A Thanksgiving Change of Plans

It's Thanksgiving night. We hope you've had a great day. In the midst of food, football and shopping plans, we hope you've taken some time to pause and consider ALL the things for which you are thankful.

We did - although it wasn't where we expected to do it.

We had planned to spend Thanksgiving with our daughter, Marcia, and her family in middle Tennessee. Then we were going to come back to Gatlinburg and spend a few days decorating both Smoky Mountain Tower and All Decked Out for Christmas.

But that all changed a few days ago when we found out that Phyllis has some significant back problems which will probably require surgery. Her doctor said, "No travel, no lifting, no work" - which is okay, because the pain she has been experiencing really keeps her from all that anyway.

So, are we thankful? Absolutely! We're very thankful for all of you - our friends and guests. You make all the work to manage and maintain our Gatlinburg cabins worthwhile. We're also thankful for our family, who is supporting us in so many ways during this tough time. In fact, Marcia and her boys are planning to drive over to Gatlinburg on Sunday and do our Christmas decorating! Marcia has promised some pictures, which we'll post as soon as we can.

And we're managing pretty well! Phyllis 'directed' Thanksgiving dinner today from her recliner, and Dave did the work (with help from Sam's Club). As you can see below, we had a feast today - turkey and all the trimmings!


We're also thankful for so many others who keep our cabins clean and well-maintained. Ingrid and Bob Nelson are always there when we need them - cleaning, and doing a lot of little extras to make your stay more comfortable. Mark Kalinowski and Darren Phillips make sure everything is working as well as possible. Our friends at IVacationOnLine.com keep our reservation site and our online calendar working around the clock. Thank you, all of you!

Above all is our loving Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ, who controls everything in His perfect will. Through His sacrificial death and resurrection, He has given us eternal life. So whatever happens (like changes in travel plans), He is in charge and He knows what is best for us. So our ultimate thanksgiving goes to Him. And we sincerely hope your Thanksgiving has been as special as ours!

Motels are cheaper, right? WRONG!

I just got an email from Hotwire, trying to get me to book a hotel room in Gatlinburg. That got me thinking about the comparative cost between All Decked Out (our smaller cabin at 2,508 sq. ft.) and a motel room.

Here's the Hotwire listing - a 2-star motel (average room size of 150 sq. ft.), and I don't even get to pick my motel.


At $37.00 per night, the cost per square foot is 24.667 cents. When I multiply that number by the square footage of All Decked Out, our comparable nightly rate should be $618.64! And our ratings show that we're five star!

That's not all. When you stay in a local motel, you get...
...one bed and a bathroom (instead of 3 king bedrooms and 3 king baths
...one TV (instead of 5 TVs)
...no full kitchen (maybe a tiny refrigerator and microwave)
...no hot tub
...no pool table
...no game area with foosball & air hockey
...no eating area
...no decks
...no fireplace
...no phones with free long distance
...no mountain views

Let's look at it another way. If you take our current special price of $150.00 per night and divide that by the square footage of All Decked Out, then multiply it by the hotel room size, you should really only pay $8.97 a night for the motel. And that's without figuring all the extra amenities you get at All Decked Out.

And check out their tax rate. It works out to 20.9%, while ours is only 12.75%. Hmmmmm.

So why would anybody stay in a motel room when they can have all the extras at either All Decked Out or Smoky Mountain Tower? What do YOU think?