fourth or fifth – and you can get a little lost inside your head. So, when someone asks about a mom-and-pop restaurant or shop, I get a little too caught up in the genealogy of the thing. Is it still a mom-and-pop if it’s...

Unusual Popular Attractions in the Smoky Mountains It was the Great Smoky Mountains that turned Sevier County into a tourist mecca. But, the locals found out early on that tourists needed more than motels, restaurants and the great outdoors. As it turns out, there’s only so much nature one Midwestern family can absorb before they need a different level of stimuli. In the early days, much of that stimulation came in forms native to the area. They trafficked in bear-related knickknacks and the...

A local's guide to the Best Drives in the Smoky Mountains One of the great things about the Smoky Mountains is that just about any drive you take can be a scenic drive. For instance, there are spots on I-40 as you climb up into the higher elevations where the river cuts a path down through the truly breathtaking valleys, especially when the sun is high and the clouds are white. Of course, sightseeing at 75 mph with a guy trying to make time to Charlotte on your bumper is not prudent.... Read...

A Non-Spelunker’s Guide to the Caves of the Smoky Mountains and Beyond Growing up a member of Generation X, I had more access to freedom than was probably good for me. As a result, I developed a healthy sense of adventure. Living in medium to small cities, I explored neighborhoods and areas well outside the range of my parents’ yelling ability. When we moved to rural areas with wide fields and forests of varying sizes, I was free, within certain relatively wide parameters, to explore to my...

The Story of How a Kuwohi-Esque Observation Tower Was Built in the Middle of Florida Swampland They were on a mission and had a decade to finish the job. In the 1950s, the powers that be – powers that understood the importance of the still relatively new National Park Service. As such, they wanted to do something special for the 50th anniversary of the creation of the NPS. Mission 66, they called it, chiefly because the anniversary was in 1966. But the push for modern design in the parks led...

Where Is the Best Place To See Bears in Gatlinburg? What’s the number 1 question from visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park? Is that bathroom locked? No, but I like what you’re thinking. The most popular question is: Where is the best place to see a bear in the Smoky Mountains? Honestly, we don’t know. If we did, you’d have bear sighting services lining up in every pancake palace and go-kart track in Sevier County selling tours to people from Nova Scotia with an odd specificity...