Seiverville, TN is only about 3.5 hours from Charlotte, so it was a pretty easy drive. Unfortunately most of the drive was through rain, so I didn’t get to see too much of the mountains, but there were a few spots where the mountains were peeking out of the tops of the clouds which really made me wish there was somewhere to pull over to take some pictures. On the drive up, I passed signs for the Forbidden Caverns and I was really tempted to stop, but I wanted to make sure I got to packet pick-up for the Santa Hustle, and it was only about a half hour from my destination, so I figured I’d head back out if I still had time. Unfortunately, once I got checked into the hotel and looked up the site online, I found out they’re closed in December, so no caverns for me this time. 

I stayed at the Wilderness at the Smokies since that was the sponsor hotel for the race and the start line was on the property. I didn’t take advantage of the water park at the resort, which seems to be the main attraction on the property, but I wasn’t overly impressed with the resort itself. I tried to eat dinner at the Hidden Trail Bar & Grill, but when I went down a little before 7:00 (they open for dinner at 5:00), I was told there would be at least a 30 minute wait for food from the kitchen. There were only 2 tables of families in the entire restaurant. I overheard staff members saying that there was only 1 person cooking and they were making food for an event going on at the hotel, so everyone in the restaurant would have to wait. I’m not 100% sure, but I also think I heard them say that everyone else who was supposed to be working was out sick… so, needless to say, I went out to dinner! I did have a nice view from my room overlooking the conference center and part of the golf course and the hotel offered a late checkout (12:00pm instead of 11:00am) for all of the runners, so it wasn’t a complete bust. Plus, as much as I hate to spend the money to be close to the start line of a race, it’s definitely been worth it the last two times I’ve ran a half marathon. The convenience of it can’t be beat!

There were all kinds of light displays throughout the city, but I didn’t get a chance to get pictures of most of them (and even the one I did get a picture of didn’t turn out great). The picture is of the Sevierville River Company and shows a boat on the water. There were also several of Old Man Winter blowing cold air at the cars on the road, snowflakes throughout town and even one with a family of three bears. 

A couple of the pictures above were taken during the Santa Hustle and are technically in Pigeon Forge. There’s the Hatfields and McCoys Dinner Show, which is right next to the Titanic Museum Attraction which has Santa and his flying pigs outside!

I could see the top of the courthouse when I drove into town, so before I left, I wandered through the side streets to get a closer look. The courthouse actually has a statue of Dolly Parton out front. The courthouse is under construction right now, but luckily I was able to find an angle to get a picture of both without all of the orange fencing in it.

Finally, on my way out of town, I stopped at the Harrisburg covered bridge. It’s not far from the main road and pretty easy to get pictures of, but it’s in a small neighborhood, so I can imagine that when the weather is nice / the leaves are changing, it could be quite difficult to find a place to park to get pictures.

Have you ever been to Sevierville? Where else should I have visited?

I have a habit of wandering around the Business Insider site from time to time and came across an interesting article titled the Best Tourist Attraction in Every State. I’m not surprised by a lot of the listings: the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, PA, the Las Vegas Strip, NV and the St. Louis arch, MO. As I went through the list, I was surprised by a few of the ones that I hadn’t visited, including Cape Hatteras, NC which is only about 6 1/2 hours away and Fort Sumpter, SC which is a little less than 4 hours away. I’m surprised that Rainbow Row in Charleston didn’t make the list, but I’m sure there are a lot of places that could be added to this list. Out of the 21 states I’ve been to (plus D.C.), I’ve only been to 5 of the listed attractions:

• Rehoboth Beach, DE – actually, I don’t remember being here, but I know that I went with my family when I was pretty young because there is a picture of me holding up  a huge crab shell.
• Washington Mall, Washington, D.C. – I’ve been here a few times, though the last time was easily over 10 years ago. There are so many museums, parks and monuments to look at in D.C. that it’s hard to decide how to narrow down what to go see.
• Colonial Williamsburg, VA – I was able to visit last fall and while I didn’t have a lot of free time to check everything out, it was fun to wander around all of the little shops and exhibits.
• Millenium Park, Chicago, IL – I went to Chicago several times in 2011 and 2012 and every time I’ve been there I end up wandering around Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park – it certainly lives up to the “Windy City” designation and there are great attractions. I am a little surprised that the WIllis Tower didn’t make the list though.
• Grand Canyon, AZ – I had the opportunity to spend a few days at the Grand Canyon earlier this year and it was amazing! I went at the end of January and it was the perfect time to go – it was cold and there was some snow on the second day, but it was great hiking weather. I just wish I had more time to spend out there and it’s definitely a place I want to visit again.