Two-Year Anniversary Vacation

(I hate that I'm just now getting around to posting about this, but I've been so busy the past couple weeks. I guess late is better than never, right?)
Two Mondays ago, June 13th, Jordan and I celebrated two years of wedded bliss together. We were blessed with the opportunity to go on a long weekend vacation to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg. We went there for our honeymoon, and we both LOVED it, so we were very excited to go back. We decided to leave Rylee here at home with my mom - something I was not so sure I was going to be okay with. Don't get me wrong - I know she is in great hands when she's with my mom, but I had never been away from her for more than a few hours during the day. We were going to be gone for FOUR nights. Leading up to the time to leave, I would get teary-eyed just thinking about being away from her for that long. I knew I was going to miss her like crazy.
We left on Friday morning, June 10th. We got everything packed and loaded up, and then it was time to say our goodbyes. I hugged and kissed on Rylee for probably a good five minutes before Jordan finally had to pretty much pull me away so we could leave. As soon as I got in the truck, I started sobbing. Jordan asked me if I was sure I didn't want to take her with us. I shook my head. I knew I was going to miss her a LOT, but I also knew that we needed a few days away alone. Besides, with Baby #2 on the way now, that is probably the last vacation we're going to have for a LONG time.
Anyway, since I've been feeling nauseous a lot lately with being pregnant, I bought some Bonine to take for our traveling. We hit the road, and thankfully, the medicine did its job. I felt great the whole way there. Granted, I was passed out almost the entire time, but still - at least I felt good. We stopped at a Taco Bell along the way for lunch - typical when you're traveling with me. I LOVE Taco Bell, and it's cheap.
We arrived in Pigeon Forge around 3pm and easily (thankfully) found our cabin. It was called "Stream of Love". It was fairly small, but perfect for just the two of us, and very cozy. I really liked it. It had a large front porch with two rocking chairs,

one bedroom with a king-size bed,

one bathroom, and a living room/kitchen area.

the pretty fireplace in the living room

The refrigerator was to the left, just outside the view of the camera.

It also had a small covered deck off the bedroom with a hot tub, but unfortunately, we couldn't get the hot tub to work. The water was freezing cold, and no matter what he did, Jordan couldn't get it to turn on. Of course since I'm pregnant, I wouldn't have been able to get in anyway, but Jordan was a bit disappointed. Thankfully, there was a HUGE jacuzzi tub inside the cabin, so we were still able to enjoy that at least.

There was an air hockey table behind the couch in the living room, but we couldn't find the puck for it, so unfortunately, we didn't get to use it, either. (No big deal, of course, but we were both kinda bummed, because we love playing air hockey.)
We got our stuff unloaded and settled into our humble abode for the weekend. Shortly after, we were both hungry and ready for dinner. We decided to try the Tony Roma's restaurant we had seen while driving through town.

Jordan ordered ribs (Tony Roma's specialty), and I ordered a salad, steak, and bacon macaroni and cheese. It was good food, but we rarely eat out here at home, so we forgot how expensive it can be. What hurt even worse is that we later found a 10% off-your-entire-ticket coupon for Tony Roma's in one of the INFINITE coupon books floating around town. You know how I love my coupons/saving money, so it drove me crazy that we missed out on using that coupon. We would've saved about $4. (I know some of you are probably thinking, "It's only $4... big whoop." But to us, every penny counts.) We finally just shrugged it off by reminding ourselves that we were on vacation.
After dinner, we drove down the road to Walmart to grab a couple of things (and by "a couple of things", I mean that literally - we bought a box of Fudge Rounds and two bags of gummie bears, and we also went ahead and picked up Rylee's birthday gift, since I knew we'd be pressed for time when we got home).
Then we headed back to our cabin to chill out for the rest of the night. We watched some movies on TV and relaxed in the jacuzzi tub. It was nice.
The next day, Saturday, June 11, we decided to go to Wonder Works in Pigeon Forge. For those of you who've been to Pigeon Forge before, Wonder Works is that big building that looks like it's upside down.

