Cabin Review #2: Niece Weekend in the Smokies

To Billy, Trisha, Shelli, Allison, Damien, and Rylie,

Thank you so much for being guests at Lightning Bug Lodge.  Your story of your Nieces Weekend warmed our hearts.  What a great family to spend quality time together in the Smokies. 

We love our nieces too and have great memories of spending time with them in the cabin; we are so glad you had a fun time too.  Here's what Billy, Trisha, Shelli, Allison, Damien, and Rylie had to say about their experience at Lightning Bug Lodge:

" Feb. 18 -20, 2011

Niece Weekend Getaway

What a great place to spend the weekend watching movies by the fireplace, playing pool and foosball, big family dinners, and taking lots of pictures.

Great way to connect with the kids and get away from home for a couple of days.  Beautiful and cozy."

Billy, Trishia, Shelli, Allison, Damien, and Rylie, we wish you the best and welcome you return to Lightning Bug Lodge to build more memories together.

Walk through History at Mountain Farm Museum

Even if you stay in TN, you can be in NC and back in the same day.  I'd suggest visiting the NC entrance to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, especially the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.  It's only 2 miles north of Cherokee, NC.

You can walk through the history, numerous buildings built in the late 19th century:
1) John Davis Cabin - constructed with the rare chestnut timber
2) Enloe Barn - only moved 200 yards from its native site, includes 16,000 hand split shingles

3) Messer Applehouse - originally partially underground to help insulate the apples

+ meathouse, Baxter/Jenkins Chickenhouse, Blacksmith Shop, Springhouse (for refrigeration), corn cribs, and a sorghum press.

The Mountain Farm Museum is free and located near the scenic Oconaluftee River.  The Cherokee considered the waters of the river sacred.  If you have the time, take the Oconaluftee River Trail, an easy 3 mile trail along the river.  It is especially recommended to hike during the spring, the time in which hikers have identified over 40 species of wildflowers.

Tip:  Consider timing your trip for the 3rd Sat. of Sept.  It's the Mountain Lifestyle Festival and you'll be treated to seeing people make cider and lye soap.  Plus you can visit a working blacksmith.

Cabin Review #1: Cabin Love

One of our cabin guests created this picture and testimonial.  I love the beauty and simplicity of the message.  This note means so much to our family; we really cherish this note.

According to the thesaurus & dictionary, love means so much:  admire, adulate, be attached to, be capticated by, be crazy about, be enamored of, be enchanted by, be fascinated with, be fond of, care for, cherish, choose, delight, dote on, fall for, fancy, glorify, hold dear, hold high, lose ones heart to, prefer, prize, think the world of, thrive with, treasure, wild for...

We hope you will fall in love with Lightning Bug Lodge and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park too.  Give love a chance, escape to the Smokies with your loved ones.

Bunk Beds at Your Smoky Mountain Cabin

 Lightning Bug Lodge is designed to be family friendly.  As owners with children, we understand the desire to both create family memories with the kids and find time as a couple.  Sometimes four or more in one hotel room doesn't always match the vision of a relaxing vacation. 

Come to Lightning Bug Lodge.  We had two bunk beds custom made locally, so you and your spouse can choose "Mountain View Serenity" (upstairs bedroom) or "Forest Life" (downstairs bedroom) bedrooms and have the kids sleep close, but outside your room.  The upstairs has a bunk with a twin over a Queen.  The downstairs has a twin over a twin.

The kids think it's cool too. When my kids have their cousins, they always head to the bunk beds and it's always a bunch of chatter and chuckles.

4 Swallowtails in the Smokies

When you are near the Smoky Mountains, you learn to look all around you.  Because when you submerse yourself in the forest and look up, you might find a delightful scene or animal, not just another traffic light.  I took this photo of the Spicebush Swallowtail in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, but I saw one resting on a branch near our cabin too.  The iridescent blue makes me believe this one is a female.  The males are bright green.

 

The Spicebush Swallowtail is found only in the Eastern US and extreme southern Ontario.  While it is the state butterfly for Mississippi, I felt surounded by them in TN to my delight.  The Tennessee official butterfly is the Zebra Swallowtail, a black and white striped butterfly.  TN recognizes 2 other insects, the firefly and ladybug and a state agricultural insect (honeybee).  The firefly was designated the official state insect in 1975.  The importance of the firefly, commonly called lightning bug, to the state was one of the inspirations for our cabin name Lightning Bug Lodge.

Swallowtails are the largest butterflies in the United States.  There are 33 species in the US; besides the Spicebush and Zebra, there are four other swallowtails found in the Smokies:  1) Pipevine Swallowtail, 2) Giant Swallowtail, 3) Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, and 4) Black Swallowtail.

Smoky Comparison: Mountain Valley vs. Smoky Mountain Winery

     There's several wineries in the Smoky Mountain area including a dense area called "Rocky Top Wine Trail" which consists of 3 wineries within 3 miles (Hillside, Apple Barn, & Mountain Valley Winery).  In this article, I'll compare two of them vs. Mountain Valley winery.

     Overall, I'd suggest including a winery as a portion of your Smoky Mountain schedule.  When I've traveled through wine country in Sonoma, CA or eastern, MI, you could fill the whole day happily wandering through grapevines and visiting wineries.  However, in the Smoky Mountains, I'd suggest you get outside and perhaps visit one or two wineries as a romantic ending to the day.  Therefore, I'd suggest being choosy in which ones you visit.

     I recommend Smoky Mountain Winery (Gatlinburg, TN) over Mountain Valley Winery or Hillside (both Pigeon Forge, TN).  While all had nice regional sweet wines, the real difference for me was the level of service.  At Smoky Mountain Winery, the lady gave me a warm welcome and gave me her full attention.  With such service, I was able to overlook that the samples came in a shot glass instead of a wine glass and have a conversation about the wine.  At Mountain Valley Winery and Hillside, no one even greeted me and it felt like they were really set up to crank through the tour buses and take orders.  Smoky Mountain Winery tasting room is much smaller and I think you'll enjoy the quaint atmosphere and service.

After I made my assesment, I searched online to see other traveler's viewpoint:

Smoky Mountain Winery:

Establishment Age:  Oldest premium producer in Eastern, TN

Wine:  Specialties in sweet wine; I chose the Muscadine Red

Price:  Entry level approx. $15

*Service:  Consistent positive ratings, criticism on service seems to be the outlier

Example quote on TripAdvisor "The people are so friendly and helpful.  They are personable and outgoing, just like Tenn. people are supposed to be."

Example quote on Yahoo Travel Guide.com "My husband and I do a lot of traveling but we have never been treated like we were at home like in this winery"

Uptake.com Tourist Review Rating:  6 reviews, 100% recommend

Mountain Valley (Pigeon Forge)

Establishment Age:  1991

Wine:  Specialties in sweet wine; examples - Rhubarb, Mountain Peach

Price:  Aprrox. $15; examples - Blackberry $15.49, Mountain Valley Blush $13.49

Service:  Inconsistent, seems dependent upon the host, shout outs to Kevin & Doug

Example negative quotes on Trip Advisor:  "Beautiful shop, great wine, but the staff members completely kill it"; "Worst service ever...we walked in and no one acknowledges your presence."

Example positive quotes on Trip Advisor:  "treated like family and wined like royalty"
Uptake.com Tourist Review Rating 58 reviews, 75% recommend