In the last post, I said that Gatlinburg was like an amusement park for old people and that just doesn’t feel quite right. So I’ve been working on figuring out just what it does feel like (and for clarity, when I say “Gatlinburg” I’m really referring to the whole Gatlinburg-Sevierville-Pigeon Forge metro-plex.) Is it Disney-esque? kinda but that’s not it. Is it Vegas-like? aside from some similarity to a few of the attractions that were brought in when some idiot decided to make Sin City “family friendly” no, not hardly. There’s music, so is it the “New Orleans of the Smoky’s”? uh… no. The target audience and wholesome presentation bear absolutely no resemblance to the filth that can be found along and around the Bourbon Street area – and I don’t mean to put New Orleans down (except for Bourbon Street – I mean really? yuck🤢) but if the folks here visited the Quarter and strayed off Canal or Frenchman’s Streets they’d probably feel totally lost not to mention morally accosted. These are strictly Garden District, zoo and museum type people.
After much consideration I/We finally figured it out: It’s a carnival – there’s cheesy rides, Ferris wheels, bumper cars, fudge shops, old-timey photos, funnel cakes, ice cream, and a bazillion t-shirt and throw-away souvenir shops, etc. The one thing we didn’t see, and we didn’t really look hard, was carney games to flood the streets with stuffed animals (business opportunity💰🤑!!) The one thing we DID see was pancake shops. There are no fewer than 22 pancake restaurants and that’s just those that have “pancake” in their name. This has to be the highest pancake-per-capita density of any place on the globe and I challenge anyone to dispute it (because 3 googles is all the research that I’m willing to put into it😉)
