Down to Tennessee

I just got back from a vacation to Tennessee with my parents and sister-in-law, Erin. We drove down on a Saturday and stayed over in Strasburg, VA. Then on Sunday we continued our journey to Gatlinburg. When we got there we saw a whole string of huge log cabins and a water park at our resort. One of the employees showed us to our room and we had to drive up a winding road all the way up a mountain. Then the guy gave us the news about the black bears that have been known to hang around the mountains, and my mom flipped. She was not happy in the least. Honestly, I think it would be cool to see a bear...from the comfort of my window or a car. I would rather not get my face ripped off for a bag of trash though. After we settled in and my mother yelled a little, we went down to the barbecue restaurant in the main building and then headed to the grocery store to buy some snacks and breakfast for the week. The rooms were nice. We had comfy beds, two shower heads, a jacuzzi tub, plasma TVs and a balcony that overlooked the forest. It was pretty nice, despite the dozen or so centipedes that graced us with their presence every morning and night.

The next day we headed to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg. They had several really cool exhibits and a Plexiglas tunnel where you can view sharks, stingrays and other fish from underneath. There was also a touch tank with horseshoe crabs and stingrays and a penguin playground, which I obviously loved because they are my FAVORITE. I was able to take some really cool pictures of jellyfish and other interesting sea creatures. After the aquarium, we walked around town in Gatlinburg where I had the most delicious donut at the Donut Friar and then made a few stops in Pigeon Forge, including Cici's Pizza which I have seen one to many commercials for.

Tuesday we left for Nashville and started with lunch at Joe's Crab Shack, another spot I see commercials for but haven't seemed to find in NY (Not sure if you are seeing a trend, but I like to eat.). We then took a bus tour of the area learning about recording studios, history, civil war and music. They have a replica of the Parthenon in a park in Nashville. Why? I don't really know, something about a cultural rebirth of the city...I still find it odd. I also took a walk through the Charlie Daniels Museum and I could smell a musty, moldy smell that was probably left over from the huge flood the area suffered from earlier this summer. Attractions have just started opening while we were there and in full force, which I was happy about. I was especially happy that The Wildhorse Saloon was open because that's where we ate, drank and line danced that night. We also listened to live music by someone named Les Richardson and he was really good, but he played a few too many Tom Petty songs. Sorry fans.

The next day we took a local's recommendation and took a visit to Cheekwood, a botanical garden that had a visiting Dale Chihuly exhibit. The Chihuly pieces were scattered around the gardens, carefully placed in specific spots to emphasize the shine of the glass or the organic shapes of the artwork. They were massive and amazing. After Cheekwood, we headed over to Belle Meade Plantation and took a tour of the mansion the housed the owner of Bonnie Scotland and Iriquois, the most important and most famous horses, respectively. One of the original owners of the plantation was a racist, but the history of it all was interesting. They also had a winery where the employees were so very nice and offered us a free tasting. We ended up buying bottles of Muscadine, a varietal of grape that is popular in the south and creates a very full, sweet tasting wine. It was very good. After stopping at a Sonic, we headed back to Gatlinburg and enjoyed dinner at Mel's Diner. A wonderful name for a food establishment, if I do say so myself.

On Thursday, we waited for my parents to get sales pitches from the timeshare folks and then we headed to Dollywood. The Mystery Mine and Tennessee Tornado roller coasters were great but the Thunderhead left me with a splitting headache and Blazing Fury was more '80's than neon spandex pants. My parents were very impressed by the live entertainment and the talented performers. I didn't see it, but apparently some musician played the banjo like a champ. Then we headed to the buffet dinner that was complimentary with our online ticket and it was called Aunt Granny's. The staff was very friendly and loved our accents.

Friday was our last full day in Gatlinburg so we headed to a Flapjacks for pancakes since we saw about a dozen of them, tried some wine at the Mountain Winery (it was after noon) and then to Zorb Smoky Mountains. I changed into a bathing suit and some shorts that I purchased and headed to the top of the mountain to get into my wet zorb. I got a running start and Super Manned my way into the zorb. Then Erin got in and the girl told us to lie on our backs with our arms crossed, then she zipped up the side and pushed us down the hill. It was so fun, odd and hysterical. We just sloshed all over in the zorb until we got to the bottom of the hill and swallowed a whole gallon of water. It was one of the craziest things I have ever done and it was awesome. My nutty mother did the dry zorb and got strapped into it and flipped over about 30 times. I would have thrown up but she loved it. We made a few more stops at places we wanted to hit before we left, like Smoky Mountain Brewery, the Donut Friar (again), Mayfield's Ice Cream and a few more souvenir spots to make sure we didn't leave anyone out at home.

