The traffic was grueling yet entertaining especially at night when the town truly seemed to come to life. The headlights of all the tourists and residents were nothing compared to the incredible scene that the lights from the shops and other money sucking attractions created. It is incredible that Gatlinburg still managed to keep its southern flare even though it becomes infested with money hungry merchants and business and women. "There's so much to do here" I thought, I'm pretty sure every tourist reacts that way once they step out of their car into the scene right out of the brochure.
The mix of southern nature and extravagant city city shopping and tourism was nothing less than brilliant. Walking the city-like streets and seeing smiling faces created and amazing down south welcome home type feel. The funny thing is that I don't even like the south. There were small town shops with confederate flags next so shops with urban clothing brands and skateboards and band t-shirts and other signs of yankee inhabitation.
I never thought I'd describe a city or tourism spot as beautiful, but it is. Since I'm afraid of heights, staying ain the mountains was not my first choice, yet my tiny fear was overtaken by the lights at night. The ski-lift conductor's sense of humor was curious yet ice-breaking and undesirable to the uptight passengers. His appropriate jokes were scripted every trip up and down the mountains but they never got old. "We got this lift with a thirty-year warrantee." He's wait until most of the passengers exhaled a sigh of relief then he's add "that was thirty-six years ago." And then the lift would start. The joke almost lost its humor when the lift was about 2,00 feet in the air and the cart would start to shake violently. His humorous manipulation of the cart was also funny and memorable. The cart would tilt upward while people while people gasped and he's say "Here we got your sky view" then the cart would tilt downward and people would gasp and scream and he's say in the most monotone voice "and your ground view", his accent was hilarious and impossible to duplicate or forget. The only thing that was easy to forget was his name.