1/06/2012

Tennessee New Year

For New Years i went to Tennessee with Karrie and her family. Karrie's family stayed in hotels but we stayed in a cabin about 10 miles outside of Gatlinburg.

Here is the cabin that Karrie and i stayed in. It was really nice and at the same price as a hotel.
Gatlinburg Cabin Rental, interior, view
I took lots of pictures of the night sky from the back deck.
Night sky view from gatlinburg cabin rental
This is picture was done by using the CHDK software i've used before, it combines around 60 pictures into one. Still not perfect, but i'm getting better. The town of Gatlinburg is on the left.
Star trails over gatlinburg tennessee
This is the time lapse video from those pictures. Using my new camera makes a big difference. The Canon S95 lets in a lot more light.


Here are some more pictures i took the next night.
Gatlinburg stars, cabin rentals, tennessee, pigeon forge
Gatlinburg sky view, cabin rentals, tennessee, pigeon forge
Gatlinburg view, cabin rentals, tennessee, pigeon forge
The morning of the second day Karrie and i drove into the Smokey Mountain National Park and hiked on the Laural Falls Trail. It was 2.6 miles round trip and had a rise of 300 feet in elevation. Smokey Mountain National Park, Laurel Falls Trail Sign
Smokey Mountain National Park, Danger Sign
Smokey Mountain National Park, Laurel Falls


The falls were really cool and we even climbed off the trail to a rocky area below. That's Karrie way down at the bottom. Smokey Mountain National Park, Laurel Falls View Down
Smokey Mountain National Park, Laurel Falls View Up
Smokey Mountain National Park, Laurel Falls Portrait
I was excited to try my homemade ND filter. The pictures didn't come out perfect, i forgot to take the picture in RAW, it made it a lot harder to fix the colors in Photoshop.
Smokey Mountain National Park, Laurel Falls ND Filter
Smokey Mountain National Park, Laurel Falls ND Filter Water
We left the falls after an hour or so, but before leaving the park we stopped at a trail along a river. I tried taking more ND filter pictures. Smokey Mountain National Park, river ND Filter
river water homemade ND Filter, welders glass
river water homemade ND Filter, welding glass
river ND Filter, welding glass
river ND Filter, smooth, flowing
ND Filter, smooth, flowing
green ladybug by river
sitting on a river rock in the smokey mountain national park
The next day we went to Ober. There is a road but we took the cable car. cable car, view of gatlinburg, to ober, tennessee
Then went all the way to the top of the mountain on a chair lift. chair lift, view of ober, tennessee
riding the chair lift up to ober tennessee, gatlinburg
chair lift up to mt harrison, ober, gatlinburg, tennessee
top of mt harrison, ober, gatlinburg
The view was great.
panorama view of the smokey mountain national forest
panoramic view of the smokey mountain national park, dome, peakview of chair lift with smokey mountains in background
They had a neat picture up there that explained what you were seeing. sign board of smokey mountains peaks
It's a little hard to see but it labeled each peak. For example #6 is Clingmans Dome at 6643 feet. city of gatlinburg, newfound gap, chimney tops, mount leconte, clingmans dome
Here is the view of downtown Gatlinburg from the steps of the aquarium.panorama of downtown gatlinburg tennessee, in front of the aquarium
We spent an hour there one day. aquarium, downtown gatlinburg, tennessee
Got to pet some horseshoe crabs. petting rays, aquarium, downtown gatlinburg, tennessee
jellyfish
aquarium port hole, shark tank, tennessee
Another day we went to Wonderworks. It was a really cool upside-down building in Pigeon Forge. This was a cool 3D painting they had inside. You can't tell how it works until you get near it and realize that it isn't flat.


Gatlinburg at night. The traffic was still pretty busy. downtown gatlinburg at night, tennessee, new years
New Years in Gatlinburg. They dropped the ball and shot off fireworks from the space needle. downtown gatlinburg at night, tennessee, new years, fireworks
downtown gatlinburg at night, tennessee, party
Elvis and his family were even there. downtown gatlinburg at night, tennessee, elvis

No comments: