Our Honeymoon

So in the last wedding blogpost, we had just left our reception and were headed out for our Honeymoon:

We were heading to Gatlinburg, TN ultimately, but not wanting to make the 5 hour drive the night of the wedding, we had made reservations at a Marriott in Lex for that night instead.

While Brandon checked into the hotel, I was outside taking more pictures of our car.  "Smoky" is the name of Brandon's car (which is cute, since we were heading to the Smoky Mountains).

Funny story:  this mini van of kids pulled up while I was standing out there taking pictures of our car.  Their van windows were also written on - something about a basketball tournament and and "Go Johnny!" or "Go #5!"  Several kids jumped out of the van and were heading into the hotel lobby when one kid looked at me and said, "Congratulations on your wedding!"  To which I replied without hesitation, "Good luck at your basketball tournament!"  Then I chuckled to myself.

Here's the beautiful room where we stayed.....

....complete with a Murphy Bed!  Strange, I know.....

....but the lady at the front desk considered this the best room they have, because of this great attached balcony (see below).  And when she found out we were Honeymooners, she specifically gave us this room.  It's actually part of a suite, but can be closed off from the other part of the suite and used as a regular room when the Murphy Bed is pulled out. 

Then later, the same lady at the front desk had champagne and chocolate-dipped strawberries sent up to our room, compliments of the hotel - the strawberries were YUMM-Y!  The champagne....I didn't really care for....but it was the first time I'd ever tasted it....I think I was expecting something sweeter.

The next morning (Sunday, May 29) we got up and checked out of the hotel and started the drive to Gatlinburg.

About 5 hours later (and after stopping at Kroger in Sevierville to stock up on groceries), we arrived at our cute little cabin for the week.  It's actually in Pigeon Forge and it's named Dreamweaver.  The front doesn't do justice to how nice a cabin it is and how beautiful the view was.

Entering the front door, you walk into the kitchen, which has a dining area with table for 4.....

......and the living room is separated by a half wall, complete with fire place (which wasn't operational that time of year - bummer) and a flat-screen TV.  That doorway to the right of the fireplace leads to the bedroom and bathroom.

Here's looking from the other side of the room.  That doorway on the left goes into the game room where there's a pool table, dart board and a second bathroom.  That small door on the right, behind the table & chairs, conceals the washer/dryer combo.

Here's the bedroom, furnished with a King-size bed, of which, I apparently seemed to hog each night.  There was a TV in here too, a full bath and a nice sized closet.

Looking at the other side of the room, you see the awesome whirlpool tub, the door leading to the deck/balcony, the door leading back to the living room and the other side of the double-sided fire place.

These windows/door line the living room wall and look out over the deck/balcony to our glorious view.

I could have sat out there all day!

Since we had traveled and grocery shopped and unloaded our car and settled in for the week, we stayed in that night and enjoyed a Kroger take & bake pizza (one of our faves!).  We came prepared with an arsenal of movies (I brought many chick flicks that involved weddings to torture Brandon with, since there was nothing he could do now - he's stuck with me and my movies for the rest of his life!)

We also enjoyed the gorgeous sunset and remarked at how beautiful and fun our wedding was and how we can't believe we've been blessed so much! 

I can't remember if it was this particular day or not, but at some point, friends started posting pictures on facebook from our wedding and so that was so fun to get to see!

The next morning (Monday May 30), we slept in and then enjoyed breakfast on the deck.  The weather was great all week....it got pretty warm here and there, but the mornings were cooler and bearable.

We kept catching glimpses of each others rings and it would give us that giddy feeling again (well, Brandon's ring more than mine, since I had already been wearing an engagement ring for a while).  It was so fun to look down and see his ring shinning in the sun and have it really set in - we're MARRIED!! 

After a bit of lazing around, we got ready and went into Pigeon Forge to explore.  We quickly found this pretty River Walk area and took off down the paved path, listening to the river (or what really seemed more like a creek?) rushing nearby.

We were really enjoying ourselves too, until we happened upon this sign (see it on the left?)....

....here's a closer view:

Lovely.  And they actually encourage people to walk along this river????  And unfortunately we saw some kids playing it in (with their mother there).  They were on the other side of the river though, where some apartments backed up to it....maybe there wasn't a sign on that side?  Yuck.

We ventured from the River Walk to this Christmas themed "village" of shops and restaurants (all the while saying how Brandon's mom would love it there - she loves all things Christmas).  We purchased the "Just Married" ornament I mentioned in this post at one of the shops here.  They personalized it while we waited.

Here's Brandon with Mrs. Claus.

We walked around several other places too and also ate at Cracker Barrel that day, but before too long, we were ready to head back to the cabin for more movies and snuggle time....not to mention the sunset!

Tuesday, May 31, we set out early for an all-day trek through Gatlinburg's shops and attractions.

My family used to visit Gatlinburg every year when I was a kid, but Brandon had never been.  It turned out to be the perfect Honeymoon spot for us....the "just right" balance of things to do and still have time together at the cabin.  After all, we had been a long-distance couple all of our dating life, so just getting to be together non-stop was Honeymoon enough for us!  But still, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and the surrounding areas provided plenty of things to do, but not so much that you feel like you're missing out if you don't see everything.

