Tennessee

I am finally sitting down to write about our Tennessee vacation. I know you (Kristy) are anxiously awaiting pictures! For pictures...watch the slide show! Blogspot and I are having issues and this is taking way too long...too many pics anyways! ENJOY!

First I have to say, before anything else, THANK GOODNESS FOR HIGH SPEED INTERNET! I had forgotten just how slow the dial up process was! Too slow for me! I love the fast stuff!

We decided back in February to go to Tennessee this year for vacation instead of Colorado. After much searching we decided on visiting the Gatlinburg area. It was Steve's idea to invite my parents to go along. They hadn't really been on a vacation since before my Grandad got sick. They didn't want to get too far from home in case something were to happen. So, this was a much needed vacation for them as well.

We decided to rent a "bigger" vehicle so that we could all ride together. Perks of having Enterprise in your building...Steve was able to get a killer deal on a Yukon XL. We loaded up the Yukon on Thursday 7/3 and headed to OKC to get mom and dad. We spend Friday doing errands. Mom was also doing laundry and getting packed. Andrea and Tommy had just moved to a new house so we went over there to see the house. Friday night we were going out to eat for dad's birthday (7/2). Mom said we would go to Harry Bear's. I don't know who said we should call and check if they were open (it was July 4th) but we all thought no they will be open! Evidently not! Not a soul or car to be found at the Harry Bear's! So, we ended up going to Alfredo's. It was good. At least all the goodies they bring you first (chips, hot sauce, tortillas, queso). I just didn't care for the meal I ordered. The rice was awesome but I didn't care for the chili sauce stuff they put over my enchiladas. Other than that I liked it! After getting full and stuffed we headed back to mom and dads for cake. Mom and dad finished up packing and I think we were all in bed by 10! We had decided to leave by 6:00 AM Saturday morning to get on the road!

Can you believe we pulled away from the house at 5:55 AM! This was ahead of schedule even after Steve got all the gadgets hooked up! Yes, what would vacation be like without gadgets. Well, we had plenty of them on this trip! First we had the radar detector! That was for Steve. You know he likes to drive fast and a ticket would have just put a damper on things! Second we had the GPS. I must admit that one was so cool. It talks to you! It never got anything wrong and if you vary from the mapped trip it knows! It would know the minute we'd pulled off the highway...just to get gas. It really should have a pause button or one that says stopping to get gas so that Bertha (that's what we were calling our GPS) knows what you are doing. Then we had the laptop...complete with charger, power converter and movies! Luckily I had downloaded a game...my whole family is hooked on these seek and find games! I had bought one and it was on my computer at home so I thought...ummm...can I also download it to the laptop and put in the code it gave me when I purchased it? Yee haw!!!! you can! We passed the laptop around the whole trip everyone playing that silly game! I think Jacob used up all the free trials of just about every other game that came on the laptop!

So, Saturday was a full day of driving. We did stop in Memphis to see Graceland. I'm not really sure it was what I was expecting. I've heard of how on the anniversary of his death (my birthday, in case you didn't know) people go and put flower "by the gate". I just imagined (and thought I'd see pictures of...obviously not) it to be on a lot of land, secluded, gated...totally everything that it is not. Bertha told us exactly how to get there. We thought great...if we can park and just see if from the gate/road. I didn't care whether we went in or not and I knew my kids could care less. They have no idea who Elvis Presley is! We follow the signs to park...$8.00! Ok, we will do it and get pics and be on our way. OH BUT NO! Ok the parking and shopping and money pit is actually across the street from the actual Graceland. You purchase your tickets and then ride a shuttle across the street and up through the main gate to the house. I think tickets where something like $27! My kids didn't care anything about this so I really didn't want to spend that kind of money on it! So, for our $8.00 everyone got to go pee in the restrooms there! I did get a few pics and a picture of his plane "Lisa Marie". We did leave the parking lot and drove down the street and circle backed and attempted to get a pic of the house. You can't really see much!

