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.

No, the Football Score or Why I'll Never Forget the Levays' Anniversary

I'm terrible at remembering anniversaries. Just ask my parents! I usually (sometimes) remember the day of, which is too late to get a card in the mail. At our closing, our realtor asked us when our anniversary was, which I quickly responded, "June 21!" Then he asked what year. "Uhhh...2000....8?" Husband won't let me live that one down! But the Levays' will always be special. Mostly because of the adventure Husband and I had while we were there.
First of all, we were flying on Sept. 11. I'll admit I was nervous, but I also decided if there is any time of year security will be beefed up, that's it.
Then, our flight from Charlotte (yeah, we flew Lexington to Charlotte to Seattle. And airlines wonder why they're hemorrhaging money) was late, which meant we missed the last ferry to Whidbey Island. Since we had no idea what accommodations would be near the ferry dock, and since we planned on being ON the island that night anyway, we had to spend the night in our rental mini-van. While certainly roomier than a car would have been, it was not much more comfortable. It wasn't the WORST night of sleep I've ever had, but Husband begs to differ. Needless to say, we were easily in line for the first ferry of the morning.
We finally make it to our motel and crash. We told the Levays beforehand our tight schedule, so we weren't expected to do anything until the afternoon anyway. We somehow woke up relatively early (at least for Pacific time) and after showering off travel and long night crud, we went next door for breakfast and then to get a few snacks from the grocery across the street. We settle in for a little Game Day and Husband looks up some scores.
We finally rallied enough to head over the hall to see how we can be useful. Long story short, R's parents wanted to adopt me, partly for being useful, but mostly because we talked college football.
On Saturday, just like this year, Auburn played Mississippi State. I remember that because when Husband told me the score, I said, "No, the football score...not soccer." Yeah, it was the football score: 3-2. War eagle? At time of post, Auburn has scored touchdowns twice (the offense, not the defense). WAR EAGLE! Later that day R and M got hitched!
Sunday's trip home was relatively uneventful, save more delays in Charlotte (that city hates us), but nothing that involved another night not in a bed.
So, a day early, happy first anniversary Levays!

Coming Soon...

Our first anniversary! OMG (yeah, I'm 13, so what?) I can't believe it's here already. This whole being married thing has been pretty awesome. To celebrate, we're headed to CAVE CITY! Now, I realize not everyone...OK, no one, would share in our excitement. Most first anniversary trips seem to revolve around the beach or some other huge vacation. That's not in the cards between the whole me not getting a paycheck in the summer coupled with the whole buying a house thing. We've got priorities! But we decided we could do a weekend trip somewhere relatively local.
While I was still at Transy, every time I would go home and again coming back, I'd drive through Cave City. It was never one of my usual stopping points as I never needed gas by then, nor did I hit it at dinner time. But every time I passed through I WANTED to stop because of a huge dinosaur that sits next to the interstate. On the way down, a sign said "Dinosaur World: You just missed us!" and I always thought to myself, "It would have been helpful to KNOW it was coming up." So naturally I shared that with Husband and we agreed that one of these days when we weren't in a hurry to get to or come back from my parents, we'd stop and maybe hit up Mammoth Cave, since it had been so long since either of us had been (I was 5 and husband was in elementary school).
Well my friends, that day is now! Husband has the whole next week off and we're taking off Thursday either early and hitting Dino World then taking a cave tour (or head out late and just get there for the tour and do Dino World in the morning. We're going to stay the night in a Bed and Breakfast about halfway between Cave City and Bowling Green. Then, we'll either do Dino World, or just head on down to Franklin to visit with my parents the rest of the weekend.
They've already planned for us to go to the Bluebird Cafe. We're also going to hit Trader Joe's for a refill on the coffee we like, but usually only get when his friend sends it to us.
Whew! I'm worn out just thinking about it!