Location of Possible Cabins.

[Tetraboy]

I put my amazing google earth-fu to work, and here are websites,
addresses, google maps, and Gatlinburg driving times for my top 3
cabin picks. Here's a quick breakdown:

=Shangri Lodge=
http://www.shangrilodge.net/Shangri-Lodge.php
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Shangri&sll=35.793771,-83.599223&sspn=0.490676,0.426407&ie=UTF8&ll=35.726321,-83.520985&spn=0.003837,0.003331&t=h&z=18
922 Village Loop Rd Gatlinburg, TN 37738
4.7 mi – about 10 mins
Getting to: Closest to Gatlinburg, in cabin community, on mountain so
uphill drive.

=The Beast=
http://www.alpinechaletrentals.com/viewproperty.aspx?PropertyID=18016
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=The+Beast&sll=35.766246,-83.675381&sspn=0.001917,0.002685&ie=UTF8&ll=35.801873,-83.5413&spn=0.003833,0.003331&t=h&z=18
1192 Pinyon Cir Pigeon Forge, TN 37863
8.9 mi – about 15 mins
Getting to: Quick drive to the parkway, easy to find on major road. In
PF, not GTown.

=Moose Hollow=
http://www.hickorymist.com/Moose_Hollow_Lodge.htm
http://www.moosehollowlodge.com/
http://maps.google.com/maps?client=opera&q=Moose+Hollow+Lodge&oe=utf-8&ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&ll=35.766246,-83.67453&spn=0.001917,0.003431&z=19
2900 Ginas Way, Sevierville, TN 37862
16.0 mi – about 28 mins
Getting to: In the middle of nowheresville out in the mountains. 30
mins from Gatlinburg.

[Jeff Jones]

Got emailed back regarding Moose Hollow Lodge, answers follow:
 
"What is the street address for Moose Hollow Lodge? For security reasons we don't give out the address until the time of check in. The lodge is located in Wears Valley"

    No biggie, I've already found it... ;)
 
"What is the average driving time to downtown Gatlinburg? It takes around 15 Minutes to get to Gatlinburg"
 
    Did they leave off the part about the helicopter? This just seems wrong. Getting from Wears Valley to Gatlinburg in 15 mins. Maybe they know something I don't, but I'd guess it more like 30-45mins. :)
 
 
"What type of internet connection does the cabin have? (DSL, Cable, Satellite?) Is it accessible via wifi?  The lodge is equipped with wireless
DSL, no password needed and is included with the cost of the cabin"
 
    Yay! DSL!!!
 
"Is the pool house private to the cabin, or shared?  The pool house is private to the cabin and is included with the cost of rental.  "
 
    Private indoor pool! Yay! Too bad it appears to be in the middle of nowhere. I think this is my favorite cabin, if you exclude location as a factor.
 
"Let me know if you have any further questions.. Arcade games are also free play.. "

    (They have like a mini-arcade, with sit down driving game, shooting game, etc!)

-Jeff Jones, who is still waiting to hear back from Shangri Lodge.

[Tetraboy]

I've looked at pretty much every cabin available, and my simple
summary of the final 4, look further below for more details including
marked maps and streetviews. I think these are our best 4 options, but
does anyone have thoughts on which they'd actually prefer?

= Summary =

Moose Hollow: Best cabin amenities, most sleeping capacity/beds, DSL,
most remote location. http://www.hickorymist.com/Moose_Hollow_Lodge.htm
The Beast: Good amenities w/ biggest common areas, most bedrooms, bad
sat internet, good PF location but farther from Gatlinburg.
http://www.alpinechaletrentals.com/viewproperty.aspx?PropertyID=18016
Shangri: Decent amenities w/ great presentation room theater, medium
sleeping/beds, likely has DSL/cable, in the Gatlinburg hills so close
to town. http://www.shangrilodge.net/Shangri-Lodge.php
Twin Cedar: OK amenities, only 11 beds, internet unknown, also in
Gatlinburg hills. http://www.twincedarcabins.com/twin_cedar_lodge.html

= Maps/Info =
Placemarks with descriptions of the cabins:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=106965673222101696791.00046325628f974320daf

Driving map between all the cabins:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=2700+Waldens+Creek+Rd+Sevierville,+Tennessee+37862&daddr=1192+Pinyon+Cir+Pigeon+Forge,+TN+37863+to:610+Wiley+Oakley+Dr,+Gatlinburg,+TN+to:922+Village+Loop+Rd+Gatlinburg,+TN+37738+to:555+River+Rd,+Gatlinburg,+TN+37738&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=35.756778,-83.564266&sspn=0.123562,0.258179&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=35.75905,-83.588104&spn=0.098764,0.162563&z=13

Huge Cabin Spreadsheet:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pDN4Dr1HBbdLOPpsx2bexLg&hl=en

See below for street views and any new info on individual cabins.

