Our 2023 Road Trip #25: Intro to Pigeon Forge and/or Gatlinburg

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: Every year since 1999 Anne and I have taken one road trip to a different part of the United States and seen attractions, wonders, and events we didn’t have back home. From 1999 to 2003 we did so as best friends; from 2004 to the present, as husband and wife. After years of contenting ourselves with everyday life in Indianapolis and any nearby places that also had comics and toy shops, we overcame some of our self-imposed limitations and resolved as a team to leave the comforts of home for annual chances to see creative, exciting, breathtaking, outlandish, historical, and/or bewildering new sights in states beyond our own. We’re the Goldens. This is who we are and what we do... Wisconsin Dells! Virginia Beach! Niagara Falls! And so on! We've visited our share of kitschy, tacky, larger-than-life tourist traps over the years. If they happen to be in our path, that's cool, but we don't necessarily make them the star of any given trip. Maybe someday we'll plan a big expedition to Branson, that gold standard east of the Rockies, which was a popular annual vacation choice among the grandmothers and near-retirees I used to work with at the office. We're not quite that old yet. Other coworkers used to love taking their families down to Gatlinburg and/or Pigeon Forge, often for camping in or around the Great Smoky Mountains, enjoying affordable nature-based activities, and/or romping around country-fried faux-Western attractions. While we were in the vicinity anyway, we figured why not spend a night in the area and glance at a few of their outlandish constructs. Admittedly we weren't clear where Gatlinburg ended and Pigeon Forge began. They're not advertised as twin cities, but any boundary between their realities was paper-thin and imperceptible. […]

https://midlifecrisiscrossover.com/2026/05/30/our-2023-road-trip-25-intro-to-pigeon-forge-and-or-gatlinburg/

Holiday Silence in the Smoky Mountains

Write about a few of your favorite family traditions. Family traditions don’t have to be clever. They just have to stick. Ours is simple. Every Christmas, we pack up the family, leave the flat gray nonsense behind, and haul ourselves into the mountains of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Same place. Same routine. Same cold air that feels like it’s doing you a favor. We stay on top of a mountain at a resort called Westgate Resorts. Literally on top. High enough that the world below looks small […]

https://ericfoltin.com/2026/01/26/holiday-silence-in-the-smoky-mountains/