Mountain Folk

A few weeks ago, Derin and I escaped to the mountains for a mini-vacay to recharge and just spend some quality time together.  We threw around a ton of ideas on where to go and what to do, but in the end it came down to the time we could take and what we could afford.  I, personally, like vacations like my honeymoon, where relaxing and laying by the beach is my number one priority.  Derin, on the other hand, likes vacations where you can go and do and see.  I enjoy that too, but my feet don't thank me at the end of those types of vacations.  In fact, they scream at me...curse me...call me names.  I don't know where they learned that kind of  language...
Anyway...we drove into Tennessee on Sunday.  And, it welcomed us.

That evening our dear friends Tami and Bryan drove over from their little town of Morristown to come visit.  We grabbed a bite to eat, played around of putt-putt, ate some frozen yogurt until the employee gave us enough dirty looks to run us off, and ... in true "Rockstar" fashion...we laughed...and laughed...and laughed. 
I miss her. 

Monday we started at the aquarium...



Then we just moved on to walking the main strip in Gatlinburg and going into the little shops here and there when we decided we wanted to stop and browse. 

And then on Tuesday we went for a Helicopter ride and toured the Titanic.... no, not the one on the bottom of the Atlantic.  They created a museum with artifacts and pictures about the Titanic and about the people on the Titanic.  They recreated the Grand Staircase to scale...with all the specs of the original one.  Very pretty.  No cameras were allowed or I'd have a "Jack coming down the stairs..." picture of my husband..hehe.  When you entered they gave you a "boarding pass" with a name of an actual passenger and their story.  At the end, you learned if you survived...I did. 

It was too short, of course...but I'm glad we got to get away for a little while. 

She Dreams...

Of taking it on back to the tropics...

Have I said before my honeymoon was ah-maz-ing?  I have?  Oh, well let me say it again.  AH-MAZ-ING.  Right down to the fruity little drink they wrestled from my hand as I cried to my husband "I don't wanna go home!!"  Of course, we did go home, but I always daydream of going back.  Who wouldn't?

Top Five Reasons to go back:

1) Relaxation.  OMG.  You can lay by the beach, you can lay by the pool, you can lay on a raft in the pool, you can read, you can people watch.  What you don't have to do...is anything.  The most work I did on my honeymoon was stressing over the remote control that we dropped in the jacuzzi tub and how much THAT was going to cost us before we left.  It cost us nothing, by the way, they replaced it with a smile.

2) Unlimited food and drink.  Um, How do you say "Bring me another Pina Colada" in spanish?

3) A beach to die for. We live in North Carolina and in North Carolina the sand from the walkway to the compacted sand towards the water is hot. Like 3rd degree burns on your feet hot.  Ok, not that hot, but still...
On the first day when we got there we wanted to take a peek at the beach, so we head down there and are about to walk onto the sand from the walkway and I pause and look at Derin.  "I might have to bolt down to the water" I tell him, fearing for my precious little toes and their negative reaction to that hot sand.  But no, the sand was cool.  Beautifully white, and cool.  You could walk on it forever.

4) A bed from heaven.  King Tempurpedic.  I haven't slept that good since.

5)  Pure and unwavering attention from this guy.

    ignore the nerdy 'thumbs up'... he's cool, really ;)

No phones, no jobs, no dogs, no house to clean... just him and me.  Pure bliss. :)

I can't wait to spend another week with him in paradise.