4th of July 2009 Camping in the Smokies

Gary and I left work Thursday afternoon and drove the camper over to Gatlinburg and camped at a nice RV campground along the river called Camping in the Smokies. It was a neat place with really clean bathrooms and nice big camp spots. We had a great time there. The campground is on the trolley route, so we rode the trolley or our bikes everywhere we wanted to go. We spent a couple of days browsing through all the quaint little stores. On Friday night we rode our bikes 3 1/2 miles down to watch the midnight parade. We learned that the very first 4th of July parade in America was held in Gatlinburg and President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife rode in it. This year's parade had a couple of famous actors in it, along with tons of beautiful floats, big helium balloons and of course marching bands. One band was from Minnesota and another was from Michigan! There was also a nice tribute to all the branches of the military. Gary really liked all the old timey cars driving in the parade. He took several videos of the firetrucks for all our grandsons who like firetrucks and "bobs." Over 80,000 people attended the parade! The parade was really fun even though it was held after midnight and we didn't get to bed till after 2 AM that night! We spent most of Saturday touring the arts and crafts neighborhoods with Jimmy and Marlene. They had spent the night with some of their friends and then came over to our campground and spent Saturday with us. They treated us to a wonderful lunch at the Wild Plum Tea Room. Then Saturday night Gary and I rode the trolley back to Gatlinburg and watched the fireworks. We have watched fireworks every 4th of July for over 35 years in several different states, but we have never witnessed anything like the ones we saw in Gatlinburg! They must have shot off 100 before the grand finale when they shot off about 200 all at once. There are no words to describe what it was like. It was almost overwhelming to our senses to watch. We just stood there going, "WOW!" We will definitely try to get back to Gatlinburg each Fourth of July to see their fireworks. In addition to all the fun, we enjoyed wonderful meals both at the Pancake Pantry as well as those cooked in our own little camper. We played lots and lots of Rummy-leaving me as the reigning Queen of Rummy-Gary says I am a "wicked woman" when it comes to playing Rummy because I typically beat his socks off! It was a great relaxing long weekend. We hope you had a nice Independence day as well! I hope you enjoy our pictures and remember the video is for our grandsons.