Winter is coming ... inevitably

Well, it's here!

First, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park announced a few days ago that it's starting to operate on its "winter schedule." The Visitors' Centers have cut back their hours, and some roads are being closed. You can see all the schedule changes and closings by clicking here.

If that isn't enough, I started yesterday getting warnings about possible snow. Sure enough, earlier today, the Asheville Citizen-Times ran this story about Highway 441 being closed through the park from Cherokee to Gatlinburg, due to ice and snow.

The good news is that we don't have a rock slide on I-40 to contend with, like we did last year at this time (at least, there hasn't been a report of one yet).

I talked with Ingrid, our cleaner, this afternoon. She told me, "It's snowing up high in the mountains, but it's just rain in Gatlinburg. It's supposed to be cold and snowy or rainy for the next day or so. After that, it's back to the 60s during the day and 30s and 40s at night.

We're prepared this year - especially at Smoky Mountain Tower. We've hired somebody to plow our street when it snows and put salt on the hill. So we're hoping (and praying) that nobody will have a problem.

If you want to check the Gatlinburg weather (and traffic), we recommend checking the Space Needle Webcam. Just remember, winter is one of the very special times in the Smokies. So we hope you'll come and enjoy it - either from Smoky Mountain Tower or All Decked Out.

Dutch Auction for Gatlinburg dates in 2010

Can you believe that today is November 1? There are only 61 days left in 2010!

We don't have very many dates left for you to enjoy the late fall and early winter beauty of the Smokies. So we're doing a 'Dutch Auction' for the dates. This is where we keep lowering the price until somebody books the date.

We started about 10 days ago with a 5% discount. Today, I changed to a 10% discount. The next step is 15% - and so on. You can wait for a better deal. But what if somebody else books the dates you want?

Here are the available dates for each cabin:

Smoky Mountain Tower has 24 nights open through December 16:
-Nov 7-18
-Nov 21-22
-Dec 6-15

All Decked Out has 27 nights open through December 16:
-Nov 14-23
-Nov 28-Dec 2
-Dec 5-16

Don't wait - get your dates now. You'll find all the details at our Web sites - just click on "Specials" for the coupon code to save you some money.

We still have dates open after December 16, including Christmas Day at both cabins. More on Christmas in another post.