Tennessee Vaca part 2 (Gatlinburg and Cade’s Cove)

We woke up Monday morning itching to get out there and start enjoying some of the sights. Our plan was to shop and generally “piddle around” in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge as there are a lot of shops and what-nots. This allowed us to stretch our legs after two days in the car and just relax.

We quickly found we weren’t that crazy about Pigeon Forge. There was some sort of car show going on and the congestion on the main road was bad at all hours of the day and night. So we focused our attention on Gatlinburg. It’s a really cute little town with quaint shops. We made our way to this ski lift thing, which we rode to a higher point to take in the sights. It was interesting and fun, if not a little nerve wracking since you just kind of hop in and unlike ‘rides’, there are no belts or harnesses to hold a person in, which bothered the girl a little bit. But she quickly started looking around and enjoying the scenery.

This was just after we left the little station thing and crossed the street. Much prettier than ‘town’. : )

And there go my peeps ahead of me up the mountain.

From the top…so pretty.

We decided after spending the morning piddling around town and looking in little shops, that we had had enough of that. And were itching to see some of the real stuff we came for. So we headed into the mountains. Actually we headed into the base of the mountains. There is a scenic loop called Cade’s Cove in the park system. So pretty. Lots of things to get out and take pictures of and learn about. Log cabins, churches, cemeteries, a corn mill. So that’s what we did.

You can almost hear hymns coming out of those open doors, can’t you?

This is my favorite picture from the whole trip. I really need to photoshop out those two people though! : )

 

Sometimes I think I could have lived back then…I love this cute little house.

Hmmm, maybe not. : )

The mill. Really enjoyed walking around here and going inside to see the corn meal.

At one of the stops..I can’t remember which one….there was a bathroom. And the girl and I needed one. But she was pretty worried since we were ‘out in the middle of no where’ that it might be a pit toilet. I was not too thrilled about the possibility either, but kept my concerns to myself. Well, we walked into the little building that served as the rest area and lo and behold. My girl got the biggest smile on her face when we walked in the door and found FLUSH POTTIES. I laughed so hard! (and was secretly just as happy about it as she was!)

I know this doesn’t look like much. But after driving hither and yon to get to and see everything, it was a day.

Self portrait. : )

After a pretty long day it was so nice to sit down to these lovelies. Those are apple fritters…and they were served with fresh apple butter. I never really thought I liked apple butter much, but this tasted a lot different than the stuff with “Great Value” on the label..I’m just sayin’. This place was called The Apple Barn and Amy told me about it. THANKS, AMY! *waves furiously* I was thrilled when this little place was mentioned on a Southern Plate post I received a link to yesterday. I felt like I’d eaten somewhere famous. And yes, we did buy some butter to bring home..and I’ve almost finished off a (small) jar of it. Soo good! : )

Tennessee vaca part 1 (arriving)

We quickly planned our little trip. I think I ended up with two weeks lead time to get it all together. That’s a record, even for us. (we scheduled our first Disney trip 5 weeks out, which is unheard of for WDW planning)

Anyway, we left Saturday and drove most of the day.  We entertained ourselves with music and the girl read some books.

 

Later in the day we made a little iPod taco in a napkin so it could rest in the cup holder. I had downloaded Skit Guys podcasts and we listened to a few of those as well.

We spent the night in Memphis and got up early Sunday and drove the rest of the way. We really enjoyed the lushness (is that a word???) of the trees since just about everything here is well, dead.

We arrived in the mid afternoon. When we got to Pigeon Forge, we had to navigate the town and find the offices for our cabin. Before long we were pulling up to our cabin.

It was impressive. So beautiful and exactly what you’d expect to see for a vacation rental. Rustic with all the comforts of home. : )

This is my favorite part. The swing. I spent a lot of time out there just enjoying the view.

The kitchen…excuse our junk.

Dining room..again with the junk.

My peeps chilling in the living room.

This is the view ‘up’ from the living room.

The cabin was amazing. There was a sleeping loft upstairs with a huge master bath. And a bedroom downstairs off the living area with another king bed and it’s own bath. The girl took that one. And there was a game room downstairs in the basement. With yet another bathroom. Each level had a balcony looking out over the smoky mountains. It was quite an a amazing view.

