December 19, 2005

Gatlinburg's Winterfest

Yesterday we told you about our holiday visit to Asheville's Biltmore Estate, the country's largest private home. The day after our Biltmore visit, we headed off to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a look at one of the South's top Christmas events.

Tiny Gatlinburg, home to just 5,000 year around residents, is a giant in the world of tourism. The reason? It rests at the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the country. Literally millions of visitors pack the mountain community every year. During the summers, traffic can be bumper to bumper in this popular getaway.

This was our first December visit to the popular town, though, and was a pleasant surprise. Timing our visit for a Monday and Tuesday night (Friday and Saturday nights can be packed, even this time of year), we found that the crowds were almost nonexistent. We never got caught in a traffic jam, we never waited in a line.

We came to Gatlinburg to enjoy Winterfest, the annual Christmas celebration that starts in early November and continues into February (after New Year's, the holiday decorations will change to a romance theme in honor of Valentine's.) Huge lighting displays throughout the town illuminate the mountain night and we enjoyed it the best way possible: aboard a guided trolley ride. For just $4 each, we hopped a 45-minute ride aboard the trolleys, which depart from the Ripley's Aquarium (site of the Santa's workshop photo, above). Our tour took us along Parkway as well as the beautiful River Road and along Highway 321 to see the varied light shows.

Along the way, we passed many beautiful chapels, wedding facilities that have helped Gatlinburg earn the status of the country's second most popular wedding site (beat out only by Las Vegas.) We'll be reporting on many of those charming chapels in future stories.

On our trip, we also worked on a new website we've started, GatlinburgTripper.com, taking a look at the varied attractions and accommodations of this mountain vacation destination.

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