On Saturday we got up at dawn and started our long journey home, but at least the drive was picturesque and smooth. Nothing unpleasant about it.

Ah, Desert Bliss

We are back from Arizona and we had a great time. Our hotel, Westin Kierland Villas, was beautiful. We had a one bedroom suite with a balcony. There was a "relaxation pool" for adults at the resort so I took it upon myself to spend a couple days there. A woman even came over and brought me ice water as soon as I sat down. One day I even ordered a frozen beverage and a sandwich for lunch. It was lovely to get pampered. The other days of the trip we were pretty active...see below.

• Monday: We went to the Phoenix Zoo where the animals were closer than I have ever experienced. I even rode a camel. It was awesome! At night we went to the mall and to the Yard House. They had 150 beers on tap and gave us a tour of the keg room. It was a crazy sight and it was great to try beers I have never seen or heard of before.
• Tuesday: I hung by the pool, TK hit golf balls and then we headed to the Arizona Diamondbacks game at Chase Field. We started out down the street from the stadium at Alice Cooperstown. It was an interesting mix of sports and rock. The bartenders all had black eye makeup designs on their faces. After eating, we headed to the stadium and it has a retractable dome, a pool in center field and a TGI Fridays in left field where you can see the game. The game was great and corn dogs were only $1.50...What? That is unheard of at Citi Field or Yankee Stadium where prices are so inflated that you need to take out a second mortgage to feed a family of four.
• Wednesday: It was a little chilly out, surprisingly, but I managed to drag TK, kicking and screaming, to the Desert Botanical Gardens. Guys don't like gardens? What? Who knew? Well, this garden had mostly cacti, and a butterfly garden where butterflies landed wherever and whenever they wanted. It was so cool to see them flutter all around you. Then, I promised TK that I would go golfing with him, so we did back at our hotel. We had fun and I realized that I could not channel Annika Sorenstam for any of the 18 holes no matter how hard I tried.
  
• Thursday: We went to Casino Arizona which wasn't the best idea because we donated a large quantity of money in a small quantity of time. I left grumpy and with empty pockets. A quick visit to Sonic, however, helped to lift my mood a little bit.
  
• Friday: We headed to Arizona Mills Outlet Center and stopped at Joe's Crab Shack for lunch. I LOVED it there. The waitstaff dances, the t-shirts are inappropriate and the food is delicious. I am determined to visit another location this summer. After shopping, we found the Four Peaks Brewery and sampled some of their beer. I loved the Arizona Peach, it was crisp and refreshing, and TK loved the Leroy Brown which was a little too dark for me. We visited both of their locations in Arizona. Then, we went back to the hotel and got a car to take us out in Downtown Scottsdale. We hit Shotgun Betty's Rock & Roll Saloon first and that was interesting. Not somewhere I would leave my husband to hang out alone for the night but I did like it there. Then we went to a few others, including the Rusty Spur (where we saw people fail at riding the mechanical bull), American Junkie and Dirty Pretty...We were able to hop from bar to bar because people drive golf carts around the street and work for tips. It was really convenient.
  
• Saturday: It warmed up so I lounged by the pool again and then got ready to play another 18 holes of golf. This time we went to the Camelback Inn to do so. The course was beautiful and the cart had a GPS. I sucked again and this time I did in front of a couple from NY that were in front of us. After my poor showing and a little cleaning up, we went to dinner at McCormick & Schmick's and it was delicious.

On Sunday, we left Arizona and headed to Atlantic City because our trip just wasn't over yet. During our flight from Vegas to Long Island, we had to make an emergency landing in Virginia to reroute around some weather and fuel up. It took us an extra 3 hours to get home. All I was thinking was, "It could be worse. We could have crashed and died," and it helped me through a throbbing headache. Then at 3 a.m., we jumped in the car, made a quick pitstop at 7-11 for eyeopeners and headed to Atlantic City. We stayed at the Showboat, lost more money, ate at Carmine's and Ruth Chris.

In conclusion, I enjoyed Arizona and would go back again and Atlantic City was OK and I don't have to go back for a little while but it is an option if I need to just get away for a long weekend.