"Back from Vacation...what a week!!!"
Well I'm finally back from a well deserved vacation! Amy is apart of an e-mail "Mommy" loop that decided to get together and meet for the first time in Pigeon Forge TN. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about the trip at first. It's too bad that these are the times we live in and can't really trust anyone to save our lives anymore...not at least until we get to know them a litte. Anyway, I went along with the family to have a restful vacaction but to also make sure that nothing bad happend to them. Monday morning packed everything it seemed but the damn kitchen sink. We finally hit the road around noon on our journey to Pigeon Forge. The travel time was around 4 hours and we had to make a few stops for smoke breaks and to let the boys stretch their legs. My mom bought us a dvd player for the car so this really helped in keeping the boys entertained throughout the road trip. We drove right past Tululah and Toccoa falls...damn it was killing me. It's nice to know that they're only about 2hrs away so on my next vacation in September I know what I'm doing. Should make for a nice day trip. We drove through a part of North Carolina for all of about 15 minutes and then we were in the mountains of TN, the Smokies to be more exact. My God it was beautiful. My poor car...the mountains almost claimed it. The inclines were insane and the declines were even worse! Anytime you see a sign for run-a-way truck ramps you know you're in for it. We began to make our way up and up and up steaper into the mountains. I can't explain how beautiful and breath taking the view was...simply amazing. I knew that once we got settled in I'd have to make a day trip back to the peak to take some pictures. Finally with all of our nerves shot to hell we finally made it to Pigeon Forge. The best way for me to describe it if ya never have been there is pretty much Las Vagas in the south. It's one big strip of fun things to do. We saw biker's everywhere! We finally found our cabin and let me tell ya...are trip up the mountain was far from over. We stayed at the "Black Bear Resort" which was about 2000 feet up in the damn air. I honestly thought our car was going to flip over the incline was so steep. We finally arrived to our destination and unpacked our car. I know the boys were happy to get out. We were sharing the cabin with four other couples and their children. It was kinda like an episode of the "Real World" when we entered the cabin. "Hello...Helloooooo...hello?" We saw three of the husbands sitting in the livingroom watching t.v. so we introduced ourselves. Finally some of the wives came upstairs to greet and welcome us. This cabin was the shit!!! It had three levels each one having it's own hot tub out on the deck...yeah, 3 decks! The top level housed two bunk beds, the middle was the living room, kitchen and dining room. The next level housed two more bunk beds with two double beds, a bathroom and a laundry room. The very bottom level had a pool and air hockey table, sofa's (hide-a-way bed) and a t.v. I loved the layout of the place. We had the master room on the second level to ourselves. Amy explained how private a person I was and they gave it to us and the boys. The first night we all just decided to go out to eat as it was getting late and the kids needed to eat. We went to a BB-Q joint down the strip and chowed down! At this point we were only missing one more couple from Florida. They'd be in the next night as they were trying to mount a rack to the top of their car. The next day we all hung out and made a grocery/beer run. We decided that each family would cook one night of the week. I had the first night along with Jenny from Cincinatti OH. I made my famous spaghetti and she made a baked spaghetti of sorts. Let's just say that there was plenty of her's left for lunch the next day...not the case for mine, alllllllll gone! (hee-hee) That day Amy and I paired up with her friend Alana, the local and took to the mountain. Eventually she pulled over and let me drive her van as the road was getting pretty steep and it was beginning to drizzle. I drove about half way up stopping periodcally for some snaps. I got some great shot's of the valley and other mountains in the area. We made our way back down and bumped into another family staying with us (Broggy and fam/St.Louis MS) We hung out for a minute or two and took some snaps and then drove down together. When we got back to the cabin I went down into the game room and played some pool. Broogy's daughter, Brooke decided to play me so we played a few rounds. I taught her a thing or two about pool and came up with the term, "street rules" to accomdate a few of her shot's. C'mon now, I'm not going to totally beat a 10 yr old. Later that night Broggy and her husband Randy were on the dinner rotation. They made taco's, home made salsa and gaucomole! This was the best salso I'd ever had...now I have to try and make it myself. I had about 4 soft shelled taco's that night. The next day week kinda took it easy, not too much going on really. We ventured out onto the strip and kinda just bummed around. That night was Sara's night to cook. She made a country fried steak of sorts with all the fixings...damn it was good. After we put the kiddo's to bed that night the drinking began. If ya know me then you know that I'm a lightweight and am drunk after merely 3 beers. So after my 5th you can only imagine my state of mind. We had a blast and really bonded as a group which was nice because two of the family's kinda seperated themselves from the group for a while. Leave it to alcohol and good food to bring people together. The next day would be our last as Amy and I really wanted to visit my sister and her newborn. That night Amy and I took turns with Alana and Randy playing each other in Backgammon...it was great! Around 3am we all pretty much turned in for the night. On our last day we all went to a pizza buffet and ate lunch. It was a good place to go because it had games and indoor golf for the kiddo's. We ate and said our goodbyes and took some last minute pictures. It was sad but we had such a great time and made some really good friends. We finally hit the road again and left for my sisters place in Clarkesville TN. Little did I know that it was completly across the state and took us another 4hrs to drive. My mother flew up at the beginning of the week to see her and then new baby so I really couldn't wait to see my family. It's rare that we're all in the same place together. We finally made it around 10pm and got settled in. I honestly thought my new neice was a baby doll laying on the sofa in the livingroom. Whew, glad I didn't toss her in wanting to sit down...dodged a bullet let me tell ya! My mother had been grilling all day so we ate really good. Colin, my sisters husband blew up and air mattress for Amy and I and we turned in for the evening. The next day Adrienne, my sister made hotel reservations for us at the local Day's Inn. She has a small townhouse and it was ridiculous to pay full price to have us stay the night before for only 5hrs or so. We checked into the hotel around 1pm and took showers and fed the boys. Later Broogy and her family met us on their way back home to St.Louis to return my medicine that I had left in the cabin. Thank God Clarkeville was on their way home plus it was nice to see them one more time. We said our good bye's once more and we went our seperate ways. We've come to the conclusion that we may visit them in the fall on my next vacation...never been to St.Louis before! We went back over to my sisters and just hungout most of the day. My mom grilled more food so we ate well again. Colin burned us some movies to take back home with us which will come in handy...gotta love Sesame Street! We were tired so around 9pm we went back to the hotel to get some sleep. The next morning we packed up our stuff and hit the road. We stopped at my sisters place one last time. She made us a plate of food to take back home with us and gave me a "Father's Day" card. Afterwhich we hit the road for the trip back home. About 5hrs later we crossed the state line...Georgia at last! We made our way back to Snellville and home sweet home! Don't get me wrong...the vacation was well needed and deserved but it was nice to finally sleep in my own bed. I'll have some pic's posted to my "DropShots" gallery shortly as I haven't quite figured out how to post a cut on my LJ. Until then, I hope this wasn't too terribly long...I tried to keep it as short as possible without leaving out too much. Take care all...it's my "Daddy Day" and I'm off to play with my boys!