= Moose Hollow=
Just to update everyone, the actual street address of Moose Hollow is
2610 Waldens Creek Rd Sevierville, Tennessee 37862. Here's a
streetview of the cabin:

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=opera&q=2610+Waldens+Creek+Rd+Sevierville,+Tennessee+37862.&oe=utf-8&ie=UTF8&hl=en&ll=35.762311,-83.665304&spn=0.003826,0.006577&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=35.762274,-83.6654&panoid=_fmaTRWF8DRjaFM9Sa3TLg&cbp=12,3.342084575689557,,0,5.809140943567556

Looks like it's on a decent road in a valley, so no long trek up the
mountain. However this is still probably 20-30 mins away from
gatlinburg, and has only 9 bedrooms. On the plus side, it's as large
as The Beast, with more beds, and has a heated indoor swimming pool!

=The Beast=
This was the cabin we stayed at last year, which was on a nice main
road in PF, but had horrible internet. Here's a streetview:

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=opera&q=1192+Pinyon+Cir+Pigeon+Forge,+TN+37863&oe=utf-8&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=g0CbSfKIOODZmQfDkbGgCg&ll=35.801456,-83.54109&spn=0.015437,0.032272&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=35.801529,-83.540996&panoid=mV3jDivxl9F_9kspWssGtA&cbp=12,0.08730577665968146,,0,-5.18828350558673

=Shangri=
I've yet to hear back from Shangri Lodge ( http://www.shangrilodge.net/Shangri-Lodge.php
) regarding their internet connectivity, so if anyone wants to call
them, feel free. It's a decent sized cabin at 7200 sq ft, but smaller
than the other two. (Both 7800+sqft) Here's a far off streeview:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Wiley+Oakley+Dr+Gatlinburg,+tn&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=60.676898,132.1875&ie=UTF8&t=h&layer=c&cbll=35.724894,-83.521454&panoid=VZnPWO9aaIGUpqCaltowGA&cbp=12,32.80168969983548,,0,0.4565762745356473&ll=35.724936,-83.521312&spn=0.003863,0.008068&z=18&iwloc=addr

= Twin Cedar =
I'll also toss out this cabin, Twin Cedar Lodge:
http://www.twincedarcabins.com/twin_cedar_lodge.html However it only
has 11 single bed bedrooms, so will sleep few people. Its around
7000sqft and in the same Gatlinburg cabin community as Shangri. Both
will be close to many many other cabins, so lacking in some of the
privacy The Beast/Moose has. Both the Gatlinburg ones (Shangri/Twin
Cedar) have access to the shared pool/tennis facilities of the cabin
community. These two cabins are up on the mountain so some steep curvy
"backroads" driving likely, but on plus side we can come in the back
way to Gatlinburg via ski mountain road. Google streetview of it here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Wiley+Oakley+Dr+Gatlinburg,+tn&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=60.676898,132.1875&ie=UTF8&ll=35.724997,-83.531241&spn=0.003758,0.008068&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=35.725089,-83.531275&panoid=o2ikfHGFnbhsRU0un7MzzQ&cbp=12,88.96630855973747,,0,3.760884438509723

-Jeff Jones

PS: Dear god I love technology. The google is the awesomer.

[Matthew Turland]

Jeff,

In case no one has said it already, thank you very much for the
immense amount of time you've put into showing us details on our
options. I for one very much appreciate all the work you've done. I
half hate to say this for that reason, but Whitney and I are
gravitating toward using The Beast again.

Moose, while very nice, is also more expensive (196% per room, 115%
per bed), further from town (31 minutes vs 18 according to Google),
and sleeps the same number as The Beast (54). Both Twin and Shangri,
while much closer to town, still cost more than The Beast per room/bed
and only sleep half as many people. The Beast is the biggest in terms
of both square footage and rooms/beds and has nice (though admittedly
not ideal) amenities while not being too far from town. So, that's our
$0.02 on the location.

