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.

What do we leave out?

I received a marketing newsletter recently that said,

• "To hold the attention of the public, you must identify what you leave out. Organic fruit and vegetable growers leave out the fertilizer and pesticides. Netflix leaves out the trip to the video store. Digital cameras leave out the film. What does your company leave out?"

That got me thinking. What do we leave out for our guests?

Here are a few things I came up with:

• We leave out guests having to pay all those extra fees that raise the price.
• We leave out collecting (and sending back) a security deposit.
• We leave out requiring guests to physically sign a contract and mail it back (it's all done online).
• We leave out guests having to wonder if our online calendars are up to date (they are - all the time!).
• We leave out guests having to arrive before an office closes in order to pick up the keys.

That's just a few to get you thinking. I'll try to list some more in another post.

But what do you think we 'leave out?' Leave a comment - we'd really like to hear your thoughts.

Trees!

Trees! We've got a lot of them all around Smoky Mountain Tower and All Decked Out. They're beautiful. But sometimes they get in the way of our views.

But there is some comfort in knowing that we're not the only ones with the problem. I just saw an article in today's Knoxville News-Sentinel that talks about the problem with trees in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Here's a link to the article so you can read it yourself:

We continue to work on opening up more of the view at Smoky Mountain Tower. Unfortunately, the trees that have grown up are not on our property. So far, the people who own the trees haven't been very sympathetic to our requests for trimming. But we'll keep working at it.

There are BAD People out there!

In the years since we first started our blog, all our posts have been positive. This one isn't.

We just went through an experience earlier this week where we found that a Web site had stolen our advertising listings for Smoky Mountain Tower and All Decked Out from one of the many sites where we advertise. The scam site - bidvacationrentals.com - took the listings from HomeAway, which is the largest company in the vacation rental business and is a legitimate advertising site. The bidvacationrentals scammers apparently posted our cabins on their site, but they listed their phone number.

Here's how the scam worked. Unsuspecting guests would call them to rent a cabin. Bidvacationrental would take the money, but wouldn't tell us (or anyone else listed on their site) about the reservation. The guest would never get any more information about directions or the check-in procedures. Thus, the guest was cheated out of their money, but would be upset with us - thinking we had cheated them!

We hope this never happens to you. Here are a few things to watch for, as it specifically relates to us:

1. We have only one site through which we take reservations and payments. It's www.ivacationonline.com. NEVER pay anyone else for a reservation at our cabins.

2. Be especially careful of sites like CraigsList. The scam sites are notorious for getting listings from CraigsList. We never knowingly advertise there, although our listings have showed up there.

3. If you're looking for a vacation rental other than Smoky Mountain Tower or All Decked Out, we suggest you look for any particular property on Google. Try to find the owner's Web site and get information directly. If in doubt, find a phone number and call the owner.

4. Do not make a reservation or give your credit card number out over the phone. In today's world, you should be able to do everything online. When you call a listing site, you don't really know who you are talking to. Yes, we know there are many Gatlinburg management companies who only take reservations by phone. But it's just too easy today to "steal" their phone numbers and redirect them to another phone.

5. If you EVER have any questions about Smoky Mountain Tower or All Decked Out, call us on the ONLY number we have listed - 865-325-9888. You will be connected with Marcia Russell, Angie Jones, or Dave Baseler (that's me, and I'm the owner). If you get anybody else, PLEASE contact us by email immediately - dave@smokiesrentdirect.com.

We are being more diligent than ever to look for these bogus Web sites. There ARE bad people out there. So if you have any questions or if we can help make your Gatlinburg vacation more enjoyable, please call or write to us.

It's so nice to be missed!

In our last post, we told you about our recent trip. A couple of days ago, we got the following email from Elsie, who lives in Texas. Elsie and her family stayed at Smoky Mountain Tower last year. Here's what she said:

"Dave, I missed you while you were gone. I have a habit of just checking your web site to see what is new. We stayed there last May and were so happy with the ease of renting with your family that I keep up with what you are doing. If we ever decide to stay in that area again we definitely will book one of your houses. I just wish you had a house to rent somewhere else in other states. I try to find somewhere new and interesting to go to each time. We have visited all 50 states and a number of other countries.

"We have rented quite a few homes over the past 10 or 12 years and have never had an experience of renting like we did with you. It was great. I spread the news to every one I know that might go in that direction.

"I'm glad you had a good cruise."

Thank you, Elsie. We have often said that our guests are the best - and Else just proved it again!

"Where have you been?"

Yeah, I know - it's been 11 days since we last posted. Well, we took a vacation! We actually went on a Caribbean cruise with Marcia and her family - so both of us were out of touch.

But, thankfully, our 'original Gatlinburg daughter' - Angie - took over for us and handled everything with her usual fine expertise. Almost 5 years ago, Angie got everything set up for us when we first started renting out Smoky Mountain Tower and All Decked Out ourselves. She figured out the whole process, found a credit card company for us, designed our Web sites, and took care of all our reservations (and a whole lot more) for a couple of years. But as her family started to grow, she needed to spend more time taking care of her husband and raising her two boys.

However, whenever we need to get away for a little R&R, Angie is there to step back in. So THANK YOU VERY MUCH, Angie, for your great help and service.

And lest you think our time away was all fun, we actually looked at another possible cabin for purchase just outside Cozumel, Mexico - so we could offer you some variety in your vacation plans. However, as you'll see, it's not quite up to our standards:


Okay, just kidding. These are Mayan ruins in Mexico! But seriously, Marcia and I did spend some time talking about Gatlinburg and how we can make some improvements in our service for our guests. We even bought some expensive Internet time on our ship so we could stay in touch with Angie and answer any questions that might come up.

Stay tuned - we're working on some more ideas for you. Meanwhile, if YOU have some things you'd like us to offer or some changes you think we should make, please let us know.