my trip to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in pictures

1. Soooo hard to leave this kid behind.
2. But I know he's in good hands with my Mum.
3. And then we hit the road at 6:30am. Time for our first baby-free weekend!


4. Almost 4 hours later, we're on a tram! Hold on! Old dude is crackin' jokes but please just get us there safely, m'kay?
5. Time for a quick shot of the two of us. Aw.
6. And we made it into the park!


7. The entrance to the eagle.
8. The eagle ride at Dollywood is %&^$^# awesome. You feel like you're flying. And about to die. But mostly flying. The wooden roller coaster was mostly "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die," the tornado was all "I can't see because I'm dizzy G force omg," the mining roller coaster was so cool we rode it again almost immediately, and the indoor only other mining ride was like the beginning of a horror movie where the ride breaks down and there's fire everywhere and screaming, lots of screaming.


9. It stormed on us both days, causing us to leave. But we spent half a day at Dollywood plus most of a second day. Under the train tracks? Not a great place to wait out a thunderstorm.
10. The mostly empty theater was better.
11. A duck.


12. The hot tub at our cabin rocked the socks off my sore feet. I spent every night here. I should've spent every day, too.
13. The view off our balcony. We had a few neighbors but our cabin was one of the most secluded around. I wanted to stay in that rocking chair forever.
14. A tunnel through the Smokies. Honk honk!


15. When we got rained out the first day, we headed to Ripley's Seaquarium. It was cool. This is Dave is the tunnel o' fish. Seeing sharks from upside down = sweetness.
16. Atreyu the penguin.
17. I'm also in a fish tunnel! I look excited!



18: Jellyfish = among the coolest things at the aquarium.
19: Another jellyfish.
20: A sharkface only a sharkmama could love.
21: Sleeping seahorse.


22: Convinced my heights-phobic husband to go on the sky lift with me.
23: On the way up!
24: Aw. <3


25: At the top. Most of Gatlinburg down below.
26: On the way down. Way scarier!
27: Another view from the top. Just gorgeous.


28: Another view from the top. Gotta love the Smoky Mountains.
29: Ate here. I was starving, so it was tasty. Margaritas weren't as good as our local Casa Fiesta, though.
30: 1977 Bumblebee, actually used in the first Transformers movie! I made Dave drive back to Gatlinburg on our last day when I saw it was there in a car museum. Luckily, we didn't even have to pay to see it. I gave him a pat.


31: I LOVE PUTT PUTT.
32: A shot right before my first of two holes in one.
33: Yeah, we had to go through these clouds to go home. The hours of rain weren't fun.

Also:

• Huge amounts of fudge.
• A giant blister on the bottom of my foot. Ow.
• Holding a pregnant woman's four-year-old while she held her sleeping two-year-old on the Dollywood tram - the hubs held all of her stuff. It was pouring and the tram was packed. The four-year-old dealt well with me holding him, though he kept giving me half-awake "who the hell are you?" looks.
• Huge amounts of food. And alcohol.
• A shower with two separate shower heads. Awesome.
• Every picture on every roller coaster looked the same. Me: eyes closed, mouth wide open while I'm screaming. Hubs: relaxed and smiling as though he was going in for a headshot.
• Having my son run across the room to fly into my arms. Coming home is as fantastic as going away.

extra great great-grandparents

We went down to Alabama for the 4th of July, like we often do. I think I've only spent one 4th in Nashville and I don't remember celebrating it by doing anything. I hate the car ride back to where I grew up, though I guess I shouldn't complain about a measly 2.5 hour drive.

Florence always seems like home. I haven't lived there for more than a summer in twelve years, and I've been in Nashville full time for six. But my parents' number still says "Home" on my phone, and every corner of my grandparents' house and yard is familiar to me. I grew up next door to them and probably spent more time over there than I did in our double-wide trailer. It's so weird to see G playing in their yard the way I did when I was little. I'm so happy that he's getting to know my grandparents.

My mom's parents were as close to me as grandparents could possible get. I saw them almost daily, and they're tangled up with most of my memories of my childhood. Everyone who meets them loves them, and you'll never hear anything negative said about either of them even though half the town knows who they are. They are the most generous people you will ever meet. The stories they have to tell are endless.

I don't get to see my grandparents near enough now that I live a state away. But going to Florence always feels like coming home.

ocean shot

I'm working on finishing up my Miami posts, as I still haven't posted part 4. (Whoops.) I was digging through the photos and found this one:

It's a shot of Key Biscayne from the water at Crandon Park. The water is very shallow there, so we were several yards out and not even up to G's waist. Since winter was approaching, the ocean was starting to get kind of chilly, but the shallow water wasn't too bad.

Oh, how I miss you, little island!

Miami Trip, part 2

On the second full day of our Miami trip, we headed out to Vizcaya. I love love love Vizcaya, which is a beautiful house and gardens on the coast that was built in 1916. The architecture and attention to detail is simply amazing.

This is the entry way after you go through the ticket booth. See what I mean? Ah-may-zing. I couldn't take any photos inside the house, but the outside alone is beautiful.

This is my brother and his girlfriend Christina. Isn't she gorgeous?

Off the back of the house. You can see the sliver of Key Biscayne in the background.

 This alcove to the right of the ocean is such a great place for pictures.

God, I love this kid.

Yeah, I'm on this rock. What of it?

There are stairs everywhere, so of course we spent the bulk of our time outside walking up and down them... and dealing with a cranky toddler when we wouldn't let him climb set of stairs #14 for the 20th time.

I just love Vizcaya. I pretty much have to go there whenever I visit Miami. It's a little pricey, but well worth it if you have the time to explore for a few hours.