Weekend in the Great Smoky Mountains - Travel Guide | What to Do, See, & Eat!

moonshine's happy who'd have thought Great Smoky Mountains National Park [Music] pretty amazing up here [Music] we're matine at a part-time non-remote travel couple based out of Nashville Tennessee in 2021 we visited all 50 U.S states 2022 took our adventures abroad now we've set out on a journey to see as many of the 1000 places to see before you die well before we die in our last video we were on a seven day Mediterranean Cruise where we fell in love with the breathtaking ocean views from our balcony made four port stops where we explored the beautiful coastal towns and cities and almost got stranded in Spain when the cruise line made an unfortunate typo on the ship schedule this week we're back stateside visiting the Great Smoky Mountains foreign [Music] s this part of the Appalachian mountain range is home to popular tourist cities like Gatlinburg Pigeon Forge and Sevierville but it's also home to the most visited national park in the country with over 14 million visitors in 2021 alone I'm talking about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and with that many visitors we knew that we had to see what the hype was all about we're starting off our Smoky Mountain Adventures in one of the most popular areas of the park Cades Cove we're going to be driving the 11 Mile Scenic Loop taking in the Mountain View stopping at some of the historic sites and also keeping an eye out for wildlife we hope we get to see some bears but we've heard it can get pretty crowded and there's already cars entering right now so we better get let's go here we go [Music] the best thing is to avoid the encounter altogether obviously when you're on the trail or out in the park make noise so any bears know that you're coming start to sing along make a lot of noise [Music] so we've hit our first traffic jam and we haven't even gotten on the scenic loop so for those of you that don't know this 11 Mile Loop that we haven't even made it to yet can take upwards of like two to three hours to get through especially on a busy day and then if you want to take more time to like drive it multiple times definitely prepare for that but thankfully we've put together a Blog and travel guide to help you when you come to the Smoky Mountains we'll talk about everything that we do on this trip and more so definitely check it out the link is in the description also to help pass the time and gain some awesome knowledge about the Great Smoky Mountains we highly recommend downloading the Gypsy guide we'll put a link down in the description we used it for our road to Hana Vlog in Hawaii and we can't recommend it enough a deer did you catch that I don't know if you did but anyways one of the reasons we love the Gypsy guide so much is because all of the guided cues and instructions and information are all GPS based we should be getting close to the left so you don't have to do anything you just drive [Music] thank you [Music] so there are over a dozen stops along the 11 Mile loop we're obviously not going to be stopping at all of them but we did just make our first stop right here behind us at Primitive Baptist Church pretty cool built in 1827 I believe but now we're on to the next [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so about halfway through this drive you get to this Visitor Center area that has some cabins and historical structures as well as restrooms and a gift shop and that's where we got postcards and goodies for our patrons so if your name is down below thank you guys so much you're really truly helping our Channel way more than you know and if you're interested in becoming a patron check out the link in the description we would love to have you in the patreon family now let's go explore these old buildings oh [Music] no [Music] yeah and if you'd like to take a couple of steps up there and think through the top of the collar you can see the top stone in there rotate so the top Stone does all the grinding and it is being powered by the Water Wheel through these gears and to get progressively smaller as they lead up to the stone by getting smaller they're also getting faster [Music] foreign [Music] having a great time though just like a five minute nap we're in traffic anyways you shouldn't be filming so pack your patients I did pack mine or snacks [Music] we've been in this traffic jam for a little while and somebody said that there was a bear yes so we're on the lookout so hopefully we get to see a bear by the time we get to it probably won't be there but I've got my hopes up if you're coming to Cades Cove remember to be courteous and if you see wildlife pull off to the side of the road wherever you can so you don't block traffic for there's probably a mile or two of traffic backed up at this point yeah we've been waiting a little while yeah so I understand sometimes you can't and you want to get your shot but try to make it keep it moving keep it moving [Music] thank you so unfortunately we're getting pretty close to the end of the loop and no bear sightings no but we do have some final thoughts after doing this for the first time and thought we'd share them with you um it did take us uh right at