Parrots! (and others)

Someone at my friend's job said we should go to Parrot Mountain. We had a few hours, so we did. And am I glad? Yes, I am. It was outstandingly, unexpectedly, fun. Lots of fun. They had a lot of parrots to look at - with lots of warnings that they would bite if you got too close - and they had lots of parrots you could handle and feed. They had a big room-sized cage full of Rainbow lorikeets you could feed - they'd swarm all over you, in fact. They had a nursery/clinic, and you can buy birds if you want. I wouldn't drive all the way to Pigeon Forge just to go here, but if you're already there, I definitely recommend spending a few hours here.

What you can see as you stand in line to buy tickets

Before you buy the tickets, there's this

"Alvin!" yelled a father and son. The grounds were swarming with chipmunks. Given the amount of spilled birdseed, I'm not at all surprised.

Another of the omnipresent warnings in the main part of the aviary.

African grey looking like the sign is correct

Peahen and peacock

Peacock

Green-winged macaw

Von der Decken's Hornbill

A Military macaw

A White cockatoo

Several various parrots

African crowned cranes

A Kookaburra

More parrots - two Blue-and-yellow macaws and a Scarlet macaw in the middle

Adorable Golden conures

In the Lorikeet cage - they eat nectar, and you get little cups full of it

A Rainbow lorikeet

A Rose-breasted cockatoo

One of the many ponds

In the feeding enclosure. These were the parrots who (mostly) wouldn't bite. Some of them would come off their perches and sit on your hand.

This White cockatoo took the seeds into her foot and nibbled on them

This big Green-winged macaw wasn't as neat an eater

A Cockatiel

Anakeesta

Last summer a new attraction opened up in Gatlinburg: Anakeesta - a Cherokee word meaning "Place of Balsams". My friend and I went in October. It's located right across the Parkway from the Aquarium - but that's just the entrance way. The actual place is up on top of Anakeesta Mountain. You get there by riding a chair lift; they have gondolas for those who need or want them. I'd advise you to take one if you're nervous about heights, because you're pretty much out in the open - and every time they load a gondola, the chairs just stop and swing. I loved it - worth the price by itself - but others may not.

The top is still a work in progress. Eventually they'll have cabins and tree houses for overnight stays, and a single-track alpine coaster. Now they've got zip lines - all the way down the mountain, with rappelling from tower to tower -, a Memorial Walk for the 2016 fire, and several shops and places to eat. The big attraction is the Canopy Walk (though it's not quite canopy level) - a boardwalk suspended high above the ground. Just beautiful - and I bet it's breathtaking when the fall colors peak (which they never really did in 2017). I really enjoyed it, and will go back.

Riding up - gondolas coming down (they have 8 gondolas and 142 chairs)

Looking down from the chair

Cutie welcoming you to the top

The Memorial Forest Walk

Map of the fire

One of the photo stations

In the center of the loop

The entrance to the Canopy Walk

Burnt trees along the walk way

Oooooo! Spectacular color!

Zipliner going down the mountain

Riding down

One of the things about that fire was that it moved so fast, many trees were left alive, though partially burnt.

Me on the walk