Cabins in the Smokies

View from our cabin's porch. Awesome.

Adam and I just got back from a wonderful week in the Smokies right outside the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We were there just in time for leaf-peeping and some great hiking (posts to follow). Even more importantly we missed the massive crowds that flock the to park in the summer. The Smokies are the nation's most popular national park and they are so popular that they probably need to be avoided during popular months and weekends. More on hiking and the park later.

One of the shining stars of our trip was our cabin choice. Between the two of us, Adam and I easily spent 6 hours researching the perfect Smoky Mountain cabin. So, I must admit, it was with a little apprehension that we opened that cabin door.

But....it.....was.....awesome!! I'm going to give a pretty detailed review because I highly recommend this particular cabin ('A Starry Night') and this cabin rental company (Timber Tops) for anyone interested in a relaxing time in a beautiful place only a day's drive from Chicago.

Timber Top Pic: Dining area w/ living room in background. All w/ views of course:)

Some of these pictures are from the Timber Tops website but I feel good about using them because the place was exactly as shown. Very clean, very new, very nice.



The crowning feature of this place was the hot tub on the deck. We spent at least an hour in the hot tub every night, talking about the day, drinking adult beverages, reflecting on life and enjoying the scenery. It was pretty ridiculous how often we'd say "can you believe this view?", looking at mountains, sunsets, stars. Really great.

Timber Top pic: The hot tub

The view.

Overall, the house is dedicated to enjoying the views. Windows in all the right places. Fun activities inside the house all within view of the mountains, like the game room w/ pool, air hockey and foosball, perfect for a rainy day.

Ah, love the skillet cheese toast

 The kitchen was clean and perfectly adequate. Not an open floor plan like we had in Hawaii, but it worked fine for our dinners at home (believe me, there is nowhere good to eat in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinberg area unless you count Dolly Parton's 'Dixie Stampede'- which you shouldn't!).

There is a 'window' in the bathroom wall so you can see the mountains from the jacuzzi!

Bed was comfy. There are also 2 pull out couches- 1 in the living room and 1 in the game room. The place technically sleeps  6. I think 4 adults would be comfortable because the upstairs has its own bathroom with jacuzzi. 6 would be pushing it unless you are okay with being all in each other's grills.






As a sidenote, when the weather on our camping night was 40 degrees and raining and we had multiple planned creek crossings (hello hypothermia), we opted to book a cabin for 2 more nights. Sadly, A Starry Night was booked, and the only available one-bedroom cabin was with the Dollywood rental company, called Majestic Sunset. The sunset from the hot tub was pretty darn majestic as you can see here (2 different nights) but otherwise it was pretty junkeroo and I'd stick with Timber Tops. 'A Starry Night', Timber Tops, if you don't have plans for your next fall or spring vacation, now you do!