A Page Is Turned: Pigeon Forge - The Trip Up & Where We Stayed

Several months ago, Eddie and I began to talk about the possibility of going to Universal for Fall Break. I really want to take Will while he's still in the "Harry Potter phase," but Eddie wasn't super interested because October in Orlando can still be HOT (and hurricane-y). We started considering Dollywood in Pigeon Forge instead and when his mom also mentioned it, we decided it was a go.

We began looking for a place to stay and initially we thought about trying to get rooms at the Dollywood resort - DreamMore. While we were considering, Eddie's sister and brother-in-law were also trying to decide whether to go with us and I decided with that many people that a cabin might be cheaper than several hotel rooms AND we thought we might like a den area to spread out. We began looking on VRBO instead and at the last minute, found a gem of a place! I'll link our cabin rental below, but we really enjoyed it! It was plenty of room for six of us, very close to all of the touristy spots, but also far enough out that it wasn't loud.

We left out on a Wednesday morning around 9:30AM. We stopped for lunch at Shane's BBQ in Gainesville, GA, before continuing on. We stopped again in Cherokee, NC, for a little while to wander around in the shops and skip rocks in the river. The boys had never seen mountains before and were definitely surprised by how pretty they were. As we left Cherokee and entered Smoky Mountain National Park we saw an ELK! We had no idea we would see any at all. I wish we'd known to be on the lookout. I would definitely stop at the park entrance if we go back again!

We stopped at a lookout area and were surprised by how much cooler it was on top of the mountain! We finally pulled into Gatlinburg around 5PM and stopped to get dinner at The Park Grill. It was very good, but more importantly there was no wait!!!