Happy Thanksgiving

The day is almost over and we hope your Thanksgiving was just that - a day of giving thanks to our God for His great goodness to all of us. Sure, it's not a perfect world. But we of all people are most blessed, in spite of the issues which seem to dominate the news. Maybe we need to think about the glass as being 90% full instead of 10% empty.

For example, we hear almost every day about the high unemployment rate of 10.2%. And we all know people who are out of work. But if we can measure unemployment at 10.2%, that means we can also measure employment at 89.8%.

What are we thankful for (especially as it relates to this blog)? We're thankful for each of you who check in - and check up on us. Since last Thursday, we've had 66 readers. And we've had over a thousand since we started. Those aren't huge numbers when compared to the more popular blogs, but that's a lot for us - and we are grateful.

We're thankful for the 26 families who have stayed at Smoky Mountain Tower this year. Would we like more to come? Absolutely! But from everything we've heard, there are 26 sets of folks who have had a good time enjoying the Smokies and making Smoky Mountain Tower their headquarters for fun.

We're also VERY thankful for Angie, who has handled your inquiries and reservations, and for Ingrid and Bob who have kept Smoky Mountain Tower fresh and clean for you, and for Darren and Joyce and George and Ray who have handled maintenance jobs for us - big and small.

And that's just a start. As we head into the wonderful season of Christmas, we'll talk more about our plans for the rest of the year and for 2010. Of course, we're always eager to hear your ideas. Let us hear from you. Post a comment below or write to Dave@SmokyMountainTower.com.

Something different - WAY off the subject

Yes, it's been over a week since I posted anything. But I have a good reason. We've been out of the country - and offline - for a REAL vacation. Now, I know this is all about the Smoky Mountains. But sometimes it's good to do something TOTALLY different. So we did.

We went to the beach! And we didn't just go over to the east side of North Carolina. We went all the way to the Cayman Islands!

If you've ever been to the Caribbean, you know that there are some really nice parts and some that are, well, not as nice. But the Cayman Islands are different - they're ALL nice. We were on the big island - Grand Cayman. We actually have a timeshare there at the Ramada Grand Caymanian.

Now don't let the name "Ramada" fool you. This is not like ANY Ramada you've ever stayed at in the States. This is a five-star resort, and it's beautiful. I'm going to post just a couple of pictures to whet your appetite.


This is a little bit of the resort, with beach and pool area (that wooden slab in the foreground is part of the dock.


This shows the pool and restaurant, surrounded by the sleeping units. Ours is a one-bedroom with full kitchen.


This is a shot from downtown Georgetown, the capital, showing a couple of the cruise ships that were in port.

Okay, that's enough to get you thinking. Would you like to visit? It might be possible! We've got a reservation for next year but it looks like we may not be able to go. So we'll probably rent out our unit at a price that is way cheaper than the retail rates.

If you're interested, drop us a line - dave@smokymountaintower.com. And if you want to know more about the place, go to www.grandcaymanian.ky. We'll let you know more about all this in future posts.

Meanwhile, Christmas is still available at Smoky Mountain Tower. Interested? Let us know.