The Weekend! WARNING: LONG!!

Wow is an understatement! It was awesome! I think this is the first time I can remember being on a trip where EVERYTHING went perfectly. From plane schedules to hotel to whatever we planned to do....not a glitch! There was even some adventurous moments involved!

We left here while it was still dark out shortly before 6 am on Friday morning. Our flight left on time, connected in Ohio and we flew back to TN. Those routes never make any sense to me, but alas....we made it there safely. We grabbed our rental car and headed to Gatlinburg. I had been to Tennessee about 22 years ago, and remembered falling in love with it. Well, those memories came flooding back. The beautiful mountains surrounding the small towns reminded me of how much I would love to move there. Someday.

I had in my mind that we would be eating at the Old Mill on Friday, and then I remembered....I'm Catholic! heh! Ummm.....good ole' fashion southern liver and onions on a Friday during Lent? No-go! So, we stopped for a quick lunch at Long John Silvers and then drove out to our villa. It was beautiful! And exactly how the pictures on their website looked. You have no idea how exciting it is to have a fireplace when you're from Florida. The weather was perfect. 50 degrees and the sun was shining.

We dropped off our stuff, got comfy and headed out to Pigeon Forge. A small touristy town just five miles west of Gatlinburg. Definitely a very family oriented place and one that we want to go back to, maybe next summer when Anna Grace is home. There was soooooo much to do for kids, and it made me miss our kids, but I quickly tried to shrug off the thought. As we were driving around, we were thinking about what "grown-up things" we could do. So, we figured we'd splurge. Scott finally gave in to losing his virginity. Yes....he agreed to go for it! We got a his and hers massage! I have been begging him for years to try it, he'd always say, "I don't need a massage. My back is fine. That's for women!" Well, our hotel had a brochure of a spa so I called. We made an appt. for 6:30 p.m. It was close to 4 pm so we did some shopping and indulged in the most delicious homemade chocolates from this little shop across from the Old Mill. The weather began to drop and it was close to 30 degrees. Time for me to pull out the scarf and gloves. I do admit, I was the only one wearing them, but I was REALLY cold!

We head over to the massage parlor and walk inside. I could tell Scott was a bit nervous. He asked questions about what he wears (umm...duh!) and should he talk or just lay there. I found it very cute. One therapist was already there, the other was on her way. The one there was a bit chunky and not too attractive, so I told Scott to go first....hehehe. I didn't want to risk the other one looking like Pamela Anderson. =0. An hour later, we both emerge back into the waiting room. Oh my goodness! It was awesome. The girl I had was amazing. I LOVE massages and I think that is my one big indulgence whenever I can, which is not very often at all. Scott thought it was very relaxing, and just said it was "ok". He said he wouldn't have it done again unless something "hurt". Oh well. To each their own.

From there, we headed downtown over to a seafood restaurant in Gatlinburg called Lineberger's Seafood. Oh my gosh! The food was incredible!!! Soooo good!! We stuffed our faces and then went and did some shopping in the myriad of shops there. There were a couple of shops already closed, so I had to make a mental note to return in the morning. :) We then went back to our condo and had a very romantic evening by the fireplace.

The next morning, we awoke pretty early (although I really wanted to sleep till noon!)...but my clock is so used to waking up with the boys that I just layed there till I figured it was no use trying to sleep. We showered and had a great country breakfast in downtown Gatlingburg. From there, we went up the mountain in a skylift and just stood atop of that mountain taking in the breathtaking views. It literally brought tears to my eyes. I felt so close to God being up there. It just blows me away that He could create such beauty and there is so much hate and anger in the world that it is all bypassed. I can't even tell you how many times I thanked Him for allowing me the blessing of seeing his magnficent creations. We then went back to those shops that were closed the night before and grabbed a quick bite to eat as we headed for the Smoky Mountains.

