I wanted to give you a quick update on my trip to Pigeon Forge....

Last night I flew into Nashville.  Originally, I was planning on attending Imaging USA's pre-convention classes, but I decided to spend the rest of the week in Pigeon Forge to pray for the workshop and finalize our plans.  Boy, am I glad I did.  I have spent the entire day soaking up God's beauty.  It has been GREAT!

Right when I got to Pigeon Forge, I met Audia (she works for the Preserve Resort).  She led me up the mountain.  Keep in mind...my rental car is a tiny Ford Focus, AND it's starting to snow.  I was a little nervous to say the least.  The cabins are practically at the TOP of the mountain.  As I was following her, I kept expecting us to reach the top (or fall off the mountain), but the road continued to wind up and around the mountain.  It was really scary looking towards the passenger side of the car, because if you ran off the road, even a little bit, you would surely "meet your maker".

So, we finally arrived at the resort.  It was perfect!  It's basically a strip of log cabins ranging from one bedroom up to 12.  Our cabin is the second to the last.  There's a cute white chapel, a patio with at least 20 rocking chairs, a meeting place, and a gym on the property.  It's great!

Our cabin, the Sequoyah Manor, is 3 stories tall!  You walk in on the second floor; you walk right into the kitchen.  (My mom and aunts are doing our cooking...I can't wait for you to meet them!)  There are 2 huge wooden picnic tables...that's where we are going to eat.  There are 4 bedrooms on the second floor, a good sized living room, and a back deck that is breath-taking! 

The 1st floor is my favorite.  That is where we are going to have our worship services and our big meetings.  It's a wide open room (technically a "theater" room).  I believe there are 4 bedrooms on this floor.  There are also 2 jacuzzi's on the back deck!  I don't know about you, but I'm definitely bringing my bathing suit!

The 3rd floor is also amazing!  It has 4 bedrooms as well.  The boys are definitely going to want the 3rd floor.  There is an air hockey table and a pool table.  The 3rd floor also has a living room.  Just like the other floors, there is an amazing back deck that overlooks the Great Smoky Mountains.  I'm definitely going to spend a lot of time soaking in the beauty of the outdoors on our trip. 

After I viewed the cabin, I (very slowly) went down the mountain to find some local food.  It ate at this amazing pizza place called "American Pizza and Video".  It was in a red barn, and looked like a cute country restaurant on the inside.  By this time, the snow was starting to come down pretty heavy.  So, I decided to visit only one attraction...

Audia told me about a place called Metcalf Bottoms Park.  I would've never found if it wasn't for her.  I was a little nervous, because the snow was starting to stick to the ground and I was weaving all around the mountains.  I'm sure you understood how desperate I was to photograph nature...I just had to go on!

So, I made it to Metcalf Bottoms....there was a gorgeous stream flowing.  It sounded like heaven.  There was snow covering the ground...not a soul in sight.  I was able to spend 30 minutes exploring the area by myself (thank goodness bears are hibernating right now!).  It was perfect.  So perfect that I'm actually going to go back tomorrow. 

Here's a few pictures....