Sunday, November 30, 2008

Smokey Mountain High

For the first time in 39 years, George and I went away together ALONE for a week. We did not take any children, grandchildren, friends or pets with us. This wonderful opportunity was a gift from my parents who own a time share in Gatlinburg Tennessee. They are no longer well enough to make the trip, so they let us go.


At first I was worried about what we would talk about and do with so much free time, but it turned out to be great fun and very relaxing.

We slept until 10, each read an entire book, worked two 500 piece puzzles, watched movies, sat in the outside hot tub in 35 degree weather, soaked in the inside tub, ate Krispy Kreem and other assorted junk food, and slept some more.
We also managed to go on an outing everyday too. Here are some of our side trips.


Oh Yeah, Polish sausage and watching all the people go by in downtown Gatlinburg. What could be better?









How about the Forbidden Caverns? An Indian princess once got lost in the caves and was never found. After that, the Indians were "forbidden" to go there.








Melting and dripping. George, don't forget to watch your head. George, watch out!

Yep, George banged his head and smashed his shoulder into a formation. No blood though.







After the Indians left, the bootleggers used the caverns to make whiskey and the old stills were left behind 300 ft. below the surface.




The next day, I picked a real live magic show and I was not disappointed. We saw the floating lady, metamorphosis, great slight of hand and lots more. It was two hours long and the last act was an empty cage that was suddenly filled with a 500 pound white tiger. Awesome!

We went to Dollywood on Wednesday and saw two wonderful shows, Smokey Mountain Christmas and Babes in Toyland. We ate at Aunt Granny's. Strange name and the food was not near as good as my granny's or my aunt's. George spent the whole time looking for Dolly Parton but had no luck finding her.

We stayed in our apartment on Thanksgiving Day and I cooked a small turkey and heated up Bob Evans sides. George said, "It sure is quiet" so we called home and asked the kids to put the phone on speaker and sit it in the middle of the table so we could hear all the noise and fun that we were missing. (Seriously, it was just George...I wasn't missing a thing!)