01 jun: day 03 of our vacation: gatlinburg two.

after the aquarium, we decided to go ahead and check into a hotel for the night. travis had never done much in gatlinburg except for the aquarium, so we decided to do some exploring. the camera was almost dead from all the pictures we had taken, so i was glad to go somewhere to charge it for a while. we had considered camping but had been unsuccessful at locating campgrounds, so we hadn't even packed to stay overnight.

the hotel we went to was a lot of fun. it was located on the side of the mountain, and we had an incredible view. the next two pictures are our view from the parking lot. this is the hotel we stayed in. it was really pretty on the inside with rich paneling and beautiful carpets. we were on the 10th floor.
this is the view when we walked into our room. i loved the huge windows and the balcony.


the next three pictures are looking from our room back down the mountain into gatlinburg.


after we rested and the camera had a full charge, we headed back down the mountain, this time taking the local trolley. there was a sky tram that would take you to the top of one of the mountains, and we decided that would be our next adventure.
the picture below is a view of our hotel (see it there on the middle of the mountainside) as we traveled up another mountain on the tram.

i took so many pictures on our way up the mountain, but i'll just post two more. i was disappointed that i didn't get pictures of the "delta house," owned by delta airlines. the roof is made out of two airplane wings. there was also an exact replica of the "barbie dreamhouse mansion." at the top of the mountain there were sky lifts, an indoor rink, and a bear habitat. of course, it was too warm for snow, so we just walked around the indoor skating rink and checked out the gift shop. we had to catch the tram down because there was only one left ... and if you don't make it on the last tram you have to walk down the mountain ... not an easy or short task.


these next few pictures are some of the sights around town.

we're looking straight into the sun, but i still like this picture of us. it was toward the end of the day and we were exhausted from walking around all day. we were just ready to get to the hotel, but we had to wait for the trolley.

by the trolley stop there was the original cabin of the first settler to gatlinburg. it wasn't open at the time, so we couldn't go in, but it was built by a man (whose name i've forgotten). he had written his wife all about the land of opportunity and paradise and had told her that he was going to come and get her and their four sons. he died before he was unable to, however, and she managed to make her way across the uncut mountains two years after his death, and find the cabin, just using directions he had given her in letters. there was some pretty interesting stories about the town.

once we caught the trolley, we went back to our room, freshened up a bit, and headed downstairs to feed our starving tummies. we had eaten earlier in the day at the pancake pantry and then we had snacked on "fair" food while we walked around, but we hadn't done much snacking, and we had done a lot of walking. when we got to the restaurant we decided pizza sounded better, so we called room service and had them deliver a pizza to us in the bar area. the bar area reminded me of a grand house, where a weathly old man would smoke his pipe and read his leather-bound books. there was a pool table, and travis was starting to have withdrawals so we ordered drinks and played a game while we waited for our pizza. i really wanted chocolate cake ... but unfortunately they didn't have any that we could order.

we didn't do much after that. when we came back to the room travis tried to get a good shot from the balcony looking back into town, and then we called it a night.