three hours to drive this Loop a lot of traffic and we didn't stop but it like a handful of the stops um but yes oh man we got leaves and things coming in um there is no cell phone service here so make sure you download your offline map also if you're going to drive the loop multiple times which a lot of people do for wildlife spotting definitely bring some food because there's not really any options once you're on the loop and speaking of food we are starving so we're headed to Gatlinburg for some food but if you have the opportunity to visit Cades Cove we totally recommend it 100 [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] we're running a very behind schedule yes that drive out of Cades Cove took a lot longer than planned for a couple of reasons mostly traffic but also is really Scenic and we made some unplanned little pit stops but we have finally made it to Gatlinburg now I'm going to go ahead and warn you if you've never been to Gatlinburg it's not exactly a foodie Heaven there's not a lot of local places tons of chains tons of touristy spots very touristy but local food is not their strong suit fortunately we found this place Tennessee jeds and it is 100 locally owned and sourced and it is right here on the main strip in Gatlinburg so we had to give it a shot yeah I'm excited I I got the the Frito pie but I'm pretty excited about it I'm not sure the Fritos were locally sourced but it's a sandwich shop everything looks amazing I got their Reuben which is their most popular and loved dish so let's Dive In such a spot [Music] so lunch was delicious and hit the spot now we've got a big activity that we were gonna go do so there are three main I guess you'd call them kind of theme parks right here in downtown Gatlinburg all of them are about the same price and they all offer very similar things you have Ober Gatlinburg the sky part yeah anarchista is the newest one right now but Ober we felt like offered more and it was the best bang for the buck it was definitely the best bang for your buck right now they're offering uh unlimited wristband for 39 and you get to do all of these amazing things the only downside to this is that they close about two hours earlier than either of the other Parks so we're gonna have less time there but our trade-off is like we said there's more stuff and Oktoberfest guys yes it's going on right now my German heart is so happy so so let's go have some fun at Ober Gatlinburg foreign [Music] Berg and now we're a little annoyed because the Alpine Coaster that was included in the wristband is out of service that's one of the things that really makes that 39 wristband worth it and without that I don't know if this is necessarily worth it the other very annoying thing and it maybe it was just an uninformed thing on our part we didn't realize the only two ways to get up to over Gatlinburg are take the trim up which is 22 dollars per adult yeah or or you drive up and right now it's 15 to park the car well right now our car is parked on the very opposite end and we paid for the like a flat rate all day so yeah when you're on the main strip and you see the Ober sign that's not actually yeah you have to take the tram up so we're gonna try and figure out what we're gonna do now because at this point we only have like it's like two hours to do anything because they closed so early so we're trying to figure out if it's really worth driving all the way up there paying parking and then still not even getting the Alpine Coaster yeah or just going somewhere else that's open a little bit later all right so I think we've made a decision we've decided to call in audible we're going to Skylift Park which is home to the longest cable pedestrian bridge in North America yeah I'm pretty excited about it my favorite part is the fact that there is a glass floor about Midway through the bridge and I can't wait to see this one trying to walk across that I didn't know that I'm afraid of heights I don't know if I can do that it'd be good you'll be good facing our fears today oh yeah great okay well let's go [Music] oh God [Music] we're on the chair lift yes it feels so nice one to be off my feet the weather is fantastic though and look how high we gotta go it looks like it gets pretty steep oh my gosh it might be a little more Of A Thrill Ride than I expected um so you don't realize how high you're going until you look behind you because you're just focused on what's in front but I mean it's up here and it's steep I don't know how I'm gonna go over this bridge oh awesome thank you what oh yeah look at this we just got up here and look what it says we did not deface any property but that's the sign we were supposed to be here we did not would not and would not encourage such Behavior but Eminem can we talk about how spectacular these views are yeah it's pretty amazing up here and compared to our experience at Ober Gatlinburg that we did I don't know three to five years ago now and what we've seen about anakista I would say that this is the most chill Vibe definitely which I am totally okay with but it is definitely more of a find yourself a rocker grab a drink watch the sunset kind of place yeah whereas Ober is definitely more amazing kind of thing and I