Pretty cool-looking, huh? Wonder Works is described as a "theme park of the mind" (or something along those lines). Basically they have a bunch of exhibits (over 120, I think the brochure said) of different things to challenge/test your mind, strength, etc. It was a pretty neat place. There were some things I couldn't participate in since I'm pregnant (earthquake simulator, a ride that flips you upside down, etc.) but that didn't bother me, because I honestly wouldn't have wanted to do them even if I wasn't pregnant (except the ropes course, maybe). Below are some pictures from our time at Wonder Works. You'll notice Jordan is in all but one of the pictures. I was the one with the camera the majority of the time we were there, and like I said, he did several things that I couldn't/didn't do. He had fun.

getting ready to climb the rock wall

Look at those leg muscles! Sexy!

at the top of the rock wall

getting ready to ride the "Xtreme 360" ride

ready for the ropes course

Around noon, we left Wonder Works to grab a bite to eat for lunch. We decided to try the Old Mill Restaurant.

They have southern home-style dishes. Jordan ordered country-fried steak, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese, and I ordered fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. Both of our meals only cost $9.99 each, and I couldn't believe how much food we actually got. We were very pleased with the quantity/quality of food for the price. Needless to say, we had PLENTY of leftovers to take back to our cabin. After lunch, we walked around the Old Mill District for a bit to settle our stomachs, and then we stopped by our cabin real quick to drop off our leftovers from lunch before heading back to Wonder Works to do a few more activities (we had all-day access, so we could come and go as we pleased until they closed that night). Jordan begged me to climb the rock wall with him (he had already climbed it once while we were there that morning) - something I really DIDN'T want to do, because I am terrified of heights - but I finally gave in and agreed. I got MAYBE half way up the wall (Jordan said I only made it about a third of the way up, but it sure felt a lot higher than that) and froze. I couldn't climb any higher, and it took me a good minute or two to convince myself to let go so I could propel down. I knew I was securely harnessed, but that didn't matter. I told you - I don't do well with heights. I don't think I'll be doing that again any time soon. Anyway, we spent another hour or two at Wonder Works, and then we returned to our cabin for the evening to relax and eat leftovers for dinner.
On Sunday, June 12, we drove into Gatlinburg. Of course I had Jordan stop by a gas station for me real quick so I could pick up a newspaper for coupons. On our honeymoon, we did the Ripley's Davy Crockett Mini Golf and visited the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, so this time, we decided to check out the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! "Odditorium".

As to be expected, the exhibits were very interesting and strange. After we had been at the museum for about an hour or so, I started to feel pretty sick. Thankfully, we were almost done with our walk-through, because I needed to get some food in my stomach fast. I had carried some gummie bears in my purse with me, but they weren't doing the trick. We left Ripley's and quickly made our way to a restaurant a few blocks down called Best Italian Cafe & Pizzeria. I had seen it on a list of the top ten best restaurants in Gatlinburg, and I love Italian food, so I knew I wanted to try it out. All I can say is that I am so glad we did. I ordered fried three-cheese ravioli, one of the appetizers on the menu, and Jordan ordered a cheese and pepperoni calzone. The waitress brought my food out before Jordan's (thankfully, because, like I said, I needed to get some food in my stomach), and when she finally did bring his out, we both couldn't help but laugh. It was the BIGGEST calzone we had ever seen. Seriously. The thing was HUGE. Here's a picture of it (although, of course, the picture doesn't do it justice to its size. It was easily a foot and a half long.):

When Jordan cut into it, he found a delicious layer of steaming hot cheeses and pepperoni that was at least an inch thick.

The thing was a monster. Jordan was nice enough to share a bite or two with me, and it was SO yummy! He quickly got full, so there was plenty left for us to take back to our cabin to enjoy for dinner later that night. That was by far my favorite meal we had while we were there. We will definitely be going back to that restaurant next time we're in Gatlinburg!
After lunch, we decided to head back to our cabin for a while to rest. On our walk back to the truck, we passed a pretty spot with a fountain, so I had Jordan stop and take a picture of me.

