Remember the "waterfall" in the last post? Well, up here, they are now "icefalls."
And this is my favorite!
Later this week, I'll give you one more set, including pictures down near Gatlinburg of fog!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
National Park Photos - Part 2
As promised, here are photos of the hoar frost on the trees at the "top" of the Park.
Remember the "waterfall" in the last post? Well, up here, they are now "icefalls."
And this is my favorite!
Later this week, I'll give you one more set, including pictures down near Gatlinburg of fog!
Remember the "waterfall" in the last post? Well, up here, they are now "icefalls."
And this is my favorite!
Later this week, I'll give you one more set, including pictures down near Gatlinburg of fog!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
National Park Photos
I've decided that the I-40 rock slide is a blessing - at least for me. It means we have to travel through the National Park to get to Gatlinburg. Of course, in winter, the road isn't always open. But it was a week ago when I went to Gatlinburg - and what a beautiful trip it was. I'll give you a few photos now, and a few more next week. Here goes.
Just after I entered the Park on the North Carolina side, I came upon this waterfall. Most of the others I saw were frozen, but this one was flowing freely.
This is the river into which that waterfall is flowing. Look at all the snow!
At the "top" of the park is the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee. This is Newfound Gap. The snow is much deeper up here, but the scenery is breathtaking. Notice the sign for the state line in the right-center of the picture.
This is what I mean by "breathtaking" scenery. This is a panoramic photo looking east. You'll have to click on it to open it in another window, so you get the full effect. Then click the "back" arrow to return to this post.
One more. I walked across the road and took a shot looking west. Notice the trees in the foreground. They're covered with a thick "hoarfrost." In my next post, I'll show you some of these trees a little closer.
Check back early next week (I'm traveling the rest of this week).
Just after I entered the Park on the North Carolina side, I came upon this waterfall. Most of the others I saw were frozen, but this one was flowing freely.
This is the river into which that waterfall is flowing. Look at all the snow!
At the "top" of the park is the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee. This is Newfound Gap. The snow is much deeper up here, but the scenery is breathtaking. Notice the sign for the state line in the right-center of the picture.
This is what I mean by "breathtaking" scenery. This is a panoramic photo looking east. You'll have to click on it to open it in another window, so you get the full effect. Then click the "back" arrow to return to this post.
One more. I walked across the road and took a shot looking west. Notice the trees in the foreground. They're covered with a thick "hoarfrost." In my next post, I'll show you some of these trees a little closer.
Check back early next week (I'm traveling the rest of this week).
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The new Queen Bonus Room
I just got back from Gatlinburg last night (wait til you see my snow pictures in a later post!). One of the things I did was finish setting up the new Queen Bonus Room.
Remember the sofa-sleeper in the Bonus Room? It looked like this:
An earlier post showed you the new look of the room - like this:
Well, we've done some work to make it as much of a real "bedroom" as we can. First, we put in a larger TV - a nice 32" model. Then we added a cabinet and hooks for clothes storage. We also added a lamp and a clock on the other bedside table. And for privacy, we installed vertical blinds on the doorway. So here are some new pictures, taken last Tuesday night, showing how the Queen Bonus Room looks now.
This is looking from the doorway toward the bed. You can see the new shelf on the right.
This photo looks the other way, showing the clothes hook and shelf on the left, the closed vertical blinds, and the new TV and cabinet.
It's all ready for you, so we hope you'll head for Smoky Mountain Tower to enjoy our new three-bedroom chalet!
Remember the sofa-sleeper in the Bonus Room? It looked like this:
An earlier post showed you the new look of the room - like this:
Well, we've done some work to make it as much of a real "bedroom" as we can. First, we put in a larger TV - a nice 32" model. Then we added a cabinet and hooks for clothes storage. We also added a lamp and a clock on the other bedside table. And for privacy, we installed vertical blinds on the doorway. So here are some new pictures, taken last Tuesday night, showing how the Queen Bonus Room looks now.
This is looking from the doorway toward the bed. You can see the new shelf on the right.
This photo looks the other way, showing the clothes hook and shelf on the left, the closed vertical blinds, and the new TV and cabinet.
It's all ready for you, so we hope you'll head for Smoky Mountain Tower to enjoy our new three-bedroom chalet!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
The Tree at All Decked Out
Awhile back, I told you that God deposited a tree on the lower deck at All Decked Out. I guess He thought it wasn't "all decked out" enough! Anyway, I promised you some pictures of the tree, so here they are.
This was our first view of the tree, as we stood in front, on the side closest to the main road.
When we drove on down Village Loop and looked back up at All Decked Out, this is what we saw. The tree was estimated to be about 70 feet tall and probably weighed about 2 tons. Notice the light-colored board under the lower deck. This is part of the reinforcing we had done in April 2008. Our tree man said this is what saved the deck, the hot tub, and possibly the whole cabin.
