Trip to Gatlinburg and "Knoxvegas"

Woohoo!!! Our Vols finally won an SEC game. Sad isn't it? Luckily, Erik and I, along with Justin and Amanda Hanson, were there to share in their victory and had a blast! I was hoping that since it was their first Neyland Stadium experience, the Vols would pull a win, and boy did they! Thanks to J.T. Thibado for getting us in the student section where all of the action was. Although the temperature was in the 30s, we managed to keep warm by participating in all of the cheering going on around us. It's never too cold for Tennessee football!

On Thursday, we headed out toward East Tennessee, our favorite place of all, and arrived at our chalet outside of Pigeon Forge around 4:30. Erik and I have stayed at this chalet for the past 6 years. We love it! Its at the top of the mountain, and when I say "top," I mean TOP!...enough to make me queasy on the way up with all of those twists and turns. The view is well worth it.




On Friday, we got an early start so that we could get an early breakfast at one of our favorite places in Gatlinburg, Parkway Pancakes, only to find that it is now Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. What a bummer! So, we settled for "Flap Jacks" instead and headed toward Cades Cove, another tradition on our yearly Gatlinburg trips. It was misting rain all day, and the clouds were low, so I wasn't able to get the pictures I wanted to take. We were hoping to see a few bears, but turns out that the only bears around were "miles back." We saw a man who had walked back to get a few pictures, but I for one wasn't walking a mile in the woods to find a bear. The only bear I want to see is from my car! The deer were out in full force, and we managed to see a beautiful buck, and a few turkeys. After heading back to Gatlinburg for dinner, we went back to the chalet for a scenic view from the hot tub, before doing some shopping in Sevierville.







Saturday morning, we got another early start and headed to Ober on the tram. We road the skylift to the top of Mt. Harrison and it must have been 30 degrees at the top! Again the clouds were low, so no good pictures. I applaud Justin for riding the skylift to the top and conquering his fear of heights!!! YAY! We then went back to the chalet for a quick change before heading to Knoxville for a little Volunteer fun, enjoying the Vol Walk and a trip to the bookstore, always my favorite!





We headed back around 8:30 this morning and are finally home, and believe me, none of us were ready to come home! Amanda made the comment to Erik that he could just turn around at any point and go back-hehe!! I guess thats life, huh?