Travel days and we made it to Gatlinburg!

We made it to Gatlinburg! (Tennessee)

My current view as I type this:

(Edit: current view yesterday (Monday) morning as I started to write this post, but then an older couple from California got in the hot tub and we started chatting and I put my phone away 😅).

Haha. Yes, always the hot tub.

My morning actually started on a swinging chair by this creek:

Then I moved to the fire pit/ hot tub area. 😊

I have not really had much free time to update the blog! But after a few days of beautiful weather so far, today is a yucky one with some rain and high winds moving through. So my CURRENT current view is this:

*Edit- got interrupted again as Ivan woke up and we decided to make a grocery store run. I’ll finish this post eventually. 🤪

Ok, I’m back- now it’s Tuesday evening!

Let’s back up to Saturday morning….

Saturday, March 23

Getting on the road!

The drive down was all smooth! Good weather, no issues. I actually thought there might be more traffic, seeing as so many northerners drive down to Florida for spring break. But it wasn’t too bad at all.

The biggest issue was my mom! When my parents got to our house Saturday morning, she said she had woken up with sudden tooth pain. Sort of up in her gum area, and quite significant. UGH. What to do?! I mean, it was Saturday (i.e. dentist closed).

It sounded like probably an abscess forming… or that she needed a root canal. (Again- Saturday…. Vacation…..what to do!?)

We decided to just hit the road, and my dad and I spent a long while searching for emergency dentists in Kentucky (where we were planning to spend the night). Fun fact- emergency weekend dentists are not really a “thing”, apparently. I mean, there were supposedly a couple but most didn’t answer the phone, or their “emergency” hours were Monday-Friday 7-5. Helpful!

Finally we got ahold of her on call dentist from home and they were able to call in an antibiotic. I found a pharmacy an hour or so down the road for them to send the script to.

Stressful!! This is still sort of an evolving situation… It sounds like she will need further treatment eventually but they think the current antibiotics and ibuprofen will hold her until we get home. It’s just worrisome as tooth abscesses can spread and cause sepsis in severe cases, so, that’s been in the back of my mind. She’s doing ok though and seems like it’s finally starting to feel better after 48 hours on the antibiotics.

Anyway! We stopped in Lexington, Kentucky for the night. I loooove Kentucky + all the horse country. It’s so pretty!! I really wish we had had time to visit the Lexington Horse Park, but I wanted to get on to Gatlinburg earlier the next day.

We stopped for dinner at a brewery; busy on a Saturday night but ended up being a MUCH shorter wait than they originally said.

I always have to document a few pics from our “first night of vacation”. 🙂

It was pretty late by the time we got back to the hotel!! Ivan decided he wanted another beer at the hotel bar, so I joined him while everyone else turned in.

Sunday morning I mapped out a little scenic drive/detour to take instead of just hopping on the interstate. (Thanks Google and random blog post for highlighting some scenic roads.)

I just wanted a little more of back roads Kentucky! And for the boys to see some of the whole horse country thing.

Then I had to put on some John Denver and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” because….it was fitting, right??

Wisconsin has cows, Kentucky has horses! We also passed many sprawling country estates. Some very modest, some very beautiful.

Then we jumped on the interstate and drove the rest of the way to Gatlinburg. We only had a few hours to go; it was just a total of maybe 11 hours. Technically doable in one day but we often prefer a little more relaxed pace, dinner out, etc that first night.

We rolled past the first National Park sign by around 2 pm. We hadn’t hit the road very early Sunday plus the country detour, but timing wise it was fine- our condos weren’t ready yet anyway.

Stopped by the resort to see if by chance our rooms were ready (not til 3:30). I really love the location of our resort- not IN the busy tourist mess strip of Gatlinburg, but just a couple minutes in the outskirts. So it feels much more “mountain/country” vibe while still being literally at the door to the national park. I think it’s a perfect location.

Walked around to get acquainted with the grounds.

We drove into Gatlinburg for a late lunch while we waited for our rooms to be ready.

First place we found was the Gatlinburg Brewing Company. If you’ve read any of my other trip recaps, you’ll know we love places like this!!

This pizza is SO GOOD.

This was a nice intro to our days in Gatlinburg and I felt happy and excited. 🙂

Went back to the resort and got our keys! This place is not the newest, but it’s been perfect for our needs. It’s a resort, not an Airbnb, but all condo rooms with full kitchens, etc. We have a 2 bedroom and my parents have a separate one bedroom.

Ours is very spacious! Like I said, not “new” or super fashionable, but I could care less about that on this trip. It’s got a sort of rustic mountain feel and I love the fireplace. We also have two balconies- one from living room and one from the master bedroom.

We got some layers on and headed out by maybe 4:30-5 for a long evening up on the mountaintop park at Anakeesta. More on that later!! It was sooo gorgeous with the best views ever of the Smoky Mountains over Gatlinburg.

Not sure if I’ll be able to get these posts caught up to real time, but will try to keep some updates coming! 🙂