"This is going to be FUN!" said the 15 year old. When a teen-ager says this, you know you are in for a busy time. Gatlinburg in mid-July was our adventure for a week. I was with my nephew, Kyle Jake. We had driven all day from Arkansas and it was just now getting dark in this tourist town in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.

We had made a stop on the way in Jackson, Tn to visit the Casey Jones Museum . It was not only a museum but there was an entire village built around the museum. The village includes the Old Country Store, Providence House, Casey Jones Village Amphitheatre, the Shoppers at the Village, Music Highway Crossroads, Casey Jones Mini-Golf, the Wildwood store with the Wildlife in Woods Studio, and many other attractions. We only had time to visit the museum because we had a deadline to get to our reservations in Gatlinburg. Kyle was not familiar with Casey Jones, so it was an opportunity for him to learn. You might enjoy the following link to a youtube video.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8qTKyb0EcY

 After checking into our campsite we set out to get a quick overview of the town. We planned to camp for 2 or 3 days and do some mountain biking and hiking. After that we planned to check into a motel closer to town for a week. We soon found out that the trolley to town passed right by the camp and riding it would save us the ordeal of finding parking everytime we went into the town . The trolley turned out to work very well for us, as the camp owners suggested. We had to drive to hiking and biking spots, though. We did a couple of real nice hikes but never did get to do any biking. We tried a couple of times but it just never materialized in Gatlinburg. 

We enjoyed the fabulous aquarium that Gatlinburg has and all the other attractions offered in the town. We also did a zip-line tour and spent time in Dollywood theme park. I just love the energy and enthusiasm of Kyle Jake.

 Both the camp ground and the motel had a swimming pool, which we enjoyed almost daily. We spent time in both Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Beautiful country and so many things to enjoy doing.

 After a week, I had to agree with Kyle that it was a lot of fun in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Our vacation was not over, though. We packed up and headed to our next destination, Damascus, Virginia, aka, Trail Town USA and I was enjoying the company of Kyle Jake.