In terms of when, I think we should set a date that's likely to be
before conferences (between mid-August and beginning of September) and
stick to that date, to avoid expenses increasing unexpectedly.
Thoughts, anyone else?

Matt

[D. Keith Casey Jr.]

Matthew Turland wrote:
> In terms of when, I think we should set a date that's likely to be
> before conferences (between mid-August and beginning of September) and
> stick to that date, to avoid expenses increasing unexpectedly.
> Thoughts, anyone else?

Last year about this time, Elizabeth started collecting $'s to get the
reservation nailed down. We probably don't need more than 20% to
reserve a date.

I'm willing to put in $200 to start things moving on that... assuming I
can get most (all?) of it back if the date doesn't work out for me. I
think the big scheduling issues on my calendar are ZendCon (date
unknown) and GenCon (13-16 Aug, just got invited).

kc

[Matthew Turland]

On Feb 17, 8:12 pm, "D. Keith Casey Jr." <ke...@caseysoftware.com>
wrote:

> I'm willing to put in $200 to start things moving on that... assuming I
> can get most (all?) of it back if the date doesn't work out for me.  I
> think the big scheduling issues on my calendar are ZendCon (date
> unknown) and GenCon (13-16 Aug, just got invited).

Did some digging. ZendCon was Sep 15-18 in 2008, Oct 8-11 in 2007, and
Oct 30-Nov 2 in 2006 (i.e. progressively earlier by about three weeks
each year). So, chances are good that it will either be around the
same time or earlier (late August most likely) this year. I know that
regardless of what other plans they might have, multiple people going
to Appalachia are also planning to attend ZendCon as well. Maybe we
should consider a date that's liable to be ahead of ZendCon (early to
mid August) or after it (late September).

[Ben Ramsey]

On 2/17/09 8:55 PM, Matthew Turland wrote:
> In case no one has said it already, thank you very much for the
> immense amount of time you've put into showing us details on our
> options. I for one very much appreciate all the work you've done.

I agree! Jeff, all your research is awesome! Even down to the maps and
spreadsheets you've created! Very good stuff.

Thanks for putting it all together!

I need to take time to read through everything to put together my
opinions on which cabin to go for.

--
Ben Ramsey
http://benramsey.com/

[Elizabeth Naramore]

On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 10:44 PM, Ben Ramsey <benr...@gmail.com> wrote:

On 2/17/09 8:55 PM, Matthew Turland wrote:
> In case no one has said it already, thank you very much for the
> immense amount of time you've put into showing us details on our
> options. I for one very much appreciate all the work you've done.

I agree! Jeff, all your research is awesome! Even down to the maps and
spreadsheets you've created! Very good stuff.

Amen to that!

One thing we could do is create a poll through google spreadsheets ... you can rank things on a scale from say 1-5 or whatever, and then I guess the top cabin would win?

The Google polls automatically tabulate all the responses into a spreadsheet for you, which is also nice.

Just a thought.

Cheers,
E.

[Tetraboy]

On Feb 17, 11:08 pm, Elizabeth Naramore <elizabeth.naram...@gmail.com>
wrote:

Thanks guys! Just trying to do my part to help out. I thought of doing
a poll to decide, but then we all know how polls lie. So, I'd rather
just get everyones opinion/possibly take a poll on what factors are
most important to people, then make our decision based on that. As far
as when to hold it, keep in mind that late august/early september will
likely be hot during the day. 80-90s(f) with high humidity (like 99%).
At night it should settle down to 60-70f though due to the mountain
location. Not necessarily a bad thing, hey dollywood has a water
park! :) Thought I should warn those darn yankees about our summers.

-Jeff Jones

[Tetraboy]

Regarding when to hold phpapp, I think sometime during september would
be good. August is too hot. Mid-late september would probably be good
temperature wise. (Though, you can never predict the weather.) And
hopefully would place us either after or before ZendCon.

-Jeff Jones

[Elizabeth Naramore]

Not really sure where this fits into this thread, but I got a postcard today from Alpine Chalet Rental (owners of The Beast) that said they miss us. :) They also said if we mention the postcard when we reserve The Beast again, we'll get 5% off (which is of course not valid with any other deals or specials).

I'm surprised they want us back; how soon they forget.

Anywho, just wanted to pass that info along because it will make it a little bit more affordable, if we decide to go back there.

Thanks,
E.