My kind of fun!

Went rafting for the first time ever in Gatlinburg last weekend. It WON'T be the last time! I'm trying to figure out when we can go back with the family. It'll probably be next year, but it's definitely gonna happen! What fun!!!

I know it was HERE!

Thursday several of us decided to check out the Tanger Outlet in Pigeon Forge. Holy smokes, that place is HUGE! It's probably 10 times the size of the outlet in Foley, AL! In fact, we were smart and packed a lunch in a cooler, and we actaully tail-gaited at the Tanger!
Towards the end of our loooonnnngggg day, Valerie (Kentucky), Jamie (Arkansas) and I decided to wait for Tricia (Indiana) and Karen (Connecticut) in the car. (Let me tell you, I've seen shopping and I've done shopping, but NEVER have I seen the likes of Tricia!) I started the car and we waited a bit, then I called Karen to see where they were and tell them we were waiting. They wanted to hit just one more store, which happened to be very close to where we'd parked the car at the beginning of our excursion.
I decided to take that opportunity to run into another store close by. Keep in mind this was just Thursday, so I hadn't even known these ladies for a full 24 hours yet, which is why I had no idea Valerie is the prankster she is! So I kept the car running and darted over to the store while Karen and Tricia finished their shopping.
When I came out, I started walking towards the van. Well, where the van was supposed to be, anyway! It didn't take me long to spot it; it IS my van, after all, and they hadn't moved it too far away. Tricia and Karen, on the other hand, were at a disadvantage. They did go to the right spot, only to find it empty. The looks of confusion on their faces was priceless!
I have in mind a little prank to pull on Valerie next year, but I'm gonna keep it close to my chest! But watch out, Valerie....your turn's coming! :)

You Have Arrived!

We took Patrick's GPS with us to Gatlinburg. The GPS's name is Evelyn, and while she can be pretty annoying when you know where you're going, she's a complete gem when you don't have a clue. Such was the case while driving from the Knoxville Airport to Gatlinburg!. I programmed the address to the rental office, and waited while Evelyn calculated our route. I had assumed we'd take I-40 in, but Evelyn had a quicker, more direct route.
I had Toni (from Colorado), Jamie (from Arkansas), and Patti (from Texas) with me, and the drive was so much fun! The route Evelyn took us was beautiful, winding through the mountains on tree-lined, 2-laned roads. After about an hour, we had seen a sign for Gatlingurg so we knew we were getting close. We were in the Smokey Mountain National Forest, winding our way toward Gatlinburg, enjoying the scenery: densely populated forest on our right, steep sloping hills to our left...absolutely beautiful, with not a man-made object to be seen anywhere. Ahhh, this had to be close to Heaven! What it wasn't, though, was the address to the cabin rental. For it was in the middle of that densely populated forest, with trees on our right and steep sloping hills on our left, that Evelyn pronounced, "You have arrived!"
Silence in the car as I find a spot to pull over. We look around. "Ummmm....." A quick scuffle looking around the car for the map we printed from the rental office website. Jamie grabbed the map and was studying it, when she asked quietly, "Did you put in "East" Parkway?"
(shrug)"Parkway's Parkway, right?" (insert embarrassed grin here)
(sigh) RE-program Evelyn with the correct address and we were back on our way again. A little late (as we also had trouble finding the actual cabin, but that was due to our inability to actually read printed directions instead of just trying to look at a picture!)but we eventually got there!
I'll post bits and pieces of the trip here throughout the week; suffice it to say for now that we had an absolute blast, and are planning next year's get together already!

Gatlinburg, Here I Come!!!!

Many of you know I belong to a group of Dave Ramsey followers on The Total Money Makeover site. I've been a member for several years, and throughout those years have come to consider several of those people friends. I've only ever met 3 in real life. It took some getting used to, meeting people for the first time. It actually felt kind of dirty the first time we did it....seedy, you might say. Previously the only time I'd ever heard of folks meeting other folks over the Internet, it was to "hook up" for some naughty fun, so I had to get over that perception. I'm happy to say I'm over it, and next week I'm meeting a group of about 14 women for a LONG weekend in Gatlinburg. Actually, 2 of the women will come in Tuesday night (one from Colorado and one from Arkansas) and spend the night with me before we make the drive together into Tennessee. We'll make a stop in Knoxville to pick up another woman flying in from Texas. Another hour more should see us in the mountains at the cabin that sleeps 22.
I can't tell you how excited I am to finally meet these women. We've known each other for years in some cases, and we're finally meeting next week. Oh, what fun it'll be! I'm not even apprehensive in the least, which is a bit surprising! I'll be sure to post pics and stories as soon as we get back.

