Gatlinburg is as close to the Great Smoky Mountains as you can get, so I chose this to be my homebase for my visit.  The main drag of the town is built up with tourism in mind.  Bright and gaudy store fronts, all the T-shirt and tourist gear you could want, big name chain restaurants, and tons of kid centric activities crowd the street.  

One of the adult activities the area is known for are moonshine and wine tastings.  Several of the wine storefronts offer samples. While most of the local wines are too sweet for my Northern taste buds, I enjoyed talking to the bartenders about the winemaking process in the area.  I also stopped by the two breweries in the area. Gatlinburg Brewing Company is on the edge of the downtown area and offers about a dozen beer varieties as well as craft pizza.  On the other side of town, Smoky Mountain Brewery is a much larger restaurant style space. They also offer up about a dozen beer options as well as a full bar.

While the Village Shops are also for tourists, I found the quaint European architecture and smaller stores to be a nice reprieve from the main street.  The center of the village shops also offers a beautiful fountain and sitting options. 

The Donut Friar cafe is also one of the few places that is open early (5 am), so I enjoyed walking down here first thing in the morning for a fresh donut and coffee and sitting by the fountain for a relaxing start to the day. FYI, they only take cash, so come prepared or use the on site ATM.    

Another section of the town that is a little bit of a reprieve from the main street is the riverwalk. Small streams flow throughout this area, and parallel to the main street is paved path with benches and gazebos to take in the stream. There are also stairs here and there that allow people to walk right into the stream. I’m not really sure if this means that people swim or boat in these waters – I didn’t see any of that activity during my visit.

Just outside the center of the town is a small shopping plaza that holds some local charm. You can’t miss the lifesize and larger wooden sculptures that decorate the front lawn of Dahl’s Chainsaw Gallery. The store offers handmade wooden sculptures of all sizes. While the Dahl brothers live and work in South Dakota, there are local carvers on site almost everyday giving live demonstrations of the art form.  Across the parking lot is the Smoky Mountain Farms Jelly House. They offer over 80 flavors of jelly as well as hot sauce and pickles. They have tasting for some of the flavors, so I enjoyed trying some of the more unusual flavors like Cinnamon Pear and Muscadine. 

My favorite shopping experience was stopping and browsing several of the artist studios along the Great Smoky Arts & Crafts community. The community has been around since the 1930s, and over the decades has grown to over 80 artists ranging in skills from glass to soap making, leather work to candles, and everything in between.  At most of the places I stopped, the artists were on site to talk about their process and passion.  I learned about how to make an arrowhead using antlers, the caning process for chairs, and one family’s broom making legacy. The studios and shops are spread out around an 8 mile loop in the Glades area of the town.  Some of the studios offer classes – both single session and multi section – but even more participate in the “Hands On Gatlinburg” month of May. While I didn’t take a class during my visit this time, I wish I had known about it before my trip; I would’ve loved to learn from the artists themselves. 

For a nice quick meditative walk, I stopped at the nearby Buckhorn Inn to complete their nature walk. The walk begins at the front of the inn and meanders downhill to a small pond.  Along the way are a selection of gardens and – the reason for my visit –  Rachel’s Labyrinth. Without planning on it, I’ve become drawn to labyrinths during my travels. Since labyrinths are designed to be a meditative process where you follow the path without worrying about taking a wrong turn, I find them soothing in the midst of the millions of decisions that need to be made during a vacation.  Each labyrinth also has its own personality – from the material it is made out of to the design of the path. The walls of this one were made of local fieldstone and created an artistic feature within the landscape of the space.  

I was hesitant to pay the ticket price for Anaskeeta because I had read about the long lines, and from my research it seemed to be geared toward families – and it is. However, because of the thunderstorms that afternoon, I assumed that crowds wouldn’t be a problem, so I decided to give it a go. In the end, I am very happy with my decision to spend a few hours here. The view from the top of their AnaVista tower was the best during my visit.  To reach the top of the mountain, you can either take a bus, an open chairlift, or a gondola.  Even though there was still a chance of rain, I wanted to take in the fresh air, so I opted for the chairlift. The ride up takes about 15 minutes and the background music begins to set the tone for the park at the top. 

The chairlift lets you out at the small mainstreet of the park.  A few tourist shops selling branded merchandise, snacks, and drinks are within reach.  The park consists of two adventure courses designed for both children and adults alike, as well as a rope trampoline, human sized bird houses, decorative plantings, and some other interactive features.  The climb to the top of the AnaVista tower requires some effort, but the 360 degree views of the town and mountains is pretty stunning.  While I don’t ever wish for rain during my travels, the aftermath of rain here is part of the beauty as the mist and clouds add dimension to the mountain tops.

The Treetop Skywalk was one of my favorite parts of the park. 14 suspended bridges connect one tree to the next. The ambient music and the string lights create a mystical atmosphere.  

There are a lot of add on activities here, and I probably would’ve paid for the mountain coaster one; however, because of the rain, they were closed.  Instead I got a drink and spent some time sitting at the edge of the patio in Black Bear Village looking out over the beauty of the mountains.