Vacation
Ah, it was nice to get away. On Saturday night I was bemoaning the fact that we would be leaving the next day. (I was bemoaning this from the hot tub on the deck of our cabin overlooking the Smoky Mountains, while a mild thunderstorm began to roll in - with non-threatening lightning and a gentle, but steady, breeze.) *sigh* You’d bemoan too.
But let’s talk about the highlights, shall we? 
Early in our trip, I bought a Samurai sword at the Smoky Mountain Knife Works (for display only!). The guy selling it warned me that the blades on the cheaper ones (ones that aren’t folded steel with the blade going the full length of the handle) have a tendancy to “fall out”. One guy bought one, took it home, started swinging it around, and inadvertantly flung it into his car door - about a foot away from his wife. YIKES! So, no playing with it when you come to visit. Pick it up, look it over, but for heaven’s sake, DON’T SWING IT!
The cabin was lovely - once you found it. So many turns, so dark at night… 
It was also a bit loud downstairs at night, but (a big plus) there were plenty of bathrooms so everyone was able to get ready alright in the mornings. There was much pool and air hockey and foosball and eating of Sarah’s Fast Breaks.
Which reminds me! Pigeon Forge (which is where our cabin was, technically) has about a million outlet stores: Old Navy, Pfaltzgraf, Carter’s, Big Dog (gag me), Lodge Cast Iron Cookware (WOOHOO!), and they also have a Russell Stover outlet. Mmmm… This time of year they’re well stocked with “old freakin’ easter candy” and even older freakin’ Valentine’s Day candy. I bought some of the latter: a large heart box of assorted chocolates (only a few days expired ) for $1.25. 
I also found (love of my life) AN ENTIRE BOX of Molasses Chews!!!! *drools* hee hee hee Mine.
Anyway, where was I? Oh! Ah, the best part of the trip was not the food (though, as always, the Pancake Pantry (with their Sugar ‘n Spice pancakes) and the Applewood (with their Apple Fritters and Apple Julep) were *Mr. Burn’s voice* EXCELLENT). The best part was …the outdoors!
Brian collected all the digital photos from the many many many many cameras that were with us on the trip, in order to compile them on disks for everybody. I thought it would be interesting to see what everybody took pictures of and how they took them, and then I thought, “Dang, I’m gonna have a lot of nature shots and very few with people in them.” lol And it’s true! Not because I don’t like people or something; I guess it’s just because I’ve SEEN all of THEM before! It was the OTHER stuff I needed pictures of to remember! And man was there opportunity.
On Friday, we went to Ober Gatlinburg (which we call “Uber Gatlinburg” - for obviously sarcastic reasons). The tram ride up made for spectacular views of the valley where Gatlinburg lies, and our tram operator was a hoot. lol While we were at the top, most of us took the additional ride up to the top of the highest peak there to catch a glipse of the awesome panoramic mountain view. Wow. We also took our turns on the Alpine Slide and the Go-Karts (with much laughter ensuing from both), before hitting the Black Bear Habitat (the only bears I saw while in the Smokies) and heading back down. (Of note: wouldn’t recommend the food in Ober Gatlinburg - at least, not at the snack bar. My chicken smelled and tasted like salmon, and Keith’s hot dog smelled like a cheap balloon. They also tried to charge us for our meals and the person’s meal that ordered ahead of us: a mess that got straightened out without TOO much fuss.)
Anyway, after Uber Galinburg, we went hiking in the Smoky Mountains National Park. (We saw a wild turkey on our way in! Yea, wildlife!) We hiked up to Laurel Falls - where two big things happened (one obviously bigger than the other): I fell, jammed my shoulder, and landed in a puddle, thankfully, rather than at the bottom of the waterfall, and MY BROTHER GOT ENGAGED!!! Yikes, I feel old. But I like Michelle, and it was very sweet and picturesque, and paparazzi-like with the eight million cameras up there. lol I took photos all the way up as well as at the top of the 1.3 mile hike (one way up a mountainside - my calves only stopped hurting yesterday).
We also went to Cades Cove (on Saturday), and though the skies were gray and threatening rain most of the time, it was still neat. It’s a peaceful valley hidden away in the folds of the mountains with tall fescue (prairie grasses) rippling in the breeze. As you drive along the one-way motor trail, you can pull off here and there to take in views or to visit any number of old cabins, churches, or (most convenient) the Visitor’s Center (which has a pretty neat grist mill right there with it). I found an awesome CD at the Visitor’s Center (one my dad bought last year and we’ve all decided we need); it’s instrumental music (lots of guitar and piano) with background “noise” - if you honestly want to call it that - that’s actual recordings from inside the park, so you hear birds, insects, wolves, mountain streams, and even thunderstorms and rainfall. It’s quite relaxing. And it would have been nice to be able to spend more time in Cades Cove, or even in the park in general. Next year, I think we need to set aside two weeks for the vacation and/or spend it all in the park: hiking, exploring, enjoying… *sigh* It’s lovely.
I got to go horseback riding while we were there, which was… awesome. (I use that word a lot, don’t I?) It was a bit muddy, but it was a cool day and my horse had personality. His name was Easy, and he thought he should be the leader - or at least be in front of the horse in front of me. He kept trying to trot on ahead (which got me a holler from the guide, “Don’t let ‘em trot!” (As if I’d told him to.) ) We saw a few deer along the trail, and still a few more later on on the motor trail. (They were all female; wonder where the males were…) 
There were a few things we had planned that we just didn’t get to do: “the ever-elusive Hillbilly Golf” as Mom called it and Ripley’s Aquarium (don’t laugh, it’s pretty impressive - some people went, but I wasn’t one of them). But that’s okay. It gives us reason to go back again. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing what the Smokies look like in the autumn…