would say anarchista Falls somewhere in the middle they have zip lines they have like those bridges that you can cross but this is all about really The View don't you think yep oh for sure it's about the view and just taking in the incredible landscape that you're surrounded with here so far I'm really enjoying it I haven't done the bridge yet so I will let you know after that [Music] foreign [Music] all right it's moving oh do you feel it it's better when there's not as many people walking on the bridge you can't feel it as much the glass bit is coming up and there's nothing like you can't walk around it [Music] are you serious do you see I have like tears in my eyes a little bit you don't have to it's very scratched so it's not Crystal Clear oh my God oh man [Music] oh I've jumped out of planes I'm still me too [Music] oh I'm sweating so bad right I held on the whole time but I did it oh sweating so bad [Music] so what did you think of it it was fine for me I love this I'm still sweating the views are awesome it's awesome being able to look down I don't know how many oh yeah this is so awesome yeah the bridge is literally still shaking no shaking bad there's a lot of people on right now yeah so if you guys like videos like this I have to hold on please give it a big thumbs up also hit that subscribe button because as you heard in the intro of this video we were inspired by the book 1 000 places to see before you die so we are now on a journey to see as many of those places as we can In Our Lifetime places like the Great Smoky Mountains and so many more so yes hit the Subscribe button we would love to have you on this journey [Music] come on [Music] we're going back we could have taken a much longer route the sky Trail to get back but Natalie figured she'd already done it and I survived the glass didn't crack so I'm going back and that rhymed this gets us back to a cold drink faster [Music] my goal for this go around is to not hold the rail over the glass pieces no guarantees we'll see how it goes look I don't know about that they'll be close to the rail but not on it I didn't hold on Matt told me to pull the camera out so I didn't tell Natalie this beforehand but I think last year or a year before the glass busted on the bridge so it was closed for a little while I heard it was because somebody like tried to do like a baseball slide on the bridge and busted the glass so it can break technically nobody fell through it just like if it even cracked I literally that's why I didn't tell you I'm really glad you didn't because I already had tears in my eyes we're on the home stretch yeah [Music] it's a little windy to be drinking this but you know we're gonna do our best Cheers [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it is a chilly once that sun went down oh yeah but it is absolutely beautiful up here and it is we can't recommend it enough honestly 10 out of ten it's definitely not been as action-packed as we thought our afternoon would be but we're not mad about it no we're just gonna go with the flow if you have time just check out all of them yeah guys I see some bears is that lame yeah the only bears that we've seen this whole trip [Music] every time [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] a little dessert before dinner never hurt anybody [Music] thank you [Music] I got the cinnamon twist and I got their classic glazed and oh I did get a Bavarian cream filled eclair as well for after dinner I forgot about it yeah this is the pre-dinner dessert and I had to have a poster obviously I did want to say that we visited about 30 to 45 minutes before they closed yeah so they didn't have the huge yeah so this election was a little slim but I don't blame them on that one I mean what do you expect at the end of the day let's dive in oh baby even at the end of the day yep these Donuts are fire it's a nice dense dough but still pillowy inside if that makes any sense no it does and I really like the textures of these Donuts I recommend them donut fryer for the win [Music] oh all right back in the car headed to dinner yes we're gonna head back to the Pigeon Forge area which is where we're staying and we were able to find another local restaurant right near our hotel so that is a win I got the Tennessee whiskey glazed Burger it comes with smoked bacon crispy onions and a garlic aioli First Impressions it looks really nice their whole menu advertises hand cut fries and these are not hand cut fries I'm not gonna lie they're kind of just warm they're not Super Fresh a little disappointing so I got the baby back ribs I got the half rack same thing with Matt I'm a little disappointed I looked on Google reviews and these are not the fries that they usually have so I don't know about that but let's Dive In I think they've nailed the flavors but their textures are pretty far off the bacon is way too undercooked and floppy there's nothing crispy on this burger really even the crispy onions have kind of soaked up that whiskey glaze so they're not even crunchy at all the bun is really delicious but it could have benefited from being toasted again flavors are awesome but textures lead a little bit to be desired so they fell right off the rib so I'm just going