13th Stop - The Great Smoky Mountains (TN)

Blog Post #20 - Written June 19, 2025

Stay: May 31 - June 3, 2025

The Great Smoky Mountains was one of our most anticipated destinations to visit. We stayed at the Creekside RV Park, just outside of Pigeon Forge, TN. But before we arrived, we had to stop at Walmart to buy a bunch of new bike helmets (see previous post for reason why...)! When we entered Walmart, these salespeople had a stand set up offering hugely discounted tickets to local attractions. I immediately assumed they were too good to be true and ignored them, but on the way out, Megan and the kids stopped to chat. I only half-listened to the sales pitch while trying to get everyone out the door. But once out in the truck and after hearing from the kids the things they wanted to do, we thought that maybe we should check it out and consider it. After several trips back and forth, we finally understood that they were with Wyndham and were giving away discounted/free tickets to people that listened to a 2-hour timeshare spiel. Since we didn't have anything else planned that afternoon and the timeshare presentation was at The Island, where Megan wanted to take the kids anyway, we decided to do it, in exchange for family tickets to Parrot Mountain and Anakeesta.

We raced over there to make it to the last scheduled presentation of the day, only to find, when I arrived slightly out of breath from running, that my wallet was missing. And they don't let you in without your ID. I raced back to the truck, couldn't find it, prayed for help, and then found it under my seat. The timeshare spiel was actually very interesting, and they put on Pokemon (the originals) so the kids were in heaven haha. And afterwards we walked around the Island finding the animontronic dinosaurs and trying all the free samples available, so it didn't even feel like a waste of time. And we got $230 worth of tickets out of it, not too shabby.

The next day, Sunday, we went to church. Google Maps took us on the craziest mountain path I've ever driven on. The turns were tight, inclines steep, and roads narrow. The really wild thing is that it was the route we almost took in to the campground the day before, but because we needed to stop at Walmart ,we went through town instead and came in the other way, which most assuredly saved our trailer from certain destruction! The local congregation is small, but welcomes many visitors each week with open arms. Megan had a "it's a small world" moment when she found that a family friend from Huntington Beach, CA was the Sunday School teacher here in Pigeon Forge, TN!

The kids love going to church and making new friends each week. D also loves stealing her mom's earrings.

After church, we drove up the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail and hiked to Grotto Falls. Parking was extremely limited and while we waited for a spot to open up, a huge black bear walked right behind our truck! It happened so fast that only I got to really see him and couldn't get any decent pictures, but it was so cool! We'd heard that the bears are usually only seen in the dawn/dusk hours, so we hadn't been expecting to see one. The hike was fun and the boys loved playing in falls and climbing through the river/rocks when we got to the top. On the way down, a couple was staring at something in the bushes, and thinking it was another bear, we stopped to look too. It turns out they were just looking at a leave stuck in a bush, or so it appeared. After several "closer looks" we realized it was a pair of mating Small-eyed Sphinx Moths! Back at the trailhead, we were also lucky enough to see a group of pack llamas, hauling dirty laundry down from a remote lodge (Le Conte) up the mountain.

You can barely see the first black bear we saw here, but trust me. He was huge in real life!

In addition to the mating moths, Z also discovered a cocoon on his walking stick when we got back to the trailhead.

On the drive back down the mountain, we saw another black bear! This one was much smaller than the first, but much closer, and everyone got to see it as it walked right by our truck. Please forgive the poor picture quality, Megan was doing her best to take pics while all 3 kids were climbing over her lap to see the bear haha. And then further down, we stopped at this little waterfall along the side of the road and I found a salamander up in the pool under the falls! I didn't have my phone to take a pic, but that was the first time I've found a salamander in the wild, so that was pretty sweet!

Monday we went to Parrot Mountain. The driveway up into the parking lot is STEEP! I'd say at least a 60 degree incline. Driving up was an effort, but coming down was even worse, I didn't think I'd be able to stop before making a blind turn onto the road. It was ridiculous. The parking lot itself is also extremely slanted. Like your on the side of a mountain. I'd never seen a parking lot with warning signs before, "Park At Your Own Risk: Lot Slightly Sloped"! We are animal lovers, and Parrot Mountain was an incredible, intimate experience with beautiful exotic birds. Not only are there tons of amazing birds to see and learn about, but you can hold and feed them! I almost felt bad for Q and D, who were more terrified than awed by the birds, because Z, Megan, and I couldn't stop holding and playing with the birds. It was too cool! They even had a nursery where you could buy baby birds ($5,000 for a gray parrot that lives up to 70 years old!).

Video of Cockatoo flaring it's crest for us.

Video of Kookaburras laughing at each other. I only caught the last part of it as they were quieting down haha.

Video of Two Hyacinth Macaw love birds. Cute couple.

Video of Z feeding a parrot on his hand.

Video of a Regent Parrot attempting to fly off Z's arm.

I see you.

This Gray Crowned Crane was so close I was afraid it was going to peck my phone.

I was too slow to capture a really good picture of this Lady Amherst's Pheasant, but you can see the back of it here. And if you haven't heard of them or seen them before, I'd encourage you to Google them. Pheasants and birds of paradise are ridiculously, beautifully ornate birds. They're amazing!

This Blue-and-Yellow Macaw loved Megan. Especially her hair. He took out her hair tie and unbraided one of her braids haha!

Rainbow Lorikeet in the lorikeet feeding frenzy experience. Z holding a Parakeet. They like to hang upside down apparently!

I had to include this picture of D and Q to prove they were there with us haha. While they didn't enjoy holding the birds, they did have fun seeing them from afar haha.

Tuesday we did Anakeesta, in Gatlinburg. Parking is very tight/expensive in town, so we parked at the welcome center and took the free trolley in. The chondola ride up the mountain was pretty cool, very nice views of the mountains. I just felt bad for Megan who had to contain D for the 10-minute ride and prevent her from wiggling out and falling haha. It was fun enough with a few things for the kids to do and a tree-top canopy boardwalk, but to be honest, I wasn't super impressed. Kinda just felt like an expensive chairlift ride up to a place where you can spend even more money on expensive food and tourist activities. But the views were beautiful, I'll give 'em that.

The chondola on our way up the mountain!

Jungle gym / play area with a rope trampoline and lots of slides.

The kids enjoyed staring down through the glass floor of the observation tower.

D's favorite part was the splash zone. It was a very HOT day, so I might've dunked a hatful of water on my head as well.

Video of Z and Q running across the rope bridges of the treetop canopy walk.

I know this has been a long post, but before I leave you, I need to describe this area, especially Pigeon Forge, for those that haven't been. As we drove into town, all of our jaws dropped and exclamations of "Woah!", "Wow!", "Look at that!", and "Holy cow!" From upside-down buildings to the Titanic, dozens of crazy mini-golf courses (including on you have to ride up the mountain in an incline railway to get to) to innumerable go-kart racing tracks, every kind of dinner show imaginable, and more souvenir shops than Myrtle Beach, this place was crazy. The boys begged and asked every time we got in the truck if we were going to drive by "the fun stuff" haha. It was fun just to see it all.