I just noticed this will be my 50
th post. Really? Wow. I had no idea.
Since I love lists and breaking things down, this is how I will attempt to explain the last week or so. Let's face it; you should be used to it by now! :)
Monday- work then home to pack and clean and work on the mounting stack of laundry. (
Side note: it's totally not fair that men can pack one tiny bag to last a week when a girl has to pack three bags). Brad packed his things up and I tried packing my clothes, bathroom necessities, shoes, coat, blanket, pillow, medicine, snacks, drinks, etc... Some days I think it would be nicer being a guy. It was a late night for me, but I was still excited!
Tuesday- more work then rushing home to finish packing the last few things for the trip. Brad and I loaded the truck and headed out. He wasn't feeling too well (darn
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever) so I wasn't sure how far we would make it. The weather wasn't cooperating with us. It rained on and off almost the whole way. We made a stop at a really nice gas station (seriously, it was like a high end gas station- who knew they existed?) that just happened to have a
Dunkin Donuts. Brad ordered plain black (yuck) and I ordered their white hot chocolate. Just for the record, I will never again order that from there. I order it at the local coffee shop and sometimes at Starbucks, but not DD. Not anymore. After our caffeine fix we were back on the road. We had planned on driving past Nashville to Lebanon (which is right past Nashville), but we made it to
Cookeville which is about half way between Nash and Knox. which is really close to
Sevierville and Pigeon Forge! We crashed in our room for the night and woke up Wednesday morning bright and early.
Wednesday- we just happened to pick a motel that was right across from
Cracker Barrel (accident? I think not); had a great big breakfast and we went back on the road. We made it to
Sevierville (
Bass Pro Shop) right after they opened and almost no shoppers inside. Of course, it was early Wednesday morning so why would a lot of people be shopping? Brad found a few things and I ended up with a brown Columbia fleece jacket. I can't wait to wear it. We left there (after what seemed like an eternity) to go to...
Smoky Mountain Knife Works. For those of you that don't know... it's a huge, huge, huge building filled with knives and manly things. Luckily, they've added a ladies part that has things for the home, kitchen/food, and odds and ends to keep you occupied while your husband is off spending a large amount of time drooling over knives. Surprisingly, he didn't buy anything- he found several things though; so did I! After Bass Pro and
SMKW (both manly stores), we went to
Tanger!! Yippee for me! We parked and started walking. Both of us ended up with a couple of bags and tired feet! We stopped at
Corky's for a quick meal and then headed to
Maggie Valley (
MV) (and
this). I don't think it's that many miles, but it took two hours to get there- winding up and around mountains and curves. We quickly checked in and unloaded.
Thursday- Brad's favorite
MV restaurant is closed on Thursdays so we found a place to eat called "Country Vittles". It was really good and I was stuffed. We left there and drove to
Bryson City where we boarded a
train! We took a tour from
Bryson City to
Dillsboro through the mountains. It was so pretty! We passed the spot where "The Fugitive" was filmed when Harrison Ford's prison bus collides with a train. I have pictures! We had a 90 minute layover in
Dillsboro so Brad and I walked around and ended up at a cute little
dog bakery! We told the owner about Amos and he gave us a free dog treat- a huge peanut butter bone dipped in
doggie safe chocolate and covered in sprinkles. How sweet! We walked in and around a few more stores, stopped for lemonade and a homemade pretzel then loaded the train again. On our way back to Maggie from
Bryson City, we stopped at a gas station so Brad could get something to drink. He found a "
Cheerwine"-- apparently another favorite thing of his. It tasted almost like a cherry Dr. Pepper to me; I wouldn't want to drink a lot of it- too sweet. Next stop was in
Cherokee and we shopped and got plenty of
fudge for the trip back up the mountain. We then stopped in Waterrock Knob. It's an area where you can pull off the main road and have a great 360 degree view of the mountains. It wasn't crowded at all so we had room to move and look and take pictures. They even have a trail where you can walk up the mountain to the top to get a better view. There's a small area at 0.2 mile marker then the big one is 0.5 miles away from the parking lot. We thought we'd go all the way to the top, but that didn't happen. First, I think I had some sort of asthma attack (I need to look into that). I finally got that over with and then we see a SNAKE slithering it's scary little self around the path. There was NO WAY I was climbing the rest of the way after seeing that. I think Brad got mad (ok, I know he did), but I didn't care. He could go without me-- I was going back down! He ended up coming down with me and I really hate we missed the great lookout point, but that think freaked me out!!! We walked around the nice paved area and then drove back. We made it back to Maggie in time to eat at Brad's favorite dinner restaurant-
J. Arthur's. We stuffed ourselves with cheese sticks, bread, salad, steaks and turtle pie. My "well done" steak was still bleeding so luckily I didn't have to eat it and ordered dessert. Why didn't I send it back? Because I was full and I knew Brad would eat it later. Y'all, that turtle pie was SO stinking good. It would have been better if I wasn't so full, but Brad and I split it. I should have taken a picture... One night we went to a miniature golf place and I'm pretty sure it was Thursday night OR Friday night. Either way, I ended up winning! I'm still not sure how that happened seeing as I haven't played putt-putt since Brad and I played together in Panama City in 2002!! For my prize I got a
Nehi peach drink. I LOVE peach drinks, but Stewart's stopped selling them. I found this one at the golf place and had to have one. It was yummy (when I drank it the next day!)
