AA^3: Be Water My Friend

Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless—like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.
~ Bruce Lee

There's more to the Smokies than just the Mountains.

So what else can we get into?  Since we are going in May, we can take advantage of the warmer weather and enjoy some water activities like white water rafting, floating the river, resort water park, fishing, splash country and ripley's aquarium.  Not sure if we will actually do all that stuff but at least we have option.  All I know is that I REALLY want to go white water rafting.

Wild Bear Falls Water Park
As you know already, we are staying at the Westgate Timeshare resort in Gatlinburg, TN.  They have an indoor water park at the resort.  It's a mountain themed water park that includes a lazy river, a pool and some other kid friendly stuff.  It's an additional $18.95/day per person.  Having an indoor water park sounds fun, but for $20 a day on top of what you are already paying for the room seems a bit high especially when we have a bunch of outdoor activities that we could be doing.  I think I'll pass on the water park.

Floating the River
We could always float the river in Gatlinburg, although I'm wondering how cool the water will be since it's not quite summer yet.  Tubes range from $9 to $16 depending on where you rent your tube from. 
Some tubing rental locations:
River Rage in Townsend, TN   $9/all day.  or $14/all day incl BBQ dinner.
Smoky Mountain River Rat $13/person tub rental.  Kayak rental $15/person.
I could take or leave floating on the river.  We have floating river trips here in Texas.

Fishing
Fun fact about me.  When I was younger, my parents sent me to a fishing day camp for a week.  This chick knows how to fish and isn't squimish about putting bait on a hook.  My fav type of fishing is deep sea fishing.  You can try fly fishing in the Smokies.  Smoky Mountain Angler  $175/half day wade trip, $250/full day wade trip.  3 people per guide.  They will provide you with fishing equipment if you don't have any. 

While fishing can be fun, I think we can fill out vacation with some more exciting stuff.  I think fishing would be more of an option if we were camping out and were actually gonna eat the fish.

Whitewater Rafting
I love whitewater rafting, I've only been once but it was so much fun and I'm not too bad at it.  Whitewater rafting is the one thing that I feel like is a must for me in the Smokies.  I'll do whatever the others want to do to as long as I get to go rafting.

Smoky Mountain Rafting
http://www.smokymountainrafting.com/
It's located about 45 mins north of Gatlinburg. 
I think we'd probably have to stick to the mild course, but I'm sure that's a bunch of fun.  They said 50 rapids along 5.5 miles on Pigeon River.  It's about $26 plus tax after discount.

They also have combos.  We could do the 2 hours hike, then rapids after.  Hike and raft is $62.  OR Zipline  then raft.  Not sure how much that package is.  Is that too much for one day?

They also have inflatable Kayaks.  One and 2 seaters.  Stella and I saw a bunch of those when we went whitewater rafting in New Mexico.  They look liked a lot of fun.  They had a guide that would tell them what to do and where to go, although it was a bunch of teenage boys so they were all over the place.  We even had to rescue one that got stuck in some rapids.  I'm up for the challenge though.  Chivo and I will have to talk to his friends to see what they are up for. 

Rafting in the Smokies
http://www.raftinginthesmokies.com/
45 mins from Gatlinburg

Prices:
Raft & Zip $60/person
Saddle & Paddle $61/person  I'd love to go horseback riding but Chivo isn't into that.  I'll save it for a trip with Stella.
Ultimate Raft Trip $88/person.  Raft, rope course, zipline.
Lower Pigeon Raft Trip $37/person.  6 miles long, easy rapids.
Upper Pigeon Raft Trip $44/person.  5 miles long, thrilling rapids. 

Like Water but don't wanna get wet?  Check out Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg

Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg was voted #1 by US visitors on TripAdvisor.  I've loved aquariums for as long as I can remember.  I'm not sure if it's just because of my love for water, or the interesting creatures that you may find in water.  I love Seaworld and the Baltimore Aquarium.  I've been trying to go to the Houston Aquarium with Chivo, although I think it's more of a restaurant than an aquarium and I heard the food isn't that great.  They say you go there for the ambiance.  Chivo tried to take me there once for a nice dinner, but that was a fail.  The wait was 2 hours long and I was starving!  Maybe another time.  hint hint.

Ripley's Aquarium
Prices:  Adults $24.99  Children $14.99
Hours: M-Th 9am-9pm, Fri-Sun 9am-10pm

10,000+ exotic sea creatures, 12-ft sharks, giant sea turtle, penguins, coral reefs, stingrays and more.  Sounds like a fun time!

There are other Ripley's attractions in the Smokies so we should probably purchase a combo ticket to save some money.  The other attractions are:  Ripley's Believe It or Not (maybe), Ripley's Haunted Adventures (maybe), Ripley's Mirror Maze (not interested), Ripley's Moving Theater (curious), Ripley's Davy Crockitt Mini Golf (not interested), Ripley's Old MacDonald Mini Golf (not interested), Guiness Museum (not interested), Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Dinner Attraction (curious) and Titanic Pigeon Forge (I kinda wanna check this out, it's life size!)

Ripley's Moving Theater $13.99/person  10am-11pm daily
It's a 3D experience with moving seats.  If we don't check it out in the Smokies, it's okay because they have a theater in San Antonio, TX and Panama City, FL.  San Antonio is only a few hours away and we will be going to a friend's wedding near Panama City, FL.

Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Dinner Attraction
It reminds me of Mideavil Times dinner experience, maybe not quite so messy.  You see an opening act, then you are served a full course meal.  The show looks like people doing tricks and such on horses.  Not sure sure I feel like seeing that.

Ripley's Haunted Adventure $13.99/person  10am-11pm daily 
"Ripley’s Haunted Adventure is a world-class Haunted Attraction & Gatlinburg’s #1 Haunted House! Frights, Fun and Screams for Everyone! Bring all your family and friends…there’s safety in numbers! Multi-Million, State-of-the-Art Haunted Attraction with Live Actors" - Ripley's Haunted Adventure.
I'm kind of a chicken when it comes to haunted/scary stuff.  I'll go if the others wanna do it, but not my first choice.

Titanic Pigeon Forge  Advance Reservation $21.38 plus tax  9am-10pm
This Titanic replica is half the size of the original Titanic.  I can't decide what you actually do at the Titanic.  Is it a show, do you walk around the ship exploring?  I'm thinking maybe it's a gigantic museum.  If you are Titanic fanatics, you can get married on this Titanic.....although I'm not so sure that's something that I'd want to do, knowing that it sank to the bottom of the ocean.  Bad omen for a marraige?  But to each his own.
So if we decided to do Ripley's Aquarium and the Titanic, our combo price per person would be $41.99.

Other attractions to check out:

WonderWorks Pigeon Forge  Adults: $22.99  This can also be included in combos with the Titanic or Dixie Stampede. 
Stella and I drove by this and it's pretty wild looking.  The building looks like it's upside down!  Once inside, they have 100 hands on exhibits - feel hurricane winds, an earthquake, space exploration, put yourself in a bubble, a rope climbing course and more.  This place seems pretty cool and I'm hoping that since we are going to the Smokie's in May that it won't be quite as busy as summer when school is out.

There's so much to do around the Smokies, so it's good that we are doing our research so we can pick and choose what we really want to do and what can wait for another visit.  Perhaps we can visit the Smokies with Stella and her man in the future.

I can't wait for this trip!!  It's a little over a month away.  We gotta start booking some stuff - like rafting or ziplining.