|
Vacation Log
The details of how yours truly spent 5 whole days without gaia (gasp!) in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a town in the Smokey Mountains.
~~
Monday
Day 1 (technically…)
~~
What a wasted day. I woke up bright and early at 6:30am thinking that we would be on the road by 8 with my family and a friend’s family. (Let’s call them the Smith family from now on.) Unfortunately, they weren’t ready until 10am…which would be fine except I really could have used those extra hours of sleep and a decent cup of coffee instead of the instant kind I had. A disgruntled me slept in our car for a while, and then the little brat of a girl in the Smith’s family insisted I ride in their van. It was fine with me because we played games and I wasn’t bored, but at the same time I couldn’t help but think several times of how stupid and immature 10 year olds are. Kids need to friggin’ grow up. Seriously.
The worst part of this day was trying to find the cabin once we were there. I switched back to my car by that time and we followed the Smiths. Mr. Smith, I must say, is an idiot when it comes to directions, and he’s extremely stubborn. Not a good combination. On top of this, we were traveling in the pitch black dark of the forest because we started out so late and it was pouring rain. So there we are, winding round the narrow road up the woody mountains while Mr. Smith refuses us to tell us which cabin we are staying at so that we cannot get there without following him. I could have done a better job finding the place blindfolded.
To top it all off, once we finally arrived I unpacked my laptop to take advantage of the wireless internet that was promoted in the brochure only to find that
It.
Doesn’t.
Work.
Thus begins my internetless vacation.
~~
Tuesday
Day 2
~~
Today we went on a hiking trip! I was excited. I like hiking. However, the Smith family, or rather just Mr. Smith, takes forever to get up and go. I was ready promptly by 9am, but we couldn’t leave until well after 10. Anyways, we got to the trail eventually, but it was very hot and humid…and we found out that it would take about 4 hours to get to the waterfall at the end and walk back because it is an 8 mile trip! We survived, thankfully. I even found some Mario mushrooms and fought off a little squirrel that wanted my lunch at the waterfall, so it wasn’t a completely uneventful day. Getting back to the cabin, I was exhausted and when to sleep unusually early.
~~
Wednesday
Day 3
~~
We did a few interesting things on this day, I suppose. We went to the aquarium where I touched some crabs and manta rays, though I didn’t enjoy getting my arms wet in the water that those things swim around in. After that, we went on a sky lift over the mountains. I regret not buying a slingshot or knife at the shop on the top of the lift…especially the knife. The sign said in bold letters “Must be 18 or older to purchase” and I thought “That’s ME!” They were even in cases that said Smokey Mountains, something that no other weapons shop in the town had.
It was time to eat something after that, and at this point we thankfully split up. The Smith family was annoying with all their arguing. Besides, they wanted to go to some restaurant where every item on the menu was trout. I kid you not. I didn’t know there were so many ways to cook a fish. Bleh. I don’t eat fish, so my mother and I opted to go to Hard Rock Café. Best part of my vacation, sadly. Most of the servers had amusing haircuts including mohawks and devil horns, but our waitress was a cute, blond Russian exchange student. Yeaaahhh….ahem…where was I? Oh, right. Well, we got souvenir glasses, and I noticed that there was a wedding reception in the back room, and that was all.
When we got back to the cabin, we took a dip in the Jacuzzi and watched Rainman since there’s a home theatre system…and not a pool table like I wanted…@#$% Mr. Smith. He chose this cabin over the dozen others with more than just a stupid home theatre without consulting anyone else, even his own family. Who the hell watches movies on a vacation trip? You can do that anywhere. Basically, we watched the movie for lack of anything else to do in the cabin.
~~
Thursday
Day 4
~~
The plan was that my mother and I would get up early in the morning as we normally do and go to the Welcome Center to get some information on a Native American village we wanted to visit. Mr. Smith got it in his head that he would get up early, too, and insisted that he go along with. Obviously, we didn’t start our day until past ten, and after having a big breakfast and driving up the mountain to Cherokee Village, it was already past noon. *sigh* I’m never going on a group family trip again.
Other than the constant bickering among the Smith family, this was an enjoyable experience. I actually learned some new things and got to watch an authentic Cherokee war dance, which I recorded.
Looking through the usual souvenirs at the shops later on, I came across some whips and this time I didn’t risk another regret. I bought a whip. Nothing too kinky, really. It’s Indiana Jones style, long and made of braided leather with a little red string at the end to make that nice popping sound even louder. I was happy with my purchase and practiced on the cabin veranda, until Mr. Smith broke it. I let him try it and he caught it on the banister and the red string ripped off. Yeah…I hate him. He tied it back together, but it’s not the same…but I guess it’s ok, because I still play with it and it hasn’t fallen apart just yet.
~~
Friday
Day 5
~~
Nothing special today. My family left in the morning. The Smiths stayed an extra night. I took some more random pictures around the town and we finished souvenir shopping for friends at home (lots of mugs, shot glasses, and t-shirts). On our way to lunch after shopping a bird pooped on my shoulder. Yeah…I felt gross and lost my appetite.
~~~~
And that concludes my vacation. Meh. Did I have fun? Yes, some. I would definitely do it again…just without the Smiths.
~~~~
|
