My 13th Month Living in Gatlinburg: The Second Time Around

What’s nice about entering a new year living in Gatlinburg is the familiarity with how business comes and goes with the tourism. I’m better able to tell people with more certainty how the seasons change and the comparisons from the past year. This is beginning to take shape entering my second year as a Gatlinburg resident, so I will touch on that a little and explain what stayed the same and what was different about my second August in this tourist town.

I’ve tried to cut back on my picture-taking, but that quickly goes astray when events take place and I’m taken by surprise by a bear sighting while relaxing at home. Yes, both of these caused an uptick in my documentation of life in Gatlinburg. On no less than four occasions, I’ve caught a bear walking up the road behind our unit. Most recently, I was lucky to watch a mama bear and her four cute cubs following this same route from my familiar spot inside our apartment. Ah, such an amazing thing to witness, and it never ceases to make my day better.

The Jeep Invasion was cool to see once again. This is one car show I can fully tolerate, even though the traffic seemed worse this year, compounded by the Gatlinburg Bypass being closed for maintenance work and a new bridge deck that was installed as part of the $11 million investment from the Great American Outdoors Act Legacy Restoration Fund. And yes, I had to research the name again, as to not jumble these seven words.