Cooper did so well in the car; he slept almost the whole ride! Once we arrived in Gatlinburg, we pulled up to our cabin to find it nestled right between two other cabins...FAIL! There was no yard for the girls AND our neighbors were having work done on the cabin…loud saws, pounding hammers - come on, really?? Of course, none of this was disclosed when we were looking at the cabin online. Scott and I love to find cabins out in the middle of no-where but this was anything but! But, we were here and were determined to make the most of our vacation. The next day we decided we do a hike with the kids – Maggie, Sullie and Cooper. We went to the welcome center in the town where the cabin was (Sevierville) and spoke with the park ranger for and told her we were specifically looking for a trail where we could take our 2 month old and our 2 black labs. She instructed us to head to Gatlinburg but warned us it would take 3 hours to get there since it was Memorial Day weekend…3 hours to go 19 miles?? Are you kidding me!?! We almost didn’t even go because of the length of time she said it would take to get there. Scott, thankfully called the park ranger in Gatlinburg and he said it would only take 30 minutes. At that point we should have known the lady had NO idea what she was talking about. But we still followed her instructions to the trail she instructed we could bring the girls. While on our way to the trails we realized we forgot the diaper bag....another fail! So finding a store that carried the size diapers Cooper needed added 45 minutes to our trip. Finally, 3 hours later (I guess the park ranger was right after all) we arrived at the trail. We were all SO excited. We strapped Coop onto me in the carrier, leashed up the girls, locked the truck and then all the sudden the park ranger came by and asked “you know dogs aren’t allowed on the trail right?” It turns out you can’t take dogs on 99% of all the trails in the Smokey Mountain Park. Scott and I were SO defeated! He did tell us about a trail we could take the girls. What a joke. The “trail” was a 2 lane road that led you behind the DPW..you have got to be kidding me! The only good thing about the “trail” was that it ran alongside a creek so the girls got to do some swimming. We ended up “hiking” maybe a total of 30 minutes that day!!
The next day we decided we would go into the “city” and walk around, maybe grab lunch and do a little shopping. Again, not really our style but we wanted to make the most of the where we were. But, before we got showers we wanted to do something with girls so again, for some stupid reason we resorted to the info the park ranger provided and headed to an area by our cabin where we were told we could let the girls run. She failed to tell us she was giving us directions to a camp ground!! What the hell?!! Whatever, we thought...and we headed to an empty camping spot and let the girls run and swim. After that, we headed back to the cabin, grabbed showers, and headed to the “city”. Once there, we made our way through the crowds in the 90+ degree heat and ended up finding a restaurant to grab lunch. It ended up just being an appetizer and a beer since the menu was nothing to be desired. After that Scott remembered this store that sells all kinds of hot sauces that we went to last time we were in Gatlinburg for Scott’s 30th. So we headed that way. Once there, Scott started looking around and right off the bat I saw this hot sauce called, “The hottest hot sauce in the universe”. Of course I thought Scott had to try it. He LOVES hot stuff – the hotter the better. I didn’t realize there was a warning next to the samples as well as a sign stating if you were under 18 you couldn’t try the hot sauce. Scott saw it and when I asked him to try it he was like, “are you serious….did you see the warning”? Of course I gave Scott a hard time and I believe I called him a weenie (according to Scott’s account). So reluctantly he tried the hot sauce and instantly he was on serious fire. I have never ever seen that kind of reaction from Scott after he ate something hot! Immediately he had tears running down his face, his nose was running..it was so bad. All I could do was laugh…and I mean laugh to the point where I had tears rolling down my face. I obviously didn’t realize how serious it was! Scott immediately made a b-line to the door when the store clerk yelled out, “which one did he try” and waved us back over. Poor Scott was given a fireman hat, some sticker on his shirt and was made to take a picture. In Scott’s burning he didn’t have enough sense to tell the store clerk no, so he just stood there crying while she kept snapping away! After she finished with the pictures Scott could not get out of there quick enough..he HAD to get milk…a lot of milk! Scott said the burning just kept getting worse and worse and then it passed on to his chest! Scott said he seriously felt like he had ingested some jet fuel and considered calling poison control! We finally made it back to the car and headed out as quickly as we could. Our day out lasted all of 1 hour!
Even with all of the craziness we had on our 1st family vacation we still had such a great time! Each night after we put Cooper down Scott and I would hang out in the hot tub and have a few cocktails. It was time we so needed after having Cooper and Scott and I enjoyed this special time so very much! We can now laugh about all the adventures but still cherish the time we had away from the chaos celebrating ten years together!
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