02 jun to 04 jun: vacation

we were pretty tired by the time that we left the smokey mountains. in fact, the trip from the mountains back to lou's house is when i spent the most time asleep in the car. i couldn't keep my eyes open. when we got back that night, we stayed in with cyle and watched movies. wednesday and thursday we did much of the same. living with my family, we're not used to having any time to ourselves. (don't get me wrong. we appreciate all that our families do for us, and enjoy being around them, but their households are much louder than mine and travis's apartment ever was). it was nice to just relax in a quiet environment. we drove around and explored the town of oak ridge. one day we went to the bookstore, and i found a new series to read: hester browne's little lady agency series. it's definitely a guilty pleasure, and i enjoyed every moment of it.

the bookstore didn't have the first book in the series, so i started off with the second.

travis made fun of me because i read the book in about a day. i have always loved to read and it has been quite some time since i've really sat down and read anything that i really enjoy reading. when we got home from vacation, we immediately went and bought the first one

our bookstore didn't have the third book when we purchased this one, so travis ordered it for me on amazon. i blew through the first one, so i started on the second one again while waiting for the third one to arrive. when the third (and final, i think) book of the series came in, i didn't read it as quickly just because i knew when i was finished with it, i would have nothing else ... which is actually probably a good thing. when i have books like that, all i want to do is read them. i can't wait to find out what happens, and i feel like i am hanging out with old friends. now that i have finished all of the novels, i am getting more work finished again!

02 jun: day 03 of our vacation: the smokey mountains.

on tuesday we woke up, checked out of the hotel, and began heading east again. our plan was to walk some of the trails in the smokey mountains and visit some of the preserved cabins from the original settlers. there is also a large creek that travis and his family have pictures in, and dee wanted to make sure that we took pictures with me there as well. this is what our drive looked like as we headed further into the mountains.the picture below is a little blurry because i snapped it as we were driving by

we got to a lookout point and tried to get a few pictures of ourselves with the view in the background ... it's awfully hard to play the role of subject and photographer! travis did a great job.

in one of the books at the hotel, i had read about the history of gatlinburg and several of the local attractions. one of the trails mentioned was grotto falls. the trail is supposed to bring you up behind a waterfall. the next few pictures are the beginning of our trek.

the area was very beautiful. it was warm, but not overly hot because of all the shade from the trees. the area by the creek felt even cooler.

alas, we didn't make it to grotto falls. it was almost a three mile walk, i was in flip flops, and honestly, we are out of shape. we still had the cabins that we wanted to visit, so we headed back before finishing the trail.

01 jun: day 03 of our vacation: gatlinburg two.

after the aquarium, we decided to go ahead and check into a hotel for the night. travis had never done much in gatlinburg except for the aquarium, so we decided to do some exploring. the camera was almost dead from all the pictures we had taken, so i was glad to go somewhere to charge it for a while. we had considered camping but had been unsuccessful at locating campgrounds, so we hadn't even packed to stay overnight.

the hotel we went to was a lot of fun. it was located on the side of the mountain, and we had an incredible view. the next two pictures are our view from the parking lot. this is the hotel we stayed in. it was really pretty on the inside with rich paneling and beautiful carpets. we were on the 10th floor.
this is the view when we walked into our room. i loved the huge windows and the balcony.


the next three pictures are looking from our room back down the mountain into gatlinburg.


after we rested and the camera had a full charge, we headed back down the mountain, this time taking the local trolley. there was a sky tram that would take you to the top of one of the mountains, and we decided that would be our next adventure.
the picture below is a view of our hotel (see it there on the middle of the mountainside) as we traveled up another mountain on the tram.

i took so many pictures on our way up the mountain, but i'll just post two more. i was disappointed that i didn't get pictures of the "delta house," owned by delta airlines. the roof is made out of two airplane wings. there was also an exact replica of the "barbie dreamhouse mansion." at the top of the mountain there were sky lifts, an indoor rink, and a bear habitat. of course, it was too warm for snow, so we just walked around the indoor skating rink and checked out the gift shop. we had to catch the tram down because there was only one left ... and if you don't make it on the last tram you have to walk down the mountain ... not an easy or short task.


these next few pictures are some of the sights around town.

we're looking straight into the sun, but i still like this picture of us. it was toward the end of the day and we were exhausted from walking around all day. we were just ready to get to the hotel, but we had to wait for the trolley.

by the trolley stop there was the original cabin of the first settler to gatlinburg. it wasn't open at the time, so we couldn't go in, but it was built by a man (whose name i've forgotten). he had written his wife all about the land of opportunity and paradise and had told her that he was going to come and get her and their four sons. he died before he was unable to, however, and she managed to make her way across the uncut mountains two years after his death, and find the cabin, just using directions he had given her in letters. there was some pretty interesting stories about the town.

once we caught the trolley, we went back to our room, freshened up a bit, and headed downstairs to feed our starving tummies. we had eaten earlier in the day at the pancake pantry and then we had snacked on "fair" food while we walked around, but we hadn't done much snacking, and we had done a lot of walking. when we got to the restaurant we decided pizza sounded better, so we called room service and had them deliver a pizza to us in the bar area. the bar area reminded me of a grand house, where a weathly old man would smoke his pipe and read his leather-bound books. there was a pool table, and travis was starting to have withdrawals so we ordered drinks and played a game while we waited for our pizza. i really wanted chocolate cake ... but unfortunately they didn't have any that we could order.

we didn't do much after that. when we came back to the room travis tried to get a good shot from the balcony looking back into town, and then we called it a night.