The Gatlinburg fire has been several years ago and many have forgotten it. We however think about it every time we return to the city and even more at Treetops resort. I wrote two post about the fire and our adventures during it, but for some reason I never told about the next day.
We woke up the next day to find that our clothes from the night before smelled like smoke and had ash on them. We cleaned up and went to eat at IHOP. After eating we decided to drive back to Gatlinburg and if possible to Treetops. The night before we had gotten most of our things loaded into the car, but we had left all the food we had bought for the week and possibly other things we could have over looked. As we drove toward Roaring Fork Road, we saw a lot of the destruction caused by the fire.
At last we arrived at Treetops. Looking across the creek we saw what the Gatlinburg Fire had done to the resort that we loved.
The photo above was our first good view of the resort. We felt better about our decision to get out after seeing this. Treetops appeared to be destroyed.
A couple of months later we returned to Gatlinburg and Treetops to see how things were going. We drove across the bridge and got this next photo.
The room we were staying in, at the time of the Gatlinburg Fire, was the top floor behind the two men. I get an odd feeling wondering what would have happened had the fire been three hours latter when everyone was asleep. It was bad but we have gone back every year. This year we went the first week of December and stayed at Treetops. Finally here are a couple of happier photos to end on.