Honeymooning in Tennessee

In my last post I promised to give more information on the wedding and honeymoon. Since I do not yet have the photo cd from the wedding, I will instead fill you in on what we did last week on our honeymoon...

We left Monday after the wedding about 2 p.m. to start the journey to Pigeon Forge, TN where we had rented a cabin for the week. We made it into Kentucky and stopped to check the tire pressure (and for a bathroom break) and Scott noticed something in one of the front tires. It seemed to hold pressure well, so we decided to continue on our journey and have it repaired on Tuesday. Well, you were probably wondering what happened....We did make it all the way to our cabin (about 8pm) without any tire issues.

Now for those of you who have been to Pigeon Forge, you probably already know this, but let me tell you that there is a ton of JUNK there! There are also a variety of shows to take in, if that is your kinda thing. For Scott and I, this wasn't really something we wanted to see. I must say, that as we were driving through Severville and into Pigeon Forge, I was completely overwehelmed and had sensory overload from all of the lighted signs, go-cart tracks, and shops of anything and everything. I thought you might find this amusing:

We actually saw about 4 or 5 of these stores where you could purchase anything that is on a TV infomercial. We never did go into one of these stores, but we were very curious and have added that to our list of things to do the next time we are in Tennessee.

Now I mentioned earlier that we made it to our cabin safely. what I did not tell you is that we were staying on top of a mountain in Pigeon Forge! Literally!!! Each time we decided to go to the cabin, Scott had to put the truck in the lowest gears in order to climb the mountain. He also became very adept at driving the twists and curves up the mountain without any damage to the truck! There were a few really tight turns that we both gave thanks each time we made it safely through.

Anyway, I digress...Now on Tuesday, we woke up and since we didn't have anything for breakfast, we decided to dine at a local establishment (Flapjacks) that we learned was a small chain in the Pigeon Forge-Gatlinburg area.

After breakfast, we decided that the tire needed some attention so we found a local tire store and while they were working on the truck, we wandered over to the outlet mall and did some shopping. Scott found some great deals at the Hagger store and I got a few new pairs of shoes.

Once we had the truck back, we headed out to Gatlinburg to shop a bit more. We wandered in and out of several of the stores, but again we were overwhelmed by all of the "junk" that you could purchase. There were t-shirts, mugs, purses, etc. Most anything you might want, and all of it made in China. We did stop into one of the Old Time shops and had our picture taken. Neither one of us had ever done that, so it was fun!

We ended up doing some shopping at Wal-Mart to have groceries for the week so we didn't have to spend so much money or get up super early! We then headed back up the mountain to our cabin and enjoyed some time alternating between the hot tub and sauna.

Wednesday we spent the afternoon hiking the Chimney Tops Trail. This is one of the more difficult trails in the Smokey Mountains, and we soon found out why. A large portion of the hike you are going up pretty steep inclines and for those of us who were slightly out of shape, it was a challenge. I remember stopping several times to "look at that cool rock" to have a break and catch my breath. We did make it to the top and here are some of the magnificent views:

Let me just say, that it was all we could do to make dinner and eat before we both died for the night. I fell asleep right after dinner and then woke up and Scott was asleep! We both then climbed gingerly into bed and slept very, very hard!

I will post more about our vacation later!

Blythe