After surveying the exterior, we went down to the lower deck to take a look.
There it is - up close and personal! It's about a foot in diameter.
So what to do! Fortunately, Darren (our neighbor) came to the rescue again. He told us he knew a tree guy who could take the tree off the deck. Within a few days, Jerry and Darren showed up. Jerry tied everything off, ran a rope up to another tree on our corner, then through a pulley system over to a tree across the street. Then he just winched it up off the deck so he could cut it up and drop it.
When they were finished, the tree was down the hill in pieces. Our drain pipe was still intact, and there was no additional damage.
A few days later, we had the deck guy (Ray) come back with his structural engineer. They checked everything over and found NO structural damage. God is good! So we just have to fix the privacy screen and a little corner of the gutter. Apparently, the tree just laid over on the side of the cabin, then slid down the eave, clipped the gutter, and came to rest gently on the lower deck railing.
Oh - one other piece. The same windstorm that brought down the tree also took a bunch of shingles off the roof. I'm meeting our insurance adjuster on Wednesday to see what they will cover. Then we'll proceed with repairs and All Decked Out will once again be not QUITE so "all decked out!"
This was our first view of the tree, as we stood in front, on the side closest to the main road.
When we drove on down Village Loop and looked back up at All Decked Out, this is what we saw. The tree was estimated to be about 70 feet tall and probably weighed about 2 tons. Notice the light-colored board under the lower deck. This is part of the reinforcing we had done in April 2008. Our tree man said this is what saved the deck, the hot tub, and possibly the whole cabin.
After surveying the exterior, we went down to the lower deck to take a look.
There it is - up close and personal! It's about a foot in diameter.
So what to do! Fortunately, Darren (our neighbor) came to the rescue again. He told us he knew a tree guy who could take the tree off the deck. Within a few days, Jerry and Darren showed up. Jerry tied everything off, ran a rope up to another tree on our corner, then through a pulley system over to a tree across the street. Then he just winched it up off the deck so he could cut it up and drop it.
When they were finished, the tree was down the hill in pieces. Our drain pipe was still intact, and there was no additional damage.
A few days later, we had the deck guy (Ray) come back with his structural engineer. They checked everything over and found NO structural damage. God is good! So we just have to fix the privacy screen and a little corner of the gutter. Apparently, the tree just laid over on the side of the cabin, then slid down the eave, clipped the gutter, and came to rest gently on the lower deck railing.
Oh - one other piece. The same windstorm that brought down the tree also took a bunch of shingles off the roof. I'm meeting our insurance adjuster on Wednesday to see what they will cover. Then we'll proceed with repairs and All Decked Out will once again be not QUITE so "all decked out!"
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Moving the sofa sleeper
We promised we would show you how we moved the sofa sleeper from the Bonus Room to the Tower Room at Smoky Mountain Tower. It happened, only due to the hard work and expertise of our three friends, Darren, Mark and Jerry.
If you've ever moved one of these beasts, you know what a job it is. But the first thing Mark and Darren did was to remove the springs mechanism. That significantly lightened the load - but not the bulk!
We first tried to take it UP the two flights of stairs. But it soon became obvious that wasn't going to work. So these three brave souls took it DOWN on flight to the main floor and out through the sunroom to the hot tub deck. Jerry had a bunch of ropes (he's our tree guy, and we'll tell you more about that next time). The three guys used the ropes (and their strength) to literally hoist the sofa sleeper up to the top deck, then carried it in the door and set it up.
Here's Mark on the sunroom roof - the first leg of the hoist.
With Mark pushing below and Jerry & Darren (not in picture) pulling from the top deck, up it came!
Then Darren (left) and Mark carried it into the Tower Room and put it back together.
Of course, I (Dave) was taking the pictures, so I obviously wasn't much help. But we did buy a brand new mattress for the sofa sleeper later in the day, and I hauled that up 4 flights and installed it. So now we have a great new place for relaxation - and sleeping - all the way up in the Tower.
If you've ever moved one of these beasts, you know what a job it is. But the first thing Mark and Darren did was to remove the springs mechanism. That significantly lightened the load - but not the bulk!
We first tried to take it UP the two flights of stairs. But it soon became obvious that wasn't going to work. So these three brave souls took it DOWN on flight to the main floor and out through the sunroom to the hot tub deck. Jerry had a bunch of ropes (he's our tree guy, and we'll tell you more about that next time). The three guys used the ropes (and their strength) to literally hoist the sofa sleeper up to the top deck, then carried it in the door and set it up.
Here's Mark on the sunroom roof - the first leg of the hoist.
