Christmas in Hazzard

A couple of years ago, Joy and I went to Gatlinburg, TN with some good friends around Christmas time. We did the usual Gatlinburg activities: ate lots of pancakes, sampled the salt-water taffy, bought Rocky Mountain fudge, and visited all the quaint shops. But what really made this vacation really memorable for me was an unexpected trip back to my childhood.

When we first drove into Gatlinburg, we saw a “shop” called Cooter’s Place and sitting out in front was a General Lee! I LOVED the Dukes of Hazzard when I was little and despite the cheeziness of it, still holds a special place in my heart. As we drove on, the General faded from sight but I would HAVE to return for pictures!

On Saturday morning, our bellies full of pancakes and our car safely tucked away in a great parking spot, we set out to explore the strip. I was getting antsy and was practically begging to go to Cooter’s. Joy agreed and despite the freezing weather we walked all the way back down to the beginning of the strip. It was a lot further down than I remembered on the drive in, but God love her, Joy trudged on with me and we finally made it.

When we arrived, we went in to get out of the cold for a bit. There was lots of Dukes merchandise for sale and even memorabilia from the show. But the coolest thing was that for $5 you could get your picture taken in the General Lee! I quickly plunked down a fiver, shoved my camera into Joy’s gloved hands and ran back outside..

I didn’t get to slide in through the window like I’ve always wanted to, but that’s to be expected with liability issues and all. I took a seat behind the wheel and even though the car never moved, I felt like I had jumped the moon. Joy took a few photos and after they pried me out of the General, we left and caught up with our friends for lunch.

After we got home, I took several of the photos I had taken of the car with Joy in the background and combined them in Photoshop with the picture Joy took of me sitting in the General Lee. I cleaned up the final composition and popped the colors a bit and created this Christmas post card…

If you’re ever in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge, and you’re a big Dukes of Hazzard fan, you need to stop by Cooter’s Place. There’s even a replica of Roscoe’s police cruiser and Daisy’s Jeep outside. For more information, visit Cooter’s place online.