Summer Road Trip: Day Five

Gatlinburg, Tennessee: Our summer road trip is in the home stretch as we woke up for our final full day in Tennessee. Today’s itinerary takes us to nearby Hartford for a white water rafting adventure and later to the aquarium. But first we have to tackle our obligatory resort preview at the Westgate.

But before our appointment at the resort, we headed downtown for breakfast at Crockett’s Breakfast Camp. The restaurant was made to look like a rustic breakfast camp in the wilderness. The food was really good and the portions were huge!

After breakfast, we drove around Gatlinburg a little before I dropped my mom back off at the room and we headed to the resort preview. Because we booked this room at such a drastic discount through BookVIP, we had to sit through a 90-minute resort preview. While I was open minded and would consider purchasing if it was affordable, I also know my budget and the likelihood was slim to none. 

The resort preview was by far the most frustrating experience I had in quite some time. It started with them being almost thirty minutes late for our appointment. Then our agent, Brandon took us upstairs and offered us breakfast which we politely declined because we had just eaten. He asked if we minded if he ate because he didn’t have a chance to eat yet because he was running late. We didn’t mind but it was only after he finished eating, some 45 minutes after our scheduled start that he told us that our 90 minutes only now had begun. So already we were having to give up our time because they were not ready or prepared.

So we listened to his sales pitch including numbers that did not add up and his inappropriate personal questions and prying into our personal lives through the presentation. The entire time, I kept asking him for the bottom line numbers and he would not provide me with that information. He then took us on a tour in which I asked for him to skip since we were already over our committed time and we were already staying on property and all he was doing was showing us the unit in which we were already staying in. But he declined and continued on with the walk and talk.

By this time, we were way over our allotted time and was starting to encroach on our white water rafting excursion we had scheduled. I reminded him of this several times, but he didn’t seem to care. He continued stalling. Finally he brought out the numbers and the cost was way over what we could afford. What they were wanting in monthly fees was more than what we pay a month for our rent. There is no way I could justify spending more than what I pay for rent in my primary residence for 1 week a year. At that point, he got very aggressive and refused to let us leave. He said if we left, we would be in violation of our package and would be charged an additional $150 a night. But I reminded him that our package stated we would have to sit for a 90-minute presentation and we have already passed the 3 hour mark. So I requested to speak to a manager, but of course none were available so I just walked out.

After putting that frustrating experience behind us, we hit the road for our white water rafting trip. We chose Smoky Mountain Outfitters as our tour guide for the trip. They were highly recommended and the reviews on Trip Advisor were really good. They were located about 45 minutes outside Gatlinburg with a nice scenic drive along the Foothills Parkway to get there.

Photo taken by Smoky Mountain Outdoors.

We arrived a little early and they moved us up to an earlier trip. We went on the Lower Pigeon River excursion and were paired up with a family from Michigan and our guide named Chris. When booking the trip, we chose the lower river for our first time white water rafting. The trip was a little calmer for first time families and featured Class I-III rapids. There was even a spot on the trip where my son jumped in and swam alongside the raft. The trip was very enjoyable and Chris really knows his stuff. I kinda wish we would have taken the upper river route, but I will give that a try next time we visit the area.

On the way back into town, we made a quick stop at the Gatlinburg Mountain Coaster so my wife could take our son on a ride on the alpine coaster. Unlike typical coasters, the rider is in full control of an alpine coaster, you can control how fast or how slow you go by operating the handbrakes on the ride vehicle.

We then picked up the rest of the family and headed out for dinner. After such a good breakfast, we decided to go to dinner at what I thought was a sister restaurant to our breakfast stop, the Park Grill. Turned out is wasn’t a sister restaurant but still had fantastic food. The entire restaurant is themed to look like a lodge and pays tribute to the national park.

After dinner, we headed out to the Roaring Fork Motor Trail to do a little more exploration. This section of the trip would bring us closer to waterfalls that we didn’t have to walk miles to see. With such limited time, we really wanted to experience as much as possible without overly committing to long hikes. This drive was a family favorite as it was very scenic and avoided much of the crowds like we had experienced on the Cades Cove and Newfound Gap driving trails. There were plenty of small waterfalls that could be seen either from the van or just a short walk from the van.

We headed back into town to our final destination of the trip, Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies. We had a great experience with Ripley attractions during a past visit to St Augustine and I was looking forward to experience all they have to offer in Gatlinburg, but we simply just ran out of time. But we made it a point to visit the aquarium before we left. I can see why it was rated the top aquarium. It has a great layout and the underwater tunnel was great. I found myself stepping off the people mover and just standing there and watching all the action in the aquarium. They also had a special limited exhibit focusing on the attack of Pearl Harbor which I found very enlightening and a great mix of history and sea life.

When we finished the aquarium we headed back to the Westgate to pack up the van and get ready for our early morning departure.

Be sure to check back later for more photos and stories from the trip.