Summer Road Trip Next Stop: Downtown Gatlinburg
Gatlinburg, TN
After visiting Chimney Rock next up on our stop was good ole’ Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I was excited for the kids to experience the fun downtown that I had been to a couple times growing up. We woke up bright and early to avoid as much traffic as we could to head into the mountain town.
We went to the high-rated Crockett’s Breakfast Camp to eat breakfast. I was easily able to get us on the wait list and check the wait time before arriving. I am still dreaming about the delicious pock roast benedict. Yum!
Anakeesta
The big adventure for the day in Gatlinburg was to visit Anakeesta. Anakeesta is an award-winning mountaintop adventure park located above downtown Gatlinburg. Anakeesta literally means “the place of high ground” in the Cherokee language. Anakeesta park is situated on a 70-acre mountain 600 feet above the city of Gatlinburg.
We started with an enclosed gondola cabin ride up the mountain to the park. There is an option to take a chair lift that fits four, which is open or a gondola that fits up to six. Closed gondola please!
After our scenic ride to the top the boys did some gem mining. An interactive waterfall and sluice allowed the kids to search for genstones.
A few steps away was the Treehouse Adventure Play Area. This area was available to children of all ages. A section I would high recommend for families with smaller children.
Next we headed over to the Treeventure Challenge Course. The boys climbed, crawled and slid their way through three levels of play in these interactive treehouses. Six netted bridges and three treehouses offered more of a challenge for my older boys, but the youngest didn’t back down.
There are multiple spots to stop and take in the views of the Smokey Mountains as well as opportunities to get some pictures. The gardens and grounds are gorgeous!
The more daring two of the three boys talked me into doing the Treetop Skywalk. The longest tree-based skywalk in North America with 880 feet of rope hanging bridges suspended 60 feet in the air. I may have almost had a panic attack!
We took the Ridge Rambler vehicle down the mountain from the park and then headed over to play at an arcade, We ended our time in Gatlinburg with a boys round of mini-golf.
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