to eat it with a fork I guess I took my baby back rib not a ton of flavor I guess it's not smoked or anything the fries are completely cold it's kind of hard to keep these warm now the ketchup is homemade ketchup's really delicious the barbecue sauce is good it doesn't have that much flavor it's a little like thin and maybe that's why the barbecue doesn't have that much flavor but it's good I like supporting local it's a good meal not great but just finished dinner and it was a little underwhelming unfortunately yeah unfortunately so we had really hoped that this place was going to be great the reviews online were incredible literally a 4.6 Stars 11 plus thousand reviews so our expectations were kind of high yeah they were and like Natalie said Unfortunately they were let down yeah I don't know if it's because it's Leaf peeping season so it's in the High season and maybe it's pretty well I don't I don't know the ketchup was the best thing and that's awful yeah if that was the best but you know it's just more proof to our point that Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge isn't really a foodie destination we're still gonna try though okay so we're still gonna give it our best shot tomorrow do our best to find those foodie gyms I don't know if we'll succeed or not stop you got to be positive anyways we are exhausted so we're actually going to head to bed that's right because we have a big day planned tomorrow so we'll see you then good morning we're actually getting a little later to start than planned today we spent the last two and a half hours in a timeshare sales pitch meeting thing um so we could save money on this trip uh spoiler alert we didn't buy anything no but anyways we're here at one of the most famous restaurants here in Pigeon Forge The Old Mill Restaurant is it touristy yes is it delicious let's find out all right so there is a weight they don't really have a call or text option but the cool thing is they have a general store here [Music] they called our name so we're going to shine [Music] so every main entree comes with a cup of corn chowder and a basket of corn fritters with honey butter I can go ahead and tell you I'm probably gonna love the corn printers and honey butter what's not to love about that let's try this board chowder [Music] it's really good it's got a little bit of spice on the front end of it but it like dissipates really quick so it's not like the heat sticks around got chunks of corn and potato in here super creamy peppery we're definitely off to a very good start now for some corn fritters years on the way up so look how pillowy that thing is oh man we're gonna have to get another one of these oh that honey butter you're gonna love them it's all good it's like Natalie said the texture of these is much more like a cake but there's no sweetness to it all the sweetness comes from that honey butter but they're big I don't know if you can see they're big there are big chunks of corn within the batter they're super good I'm a fan so I got the country fried chicken the leg version because I love a good drumstick I got the country fried steak looks nice and crispy on the outside and it's of course smothered in scratch gravy a little bit tough and honestly a little blander than I expected you get the pepper from the gravy and the flavor of the beef but beyond that there's not a whole lot going on so-so so this knife may look normal to you from this angle but when I flip it this way somebody really gave this one a go I mean the whole tip is bent over I think it's pretty useless I like the breading that they put on it the chicken is Juicy I'm a fam I'll have to give Matt one crunchy super juicy it's fried to Perfection yours is way better than mine if you're coming here and you're Torn Between the fried chicken or the country fried steak Fried Chicken is 100 political okay I'm obsessed with the corn Fritter so I asked for more and they gave me a free biscuit they were probably like that girl looks like she'd like a biscuit and guess what they were not wrong from the very beginning this thing is delicious so get yourself some biscuits okay all right well I'm stuffed after eating my weight and biscuits and corn fritters but the meal was really good yes I would say everything other than my main entree which was the country fried steak and the green beans yeah so you can change the sides it's literally everybody gets the corn chowder the corn fritters yup green beans and mashed potatoes yeah those are non-negotiables so everything else was delicious though I think I just picked the wrong entree because Natalie's chicken was great everything was great but we love the little area that it's in so we're gonna go check out a couple of stores and maybe try some moonshine no not really but we're gonna do it for the video [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] I've never in my life seen moonshine Taffy so obviously we're in Tennessee we had to get it absolutely I don't know what it's going to taste like and a little Pro tip they do give samples of these we didn't want to like buy a pound of happy so we just grabbed like four flavors we thought we'd like couple moonshines couple others and he gave it to us and they