The weather and the VIEW

In my last post, I promised a weather update. We intended to be back in Gatlinburg earlier this week. But God decided otherwise. The roads were too icy on Tuesday for us to get up the mountain, so we just came on home. We're praying for our guests who are arriving today, because there was freezing rain in the area overnight. Please, God, make it warm up so Rachel and her group can get up the mountain. They already switched from Smoky Mountain Tower to All Decked Out on the possibility that the road up to Smoky Mountain Tower will be icy!

Speaking of Smoky Mountain Tower, I promised you the latest pictures of the view. So take a look:


Looking west toward Ober Gatlinburg (the white patch left center just below the top of the mountain is one of their ski runs)



A zoom shot of Ober Gatlinburg.



Here's a panoramic shot showing the whole view. See, we're correct when we say "from Mt. LeConte to Ober Gatlinburg and beyond!" (Click on the picture for a larger view.) And you can also see why TripAdvisor named this view one of their "Best Vacation Rental Views" - the only one they chose in the Smokies!

And here's one more shot, showing the road as it comes up to Smoky Mountain Tower. Yes, there are other houses along the road, some occupied by permanent residents. But there is still plenty of privacy.


Of course, all these were taken last weekend before the snow fell. We expect to be back in Gatlinburg next week, so we'll try to get some "snowy" pictures. Meanwhile, have a wonderful Christmas season!

Smoky Mountain Tower weather

It's Sunday night, December 12. We were at Smoky Mountain Tower Friday night to put up some Christmas decorations - including our small Christmas tree in the Sunroom.




We left Smoky Mountain Tower yesterday afternoon to drive to Lebanon, TN for our grandson's church Christmas program. The plan was to attend the program, then go back to Gatlinburg tomorrow (Monday) and finish the decorating at Smoky Mountain Tower - and to get some decorating done at All Decked Out.

But we may be stuck here in Lebanon for awhile. It's snowing VERY hard and is very slippery and ... wait, it's worse than I thought. Marcia just called (she had taken Nathan to the church) to tell us the program has been canceled! She said it's really coming down and the roads are treacherous.

And take a look at this forecast for Gatlinburg:

JOHNSON-COCKE SMOKY MOUNTAINS-SOUTHEAST GREENE-UNICOI- SOUTHEAST CARTER-BLOUNT SMOKY MOUNTAINS-SEVIER SMOKY MOUNTAINS- SOUTHEAST MONROE- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF.MOUNTAIN CITY.CEDAR CREEK.ERWIN.ROAN MOUNTAIN.CADES COVE.GATLINBURG.COKER CREEK

257 PM EST SUN DEC 12 2010

WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 AM EST TUESDAY.

* TIMING: SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY EVENING. SOME SNOW SHOWERS MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES. DANGEROUS WIND CHILLS CAN BE EXPECTED TONIGHT THROUGH TUES MORNING.

* ACCUMULATIONS: EXPECT TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATION BY MON EVENING OF 4 TO 8 INCHES IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS.WITH 8 TO 16 INCHES POSSIBLE OVER THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS.

* WINDS: SUSTAINED WINDS WILL BE BETWEEN 15 & 25 MPH SUN NIGHT & MONDAY.WITH GUSTS BETWEEN 30 & 40 MPH AT TIMES. BLOWING & DRIFTING SNOW CAN BE EXPECTED. WIND CHILL VALUES WILL DROP TO BETWEEN 5 BELOW & 15 BELOW ZERO AT TIMES.

* IMPACTS: SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS.BLOWING & DRIFTING SNOW.& DANGEROUS WIND CHILLS ARE EXPECTED IN THE MOUNTAINS. ROADS MAY BECOME EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS.& ANYONE OUTDOORS SHOULD PREPARE FOR BITTER COLD CONDITIONS. BLOWING SNOW MAY REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO LESS THAN A QUARTER MILE AT TIMES.

So I don't think we'll be going back to Gatlinburg tomorrow! Why am I writing about this? Because weather CAN be a problem during this time of year. That's why we really encourage our guests to purchase the travel insurance offered by our reservation site, IVacationOnLine. You can get more details through our Web site - www.SmokiesRentDirect.com/travel-insurance.

We'll keep you posted - especially if we ARE able to get back to Gatlinburg in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, I took some pictures of the view at Smoky Mountain Tower yesterday and I'll post them in a couple of days. Then you'll see again why TripAdvisor named Smoky Mountain Tower as one of the top 10 vacation rental views in America!