After we left the church, we headed to the house to swap cars (we took Kip's jeep since it is 4 wheel drive in case it snowed and we were stuck...good idea??) and get some last minute items. We had already packed the car the night before, but we had a few grocery items to put in the cooler. We headed for Chattanooga around 5:30-6:00ish. We made it to Chattanooga with hardly any traffic at all! When we got to the Holiday Inn Express in Chattanooga, we took our stuff up to the room, but I forgot to get our goody bag they packed for us at the reception, so we didn't get to eat any of that food....except the pasta salad! I LOVE pasta salad, so I brought a HUGE freezer bag full of it and ate it on the way. It was DE-LISH! We were both STARVING when we got to Chattanooga, so we started looking for a pizza place that would deliver to the hotel, but there weren't any that would!?!? So, we decided to go to Five Guys. We ordered and brought it back to the room. We ate then pretty much crashed...we were exhausted. We got up the next morning to head to Gatlinburg. We didn't make it to the free breakfast in time, so we decided to eat an early lunch-late breakfast....I guess you'd call it a brunch. We decided to stop at Cracker Barrell in Athens, TN--it was CROWDED!! It was a Sunday after all! After we ate, we headed for Gatlinburg. We had no idea where our cabin was...just had the GPS leading the way. When we got into Sevierville, the GPS told us to turn off the Parkway, so we followed it. It took us down some back road that was barely wide enough for us to get down (Boogertown Road) for about 10 miles, then it told us to turn on South Boogertown Road. So we turn....it told us to turn on Red Roof or something, but where it told us to turn was a wooded area. So we had to turn around...on a very narrow road...Kip had to basically back down a hill and try not to run off into this 8 foot drop off. We finally get turned around and I pull out the printed directions that the wonderful Mrs. Mary (Cabin Owner) gave us. It told us to turn onto King Branch Road....well about 5 miles before we turned onto South Boogertown, I remember seeing King Branch Road. So we went back to that road and turned. The directions on the paper were perfect. But...I should have read them first, because it said NOT to follow a GPS! My bad. So anyway--we finally make it to Sky Harbor area where our cabin is. The directions were giving me a headache, because it was turn right here, turn left here, go straight then turn, etc. The printed directions were pretty accurate with the GPS....until we got on Cedar Pass....the GPS told us to go to Balsam Circle. The printed directions told us to go Cedar Pass to Holly Pass. Kip wanted to follow the GPS even though I INSISTED we follow the printed directions. So Balsam Circle we go. BAD BAD BAD idea. Narrow Road...DEAD END!! He had to back up the road because there was no where to turn around. He had to fold his mirror in, so he wouldn't hit the side of the hill on his side. So I told him we might want to follow the directions on the paper from now on. He was griping and complaining and said we weren't leaving the cabin if we ever got there. Well we finally made it...3 from the last cabin in the whole little area. But it was beautiful!! We got the car unloaded, rested for a few minutes then we decided to try and find a way to Walmart. I knew there HAD to be a better way to get out of this place. And there was. If we would have stayed on the Parkway (if you know anything about Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, etc. you know it is the main road that goes from Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg), we would have turned JUST past the last light in Pigeon Forge. It took us 45 minutes to get from where we turned off the Parkway to our cabin the first time. It took about 15 minutes that time. SO MUCH EASIER...and SO RELIEVED. I love my hubby, but didn't want to be locked up in a cabin on the side of a mountain for 7 days! :)
So we went to Walmart and stocked up on groceries just in case it snowed...because there was no TRYING to get out of our cabin and up and down those hills if it snowed. We spend a good bit of money, but ate in the cabin for the majority of our meals, so I am sure that saved LOTS of money. On our way out of Walmart, this lady asked us if we were going to any shows....we said yes and she asked if we wanted some discount tickets....so off we went. Mistake #1.
She started asking us what shows we wanted to see..etc.etc.etc. So she told us we could go to the Lumberjack Feud Dinner Show and the Comedy Barn show for a total of $30.00. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTT?? That is savings of over $100.00....what's the catch?? HAHA! And that is exactly what Kip asked. Well...she was a lady from Windham. She said all we had to do was go sit through their 2 hour presentation and the tickets were ours. So....we decided WHY NOT? We get 2 shows for less than what 1 show would cost. What's 2 hours?? Well.....that was Mistake #2. HaHa! More on that in Day 2.
So we scheduled our time for 12:30 on Monday. What would 2 hours hurt??
So we headed back to the cabin...a MUCH smoother drive this time! We got all settled in and went to bed!
Our first day was an ADVENTURE! We were hoping that wasn't a sign as to how the rest of the trip would turn out.
Until Next Time,
