If you're in the Franklin/Nashville area, I'd encourage you to take one of these walking tours. Some are conducted year-round. Others take place only around the Halloween season.

...See how scared you get as part of a small group of people walking the streets at night while hearing about dozens of "well-documented" stories about local ghosts & hauntings!

If you're looking for a LIST of haunted places in Nashville -- and other parts of Tennessee -- then check this out...

We love exploring all there is to see & do in the Gatlinburg area.

Actually, I'm referring to those areas surrounding Gatlinburg more than the actual town of Gatlinburg itself.

Why? Because the town itself is so touristy -- with all the souvenir shops and fun things to do downtown -- that it gets pretty hectic and congested.

That's why we typically hang out somewhere between Townsend (to the west), Cosby (to the east) and Bryson City (to the south).

We rented a cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains for the first time last June.

After researching several different cabins online, we opted to rent through Cosby Creek Cabins in Cosby, Tennessee.

They offered the best view, the most amenities, and the lowest price -- AND they were just a hop, skip & a jump from Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

Here are the details of our Gatlinburg cabin rental experience...

We skipped town for the weekend and headed to Gatlinburg over the 4th of July holiday. Not only did we get to see "the nation's FIRST 2005 Fourth of July Parade" (which took place at 12:01 a.m. on Monday July 4th -- really midnight of July 3rd)... ooooooohh! But we also got to witness "the nation's LAST 2005 Fourth of July Fireworks Display" (which took place at 11:59 p.m. on Monday July 4th)... aaaaaahhh!

Both were just okay.

Looking for colorful leaves? Hoping to catch the fiery fall colors before they fade?

We are too. This weekend, we plan to capture some of nature's most colorful beauty in photographs. So we'll arm ourselves with our Canon digital camera, tripod, zoom lens, macro lens, adjustable flash, freshly charged battery, and a spare memory card, then we'll be hitting the backcountry roads of Tennessee!

More leaf-peeping tips for ALL states!

The good news for Tennesseans like us is this state is filled with places that display spectacular Autumn scenery. The bad news is that you'll have plenty of company out there. People tend to head to the mountains in search of the best Fall color. In fact, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg gets 1 million visitors each and every October alone!

Some of the less popular places that are highly recommended for their colorful fall foliage (and much smaller crowds) include:

Asheville, North Carolina area (2,000 foot elevation), including Hendersonville and Brevard. The unique thing about this area: the abundance of waterfalls! Many of the waterfalls are located right along the main roads, and others can be accessed within state parks like the Dupont State Forest.

Balsam Mountain -- just outside of Cherokee, North Carolina.

Cherokee National Forest (from Chattanooga to Bristol along the TN/NC border).

Closer to home, around Nashville Tennessee, you can take a drive on the Natchez Trace Parkway, motor along the winding roads within Edwin Warner and Percy Warner parks, or take a stroll through Radnor Lake State Natural Area for the most peaceful and quiet experience you can find.

Around Nashville, the third week in October is typically the "best" time for viewing Fall colors at their peak.

Whether you make a concentrated effort to get out and explore nature's beauty, or you just decide on a spontaneous drive to a nearby park to check out the awesome color... I encourage you to at least take a brief moment to appreciate life's colorful rewards!

We planned a spur-of-the-moment trip to Gatlinburg this past weekend. Mom joined us for her first camping trip in years. Last time she went camping was with dad when we were kids. (She reminded me that we used to camp in these "dad-made tents" - without floors in them!)