were like we give sandwich just take them so that's very sweet of them shine Taffy ready smells good cheers cheers oh what a little burn on the front end doesn't it it actually did I don't know how they accomplished that it did taste like a little like rubbing alcohol or something you know but I didn't think so no I don't know what it is you still get a burn the more you chew [Music] yeah no way because it wouldn't set like this that is interesting I've never had anything like it it's not bad though no it's sweet this piece looks happy will last me 30 minutes oh I already because I don't chew my Debbie I hate getting stuff stuck in my teeth like that do you guys chew do you guys you just suck come on someone's happy sucker oh warm you're a happy chewer what do you do with your Taffy moonshine Taffy who would have thought welcome to Tennessee y'all you're just gonna have to try it for yourself okay and let us know in the comments if you try moonshine Taffy yeah leave it on you no good in explaining what it tastes like unlike anything I've ever had in my life so that's interesting [Music] oh [Music] moonshine time let's go check it out Old Forge Distillery [Music] all right so they give you 10 free samples they do work off tips so make sure you guys bring cash but they're a pretty generous sample I mean they're not huge but I mean you get a good taste of it and yeah that's a pretty good deal in my book so we're waiting in line and I got their oatmeal cookie she said this is kind of like a banana Laffy Taffy and this is like Christmas in a cup this is exactly like a banana Laffy Taffy that oatmeal cookies she said it was one of their best sellers and it's really good it's like an iced oatmeal cookie it's only gonna burn [Music] this is a lot of fun pumpkin roll Blackberry I mean they're full she said that the Blackberry would be really good with lemonade I can totally see that they do a really good job at the flavors matching with what they say they are sometimes you taste them you're like maybe a little bit this literally is a boozy pumpkin spice I did a key lime uh this is French toast she keeps doing dessert she said it's like breakfast in a jar so now George what was this oh my God thank you so tart tart and a burn ing I've liked everyone I can absolutely see why I bought it for my mom actually you did I remember yeah a long time ago all right how many more do I got one two three four five I'm going halfway through dying dude I think they start tasting better and better as you get backwards cut AKA yeah straight off the steel not cut with anything so y'all you can try no I wasn't ready hopefully not yours I feel like I literally could make my breath on fireworks my lips are chapped a little bit and it burns foreign foreign [Music] [Music] yeah no it was definitely hot in there there were so many people trying stuff but we got to meet some new friends that was really cool yeah and now we are headed to exciting place in Pigeon Forge Dollywood if you guys don't know Dolly Parton is my idol animal pretty much and also she's the queen of America you know so we're gonna go to Dollywood [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] so you may be wondering why didn't we go to Dollywood all day we would have loved to but it is a little bit pricey they're running a special right now if you enter the park after 5 PM it's only 55 per person I know I say only like it's not a lot of money that still is pretty steep Dollywood is worth it yes but they have their Great Pumpkin luminites which is all of their fall decorations and it's all lit up for The Fall season and we've never been during this time of the year so it should be pretty amazing thank you guys we're in [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay so if you know me you know I'm obsessed with theme parks I get too excited I start running it's the only time I walk real fast and that her brother will probably never go to a theme park with her he said I will never do it again because I'm literally I was like come on Matt goes are you gonna let me get ahead of you 10 minutes that's it a reason why I love Dollywood the lines are never crazy I would argue best ride in the park a thousand percent lightning rod let's go [Music] thank you [Music] all right we're gonna go do it again come on even though the white says 20 minutes I can't talk Natalie out of it I don't think it's 20 minutes have you all ever seen her walk so fast I put on my comfy shoes look have you ever seen me wear sneakers I once wrote this ride five times in a row tell them what else you did on this ride okay long story short I had my phone in my back pocket and they tell you not to and during one of those bumps it fell in front of me I was in the front row I tried to grab it and then it flew off and then I had to get somebody after hours to go get my phone because I found it on find my iPhone and it didn't crack long story short don't bring your loose items on the rack [Music] [Music] [Music] my heart is so happy I love roller coasters so much and I will say that is one of the better coasters it honestly we've done a lot of coasters that is one of the good ones and even though it is a wooden coaster it isn't bumpy and rough it rides