Scott, having been an avid hiker when he lived up in New England, chose a trail for us to hike. Abram's Falls. The trail is 2.5 miles each way and sunset was at 6:31 p.m. As you can see by the picture, it states that Abram's Falls was a moderate difficult (can you read Huff & Puff) trail and that it would take approximately 3-4 hours to complete. Well, we ended up arriving there at 5:00 p.m. Scott has warned me MANY times about being caught hiking in the woods at night. He said it was pitch black, and so on. That said, we gathered our gloves, coat and backpack (which included NO flashlights or water) and headed up the trail. We had been warned by rangers that there were many bear sitings and to be careful. We were also given a brochure as to what to do if a bear approached. YIKES!

Shortly after we started up the mountain, we saw a man coming down. We asked him about how far we were from the falls, he said, "about 45 minutes". "Not bad", we thought. "We could do this!" So, we kept up a pretty quick pace. We could notice the sun starting to set behind the mountain. Another couple walked by. At that point, we had easily walked another 25 minutes. Scott asked them how far we were, they said, "about 45 minutes". Well, Scott was getting nervous and told me that at 5:45 p.m, regardless of where we were, we were heading back. We weren't prepared to be on this mountain in pitch black without anything except for cameras. ::wink:: (I thought that's all we'd need. :) I told him, "fine!" I then picked up the pace. I so badly wanted to reach the falls. I began praying and singing praise & worship music to myself so that I wouldn't think about how out of breath I was becoming due to the altitude and climbing steep inclines being totally out of shape. Scott kept reminding me about the time and the sun going down. Inside, I was a bit nervous, but my anxiety to reach our destination kept me going. There were 3 areas on the trail that was downhill.....what a relief! Scott reminded me that those downhill slopes would be BIG uphill slopes hiking back. UGH! I stopped to breathe and decided I would ask God what he wanted me to do. I prayed that if He wanted us to continue, to give us a sign.....and if not, to also, let us know. I told him I would follow His lead. Then I turned to Scott and said, "If a bear jumps into our path, I guess God wants us to head back." He laughed and said, "I'd say that's a pretty good sign." Well, no bears jumped into the path, but yet another couple was coming down. They looked at us quite puzzled because we were heading UP the mountain and it was already becoming dusk. We asked how far we were from the falls, this time we heard "15 minutes!" Praise God! I knew then He would protect us. I was totally re-energized and kept a steady pace. Scott was on my heels. We turned a bend and then we heard the rushing sound of water from the falls. Woooohoooo!!! We had made it. I looked at my watch and it was exactly 6 p.m. It took us 1 hour exact to walk 2.5 miles over a pretty treacherous trail filled with large stones and roots. We were sooooo proud of ourselves. We knew we could only spend a few minutes there and had to head back. It truly was worth all the rush. It was beautiful. We even stopped and sipped the cold water. I so wish we would have had the time to just sit and relax. But the sun was quickly setting. We could no longer see it in the sky.

A few minutes later, we were back on the trail and headed towards our car. The first 10 minutes was pretty easy, but with each passing minute it was getting darker and darker. I could now completely understand what Scott had mentioned about it being pitch black. We passed two of three bridges with some light, and when we finally arrived at the third bridge (about 1/2 way back to the entrance) it was almost impossible to see anything. We then had to begin our trek very slowly, otherwise we could have easily tripped and fallen over the side of the trail 15 feet into the rushing river next to us. I was really scared at that point. Twice, I stopped, mostly because I was out of breath going up the steep terrain that were so easy to go down on the way to the falls. There was a moment when I thought I just couldn't make it another step. I got on my knees (in the dark) and asked God and St. Michael the Archangel to protect us and to lead us back to the car safely. We had no water and I was dying of thirst. I kept hearing rustling sounds in the woods around us and all I could think of was black bears and all of the warnings we had been given. There was a full moon out that night, but because the brush and woods surrounding us were so thick, the light of the moon could not penetrate the trail. Scott kept telling me to walk slowly. He was so great. When I was scared to stop to catch my breath because of the bears, he kept telling me HE needed to take a breather. I knew he didn't, but he was doing it so I could catch my breath. It took us 1 hour to get up to the falls, I knew this time it was taking longer because we were taking baby steps in the dark. Finally, after what seemed like the longest hour of my life, the wooded area around us dissipated and we could see the clearing where our car was parked. It was almost daylight with the moon shining down in the open field. I cried I was so happy....yet, I was so tired, I just plopped myself down on my knees and thanked God for allowing us to arrive back safely. I know He was holding my hand the entire way. We got back in the car and realized a few minutes later how much the temperature had dropped. We went in with the temperature being in the 50's. When we got in the car, it was 25 degrees outside. I was shivering, but safe in the car. As we are leaving the field, I look to my left and there, slowly making his way down the river was a black bear! Whew! I never felt so relieved. I thanked God again for allowing me to see a bear....from the safety of our car. It was 7:15 at night. We walked in the darkness for almost 45 minutes, and walked a total of 5 miles in just over 2 hours! I can't even ever remember walking 5 miles....period!

