More coupons for your visit to the Smokies

A couple of months ago, we told you about all the ways to save money by using our Chalet Village Owners Club card that's waiting for you at Smoky Mountain Tower or All Decked Out.

Now, here's another way to save:  use the coupons at VisitMySmokies.com.



VisitMySmokies is the Web site managed by the Sevier County Tourism Committee.  You can also find area information and some good stuff about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on this site.

You can find the coupons at http://www.visitmysmokies.com/coupons.aspx. 

And don't forget - we're still offering 15% off all available nights between now and May 24.  You can find more information at either of our Web sites.  Just click the "Specials" page for all the details.

We expect to be in Gatlinburg in early May, and we'll update you on more goodies while we're there.  So keep watching...

More on your "lucky" day! 15% off!

Well, I goofed!

If you read our last post, you know that we offered a 13% discount to celebrate "Friday the 13th." And I told you that one of our daughters got married on a Friday the 13th. Both Angie and Marcia commented that they knew who it was - and Marcia even said she was going to tell!

But as the Father in this family, I get to make the rules. So I am going to be the one to tell the answer - and to admit my mistake.

Marcia got married on August 13 - but it was a Sunday, not a Friday. John and Marcia got engaged on a Friday the 13th, and have several other milestones on Fridays the 13th. But I blew it on the wedding day!

So, I'm going to pay for my mistake. I'm going to increase the percentage of the discount I offered a few days ago up to 15%. And I'm going to make it easier, too. Forget the coupon code. I've just changed the prices. The new nightly price for all open dates at All Decked Out or Smoky Mountain Tower is $126.65, plus tax. That means the TOTAL you pay is only $142.80 per night. We don't charge ANY extra fees - just our low nightly rate and tax.

But this rate is only good on available nights through May 24. After that, the rate goes to our Spring rate of $159.00 per night. So if you want to save $32.35 per night, you will make your reservation and stay with us within the next 38 nights. As of right now (Monday morning, April 16), we have 23 nights open at Smoky Mountain Tower and 30 nights open at All Decked Out for this special deal.

All the regular rules apply, like our 2-night minimum - except that full payment will be due at the time of booking (since we're so close to the 30 days when your second payment would normally be due).

One more thing: I'm announcing this last-minute special on our Blog and Facebook page today, to give our friends a "head-start." But I'm going to publicize it all over the place by the end of this week. So if you want your choice of the best dates, you need to make your reservation NOW!

Friday the 13th - Your LUCKY Day

Many people think a "Friday the 13th" is an "unlucky" day. Personally, I don't believe in "luck." And I know at least one of our girls is pretty happy with Friday the 13th - because that's the day she got married!

There will only be three "Friday the 13th's" this year. Tomorrow is the second one. And we're going to make it your "LUCKY" day. Because, starting tomorrow (Friday, April 13), you can book any available night at Smoky Mountain Tower or All Decked Out for the rest of April and most of May (up through Thursday, May 24) at a 13% discount. That works out to a savings of $21.84 per night (including tax). So your final price is only $146.16 per night, including tax. Remember, we don't charge any extra fees - just our nightly rate and 12.75% tax.

We still have some great dates available - including some weekends. All other rules apply, like our two-night minimum.

To take advantage of this offer, just enter Coupon Code Friday13 when you make your reservation. But you shouldn't wait - at this price, we could sell out very quickly. Of course, you can reserve at either of our Web sites:

• Smoky Mountain Tower - www.SmokyMountainTower.com
• All Decked Out - www.SmokiesRentDirect.com/All-Decked-Out
  

As always, if you have any questions, just write to Marcia@SmokiesRentDirect.com. When you write, ask her which of our daughters got married on Friday the 13th! Or, if you're reading this on Facebook, take a guess in response to this message. We'll divulge the answer in a later post.

It's Spring - especially today!

This is another "It's Spring" post. And it's a little different.

Spring is a time of renewal. Those seeds that fell into the ground last fall are now starting to sprout. You could even call it "resurrection." Of course, today is Easter Sunday - the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, in our Sunday School, "Jim" read what he called his "favorite Easter poem." It's written by John Updike - the best-selling author who died about three years ago.

I don't know anything about Mr. Updike's theology. I don't know if he ever trusted in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, like I have. But I think he has a lot to say in his poem, titled "Seven Stanzas at Easter." He wrote the poem in 1964, but its message is more true today than ever before.

Here's the poem - what do you think about it?

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that–pierced–died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping, transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mâché,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

It's Spring in Gatlinburg - here's proof!

Spring has sprung in Gatlinburg! How do we know? Because we've had our first BEAR VISITORS!

Our guests at Smoky Mountain Tower, Cheryl and her family from Tennessee, wrote to tell us, "We especially loved seeing a mama bear and her three cubs playing in Bob's yard. (Bob is our neighbor at Smoky Mountain Tower.) He was kind enough to call and tell us about the bears. I have great pictures..."

Cheryl is right about the "great pictures!" Take a look:


And here's another one:


As always, we encourage our guests to enjoy the bears, but to stay away from them and NEVER feed them!

You can read more about Cheryl's visit to Smoky Mountain Tower in the "Reviews" section of our Web site at http://www.smokymountaintower.com/reviews/. Thank you, Cheryl, for sharing these photos, and for staying with us at Smoky Mountain Tower. And thanks, too, to our great neighbor, Bob.