We just got home from a fun long weekend in the Smokey Mountains with my little brother and his wife. This trip couldn't have come at a better time for us. We needed this little getaway/ pick-me-up in the worst way. We knew the weather was cold and snowy but we didn't let that stop us. We loaded up the truck, dropped off the dogs and headed out Thursday afternoon.
We stopped for dinner at Burger King in Chattanooga so Barrett could run off some energy in the play place. When we got out of the truck it was so cold. We'd been keeping an eye on the temperature while traveling and it was dropping fast. The low in the Gatlinburg area was supposed to be around 2 degrees. We finally arrived at our cabin around 10:15. We almost immediately realized the code that we were given to get in did not work. I called the owner, no answer. I called his wife, no answer. I'm freaking out on the inside. We found another number on the paper work for emergencies. We called and the guy was so nice. He didn't have our names down on his list but I guess he felt sorry for us because he gave us the code. He seemed shocked that we were able to get to the cabin since the roads were covered in snow and had been all week. He let us know that our cabin was dirty because they hadn't been able to get to it all week because of the weather. We didn't care at that point we just needed somewhere warm to sleep. We unloaded all of our stuff, changed the sheets and tried to wind down for the night. I should also add that Barrett didn't sleep at all on the drive.
We woke up Friday morning and the view was beautiful. John made coffee, Hope made cinnamon rolls and we just laid around. Then the water quit running. I was on the phone with the owner at the time and he casually said "Oh yeah the pipes probably froze over night." We were practically camping at this point. Ha! He told us to turn them all on and crank up the heat. He was going to send someone out to set up the heaters under the house. John went to check it out and found a heater and plugged it up to help warm/thaw the pipes. It didn't take too long for everything to heat up and we were good.
We bundled up and headed out to see the snow. Luckily we borrowed some warm/snow clothes for Barrett and I'm so glad we did. He played outside for a while, which really surprised me.
I loved the view.
He was so cute in all his gear.
We didn't have a sled so we tried to use a plastic storage bin. It worked okay.
I love this cutie!
We were so glad we decided to drive the truck.
The roads thawed enough to run to the store and grab some groceries. While were were at WalMart we grabbed a couple of sleds. It was probably the best $20 we spent all weekend.
Seriously, it was so much fun. Being from the south I don't think I've used an actual sled. You could steer it and everything. It took a few turns for us figure it out but once we did, we were unstoppable.
John was the dare devil and tried everything first.
Hope stayed on the "bunny hill".
Maybe I should have stayed on the "bunny hill".
Patrick had a ball. I love seeing him enjoy stuff like this. He's always so responsible I love to see him let loose a little. Friday night it was nearly dark when we finally came in. We had meatless nachos for dinner since it's Lent. Friday night was probably my favorite. After dinner we put Barrett to bed and started our game of Mexican Train Dominoes. John and Hope brought their set and they are double 15's. So it took us all weekend to finish. After we played a few rounds we decided to get in the hot tub. It was so much fun and so neat to be sitting looking at all the snow and ice.
Saturday we got up, ate breakfast and headed back out for more sledding. We knew the temperatures were going to rise and we probably wouldn't get to sled anymore.
This little guy was pretty much the cutest thing ever in his flannel coveralls and snow boots.
We took a group selfie in the snow before we headed out for the afternoon.
We took another group selfie after we cleaned up. We headed to downtown Gatlinburg to go to the aquarium. Barrett enjoyed it but I had a total mom fail when I realized he was hungry and I didn't pack any snacks.
I loved the penguins. They were so sweet. After the aquarium we walked to find something to eat. We ate at Mountain Edge Grill and it was pretty yummy. There was rain moving in so we decided to head back to the cabin. Not before we stopped for some candies. Once we got back we played a few rounds of dominoes and headed to bed early because we had to be moving a little early on Sunday for church.
I'm going to wrap this up here since it's so long.
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