See…

I can almost feel the breeze just looking at that pic. Ahhhhh. : )

my framed pepper

Yesterday we decided to go to Chili’s for lunch. They’re still doing peppers this month. Check them out!

We wanted to see if my chili pepper was framed and hung.

It was!

I still can’t get over it that they cared enough about our story to go to the trouble to frame my pepper! So touched and humbled by their kindness.

I didn’t even remember exactly what I wrote last year. Every year I tell a form of the story and hubs draws pics of Landon’s favorite things. And together they tell a sweet little story of his short little life.

Thanks St. Jude’s for all you do! (I took that pic as we drove through Memphis.)

And thanks Chili’s for your kindness toward us and our boy. : )

long ride home

Do you ever have a day that just feels ten miles long?

Well how about 900 miles long? 907.9 miles to be exact.

That’s what my day felt like yesterday. You see I woke up in an amazing log cabin in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

And laid my head to rest last night in my own bed.

900-plus long miles and 15 hours later.

We went to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

Yes, it was delightful.

And yes, there will be plenty of posts with pictures to come to tell all about it. : )

Where was I?

With the ten year anniversary of 9-11 there are so many tv specials about it going on. And there have been a few Facebook conversations about it as well.

But the most striking one was a simple question. Where were you when the towers fell? (how did you find out etc)

And for the life of me, I cannot tell you the answer. So the hubs and I discussed it at the dinner table last night. And he doesn’t know how I found out either. Did he call me? I don’t know. Did I see it on the internet? I don’t know.

But watching these images and hearing these stories has been like living it all over again. But the longer I’ve thought about it all, the more I realize that even though I knew it happened and was riveted to the tv and the news the way everybody else was, I am now wondering if I didn’t really take it all in like I thought I did.

And then I remember…this was the time we also found out Landon was a much sicker little boy than we had hoped at that time. I can’t even tell many details about the exact dates on those things either. It was all a blur.

I do remember still going to clinic and still seeing the faces of the parents and the kids…even as we stumbled through life after 9-11 in shock.

But seeing these things on tv and reading new info about the things that happened that day has stirred in me a new grief for people I never knew.

And a sadness for America…who she once was..who she should be.

*Both photos taken by me at Arlington National Cemetery.

it finally broke

It finally broke…the heat wave, that is. We had 60 something days over 100*.

That’s about 60 something too many!

I like summer and I really like warm weather, but that was stifling. We spent much of our summer indoors as it was just plain old sickening to be outside for any length of time.

As I write this, it’s still in the 60’s. We haven’t even SEEN the 60’s in several months….so let me just say Aaaaaaahhh! : )  I’m so thankful that maybe we are over the 100* stuff for the season.

But we really need rain. I am beginning to notice our troubles in the national media…we are having wildfires all over the place. It’s very bad. Several friends know people that have been touched by the fires. And they are still raging out of control.

Anyway, I’m enjoying it being just a little chilly in the house this morning. And the a/c not running continually for hours on end. So this is what quiet feels like. But as nice as this is, we are having wind and we need rain desperately, so please pray for our state.

pepper time

Today we decided to eat lunch at Chili’s.

After all it is September…which is Create a Pepper time for St. Jude’s!

We go every year. We never know what, if anything will be said to us. But we don’t do it for us. We do it for our little guy. It’s a sweet way to memorialize him.

And make a donation at the same time.

We feel like our peppers also raise awareness. Because kids from every community across America are touched by this, even though most people don’t realize it.

So we asked to color peppers. Our waiter brought out three for us and we got to work. After we completed our peppers, I took pictures of them with hubs’ iPhone. I had intended to take my camera, but forgot. I’ve never taken pictures of our creations, but thought it would be fun. So that’s what I did.

And then our waiter came and took them and walked away. This is the part where we never know what’s going to happen next. I couldn’t see anything because he walked away behind me. We continued on with our conversations etc, but hubs was watching. The waiter carried them under his arm..and then back to the back..and then back again..and then they changed hands. The next thing we knew, the manager came to our table. He had been wanting to meet us, as he’s been reading our peppers for a few years.

I was blown away.

He said our peppers were the only ones they kept last year and they are having one of them framed and hung by the entrance.

I was so humbled. I told him I appreciated his kindness and thanked him for his kind words.

We held it together but our girl was in tears after he walked away. We were just beyond words that our little story has touched so many in our Chili’s.