After leaving Memphis we drove to Nashville. We had decided we would stop here and spend the night. We would be going to a church in Nashville Sunday morning. We finally found a hotel. The first one we stopped at told Steve they were full and most were around that immediate area...Kenny Chesney was in concert that night! So, we drove and Steve tried another but we didn't get the feeling we were in a very good part of town. We finally ended up at the Thrifty Inn. It was thrifty all right. So, thrifty I think they forgot to finish the door and put the bottom on it! There was a huge gap. You could see light! Worst of all was we were not far from the airport either...that made the planes landing all that much louder! Bonus...they did have high speed internet!

After getting settled at the thrifty inn we went and ate dinner. After dinner we wanted to see the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Conventions Center...this is not just a hotel! Mom and dad had stayed their for a business convention years ago! Dad said you have to go inside to see! Again we paid to park...$16 this time! OH MY! The inside of this place is gorgeous! I wish it hadn't been getting dark outside cause my pictures would've been so much better. But that didn't stop me from trying to take as many as I could! I just loved the inside of this place! Steve said if I had know this was so awesome I'd have stayed here instead of the Thrifty Inn! Steve really liked it too! I don't know how long we were there just walking around the different garden areas. I think they had four of them. It was beautiful! Tons of shopping places in there too!

Sunday...we went to church in Nashville and got on the road again. Final stop...Gatlinburg! We arrived in Gatlinburg that afternoon, checked in at the office and got directions to our cabin. The house was awesome. 2000 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, hot tub, deck over looking the Little Pigeon River! It was nice and no one around. There was one cabin down the road from us and we never saw anyone! Its nice but the totally secluded sort of freaks me out at the same time! Immediately the boys were in the river! We needed to go buy some groceries but neither of them wanted to go. So, mom and dad said they would stay at the cabin with them while Steve and I went back in town and shopped! GOOD CHOICE! There is one, yes one, grocery store in Gatlinburg! I believe everyone in Gatlinburg was at that store, Food City, shopping on Sunday evening! I have never seen such a busy store...Wal-Mart on a Saturday does not even get close to this place! You were literally in line with your buggy slowly moving up and down the aisles. The front of the store by the checkouts was packed! The employees said its like that all the time. I would say almost everyone there was a tourist (you could tell my peoples accents). They were like us...had a rented a house and were shopping of the week! So, it took a while to do the shopping. I was so glad mom, dad and the boys stayed at the cabin. That many people I would have been ready to kill the boys and mom was sick and she'd have been miserable and it was hot in the store! But we survived it!

Monday...of course we had to be tourist! We headed to the main drag (only one I guess) of Gatlinburg. You have to park and walk. Its like one continuous building down each side of the street. There is no parking for individual businesses. You pay (of course) to park and just walk! We had already decided to do some of the Ripley's Believe It or Not attractions. Mom and Jerrad wanted to do the Haunted House. Jacob didn't. He scares easily and it was not a good idea for him. So, Steve was going to do that with mom and Jerrad and dad, Jacob and I did the Odditorium. Its a museum of all the freaky stuff. It was interesting. I wish Jacob had gone slower and read some of the stuff but he flew through that!

I need to back up a little....before we left on vacation Jerrad had started looking at digital cameras. He wanted one. Steve told him instead of buying one he should just use my old one. So, he had my digital camera. We get to mom and dads and Jacob is saying Jerrad has a camera and he doesn't. So, dad gave Jacob his other digital camera to use. I'm not sure what happened but by Monday dad had told Jacob he could have his digital camera. We honestly looked like the crazy tourist with FOUR OF US TAKING PICTURES!

So, in the odditorium Jacob's not reading anything he's taking pictures of everything! After those attractions we walked all up and down this street. Hitting all the interesting shops. PURSES...everywhere! And can you believe mom and I both left without buying one! We found a type we liked but they didn't have the size she wanted in the color she wanted! I found one but it was more expensive then the big purse but smaller. Didn't make since to me! We made our way to the Ripley's Aquarium. This place was so neat! We had a blast in here. We already had our tickets so we made our way to the door. Of course there was a man (hillbilly as can be) checking bags. Well, before mom tells me "Darla, he needs to SEE your bag"...she has already SHOWN him hers! So, when I walk over and unzip it he's trying to get mom's attention...to open her bag! I was laughing so hard I could've peed my pants! When he told her he needed to SEE her bag she held her purse up and SHOWED him! That's my mom! We spent quite a while in the aquarium. Ate some lunch in town and walked the other side of the street. We went back to the cabin that evening and Steve grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken!