The Longest Left

We spent the 4th with Patrick's mom in Augusta, GA. Those of you in the know know that this was a difficult weekend for me, as are ALL weekends we spend in Augusta. So, needing a breath of fresh air Friday night, I decided to go for a walk. Now, I wasn't in my walking clothes, much less my walking shoes, but I really needed to go for a walk. I wasn't going to be gone long....just around her apartment complex.
I had just started walking when I heard Pete behind me, yelling for me to wait up. A bit perturbed at having to stop my walk, I was quickly mollified by the fact that he wanted to walk with me (Now's the time to stop and say, "Wow, it must've really been bad if Pete wanted to walk with you!").
So off we go, walking to one end of the complex, turn around and walk to the other end and around to the other side. In a wooded area at the end of the parking lot, I heard rushing water. Imagining a pretty stream running through there, I said, "Pete, wait...come look!" and I started making my way towards the sound. Pete, on the other hand, decided to walk further on and said, "Mom, look at this!" Walking over to where he was, I saw that he had happened upon a trail marked, "Stop. Maintenance Personnel Only Beyond This Point." Needing no further invitation, we promptly followed the trail to see where it would lead. It was nothing exciting, just another complex much like the one we had just left. So we walked around that complex and came to a road. Left? Right? By this time, we were both pretty turned around. Stopping to assess the situation, I asked Pete what he wanted to do. The choices running through my head were either turn around and try to find our way back, or take a right. In my mind, taking a right should've put us on the main road we're familiar with and back to Granny's in good time. Pete had other, more convincing, plans.
Now let me stop here and say that I have no idea what possessed me to trust Pete on this one. In my experience it has never been a good ending when we follow his ideas. But I suppose it's possible that I was so distracted by the stress back at Granny's that I was deranged enough to think this time would be different.
So Pete's plan was to go left. Left? Are you sure? "Trust me, Mom. I know where we are. We'll take a left here, then another left, another left, then we'll be back at Granny's." So left we go....then another left, another left, a right, another left, another left, another left, a right, and two more lefts.
It was wet out because it'd been raining, and many of the roads we travelled had no shoulder, which meant we were walking in muddy grass, and sometimes just plain mud. In fact, one such 6 lane road was undergoing road construction, and we ended up walking in single file, literally one foot in front of the other, hugging the barriers and praying we didn't fall backwards into traffic! Horns blaring as if to say, "You idiots, you're gonna get yourself killed out here!" Um yeah....I think I'd already figured that out, thanks. But walking it that way was better than Pete's idea of using the barriers as as a balance beam and trying to walk ON them! By this time I had at least regained SOME of my sanity back enough to know that THAT was not a great idea!
We finally made it back to Granny's an hour and 10 minutes, and 4 miles later. Our shoes were soaked and muddy, we had blisters on our feet, but we were laughing when we walked through the door! What a great walk that was!!!

Movie Night!

For the past several years, Pete and Ryan have been getting together with a group of friends for Movie Night. Usually it's at one of 3 houses because no one else has a house big enough for 20-25 teens to gather around a t.v. (that, or no one else is brave enough!).
This past Friday night, for some reason, we hosted it at our house. Um....our house is NOT big enough for 20-25 teens! So Patrick picked up a projector from the library, hung a sheet outside, and voila! Instant drive-in! But wait! You can't have a drive-in theatre without cars! Or speakers! So Pete's best friend Cameron drove his car around to the back, hooked the projector up to his stereo speakers, and life was sweet!
Two movies, 10 pizzas, a gazillion drinks and about 20 kids, and everyone was happy! I could see us doing that again!