Ober Gatlinburg!

As I wrote earlier, Brenda and I had a “free” hotel for three nights in Gatlinburg, and all we had to do was sit through a 2-hour hard-sell for a timeshare. Well, that’s the price you pay…

I had a 50^th class reunion for my Cherokee High Class, we took Brenda’s sister, Barbara Ann, to church at the small Baptist Church where Brenda and I were married, and the congregation closest to her house. It was great to see her having fun socializing with those very friendly folks, most of whom already knew Barb.

After church we took the long and winding road for a bit over 4 hours to get to our resort in Gatlinburg. We arrived late enough that we wanted to get checked in, get some supper and go to bed. Brenda and I found a real grocery and bough supper and a few extras.  So after a nice supper of chicken, mashed potatoes, and bluberries, we went to sleep with the sound of a wide brook gurgling outside.

Monday found us checking out the Pigeon Forge thrift stores, and investigating the local shows. Barbara Ann wanted to see a show, and who were we to stand in her way. We soon discovered that 3 tickets to a dinner show would cost us about $180!  What?  Sure enough!

But we also learned if we immediately went to hear a timeshare presentation, we could get the tix for a mere $20 each!  Hmmm, $120 discount for a 2-hour presentation, that's $60/hr tax free!  OK, we're in. Poor Bernie seemed shocked when I asked her if I could get a discount for paying cash for a timeshare (whihc I wasn't gonna do anyway, but I was truly curious).

"NO!" was the answer, and the question followed, "Do you always ask for a discount for cash?"

"Yes I do!"

Then on to the Show!  It was the Hatfields and McCoys, and was remarkably good. The stage slid around to make a large swimming pool, and about 20 minutes of the show was excellent high-diving-board choreography including retrieving dogs! The singing and dancing of the 90-minute produciton was good, and I guess that many of those folks were current or former U Tenn drama and dance majors.  The meal was pretty good, so a meal and a nice show for $20 seemed like a reasonable deal- particularly if we didn't buy a time share!

We made 2 trips around Cades Cove--one that night and one the following.  We saw a total of only 11 deer, but did see 2 bear and 3 coyotes and many turkeys.

The KEY on this trip was Brenda's sister.  She truly seemed to enjoy the first vacay outing in several years.  THAT made the trip a success!