Gatlinburg, Tennessee

This picture was taken in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. When I was a kid, we would go to Gatlinburg a lot. I used to love being up in the mountains. It seemed so peaceful there. Lately, I really haven't been to Gatlinburg much. I feel like Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge have become too commercialized. The last time I was there, you could barely move (by car or by foot) because there were people everywhere. What were those people doing? Were they looking at the mountains and the scenic views? No, they were shopping at the outlet malls. There is a ton of exciting things to do in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area. You could go shopping, go to a nice restaurant, go to one of the many shows, go to Dollywood (which I love now that Opryland is no more), play mini golf, blah, blah, blah. I guess I just miss the Gatlinburg of my youth. I miss the most exciting part of the trip being the drive over the mountains into Cherokee, North Carolina, to see Unto These Hills. I miss diligently looking for bears on that drive over the mountains. I miss playing mini golf with my mom, dad and sister because that was all there was to do. I miss going to my favorite wax museum, Christus Gardens. But, most of all, I miss the quite beauty of the mountains themselves.