Not only is Gatlinburg a summer vacation spot, it offers a WINTER GETAWAY as well. High above the town lies an awesome Ski Resort called "OBER"!! To reach the Resort, one rides in a large Gondola from just on the outskirts of town, up the side of a mountain and into a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides. The OBER Gondola stops at the main building which offers shops, rentals, food and drink, arcades, all the necessary amenities including a full size ice rink that is open all year round. From this building, one chooses from a variety of ski lifts to various downhill runs including beginner, intermediate and difficult.
In the summer, you can ride the Gondola, and from there take a ski lift to the highest peak for some lovely sight seeing opportunities. Also, there are water rides set up and cement bob sled chutes to take a ride from the top in a one manned sled. We opted to just ride down on the chair lift and enjoy all the views around us.
The day we decided to take a tour up the Gondola, we were sad to find out that it was closed for the day for repairs..........(Murphy's Law). So we drove up to the top of the mountain on our scooter, to the Ski Resort and went from there. The weather was not co-operating either and we were rained on a little ......off and on during the day. This is the view of the mountain tops from the large parking lot at the Resort.
The ice rink inside the main building. Since the day was ify, weather wise, the place was not very crowded.
There were many children's rides and games including this fancy carousel.
Outside there were several large water slides and an assortment of other carnival type rides.
My personal fav. ............the "nausea" ride....................Swing and puke!!
View up one of the ski lifts.
So we hopped on one of the chair lifts and rode up to the top.
The cement chutes that sled riders took down the mountain ran directly under our lift.
Watching the riders come down, I regretted not buying a ticket to do the same............
it looked like a lot of fun!!
Now... try to imagine all of this covered in snow!!!!!!!! What a view.........and it was raining......
Back down to the bottom following Pete the "Porta Potty Man", all the way.....
The "Porta Potty Man" caught Alistair's attention right from the top and he made sure that I had a good photo of Pete, driving his precious cargo from top to bottom. Obviously Alistair was 'QUITE TAKEN WITH THE BEAUTIFUL SCENERY AND ALL"! (secretly, we both hoped he would hit a huge bump............) :o)
As a side note, Gatlinburg is well known for it's various and plentiful group of "ARTISTS". You will find everything from carving and wood working to pottery, stained glass, (that was a must see for me), quilting shops, and more. There was a road that looped from down town around the north of town called...."Artists Drive". There were more than 50 work shops and stores to visit and enjoy.
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