A Weekend to Remember...

Everytime Dennis and I get the chance to get away, we have the BEST time. I'm still not sure if it's just due to the fact that we are away. together. alone. Or, maybe we really do just have THAT much fun together. still. We left on Thursday when D got home from work, drove to Cookeville and stopped for dinner at...where else? Outback, of course. It was delish! Love driving in the car on roadtrips with my man with no kiddos. We just talk. Not about anything deep or profound. Just talk. Reminisce about the 17 or so years that we've been together. We listen to and tell stories that both of us have heard and told a million times. But, it's still so much fun! We didn't get to the cabin in G'burg until well after midnight and that was just fine with us! We got comfy and just hung out til we felt like going to bed. Ahhhhhhh, that was nice. Friday morning, we slept until about 9:00. Wow. Felt. So. Good. I didn't have to jump up out of bed, wash my face, throw on my clothes, get the kids up and ready in record time and be gone out of the house in 30 minutes or less. We just got up, drank some coffee, chatted, watched a little TV and didn't go to b'fast until about 11:00. Works for me! We went to Pancake Pantry and it was soooooooooooooooo good. Dennis gets the same thing every time. Sweet Potato Pancakes, 2 eggs over easy, side of hashbrowns, large OJ. I switch up between the French Toast and the Buttermilk pancakes. We went 3 days in a row, mind you, so I got to switch up! We decided after b'fast to go and ride the Sky Lift. Such a "touristy" thing, but neither of us had done it since we were much younger, so we went for it! It was a gorgeous day and it was so relaxing. I remember seeing a picture of my parents on the Sky Lift when they were younger, so I can't wait to show our picture to Sadie and Sawyer one day! We went on a WONDERFUL hike to Rainbow Falls. We'd never done it before and it was great! The internet said it was a little more strenuous than the Chimneys and we were up for the task! We started around 2:00 and it took us a little over 3 hours round trip. It was a great hike. There were hardly any other hikers on the trail since it was so late in the day. The only wildlife we saw were lots of chipmunks. The falls were BEAUTIFUL! For dinner, we drove to Pigeon Forge and ate at Bullfish. It was very yummy!! We came home and rented "Inception". It was horrible. Way too confusing, made no sense whatsoever, and way too long. Saturday morning, we slept in again and went and had a late b'fast at Pancake Pantry again. Just as delicious as yesterday!! We did a little people watching afterwards and came to the conclusion that everyone in G'burg is overweight, smokes, and wears daisy dukes. Kind of gross. I felt like I needed to pass out my AdvoCare business card to every other person that walked by. We had no plans for the day, so we walked around G'burg, shopped to find something to bring back for the kids, and then decided to go to Ober Gatlinburg. Keep in mind, this is VERY unlike us! We're not the "touristy" type! But, it looked like fun, we hadn't done it in about 25 years and we wanted to check it out to see if it was something we want to bring the kids back to do. We actually ended up having a great time! We rode the Alpine slide and had a ball! We know the kids will love it! We got Dippin' Dots and slushies and just acted like kids ourselves. Lots of fun!!! We came back to the cabin and chilled in the hottub for a while. Soooooooooooooooooo relaxing!!! While we were getting ready to leave for dinner, something outside caught my eye! It was a bear!!! Right outside of our cabin! We scrambled around quickly, but quietly and grabbed every camera in sight. We snuck outside and just had a stare out with the bear on the other side of the deck. I mean, he was RIGHT THERE. On the other side of the deck we were standing on. Right there. I don't think I've ever been THAT close to a bear. We had quite an encounter with one last year on our ChimneyTops hike, but we didn't even get this close to that one. It was so cool. He was just looking at us! He started to make his way towards our neighbors cabin, so we let them know! They told us we could come over and look off of their back deck. The bear was just chillin. We got LOTS of pictures of him. He was literally just hanging out. Love it!!!! We finally made our way to dinner around 8:30 and went to the Park Grille. It was very good!!! We went and rented the final "Saw". I swore on my life I'd never watch another scary movie after I had kids, but I was feeling a little dareing. LOL It was horrible. I was secretly a little bit happy it wasn't good, because I knew it'd stay with me for days if it scared me to death. We got up Sunday morning REAL late and had to scramble to get ready and get out of the cabin by 11:00. I think after 3 days, we were starting to get a little too used to staying up late and sleeping in! Back to reality!!! We went and ate one final time at Pancake Pantry and then started our trek back to Gallatin. It was soooooooooooo good to see the kids! I missed them so much, but I thoroughly enjoyed my alone time with Dennis. It was so needed and so important! I love that boy more than anything and am so incredibly thankful for these past almost 10 years that we've been married!!!! I'm already looking forward to our next getaway!!!