10 Year Anniversary Getaway

I mentioned in an earlier post that Brian and I were away on our 10 year anniversary getaway.  We left the boys with my parents, and we headed to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, TN.  We left first thing Wednesday morning (the 30th). 
As soon ad we made it into town, we hit up the local Kroger for a few drinks and snacks to keep at the cabin.  Then, we freshened up and headed out to the Black Bear Jamboree Dinner & Show.  While this was a cute and entertaining show, it wasn’t nearly as fun as The Dixie Stampede that we saw at Myrtle Beach.  But – we opted out of seeing that one again since we’d already seen it.  The show was decent, but Brian found the food to be very disappointing.  I, myself, found it edible, but it wasn’t momma’s cooking for sure.  Once the show was over, we decided to head over to the Wonderworks Museum since it was next door.  Again, this was interesting, but it was NOT worth the $52 we paid to get into the place.  We enjoyed it, but we’ll skip it if we see it in other cities.  Then we headed back to the cabin for the evening.

This guy was the main character at the dinner & show.  He was funny and definitely a character. Wonderworks Museum Brian playing some game Brian laying on the bed of nails Oh, the drama…LOL! Brian’s arm after laying on the bed of nails

Thursday was our anniversary, and we decided to head into Gatlinburg.  We got up and ate breakfast at one of the NUMEROUS pancake joints.  Now, when I say numerous…I do mean numerous.  There must be a pancake house on every block.  It’s CUH-RAZEE!!!!  While the meal was good, we decided paying $30 for breakfast wasn’t going to happen every morning.  We then drove into Gatlinburg and found a place to park.  We walked to the Ober Gatlinburg aerial tram station and hopped aboard the next tram.  We took the aerial tramway up to Ober Gatlinburg.  Once there, we decided to enjoy the wildlife experience.  Brian had a good time watching the black bears…he was like a little kid in a candy store.  We then decided to take the scenic chairlift up to the top of Mt. Harrison.  Once at the top, we explored around a bit and headed back down.  After a bit of shopping, we were off to explore “the strip” in Gatlinburg.  We visited a few shops, and then we decided to eat at the Smoky Mountain Brewery.  The meal was tasty and worth the money.  Brian enjoyed his “brew”, too.  We strolled the strip for a little while longer and made a few more stops.  We visited the Hollywood Star Cars Museum, and Brian thoroughly enjoyed it.  Being a car enthusiast, he was in heaven.  After walking a little bit more, we decided to head back to the cabin.  Once we had taken a quick nap, we headed out for our anniversary dinner.  We chose to eat at The Chop House, and it was delicious.  Granted, we weren’t able to eat it all, so we took some of it back to the cabin for another time.

Heading up to Ober Gatlinburg One of the owls we saw Skunk…ewwwww Black bear

Otter Our view from the scenic chair lift heading up to Mt. Harrison Welcome to Mt. Harrison What a view… We could see all these peaks from Mt. Harrison The view from the chair lift going back down The cable system for the aerial tramway One of the trams Round house we saw from the tram Look at that foundation…crazy! Space Needle (we opted out of visiting) Brian in a HUGE chair The General Lee (I know you remember the Dukes of Hazard) Car from The Italian Job (one of Brian’s favorite movies) Back to the Future The Beverly Hillbillies 1977 Pontiac Trans Am Who You Gonna Call…GHOSTBUSTERS! This was Brian’s favorite car Jurassic Park (this was for Caleb)

Friday we got up and headed to Dollywood.  We stopped at Burger King first, and were pleased with our $2.44 breakfast.  LOL!  We were very surprised that Dollywood wasn’t crowded AT ALL.  We didn’t have to wait to get in, and most of the rides had short lines as well.  I think the longest we waited was 15 minutes…totally different than Disney.  It was so nice being able to enjoy the rides without the kiddos though…we don’t get to do that too much with the boys in tow.  We just took our time and enjoyed the park.  We enjoyed a sit down lunch at the Backstage Cafe, and it was nice to get out of the heat for a bit.  After lunch we enjoyed  a few more rides and called it a day.  We headed back to the cabin for a quick nap.  Then, we headed to Cades Cove.  The manager of the nearby Kroger (our Starbucks of choice) had told us to head there around dusk because we’d have a better chance of seeing the wildlife.  It was a really nice experience, and we did see some wildlife (wild turkeys and an abundance of deer).  However, we were disappointed that there were no bears to be seen.  Oh well, maybe next time.  Once we had driven the loop, we headed back to the cabin.

***I didn’t take the camera into Dollywood so there are no pictures of our fun there.***

Wild turkey Another shot of the wild turkey View of the Great Smoky Mountains Deer

One of the buildings we saw along the way The sunset over Cades Cove Another building

Saturday we packed up and headed back to reality.  We thoroughly enjoyed our getaway, and we had an awesome time.  However, we missed our boys, too.  We were ecstatic to be welcomed home by them Saturday afternoon. 

***As a sidenote, I want to wish Caleb a HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY!  You are a wonderful blessing and gift from God.  We are so thankful for you, and we love you so very much!  Happy Birthday big guy!***