We had a nice, relaxing afternoon back at the cabin. We took a nap, watched some movies on TV, got in the jacuzzi tub for a bit, and ate leftovers for dinner. After a while, we decided to drive back into Gatlinburg to get some ice cream from Ben & Jerry's.

We had originally intended to spend some time walking around town as well, because we had never been to Gatlinburg at night before, but I wasn't feeling very well again, so we decided to just get the ice cream and take it back to our cabin. I found a brochure inside the Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop that had two coupons in it. The first coupon was for buy one, get one free cones or cups of ice cream, and the other coupon was for $1 off a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. We decided to use both coupons. We each got a small cup of ice cream to enjoy that night, and we bought a pint to eat the next day. It was a bit of a splurge, but it was for our anniversary. We made our way back to the cabin, ate our ice cream, and went to bed.
The next day, Monday, June 13th, was our two-year wedding anniversary. We decided to go to the Titanic attraction in Pigeon Forge.

When we were in Pigeon Forge for our honeymoon two years ago, the exhibit was still being built, so I was excited to get to visit it this trip. It's a museum with over 400 artifacts, including dishes, pictures, and letters that were all, at one point or another, on the actual Titanic.
Upon arriving at the attraction, each person receives a "boarding pass" with the name of a real passenger of the ship. At the end of the tour, you get to find out the fate of your passenger. My passenger's name was Lillian Bentham, a 19-year-old 2nd class passenger headed to Rochester, New York, and Jordan's passenger's name was Lawrence Beesley, a 34-year-old 2nd class passenger from London, England. At the beginning of the tour, one of the guides saw my boarding pass and stopped me. She told me I had her favorite passenger on the ship, because she was a hero. I asked her how so, but she told me I'd have to wait until I got upstairs to find out. Well, Jordan and I went through the entire tour, and I never saw or read anything about my passenger. We read a few things about Jordan's passenger, which was neat, but I wanted to know what the guide was referring to when she said my passenger was a hero. At the end of the tour, we found out that both of our passengers survived, but I still didn't know what the guide meant, so I decided to track her down and ask her. She told me that, when the ship started to sink, Lillian was able to get into one of the lifeboats. There was a man hanging on to the edge of her lifeboat, but it was full, so the people in the boat wouldn't let him in. In hopes of saving his life, Lillian selflessly agreed to trade places with him every ten minutes, meaning she would let him have her seat on the lifeboat while she got in the freezing cold ocean water in his place. Each time she traded places with him, she was risking her own life, but because of her heroic actions, both she and the man survived. I thought that was a pretty awesome story.
Anyway, we really enjoyed the museum. Two of the things that really stood out to me about it were the grand staircase room and the deck room. The grand staircase room was very impressive. We were told by a guide that the owners of the museum wanted to make sure they paid tribute to the original grand staircase on the Titanic, so they spared no expense, spending over one million dollars on that one room alone. The grand staircase room in the museum was modeled from the actual blueprints of the original Titanic, so it was identical and exactly to scale. An interesting fact that we all got a kick out of was about the floor of the grand staircase room. The guide told us that at the time the Titanic was being built, there was a new, top-of-the-line floor out that was more expensive than marble and granite floors COMBINED. The builders of the Titanic knew there were going to be a lot of very wealthy passengers on the ship, and they wanted to be sure to impress them, with floors fit for a queen. The wealthiest people in the world were ripping up their nice marble or granite floors to replace them with this new flooring. What was it? Linoleum. That's right. Linoleum. Crazy, huh?
The other room I liked was the deck room. As soon as we walked into the room, we were immediately hit with the chill in the air. I'm not sure if the temperature in the room is set on the temperature it was the night the ship sank, but it was pretty chilly in there for sure. The room is dark, and the walls have small lights in them to simulate stars in the sky. The room is set up to give tourists the effect of being on the deck of the Titanic the night it struck the iceberg and sank. Along the outside railing of the deck are containers of water that is 28 degrees cold - the temperature the water was when the ship sank. Tourists can stick their hands in the water to feel just how cold it really is. I can tell you from experience that just sticking my hand in it for a brief second HURT. It really does feel like being stabbed by a thousand knives. I simply cannot imagine what it must have been like for all of those passengers to be completely submerged in that water until they died. It was definitely a tragic night. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the museum, but I would definitely recommend it to people who plan to visit Pigeon Forge.
After our tour of the Titanic attraction, we went to lunch at No Way Jose's Cantina in Pigeon Forge.

