Parking on the Parkway in Gatlinburg?

If you've ever been to Gatlinburg - especially in the summer - you know about the heavy traffic.  But here's one more reason to visit Gatlinburg in January and February.  Yes, you are allowed to park on the Parkway - right in the middle of town!  And, as I drove through town last Wednesday around noon, I actually saw a lot of empty parking spaces.

So if you've ever wanted to park in downtown Gatlinburg - free - now is the time for a visit!  Just remember this when you come in July - and you think all four lanes are a parking lot!

Christmas is officially over!

As of today, all the Christmas decorations at All Decked Out and Smoky Mountain Tower have been taken down and stored in the Owners Closet at Smoky Mountain Tower.

You want to hear the BEST news?  The job was done in record time by our daughter, Marcia, and our two grandsons, Zack and Nathan.  Here are the boys putting one of the tote bins of decorations into the closet.  That's Zack on the left and Nathan on the right.

And here goes one of the Christmas trees - all packed up in a box.

As you can see, it's not an easy job - moving everything to the back of the slant-roof closet.  We all have to stoop over and walk.

But nobody complained and the boys worked hard.  In addition to packing away Christmas, they also changed all the furnace filters at both cabins and did a bunch of other maintenance things.  Marcia played a big part in this, too - taking the trees apart and packing everything in the boxes and containers where they belong.  She also helped me straighten out some key box issues and reset the garage door codes at Smoky Mountain Tower.  We'll do our major maintenance sometime in February or March - but we're well on the way, and it feels good to get back to "normal."