We left for the Smokeys on the 9th. stopping to spend the night in Lexington, Ky. Ate dinner at the Cracker Barrel. The morning of the 10th. we had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel then headed on to Pigeon Forge.
The trees started getting really pretty near Cumberland Gap....before that, all we saw were browns ..not many vivid colors due to the lack of rain. We arrived in Pigeon Forge around noon on Friday, and to our surprise, our cabin was ready for us. We drove to the cabin and unpacked. The cabin and the view was awesome !
Rested for a while, then drove down to our favorite " chill out" in Pigeon Forge....the "Creamery" patio in the Old Mill complex. There are patio tables and rocking chairs.....we chose a table and relaxed with a huge dip of Apple Cinnamon ice cream and cups of cappuccino. Later, we had a wonderful steak dinner on the patio of Bennetts..the weather was perfect for dining outside. Went back to our cabin and relaxed in the hot tub..then crashed for the night !
On Saturday, we had breakfast at a fun 50's style diner in Pigeon Forge....Mels Diner, one of our favorite places to eat....then headed to Gatlinburg where we did a little shopping then headed for "the Village" and found a patio table near the fountain...had a yummy donut from the Donut Friar with more cappuccino, sat and "people-watched" for a while before going back to Pigeon Forge for dinner at Huck Finns. This restuarant serves free "vittles" with your dinner. Hubby had fried chicken, I had the "Huck Finn" platter with catfish, clams and shrimp. The vittles were white beans, fries/mashed potatoes, hushpuppies, cole slaw and cornbread. You can't leave hungry...the portions are huge. During dinner there is a man who sings country,bluegrass songs & hymns.
Sunday was spent relaxing at the cabin..we had a quick lunch at Mels diner then went to Bennetts that night for Bar-B-Que, again, on their patio.
On Monday, we packed a picnic and headed to Chimney tops...this was our first time there.....we found a huge bolder along the stream and spread out our quilt for our picnic. The view was wonderful and so peaceful listening to the water flowing over all the rocks. After that, we drove Newfound Gap road to the top of the mountain, then took the road to Clingsmans dome....also our first time there. I cannot describe the views...except to say Awesome ! Clingsmans Dome is the highest point of the Smoky Mountains National park, with an elevation of 6,643 feet..the highest point in Tennessee, the highest point of the Appalachian Trail and second highest point in North American East of the Mississippi River. Afterwards, we drove back into Pigeon Forge, to the Creamery, rested for a while, then drove to the Apple Barn and bought Apple fritter mix and Apple butter for some friends and ourselves ! We had "patty-melts" at Mels Diner for dinner.
Tuesday...Breakfast at Mels, then shopping at the Outlet Malls.....Shopped 'till we dropped !! I bought fall clothes, shoes, two new purses, some jewerly and two new quilts. Then we went to the Old Mill complex, and met the couple who have the discoverthesmokies web site. I had talked with them several times through e-mails and it was wonderful meeting and talking with them in person. We had a nice 2 hour visit with them. Later, we used our gift card for dinner at the Outback steakhouse.......we weren't impressed....will not go back there. Back to the cabin, more hot-tubbing then called it a night.
Wednesday, we got up very early, drove into Gatlinburg to Roaring Fork Motor Trail, hoping to see bear....but it was not to be. We did enjoy the views. Afterwards, we went to the Mountain Lodge so hubby could get his Country Ham breakfast. It was great, as usual. Then we shopped the Arts & Crafts Loop and bought another set of Corinthian Bells chimes...this set keyed in G, 72" long and sounds like church bells......they are hanging on our porch with the ones keyed in C that we got two years ago....they sound beautiful together and puts hubby to sleep !! LOL ! We did more shopping in Gatlinburg, and had smoked sausages with onions/green peppers from Fannie Farkles. That evening, we drove to Cades Cove, again hoping to see bear..but again, no luck. However, we did see wild turkey, deer and a wolf. It was dark when we headed back to the cabin..and hubby was exausted after driving the winding, mountainous roads back...very scary in the dark and it was a looong day !!
Thursday, we stayed in Pigeon Forge most of the day, finishing our shopping list for Christmas, relaxing at the Creamery patio again . That night, we packed up for the long trip back home.
Friday morning we stopped at Mels for breakfast, said good bye to our waitresses who have always treated us as "home-folks"...and headed back to flat land and cornfields again. We had a wonderful vacation but are always sad to leave our "second home" in the mountains...that's why we are planning to make it our home in the near future.
So many of you have commented about the opening song I have dedicated to my hubby on my page...I will tell you the story behind it
We both have been married before, him for 18 years, me for 11. Neither of our former marriages were what we expected or hoped them to be. He became a Christian after he was married, I was a Christian when I was married...my former husband also being a Christian....however, he did not know how to be a husband, and we had lots of problems...to the point, that I just gave up and left him.
During those months that we were seperated, God was dealing with me to return....I fought it because I couldn't honestly say that there was any love left for him. However, I finally gave in to Gods will, and returned because God was teaching me about committment and how important that was to Him.
The marriage didn't get any better, and I couldn't understand why God took me back to it. A few months later, we found out that my husband had throat cancer......then I knew Gods' reason.....my husband had no family to take care of him.....his parents passed away several years before, and his only sister lived away from this area.
The next five years, we battled this cancer together through two surgeries, numerous chemo and radiation treatments. During this time, my husband apoligized to me for not being the husband he should have been, and God showed me that he just didn't know how to be a husband, but that I could still be a wife to him...and I grew to admire his courage, strength and unwavering faith as together, we fought what ended up being a losing battle.
While we were fighting our battle, my now hubby and his former spouse were also going through the same sort of battle with her cancer....he stayed in his marriage to take care of her. Committment......
After their deaths, an amazing thing happened......I got a computer and found myself on a Christian Singles web site...there was this guy named David, who had lost his wife to cancer...we started chatting at nights because neither of us could sleep after the death of our spouses....we cried together, prayed together, and eventually laughed together...then we started talking on the phone, and since we only lived 3 hours apart, we decided to meet somewhere for coffee.
Well, God is so amazing...this man was exactly what I had been looking for all my life ...he fit exactly the list of qualities I had written on paper and put into my Bible ( yes, I made a list....God promises to give us the desires of our heart) He had me from "hello" !
It was a God thing.....we both knew that God had directed our paths to find each other. We were engaged a month later....married three months after that. Too soon ? No, not when God is in it.....He does a quick work ( and we weren't getting any younger !)
That was six years ago. Our marriage is blessed with an ever growing deep love for each other that many search for and few find. I know, without a doubt, that this wonderful man I'm married to, who cherishes me with all his heart, is my gift from God for living out the committment I made to my former husband "till death do us part" .
Sometimes God works in mysterious ways, and David and I both know that our steps were ordered by the Lord. We are amazingly blessed to have found each other and have never been happier.
Tags: Love God Marriage