We missed dinner at the Old Mill Restaurant and ended up at Shoney's. We were starving at woofed down our dinner, after making 2 trips each to the buffet tables. We then headed back to the hotel in the freezing cold. Our legs were sore, we were exhausted and finished off our night sitting in the hot jacuzzi for almost an hour. It was a great day.

Our last day there was Sunday morning. We awoke early and packed. As we were heading out we noticed it had snowed the night before. Then all of a sudden, it started to snow hard. Big, beautiful, flakes. I was thrilled!!!!

After packing the car and checking out, we then headed to the nearest Catholic church, St. Mary's. It was a very humble little church with drop ceilings, no music and the lector, altar server, and cantor were all in the same, an elderly gentleman with a kind face. The priest was also very elderly and gave a beautiful homily. It was kind of nice to go to church without the boys and be able to sit and enjoy mass and actually hear it without having to constantly remind a wiggly person on your lap to be quiet or to sit still. (Our church at home does not have a nursery/daycare or cry room).

One incident I want to recall is that when we arrived at the church, I noticed that towards the back of the parking lot there was a beautiful statue of Mary in a small garden. It was freezing cold and the snow was coming down, but I wanted to go and take a picture. Scott pulled the car up, I hopped out and went up the small hill to get my picture. As I turned around to head back to the car, I notice there was a small change purse sitting on the bench behind me. My first thought was that some elderly person had left it behind. I could feel it was quite full. I grabbed it with the intentions of taking it into the church and giving it to someone there in case the person came looking for it. As I was walking down, I showed it to Scott who was in the car waiting. He asked me what was in it. I shrugged my shoulders and opened it. I almost fell over when I saw what was in it. A crack pipe and a little container with crack in it! (I know this because I am a big COPS fan.) I yell out to Scott what's in it, and he told me to leave it there. I said, "No, I'm gonna turn it in". So, we get in the car, I hand it to him and he puts it in his coat pocket. We walk into church and sit at one of the pews towards the front. We both kneel and begin to pray. Mass was about to begin when all of a sudden, Scott looks at me and says "Oh, my God! I still have this stuff in my coat! Can you imagine if we get to the airport and I'm found with a crack pipe and crack in my coat?" I couldn't help but laugh, although I would have been livid at our stupidity if that did occur. He immediately got up, went to the back and handed it to the elderly "jack-of-all-trades" who was preparing to come out to the sanctuary. Scott told him what was in it, and that was the end of the story. I now wonder if it was a crack addict that might have been there to pray to our Blessed Mother to help him/her be healed from their addiction. I pray that the Lord help whomever it is that little purse belonged to.
Going back to the mass, it was beautiful and very, very simple. No instruments. Songs were sung accapello and totally off tune, but yet so spirit filled. A very humbling experience.

We left there, headed to breakfast at the Old Mill Restaurant (finally!). It was DELICIOUS!!!! I look forward to someday going back for dinner. We then returned out rental car and headed to the airport at 2:00 p.m. At 9 p.m. at night we walked into our house, filled with two very excited little boys and the rest of the family.

TO BE CONTINUED.......

Enjoy the pictures from the trip! (click box to activate)

Photobucket Album