Myrtle Beach of the Smokies

We had a great week away! My Mom, Dad, Grandmama, Amy, me, Danny, Ty and Katie all braved the wilderness and survived. We have very few pictures to show for the trip, but then again, we did very few things! First, I have to say that while I enjoyed the trip I will be ok if I never go back to Gatlinburg....maybe one trip back to Pigeon Forge when the kids are both old enough to operate their own go cart and eat $35.99 worth of food at the Dixie Stampede! We went to the aquarium in Gatlinburg and had a great time. They have a tunnel with a moving side walk through the shark tank! That was the high light of the trip for everyone there!! (of course, no pics). I do have a cute pic of Ty and Katie from another camera that I will upload later.

Amy, Danny and I walked the Gatlinburg strip one afternoon and made our way up to Ober Gatlinburg. Ski ball was the highlight of that trip with the aerial tram ride coming in a close second. We got to see 3 houses worth the trivia of seeing...a life size-exact replica of a Barbie Dream House, a house owned by Delta in which part of the roof is made from 4 airplane wings and a house owned by one of the famous doughnut companies (Dunkin, KK..can't remember) which has only 6 inches of the house on the ground and the other part is supported by stilts.

After Ober Gatlinburg we made our way to a Mexican restaurant right on the river and watched the people while drinking margaritas. Great times!!! Gatlinburg is the Myrtle Beach of the Smokies; however, substitute "pancake houses" instead of "calabash seafood buffets". Enough said. I was overdressed because I showered, my clothes covered all body parts appropriately and were not airbrushed. I had two favorite shirts from the trip that I could have purchased at one of the many fine establishments on the strip of Gatlinburg:
1) "I Love this Crazy Place" or equally fun "I Love my Crazy Husband" (black shirt with neon lettering)
2) A white tee shirt with the airbrushed picture of the sunset over the horizon bleeding up into a rebel flag and personalized with "Sara~Gatlinburg 2009"

We then moved to a different cabin (Dad's work's cabin which is basically free but is only rented Mon-Thurs). It was in Cosby, TN which is 16 miles from Gatlinburg, but remember "mountain miles" are different than "highway miles". We had to pass by many residents that made us happy to lock the gate at the end of the hill each night. We often quoted the famous saying..."Paddle faster, I hear banjo music". We did nothing here but build campfires, roast marshmallows, look at the view, play Wii, read, etc. We did drive one day into the National Forest and this is the picture Danny took. Katie obviously did not want her picture taken.

Danny took this picture because he hiked the Mount Katahdin trail to the top with ZK and their Dads. ZK, this picture is for you!