Anywho, we did a lot of window shopping at quaint places like this row of shops.....

.....and one of the attractions we took advantage of was the "Star Cars Museum."  We had purchased a Groupon for it sometime before the wedding (yeah, we like a good deal!) and we actually both really enjoyed it.

This museum is home to many automobiles used in movies, TV and even some that just had famous owners.

Here's the first Bat-Mobile:

And one of my favorites, Herbie - The Love Bug.

Na-ne-nah-nah-ne-ne-nah-ne-nah-nah-naaaah-nah! 

(Dukes of Hazard horn sound - anyone get that?)

I loved this Flintstones Car (featured in the movie).  And I love Brandon's expression/pose even more.

(Kudos to you if you noticed he took his shoes off for that shot, you know, to make it more authentic.)

As you wind through the museum, you come to a little theatre that plays a movie about the guy who created the museum and about some of the cars there.  I thought the little bench seats and drive-in speakers were a great touch.

Does this look familiar to anyone??

Yes.  That's right.  It's one of the DeLoreans from Back to the Future.

Complete with Time Circuits...

.....and a Flux Capacitor!!!

Heading on down the way, we came upon Sheriff Andy Taylor's squad car (and I thought of my Daddy who is a huge Andy Griffith Show fan).

They also had Barney's motorcycle and side car.

One of Brandon's favorites was, of course, K.I.T. from Knight Rider.

After the Star Cars tour, we grabbed a nearby park bench and ate the PB&J's we packed for lunch (I told you we're thrifty!).

Then we caught a ride on the Sky Lift!

Don't look down!

Since Brandon was nice enough to buy me a new iPhone 4 as a wedding present, I purchased him a new digital camera since his was on the fritz.  We discovered the "panoramic" feature that it has and got this great from shot from the top of the Sky Lift.

After riding the lift back down, we did some more window shopping at some cute shops....

...when we happened upon this little gem:  The Donut Friar.  We split a creme-filled long john - one of my absolute favorite donuts.  YUM.

Then we headed back to the cabin before dark (seriously, our cabin was up a crazy, twisty, turny, hilly road - but what Gatlinburg cabin isn't, I guess).  We didn't want to miss a sunset from our deck.

Brandon made dinner that night....that's right, teaching him early.  ;)

Wednesday (June 1), we had an all-day cabin day.  We lounged around and had a movie-marathon.  It worked out well that we had planned a lazy day for Wednesday, because it turned out I didn't feel well all day - nothing major, just blah.  I quickly recovered though.

Thursday (June 2), we got up and out early again and headed over to Cade's Cove, a valley area with several preserved homesteads from yesteryear.

On the drive over, we stopped at this place for a great photo op (I used to have a pretend "Mel's Diner" in my basement growing up).

One thing that attracted us to Cade's Cove, was that we could rent bikes there and ride the loop around to each place on their self-guided tour.

Here's an example of a homestead in Cade's Cove that had been preserved extremely well.  I think these were all built in the 1700-1800's, but I don't know exact dates.

And here's a church that also sat in the valley and was a stop on the tour.

The photo below was Brandon's idea, but I can't say I minded.  This is inside the church.  We asked some other folks on the tour to take the picture and said "We're on our Honeymoon" before puckering up in front of the camera for them....they understood and thought we were cute.

Here, we're playing with our camera's panoramic feature again, during a rest from biking.  Brandon ran around behind me as I took the picture, so he could be in both sides.  He's such a nut. 

Being in the valley with the surrounding mountains and sun-shiny skies lended us to some really pretty scenery pictures.

The deer there were very tame.  Here you see one right along the road.

And at one point, we came up on a little traffic jam (you could drive to each stop on the tour as well as bike).  We soon discovered what all the fuss was about - a black bear! 

There was a park ranger nearby hurrying everyone along and trying to make sure we all knew which way to run should the bear come at us. She was a pretty safe distance away though (I say she, because this was a Momma Bear - bystanders were telling us that had just seen her cubs too). I was slightly worried that if she came our way, there would be now way we could outrun her on the bikes we rented - they had no gears!. But, not to worry, she soon scampered into the forest and the traffic jam subsided.

Speaking of our biking - I was having a really rough time on the hills!  I'm so out of shape and with no gears, it was all woman-power to get up a not-so-steep incline. Needless to say, I was huffing and puffing, as caught here in this photo by my adoring husband.

After a day of biking at Cade's Cove, it was back to the cabin for more movies and one last sunset from our deck.

Friday (June 3), we packed up our stuff, loaded the car and headed out.  We wanted a few days at home before Brandon headed back to work.  Plus we had a lot to do to dig pathways through all the stuff at our apartment (my stuff got moved there a little before the wedding and was everywhere!).  So, we said goodbye to Gatlinburg and made the 5 hour trek back home.

On the way, we made a pit-stop at Cumberland Falls in southeastern Kentucky.

Known as "Little Niagara," it didn't disappoint and was a nice diversion from the road.

After that break (and some ice cream), we were finally back Home.  And yes, I *did* make him carry me over the threshold!  :)

Our Gatlinburg Honeymoon was the perfect way to start our married life together.  After a crazed (but at the same time simply wonderful!) 4 months of wedding planning, house selling & stuff packing, we needed to rest and just be together and that's exactly what we got.