Mini-vacation: Gatlinburg

I told myself that if I actually put away our stuff from the weekend's trip, I could post in my journal as a reward. This was a really, really crappy way to motivate myself, actually, because if I didn't post here right now then I would have just done it tonight, but it worked anyway because I have been sitting in the car for four hours today (I actually wrote "years" on accident instead of "hours", I guess a backseat psychiatrist would draw assumptions from how I felt about that, and hey, watch me go with the mixed metaphors. Backseat driver, armchair psychiatrist, right? Well, whatever. Not the point anyway.) and it felt pretty nice to be up moving around, even if it was for cleaning purposes.

So, in case you didn't read this via totte (actually, if you haven't friended him, you probably should because we are somewhat of a package deal.. buy one get one free, if you will) then I should probably preface this by saying that he got a promotion at work, and that's basically what prompted our impromptu vacation to the Smoky Mountains. It was pretty neat, actually, because he got a job that he wasn't even interviewing for, and it seems like this one is rather better for him than the original one. It was not at all what we expected to do this weekend but it was a brilliant little mini-vacation so we're both very very happy that we went.

I could totally leave it at that, but then I wouldn't be.. well, me, now would I? We arrived at around 9:30 Friday night with an honest-to-goodness reservation, which was just completely out of character for us, as we typically drive around for at least an hour trying to figure out where to stay. I guess this would be a good time to explain the Gatlinburg thing for those who haven't been there. You have a place of heartbreaking beauty, with ancient mountains towering over a winding river and lush green valleys. You have nature and wildlife, and so in the midst of beautiful backwoods Tennessee, you turn three small towns into the most tasteless, gaudy display of human excess and embarrassment ever created. It's terrific. M and I went on our honeymoon, and then we've gone back for very short trips occasionally. I have a vague idea that this is the fifth time we've gone. By now, we're pretty relaxed while we're there and we've totally given up on trying to see new stuff because it's just.. well, it's impossible to see everything so there's less inclination to actually try, if that makes sense. There are also a lot of outlet stores, although honestly, most of them are not so much outlet stores (in my mind, a collection of stores carrying name-brand items at cheaper prices due to the item in question being slightly outdated, imperfect, etc) as stores in which you can buy a lot of stuff from one particular company.

In any case, there's a Chinese restaraunt which we greatly enjoy, and a couple of bookstores, a music store and a needlecraft store, and then we can throw in a few good meals and we have never, ever stayed at a hotel without an indoor pool, so we spend quite a bit of time soaking there. That was a little less the focus this time because our hotel was full of loud-mouthed trash ugly people. I wouldn't want to sound snobby or judgemental here, of course, but we're talking about a family with five children between the ages of four and nine, with the ungroomed parents screaming constantly at the kids to behave while sitting in the whirlpool chain-smoking under the "No Smoking" sign. Anyway, we still had fun at the pool but we had to wait them out a little longer than expected a time or two.

I'm rambling, I know. It's really just that I honestly can't remember the last time we had such a perfect day. We went to three bookstores, spent forty bucks and brought home three bags full of books.. every one of them was either $1 or half off the cover price. The needlecraft store has an astonishingly large selection of tatting supplies, which is the only place I've ever seen that (we went there last time, for our third anniversary.) I bought a book and four balls of thread, none of which I actually needed but they spoke to me so eloquently that I could have just as easily left behind my firstborn as them. We played two rounds of "fantasy" mini-golf (the fantasy was apparently that we are any good at mini-golf.) We ate in excellent restaraunts, and we held hands a lot (which, well, we always do that but it was particularly nice) and we spent money like it was going out of style.. at least, compared to what we normally do. I wouldn't mention money normally, but we're both kind of.. scrooge-ish. It's not that we don't spend money, exactly, but we tend to be more thrifty than we have to be. I've mentioned it before, I'm sure. The good thing is that we're both like that because we would drive each other crazy otherwise. :) But we were not in the same financial situation on previous trips as we are now... not that we're rolling in dough or anything, but still, so we were always feeling a little more restrained. This time, a conscious effort was made to not worry too much about how much we were spending. (I handled this by letting M pay for everything.) I don't think it was the money in itself that made things so much fun, but rather, how long it had been since we went the last time and how little we actually thought about it.

We had a handicapped hotel room, which the man at the desk (over the phone) assured me was only different from a normal room in that it had a shower instead of a bathtub. Indeed it did have a shower, and the shower had a convenient little incline for water to run out of the shower and pool in the middle of the bathroom floor.. Also, the walls were thin enough that we could hear conversations next door, and there was an adjourning door to the other side that worried me the entire time we were there.. it was actually a nice hotel, though, except for those minor things, and it was a third of the regular price of the room because of it being off-season. The man at the desk also asked me where I was from and I forgot and said Morehead. It's been nine months, people.. how embarrassing.

Anyway, I'll wrap this up now and go see what there is for dinner, and turn the air conditioner off before M gets testy. I had a total hot flash (in the non-menopausal way, of course) earlier, but now that I'm cool, I guess I can agree that running the A/C in February is excessive. ;)