some of the other ones I've done before so highly recommended you gotta do it so we're gonna go check out some of the pumpkins I think yeah and just I mean the Fall Foliage is absolutely gorgeous it really is we got a few minutes of daylight left all right so since we've been to Dollywood a couple of times we're probably not going to do like the dolly Museum and all that kind of stuff but highly recommend if you are a Dolly Parton fan check it out those museums are amazing like this one which is your childhood home oh yeah and if you have the opportunity spend the whole day here especially if it's your first time [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] I can promise you that we will be back for this later [Music] this is the only theme park that I know that have like Craftsmen yeah so that's one of the things I really do love about Dollywood is it does feel a lot less commercialized even though I know it is but it feels a lot less than other theme parks and they've really just like tapped into the theme they have like bluegrass music playing the whole time you're surrounded by the mountains and the architecture just fits the scenery I really love it so let's go see if somebody's making candles laughs [Music] these lights are awesome thank you [Music] looks like we're doing the Tennessee tornado [Music] time for the Wild Eagle I think I'm pretty windy that one is buttery smooth even though our hair doesn't look like it yeah that one's that was an easy ride we're gonna go meet a pumpkin the only adult in line with all the children all right we're doing the Mine ride and guess what your adventure begins in zero minutes there's another one of Natalie's favorites [Music] this is very magical it is [Music] that is the biggest pumpkin I have ever seen 1900 pounds that's insane what are we doing now we are headed to get my favorite thing in the park cinnamon bread let's go [Music] my dreams are coming true so we got one loaf obviously oh my gosh oh my God even without the icing this is good Juice by itself I've never had better cinnamon bread in my life no seriously 10 out of 10 recommend never disappoint it's an absolute must if you come to Dollywood for sure also another thing that's really great about Dollywood is they do awesome things with the season so like obviously we're here in Fall they have food that represents fall yep we came during like a national food fest they were doing so they had foods to represent a bunch of different countries around the world so that's really cool Christmas time they have just tons of awesome seasonal options yeah I mean it's brilliant marketing because it makes you want to come back multiple times that year because you're going to get stuff that you couldn't get at another time of the year yeah and the great thing is that the cinnamon bread is all year long that is right so after all of those calories that we just consumed and let me just tell you that bread was everything I remembered it being and more I'm so happy but I think we're gonna take a loop one more go around yep because it's now dark and we can actually take in all the lights rather than earlier when it was kind of like yeah we only have like 30 minutes left till the park closes so we gotta hustle let's go foreign [Music] yeah this is epic [Music] as a big Dolly fan I can't think of a better way to end our time here in the Great Smoky Mountains we hope you've enjoyed watching this video because we sure have enjoyed making it if you are planning a trip to come to the Smokies check out our Blog the link is down in the description we have a ton more recommendations on things to do plus some Pro tips also don't forget if you guys like this video please give it a big thumbs up we're on a journey to see as many of the 1000 places to see before we die so we hope that you subscribe to join in on the adventure but that's gonna do it for this video and we'll see you next week chili it's 43 degrees what so in matnap fashion we're running light a mustache for a second guys look at that money front pocket that embarrassed me I said that looked like cheese and Matt pretended to eat it oh that does smell good I think about it tastes good too I think I'm actually more this one that looks like this is more meat that one's like shorty well you know what [Music] anything else you're good here we go that was a bad kid that was a bad one the blacksmith's not working today [Music] we have a Tuesday home that's why we're here we were supposed to be whoa sorry about that [Music] baseball I wish that you'd subscribe like that [Music]

Channel: Adventures of Matt and Nat

Views: 191,609

Keywords: Smoky Mountains, smoky mountains tennessee, smoky mountains things to do, great smoky mountains national park, smoky mountains travel guide, smoky mountains national park, things to do in great smoky mountains, smoky mountains scenic drive, smoky mountain fall colors, Gatlinburg, gatlinburg tennessee, what to do in gatlinburg, things to do in gatlinburg, pigeon forge, pigeon forge tennessee, things to do in pigeon forge, dollywood, sevierville, GSMNP, pigeon forge tennessee vlog

Id: k0EdAJIiZNM

Length: 45min 18sec (2718 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 19 2023