A Brookside Retreat

As I alluded to in one of my previous posts, Kenny surprised me at Christmas with a fabulous weekend away for just the two of us. He was so thoughtful to plan our trip to a very special place; where we spent our honeymoon. We found that "our cabin" (named Brookside, because it sat behind a babbling brook), was just as we left it 8 years ago! As the memories rushed back to us, we were amazed at how it seemed like such a short time ago, as well as such a long time ago, depending on how you looked at things.

We arrived Friday evening to our secret hideaway, settled in for a bit, then headed to Pigeon Forge for some evening activities. After eating dinner at a cute 50's Diner, we enjoyed a Magic Show! We both did not know what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised at what a good show it really was. The show contained a tiger, and other animals from Africa as well!

There were definitely some interesting characters in the audience with us, but that should be saved for another post all to itself. Our magician had received an award that was equal to the Grammy Award in the world of magic. He was in the company of other famous magicians to win the same award.

This is what happens when you take a picture and don't know it's zoomed in!

It was pretty late after the show due to the loss of an hour from the time change, so we headed back to Townsend, where our sweet little cabin was nestled.

On Saturday we slept in. For some folks, this may seem like a minor detail, but to those of us who have to get up when the kids get up, this was HUGE! We actually did not get ready and out of the cabin until lunchtime, so we stopped at a cute little cafe on the way to Gatlinburg.

We reenacted several poses that were taken the 'first time around.'

Unfortunately it rained off and on during the day, and was a bit chilly, but we still enjoyed our time walking the streets of Gatlinburg, reminiscing about the things we did the first time we were there. We had a caricature drawn of us, and both decided that we will stop having pictures made of us, and will just have drawings the older we get. She made us look good...as good as a caricature can look! My waist was super skinny; Kenny's neck was buff; what more could you ask for!?

We also perused through many shops along the way. This is what happens when you start getting a little bored.

We enjoyed an afternoon snack at Bubba Gump's. Someone snuck in the background of Kenny's picture!

I have never categorized myself as an adrenaline junkie, but after what happened next, I might start to lean in that direction. Kenny was very kind to encourage me to do something I wanted, even though he did not want to participate himself. He sat alongside me during the learning experience, then took lots and lots of pictures. What is this experience, you may ask?

Indoor Skydiving! Yep! I did it, and it was a blast! I've always wanted to skydive for real, and this is as close as I will get for a while. The experience was amazing! I loved how I was challenged to take a leap of faith and jump into a 130 mile per hour wind, while trying to manipulate the right form to stay flying. There were two other guys in the tunnel with me, and they both chose me to go first. It was fun learning the hand motions from the instructor, telling us what position our hands, arms, feet, legs, etc. should be. We witnessed a few other instructors before I "flew" who held onto their students the entire time. I was lucky to get an instructor who encouraged us to be independent. At some points, he let go of me completely, and I found myself soaring toward the top of the tunnel. Once, I even looked around because I thought was too high, and there was my instructor, halfway up the tunnel, flying alongside of me! The word I keep returning to is AMAZING! I wish I had more words to describe what a fantastic experience it was, but I should continue on with the rest of our trip.

After that, we found a movie theater and checked out show times. We planned to see Valkyrie, but had some time to kill before the showing. Kenny noticed a huge store called, As Seen on TV, and thought it would be funny to see everything inside. We laughed and laughed and took pictures. It probably won't be as funny to anyone else reading, but we made lots of memories and inside jokes.

The movie was very good, based on true events. When it was over, our snack from Bubba Gump had worn off, so we found a wings place called The Blue Moose where we enjoyed dinner, and Kenny got to watch a playoff game.

After dinner, we headed back to the cabin, where Kenny tried to start a fire with what little wood he found that was dry. We enjoyed the warmth until it ran out, then headed to bed after a dip in the jacuzzi.

Sunday morning we slept in a little bit, but needed to get on the road before lunch so we actually set an alarm. On the way home, we enjoyed music, stories, scenery, and 'the world's largest indoor flea market.' Nice. We were able to take our time getting home, and arrived before small group started.

Words cannot express how nice the weekend was. Being alone with each other, having a nice break from worrying about other people's needs but your own, sleeping in, not having to be on a schedule was nice (and much needed).

And there's no greater welcome than being bombarded with giant hugs from your favorite little people.