The food was pretty good, but I think we both would've liked it better if we had ordered different things. After lunch, we decided to go back to our cabin and relax. Below is a picture I snapped of us outside our cabin. It's the only picture we took together our entire time there (sad, I know).

We took a nice, long nap, played some cards, watched some TV movies, ate more leftovers for dinner, got in the jacuzzi tub again... we really just enjoyed a nice, relaxing anniversary together. We considered driving into Gatlinburg, but decided to just stay in the cabin and chill out for the night.
The next morning, Tuesday the 14th, it was time to head home. We had a great trip, but I was SO ready to get home and see my baby. I took a Bonine pill again, and this time, I stayed awake the entire trip, except for maybe half an hour. When we were originally getting ready to leave to go on our trip, we considered the idea of stopping at the Cheesecake Factory in Birmingham for lunch on our way home since I have never been there before. However, by the end of our trip, we had decided we would eat lunch at a Chick-Fil-A somewhere along the way, because I had some coupons for some free meal items, and we had already spent enough money on food during our stay in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg. When it got around lunch time, I told Jordan to help me start looking for signs for a Chick-Fil-A. We drove and drove, and NEVER found a Chick-Fil-A. We seriously looked for about two hours, and we must have passed every restaurant known to man EXCEPT a Chick-Fil-A. It's a good thing I took that Bonine pill and we had some snacks in the truck with us, or I would've been sick for sure. Instead, I felt fine... I just wanted to eat some lunch! FINALLY, we were making our way into the Birmingham area, and we saw a sign for a Chick-Fil-A. Jordan took the exit and followed the signs to find the restaurant. He turned into the Summit shopping area, but we couldn't find a Chick-Fil-A. The next thing we know, we look up, and the Cheesecake Factory is right in front of us. At that point, I didn't care if we had to spend a little more money on a meal. I was ready to eat. I told Jordan that we were obviously supposed to eat there for some reason, because we really did not plan that and we STILL ended up there. So, instead of grabbing some quick fast food, we went into the Cheesecake Factory and enjoyed a delicious lunch. I couldn't believe how many meal options they have on their menu - it was a bit overwhelming to be honest, because everything sounded so good! Jordan ended up ordering a hamburger, and I ordered parmesan-crusted chicken and pasta. Both of our meals were really yummy! Of course you CAN'T go to the Cheesecake Factory without getting a piece of cheesecake (duh!), so we decided to order a piece to go so we could get back on the road and get home to our girl. We got a piece of the 30th Anniversary cheesecake, and oh my goodness was it delicious! (Until I met Jordan, I refused to try cheesecake (the thought of cheese and cake together just didn't sound appetizing to me). Jordan loves cheesecake, though, and he finally convinced me to try it while we were dating. I'm so glad he did, or I would've missed out on that wonderful dessert.)
We got back on the road, and finally made it home around 4 (maybe a little sooner... I can't remember now). I couldn't get inside quick enough. I opened the door and saw my Rylee standing by my mom by the couch. As soon as she saw me, her face lit up. I ran around the couch and grabbed her and couldn't help but cry (happy tears, of course). My arms had been empty for four days. She looked so different and so big. It felt so good to hold her.
I'm so thankful to my mom for taking such good care of our baby for us while we were gone, giving us the opportunity to have some much-needed time away alone together. It was a wonderful vacation, and we look forward to going back again someday (and taking Rylee and the baby with us).