Posts By: Tony Perez

About Tony Perez

I'm a people person, and I enjoy the atmosphere that working with Cabins Of The Smoky Mountains entails, interacting with different types of people and trying to relate to each one uniquely. From Michigan originally, I've been coming to the Smoky Mountains since I was a child, with family in Wears Valley. Summer fun for me is exploring the Cades Cove area, swimming in the creeks, and hiking Mount LeConte and many other trails. I love the Smoky Mountains.

2014 Festival of Trees in Gatlinburg – Thanksgiving in the Smoky Mountains

images courtesy of Festival of Trees

images courtesy of Festival of Trees

The feast and celebration of Thanksgiving is upon us this week, bringing families together and opening the Christmas season. In Gatlinburg, the annual Festival of Trees for 2014 is an event to select for customized gifts and cards, family fun, and a heartwarming start to the time of giving and receiving.

Festival of Trees is a kid-friendly opportunity to wander through a world of sparkling Christmas trees, each ornamented with unique gifts and craft works, to create and send customized holiday cards, and to take family pictures with Santa. (more…)

2014 Thanksgiving and Christmas Craft Shows in Gatlinburg

images courtesy of Gatlinburg Arts & Crafts Community

images courtesy of Arts & Crafts Community

Just in time for holidays, family celebrations, and the gift-giving season, the Gatlinburg arts and crafts community brings out its finest products in two great shows held back to back, at the tail end of November and in early December.

As winter follows fall in the Smoky Mountains, one thing we might miss – besides the leaves turning color of course – is the abundance of arts and crafts that always appears in Gatlinburg during the harvest festival time of fall, following a productive summer of labor. (more…)

Ober Gatlinburg Snow Tubing 2014

image courtesy of Ober Gatlinburg

images courtesy of Ober Gatlinburg

Nothing says winter like snow, and Ober Gatlinburg in the Smoky Mountains has plenty of it. The slopes will open in December, but the 2014 fun season starts on November 21 with a Rail Jam on Friday night, celebrating the newly groomed snow in the Tubing Park. Then on Saturday – Snow Tubing begins and it’s winter!

The “Back in Blue” Rail Jam is a chance for skiers and boarders to try their moves on the rails – because facing in the same direction is boring, right? Competitors in two age groups of 14 and under and 15 and over will compete for a piece of the $1,000 prize money, along with lots of merchandise being given away. (more…)

Winterfest Winter Magic 2014 in the Smoky Mountains

Gatlinburg Christmas lights

Gatlinburg Christmas lights

Every year in the Smoky Mountains, the famous colors of Fall foliage give way to the magical time of winter. The pumpkins of harvest festival and Halloween are put away against the cold and the beginning snows. And sometime in November, we have to admit it’s winter.

But in the three neighboring towns of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville, winter comes in with a flourish. The three towns collaborate to schedule their festival openings over 3 days, and turn the night time into a blaze of millions of Christmas lights. (more…)

Meigs Falls: A Drive-Up Waterfall

Meigs Falls - image courtesy GSMNP

image courtesy of GSMNP

One of the great delights for visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the abundance of beautiful waterfalls. Usually it takes at least a mild hike to see them, but Meigs Falls is a waterfall you can see from the road.

Meigs Falls lies along a great scenic drive in its own right, Little River Road between Gatlinburg and Townsend. Many people know this road as their way to Cades Cove, but they may well have missed the falls, which is tucked away across the river and hard to spot. (more…)

The 2014 Gatlinburg Fine Arts Festival at Arrowmont

images courtesy of Fine Arts Festival

images courtesy of Fine Arts Festival

An arts village breaks out again this weekend in downtown Gatlinburg on the campus of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, as the 100-year old school stages its FREE arts festival for the tenth year running. The festival runs Friday through Sunday, October 3-5, 2014.

Literally just a step off the sidewalk at Traffic Light #5 in the middle of Gatlinburg, the tranquil campus of this internationally renowned fine-arts school gives way to a host of tents and booths showcasing the works of artists from near and far, selected by jury for the highest quality artisanship. (more…)

Fall 2014 is Here. Things Happening Now…

If you love to fish you already know that this Smoky Mountains area is a great place to cast a lure, not just from the scenery all around but also for the wildlife in the waters, the abundance and variety of fish in the many streams that cut the terrain all around.

You probably also know about the Fall Trout Tournament that starts way early tomorrow morning, Saturday, September 27, 2014, for the weekend – and you’d better be signed up for it already and getting some sleep tonight. All the details on the tournament can be found at the website, and you can read what we wrote about the Fall event of last year here, and the Spring event of this year here. (more…)

Good Vibrations 1-Bedroom Pigeon Forge cabin

Here’s a 1-bedroom cabin built for fun, from the jukebox in the dining area to the jacuzzi in the loft master bedroom, from the fire pit and hammock outside to the gated wrap-around porches for your pets to play too.

It’s Good Vibrations (of course), nestled in the trees with private, wooded views, and all the ambiance of mountain living outside, and with a diner booth and dance floor arrangement inside for an instant party pick-me-up feel. (more…)