With Mark pushing below and Jerry & Darren (not in picture) pulling from the top deck, up it came!
Then Darren (left) and Mark carried it into the Tower Room and put it back together.
Of course, I (Dave) was taking the pictures, so I obviously wasn't much help. But we did buy a brand new mattress for the sofa sleeper later in the day, and I hauled that up 4 flights and installed it. So now we have a great new place for relaxation - and sleeping - all the way up in the Tower.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
It's official - Smoky Mountain Tower is now 3 bedrooms!
Yes, we now have three full bedrooms, plus the Tower Room. Remember the Bonus Room, with the queen sofa-sleeper?
Well, take a look at the new Queen Bonus Room!
This room now features a new queen bed set, a new wide-screen TV and really pretty TV cabinet. And we're not finished. We expect to add some additional furniture to provide room for guests' clothes and personal belongings. We've already given the room some privacy by adding vertical blinds in the doorway.
It's not perfect. Guests will have to go up or down to a bathroom. So while we're advertising 3 bedrooms, we really have two private bedrooms, a "bonus bedroom" and the sofa-sleeper in the tower. Here's what the Tower Room now looks like.
If you've been to Smoky Mountain Tower, you're probably wondering how we EVER got the sofa sleeper up the steps. Check back in a couple of days and we'll show you how we did it.
But the bottom line is that we can now sleep up to 8 people at Smoky Mountain Tower. And one other thing: several guests have asked for a TV in the main floor King Bedroom Suite. Well, your wish has been granted. Smoky Mountain Tower now has TVs in EVERY BEDROOM, plus the living room. And all of them are connected to Cable TV, so you get at least 70 channels. We expect to have DVD and/or VCR players also in at least 2 of the bedrooms.
This is just a small part of what we got done last week. We'll keep telling you about more things in the days to come. Meanwhile, if you have any more suggestions or questions, please be sure to leave a comment here or write us at Dave@SmokyMountainTower.com.
Well, take a look at the new Queen Bonus Room!
This room now features a new queen bed set, a new wide-screen TV and really pretty TV cabinet. And we're not finished. We expect to add some additional furniture to provide room for guests' clothes and personal belongings. We've already given the room some privacy by adding vertical blinds in the doorway.
It's not perfect. Guests will have to go up or down to a bathroom. So while we're advertising 3 bedrooms, we really have two private bedrooms, a "bonus bedroom" and the sofa-sleeper in the tower. Here's what the Tower Room now looks like.
If you've been to Smoky Mountain Tower, you're probably wondering how we EVER got the sofa sleeper up the steps. Check back in a couple of days and we'll show you how we did it.
But the bottom line is that we can now sleep up to 8 people at Smoky Mountain Tower. And one other thing: several guests have asked for a TV in the main floor King Bedroom Suite. Well, your wish has been granted. Smoky Mountain Tower now has TVs in EVERY BEDROOM, plus the living room. And all of them are connected to Cable TV, so you get at least 70 channels. We expect to have DVD and/or VCR players also in at least 2 of the bedrooms.
This is just a small part of what we got done last week. We'll keep telling you about more things in the days to come. Meanwhile, if you have any more suggestions or questions, please be sure to leave a comment here or write us at Dave@SmokyMountainTower.com.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Another short preview - this week in Gatlinburg
We're back in Gatlinburg, but we can't post pictures because my poor old 10-year-old laptop won't cooperate. But we'll give you a quick update:
All Decked Out - the tree is off the deck and there is no structural damage. We had a structural engineer look at it yesterday and he said all is well. We have very minimal damage to repair but everything (including the hot tub) is still working.
Smoky Mountain Tower - we did it! We moved the hide-a-bed yesterday, and we even were able to get a good deal on a new queen bed set for the Bonus Room. Wait til you see how we moved the hide-a-bed!
We stayed an extra day in Gatlinburg because we thought we'd be snowed in this morning. Turns out that we only got a dusting. But we're using the extra day to get a bunch of stuff done on the new Bonus Bedroom - like painting the room.
Check back later this week for all the details!
All Decked Out - the tree is off the deck and there is no structural damage. We had a structural engineer look at it yesterday and he said all is well. We have very minimal damage to repair but everything (including the hot tub) is still working.
Smoky Mountain Tower - we did it! We moved the hide-a-bed yesterday, and we even were able to get a good deal on a new queen bed set for the Bonus Room. Wait til you see how we moved the hide-a-bed!
We stayed an extra day in Gatlinburg because we thought we'd be snowed in this morning. Turns out that we only got a dusting. But we're using the extra day to get a bunch of stuff done on the new Bonus Bedroom - like painting the room.
Check back later this week for all the details!
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