Thursday in Gatlinburg

Good Morning.  Today is Thursday in Gatlinburg.  This is our last day here so we decided to go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast instead of eating at the motel.  Of course, breakfast was very good.

Before I go any further I need to make a correction.  The prints I bought were by Randall Ogle.

Our first stop was at the Gatlinburg Visitor Center.  Then it was on to shopping in Gatlinburg.  We stopped at several shops and, of course, we bought a few items.  I found a cat Christmas mug at the Life Is Good store.  Found a “bear with flowers” (which is adorable) at Ranger Bob’s.  Jana bought candy at Kilwins Candy Store.  We have one of those in Columbus and really like their candy.

We then headed for The Glades Artist Community.  Stopped at two Christmas stores along with several other.  It was then time to head back to Pigeon Forge.  Took the back roads, and it was a beautiful ride.  Had a late lunch at Paula Deen’s new restaurant.  The food was good, but they gave us entirely too much.  Each meal was set up for two people, so a lot of food was wasted.  You are not allowed to take any leftovers with you. 

We stopped at the Pottery Barn to look for a small Christmas tree for Jana.  Of all the Christmas stores we shopped in she could not find a tree.  Did not find one at the Pottery Barn either.  So, we came back to the motel and called it a day.

It was not a good evening.  I was not feeling well, and just want to rest.  We were watching television, and realized there was a large diesel bus running outside our door.  Now we didn’t mind the noise, but the back of the bus was a car length from our door and the diesel smell/fumes were coming in our room.  We were both getting sick from the smell.  It had been running for at least thirty minutes.  I called the front desk and they acted surprised and said they would check on it.  When we didn’t hear back from them I called the desk again.  I was told the supervisor was checking.  He finally called and said they were unloading the bus and we would have to be patient.  Besides the bus was in the middle of the parking lot and had a right to be there.  I did not care that he was parked out there, I just wanted the bus turned off.  Anyway, it was at least another thirty minutes before it was shut down.  By this time Jana and I were both sick from the fumes.  Did not get a good night’s sleep.  When we arrived home, I received a survey about our stay in my email.  Needless to say, I filled it out, and told them what had happened.  They are giving us a free night and said they would take care of it (whatever that means).

We were up bright and early Friday morning and headed for home.