Gatlinburg, Tennessee has always been a favorite place for us to visit and when the Monday of the solar eclipse rolled around, the team was already in town and decided to stay and watch this moment in history! With tours going to Cades Cove and other places in the national park, we expected Gatlinburg to be pretty busy. Surprisingly, downtown Gatlinburg was fairly deserted on Monday afternoon. We found ourselves at our favorite Mexican restaurant and took advantage of the rooftop patio to watch the eclipse. We found a table, ordered some sweet tea and snacked on chips and salsa as we waited. The media was predicting full coverage by 2:30 p.m.
Though we originally wanted to be in Marion, Illinois or Nashville, Tennessee for the event, we are glad that the lack of hotel vacancy in Illinois and the price tag on the Nashville hotels kept us in the Great Smoky Mountains. Gatlinburg has always been a favorite spot for us and it was a great way to see the eclipse. In case you were wondering, we shot mostly with our iPhones during the eclipse. Once the moon covered the sun in totality, we pulled out the Nikon to catch that diamond ring. To see another total solar eclipse in the U.S., we’ll have to wait until April 8, 2024!