Friday- Brad and I went to
Joey's Pancake House for breakfast. This was Brad's favorite place to eat when he was younger and would go to
MV every year. I'll admit, it was pretty darn good (and super fast too). We had the best service we've ever had at a restaurant- super friendly and helpful. I ordered pecan pancakes and cleaned my plate. I won't even go into telling what all Brad had!! Afterwards, we braved
Ghost Town. It's an amusement park
on top of a mountain. The only way to get there is to ride a chair lift
up a mountain. I've been on the chairlift in
Gatlinburg; it was the baby version compared to this one. It looks like you go straight up...
and you pretty much do! I was a baby and kept my eyes closed most of the time with my hand firmly squeezing Brad's leg and threatening him if he talked about how high up we were or giving me any details. I have a few pictures of that too! Brad rode the
roller coaster that
goes out over the mountain (the cliff hanger coaster) and we walked around the "ghost town" and saw a gun shoot-out and a bluegrass band perform. We also rode the scenic train around the "town". Brad used to go to Ghost Town every year as a child, so it was nice for him to be able to go back there and enjoy it like he was a kid again! We acted like kids most of the time we were gone! Ha! After riding the chair lift
back down the mountain we went to a few of the local shops before going to eat Mexican for supper. It was delicious and hit the spot!
Saturday- We went back to Joey's for breakfast. This time I had regular pancakes. Still yummy. And Brad? Well, he's a growing boy. Ha!! The weather was raining and foggy so we decided to get off the mountain and go back to Pigeon Forge. We went back to Bass Pro and
SMKW for Brad to pick up the things he was drooling and eyeing for the first time we were there. Then, my darling, sweet husband took me back to
Tanger! I ran back into a few stores I had found things in and ended up with another bag and a nativity scene. We also went to another store I was dying to go into and then we went to eat at an Italian place. It was expensive, had bad service, and the food wasn't worth it if you ask me. We drove back to
MV and headed to bed.
Sunday- we packed up and then headed to Joey's. I won't even
embarrass myself any further on food. After that we were headed back home. We made a stop in Cherokee to restock on fudge and taffy (that mostly Brad ate). Back on the road...we made good timing despite a wrong turn or two (we were trying a new route). We stopped outside of Huntsville and ate then drove on get Amos. He was pouting at first, but then he was so happy for us to be home and for him to be home. He was spoiled Sunday night! I worked on laundry (
Side note: how much laundry can two people create in 5 days plus new clothes they bought?? 8 loads) and unpacking then I rested.
Monday- Brad had to work (I didn't... thank you Mr. Columbus!) so I had to wake up to wake him up! He was off to work and I was busy spoiling Amos, doing laundry, working around the house, making a grocery list, and trying to catch up on my
DVR'd shows. I went to the grocery store then home to unload, pick up Amos, and head to mom and dad's. It was nice to go home and visit (and eat grilled burgers) and see Chloe (and the rest of the family). She was excited to hear about the train ride and even more excited to get her happy I bought her from Ghost Town. It was a horse (her favorite thing at the moment) and a t-shirt with horses on it. I also brought taffy and fudge for the family. I got to visit with them then it was back home. One of the things Brad bought from Bass Pro was a jerky gun (similar to
this) so he made deer jerky last night while I got to catch up on
tv,
internet, and rest. He's so sweet. Afterwards, he grabbed the remote and turned on football. I went to bed! HA!
Tuesday-next month- I'll spend this time catching up after being off work for so long.
I tried to link to all of the places and things I wrote about. If I skipped something, let me know! I'll try to post pictures tonight.
The Dog Bakery!
See?! 
Out over the side of the mountain!
After the party I took every ounce of energy I had and convinced myself I had to go to Kirkland's (again). This time I noticed a piece of furniture I've never noticed before and I had to have it (not to be confused with "I wanted to have it"). I had to. Then, silly me, went to 
She was thrilled! Courtney turned 27 yesterday and Chloe will be 4 Tuesday. Mother was a doll and cooked dressing, peas, mashed potatoes and rolls. I stuffed myself, then had cake! Chloe was delirious from skipping 
