Gatlinburg Observations

Husband and I took a short get-away trip to Gatlinburg this weekend to celebrate our two year anniversary. We had a great trip and pictures will follow. Until then, here are a few of our observations:

*Seiverville is the tri-cities area red-headed step-child. Pigeon Forge is the family city. Gatlinburg is the grandparent.

*Note: Kentucky is not the only state that cannot correctly pronounce the names of cities. Apparently the em-PHAS-is makes the step-child city sound like what a thunderstorm warning might be (severe), not the surname of the family on Growing Pains. We only learned this because of a television commercial.

*Multi-culturalism is not a word in their vocabulary. We could probably count on one hand the number of minorities we saw. See below.

*Confederate flags abound. I have never seen such a large collection of Rebel memorabilia. Likely contributing to the number of minorities in the area (see above).

*Target gladiator sandals are not appropriate for walking the Gatlinburg strip. Doing so results in blisters on the balls of one's feet (Ouch!).

*Hot tubs will help said blisters feel slightly better, but cushy, clearance flip-flops from Off Broadway help immensely.

*The Cub House cabin gets a big thumbs up for two anniversary get-awayers who wanted to mostly relax, but still be near restaurants.

*People from New York really are that bad.

*a) Buckeyes and Hoosiers re-inforce their reputation (at least in our house) of being terrible drivers.

*Apparently no one really applies logic to the location of certain businesses. Bubba Gump seafood restaurant and Titanic museum...in the mountains? Really?

*There are no less than 602,584 pancake restaurants in the tri-cities area. None are open for dinner. I'm not sure I can live in a world where breakfast for dinner isn't allowed.

...And I love Hargis. HEY!

Last week, I made my almost annual trip to Chelsea, AL to counsel a group of wacky teenagers for the week at church camp. We filled our days with canoeing, swimming, fishing, family groups-ing, and corruption 101 (if you want to know, just ask :)). We spent the evenings dropping eggs, watching Glee, and worshipping an inclusive, loving God. Words can't describe the week I had. Reconciling what went on at camp with life at home is always difficult for me. Camp is such a fulfilling experience, especially this week, then you get thrown back into situations with people who haven't had that shared time. Too bad my trip home was too eventful for me to really reflect on everything. But that's another story for another day.