Tuesday...everyone was recuperating from all the walking on Monday. We decided to take one of the drives in the Smokey Mountains. There are three to choose from. We chose the one that takes you to the highest point in the Northeastern United States. That is Clingman's Dome in the Smoke Mountains. We drove up there. It is really pretty. A different pretty from Colorado. You are literally up in the clouds. These mountains aren't near as high as the Rockies in Colorado but because of the weather conditions and stuff the clouds are lower or something. When we got up to the parking lot I thought we were at the highest point! OH NO...that would be too easy. There is a walkway that goes up (and I mean straight up as you can go without falling over) another 1/2 mile! Guess what we did? You got it...we went up that bad boy! My calves were starting to cramp! Of course I had my standard on...flip flops! We huffed and puffed up the that mountain! Mom didn't go she waited in the car. Which was a very good chose for her. Jacob of course bee bopped up that thing like it was nothing. Jerrad didn't have much trouble either...that's why I grabbed his arm and let him pull me up for little while! Just as we arrived at the top some rain started moving in! It was the neatest thing to watch these clouds move in and literally go around you! Because of that we didn't see a lot of the views from the top but the mountains in the clouds looked really neat.

Wednesday...back to the tourist trap! We decided to go explore Pigeon Forge. In Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge there is more miniature golf than you can imagine. Jacob begged for two days...to play. We decided to play at the Ripley's Old MacDonald Farm course. It was cute. They also had an arcade they played a ton of games before golf. They saved their receipts for their tickets to get prizes after we golfed. We roasted playing golf. It was so hot. With our package deal we'd gotten for the Ripley's attractions we were getting 36 holes of golf. We decided to play 18 and do the other 18 when it was cooler. We boys said they'd get their prizes when we come back. They put their ticket receipts in their pockets (bad choice). We had some lunch. Then we went to this place called Wonderworks. This was a really neat deal. It was all hands on and learning stuff. Everyone enjoyed that. It rained while we were in there. When we got out "one track mind" Jacob had now changed to riding go karts since he finally played golf! Most of the tracks had closed since it rained but we found one that was opened. Dad and Jacob rode in one and then Steve and Jerrad drove one each. They loved it. The pavement was just wet enough they could spin around in the karts. It was fun watching them ride those. We hit a few shops before going back to the house that evening.

Thursday...we woke up and it was raining. I have to say on this vacation I got some of the best sleep. Steve and I stayed in the one bedroom that was upstairs with a king bed. I would have to say it was more comfortable then my bed at home! In the mornings the trees are so think the light didn't hardly come in the window. I woke every morning thinking it was really early or really cloudy and when I looked out it wasn't. Its just so thick with trees it seems darker. Thursday it actually was cause it was pouring rain. The river had started to rise too. It was rushing. I love listening to the river. We all decided to relax a while. I think mom went and took a nap. Steve took a nap. I sat in the living room reading. We had the screen door open so we could hear the rain and the river. It was so relaxing and peaceful! I think we finally left the cabin around 4 or so that afternoon. We went back to Pigeon Forge to play our other 18 holes of golf. Oh, as we were fixing to leave that is when the boys remembered their receipts in their shorts pockets! The pockets of the shorts that I washed on Wednesday night! Yep...that was a waste of money for those tickets! I don't check pockets! Its their responsibility to get their stuff out before putting it in the dirty clothes. Steve is just as bad about this! Guess they came by it honest. So, in Pigeon Forge it was much cooler than the day before. You could see the dark clouds and the rain that was moving in. We finished the 18th hole as it started to sprinkle! We left there and went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse! I think after that we went back to the house and started getting things ready to go.

Friday...on the road again! We left bright and early again. 7:00 AM but 6:00 AM our time here at home. Steve wanted to drive straight through. Why is it that it seems so much faster when your driving to there than from there?!?!?! We did it. We got to mom and dad's house a little after 9:00 PM. Unloaded their things and took a potty break. Then the four of us loaded back up for another 3 hours on the road! We arrived home a little after midnight and I was crawling in bed at exactly 12:30! Very tired!

It was a really fun time. I enjoyed my parents getting to go with us. I know they had fun getting away for a week and spending time with the boys.