We were pleased to once again host the Gaines family for their annual reunion. The Gaines have stayed with us before on several occasions and it was a pleasure to have them return to Deer Ridge!
Dearest Deer Ridge,
We are from Portage, IN about 600 miles away a 9-10 hour drive. We too have
relatives come from different parts of Indiana, Louisiana, North Carolina,
Missouri, California & Tennessee. This was our 4th time (2005, 2008, 2009
& now 2013) staying here July 4th to July 8th and each time was for our
"Gaines family reunion" this year we had 70 people. My husband, Dave,
being from a family of 10 each year 2 kids take charge of the reunion so we go
different places but we are always excited to come back here to Deer Ridge. My
biggest enjoyment is having my own family here our 3 kids with their spouses
and our 7 grandchildren ages 14, 13, 11, 10, 5, 4,& 1 1/2 yrs. 4 girls &
3 boys. Its great seeing them every day while we are here. Just having them run
in and out of our condo wanting cookies and seeing if I, their grammie, am
cooking pancakes for breakfast or have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We
love spending time in the pool and doing things as a family (the 15 of us) down
in Pigeon Ford or Gatlinburg. This year we did the Ripley's Believe It or Not
and Ober over Gatlinburg, wow! that was an experience going up in the tram 2800
ft. above the ground. We in the past did the aquarium & Dollywood which was
cool. We as a group of 70 did a baseball game on Fri. night Tennessee Cubs they
won (being from the Chicago area we are all Chicago Cubs fans)the fireworks
were spectacular, and we had breakfast at Carver Apple restaurant Sat. morning
they were very nice to us and food was good. We enjoyed the use of your deck
and the shelter for our big picnic we had on Sunday the kids enjoyed the
playground. We always do our annual horse shoe tournament it was a bit muddy
due to the rain which made it quite interesting and funny, the screened in
porch was idea for us all to gather and to eat in. Your resort as a whole is
absolutely breathe taking. I loved waking up seeing the fog rising over the
mountains which we now know why its called the Smokey mountains. Early Sat. morning
I saw the most fantastic rainbow it was so huge made you almost wonder if there
was a pot of gold at the bottom of it, ha!. I took a picture of it. I love the
condos having a journal in them for us to write only my did not c-207 so I used
the one in my son Adam's condo. I love reading other visitors experiences.
Anyways as much as I love our family reunions and seeing the cousins and sister
and brother in laws my most important enjoyment is having our own family around
24/7. Our 2 daughters and their families live close by us and our son and
family lives 2hours away so we do see each other but this is just different and
so special. I am hoping we will come back here for more reunions. Sorry to go
on and on I do love to write and there is so much to say about Deer Ridge. Once
again we do thank you for making our mini vacation another "Kodak"
moment. So until we meet again we wish you and yours good health and the best
of everything. Sincerely, Candy Gaines from Portage, IN
We are from Portage, IN about 600 miles away a 9-10 hour drive. We too have
relatives come from different parts of Indiana, Louisiana, North Carolina,
Missouri, California & Tennessee. This was our 4th time (2005, 2008, 2009
& now 2013) staying here July 4th to July 8th and each time was for our
"Gaines family reunion" this year we had 70 people. My husband, Dave,
being from a family of 10 each year 2 kids take charge of the reunion so we go
different places but we are always excited to come back here to Deer Ridge. My
biggest enjoyment is having my own family here our 3 kids with their spouses
and our 7 grandchildren ages 14, 13, 11, 10, 5, 4,& 1 1/2 yrs. 4 girls &
3 boys. Its great seeing them every day while we are here. Just having them run
in and out of our condo wanting cookies and seeing if I, their grammie, am
cooking pancakes for breakfast or have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We
love spending time in the pool and doing things as a family (the 15 of us) down
in Pigeon Ford or Gatlinburg. This year we did the Ripley's Believe It or Not
and Ober over Gatlinburg, wow! that was an experience going up in the tram 2800
ft. above the ground. We in the past did the aquarium & Dollywood which was
cool. We as a group of 70 did a baseball game on Fri. night Tennessee Cubs they
won (being from the Chicago area we are all Chicago Cubs fans)the fireworks
were spectacular, and we had breakfast at Carver Apple restaurant Sat. morning
they were very nice to us and food was good. We enjoyed the use of your deck
and the shelter for our big picnic we had on Sunday the kids enjoyed the
playground. We always do our annual horse shoe tournament it was a bit muddy
due to the rain which made it quite interesting and funny, the screened in
porch was idea for us all to gather and to eat in. Your resort as a whole is
absolutely breathe taking. I loved waking up seeing the fog rising over the
mountains which we now know why its called the Smokey mountains. Early Sat. morning
I saw the most fantastic rainbow it was so huge made you almost wonder if there
was a pot of gold at the bottom of it, ha!. I took a picture of it. I love the
condos having a journal in them for us to write only my did not c-207 so I used
the one in my son Adam's condo. I love reading other visitors experiences.
Anyways as much as I love our family reunions and seeing the cousins and sister
and brother in laws my most important enjoyment is having our own family around
24/7. Our 2 daughters and their families live close by us and our son and
family lives 2hours away so we do see each other but this is just different and
so special. I am hoping we will come back here for more reunions. Sorry to go
on and on I do love to write and there is so much to say about Deer Ridge. Once
again we do thank you for making our mini vacation another "Kodak"
moment. So until we meet again we wish you and yours good health and the best
of everything. Sincerely, Candy Gaines from Portage, IN
We would like to thank Candy for her kind comments and
Ms. La Donna Gaines for the fine picture below:
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