Our 14th Month Living in Gatlinburg: Fall's Return, Happiness, and Heartache
September has wrapped up, and we are approaching our 14th month as Gatlinburg residents. It’s been quite a month, to say the least. The beginning was marked with the arrival of the popular pumpkin heads placed in different spots throughout town, in anticipation of the hordes of visitors that will be peeping at the changing of the leaf colors in the Smoky Mountains—a beautiful sight indeed! It ended with some unfathomable tragedies that struck our neighboring communities in Tennessee and North Carolina. Let’s start at the top of the calendar and work our way down to recap this month’s happenings as I saw and experienced them.
Bears have been the story of the summer, and not in a good way as it relates to the news. More of them have been euthanized than ever before, but the City has been taking steps to try and mitigate these awful last resort measures. They are definitely out and about in more numbers it seems, as we have seen many more; some of them from the comfort of our living room.
While fall is officially underway, Gatlinburg gets quite the head start by feverishly placing its decorations for the season right after Labor Day weekend. I don’t know if it’s my favorite time of the year, but I’ve never been more ready for cooler temperatures. I will say I share the delight of leaf peepers from all over this great country as they flock to East Tennessee to see the gorgeous show Mother Nature puts on. The scarecrows, pumpkinhead people, and other miscellaneous fall displays only enhance my excitement for what’s to come.