Fall Break in the Mountains!

In the beginning of October we had our fall break. And what better way to spend your fall break than going to the Smoky Mountains. It was a much needed break from school!
I went on this fun little road trip with my friend Courtney. We drove from Evansville to Nashville and then over to Gatlinburg. Our first night out we had intended to spend camping in the Smokies, but we kind of got there a little late so we just ended up staying in a sketchy hotel in Pigeon Forge on our first night. Courtney had never been to Gatlinburg before so we had to go into Gatlinburg that night, and man did we have a good time! We had dinner, which wasn't so great but eh, and then we talked around and window shopped for a while. After shopping for a while we decided to stop into this nice massage place and get some lovely massages. They were the water massages like you see in the mall. It felt very nice. We got headphones with soothing music and there was even a little lamenated picture of a beach that was laying below you when you opened your eyes, not exactly soothing since it was so pixely but it was a nice effort! After the massages came cheesecake and coffee. What better way to end a night, right? Man we were roughing it.

The next day were were ready to get up in the mountains and hike!!! No joke, Pigeon Forge was crowded and we were both just ready to get away. But, one last little tid bit about the night before . . . .

Guess who got her belly button pierced on fall break? That's right ladies and gents, miss courtney. As anyone who has been to Pigeon Forge and/or Gatlinburg knows there are a ton of piercing and tattoo places along the way. Well, Courtney kept joking about getting her belly button pierced and I jokingly egged her on (although she will blame this whole thing on me). So we had been talking about it the whole day and as we were on our way to wal mart to get some groceries for the trip we passed a place and courtney said, "Alright, after we go to wal mart, I'm getting my belly button pierced at that place." Sure enough, after wal mart we went to the tatto/piercing place (American Rebel I belive was the name) and Courtney got herself a belly button piercing. The place was not very sketchy, it was very clean and the people were nice, little odd looking, but nice. So that was a fun way to end our first night of fall break!
Moving on:

After we ate breakfast we were off to the mountains! We decided to hike to Alum Cave Bluffs, part of the Mt LeCont hike. That was a beautiful hike and it was utterly refreshing. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to just get away to nature after you have been at school for two months. It may not seem like a long time, but stress builds up quickly. Yes, I did wear my "Where the Hell Is Bell Buckle" shirt on the trail and I did get one person who recognized it since he went to MTSU. The hike was a great success.
BTW: Pictures from the whole trip are below in a little slideshow type thing. If this doesn't work for you, just comment. I was just trying to try something new so I don't have to post every single picture from the trip on here.

After the hike we drove up to Newfoundland Gap and enjoyed the view. Fall in the Smokies is truly beautiful, I highly suggest it for anyone and everyone. After Newfoundland Gap we drove down to Cherokee where we found a nice place to camp. We didn't camp in the park, but we did camp in this lovely little campground where we haad some very nice neighbors. When Courtney and I had issues building our fire and keeping it going they were kind enough to "make it easy" for us by giving us some quick light logs and lighter fluid! They knew how to camp. I still say there is nothing better than sitting around a campfire with a cup of hot chocolate and a friend.
But before we settled down at our campsite we went to dinner with a special guest: Daddy! That's right, he decided to come visit us and take us out to dinner and breakfast, it also gave him an excuse to get up in the mountains. Our first try at dinner was at Harrah's, the casino in Cherokee. Well, we knew that you had to be 21 to get into the casino, but Daddy insisted on trying to see if we could sneak in to eat at the buffet. Yeah well that didn't go over very well. Courtney and I walk in and immediately these two beefy guards stop us and ask for our IDs. I swear Daddy was already halfway to the buffet, he moves quick! After that attempt failed we ended up eating at the restaurants at the hotel at Harrah's. It was just as good, very tasty food.
The next morning Courtney and I pack up our stuff, thank our lovely neighbors, and go to meet Daddy at this mom and pop place called "Nana's Steak and Pancakes" (or something to that respect). It was a kind of sketchy looking place, but sometimes those are the best, Daddy hardly goes wrong with his breakfast selections. Turned out it was a great breakfast place, just don't try to use the bathroom there, go the Long John Silvers next door. We had a lovely breakfast with Daddy and parted ways. Daddy went off to hike the Chimneys, or at least one of them, and we went off to see the Native American art museum he kept talking about. When Courtney and I went to the art museum we were talking about how it would be funny if Daddy had already been to the museum that day, and what do ya know? We look in the guest registration book and there is my father's signature. Surprised? Not at all.
After the museum we went drove across the mountains, enjoying the lovely view and then decided to do one last "Quiet Walkway." The one we went on lead to the creek where there are tons of big rocks to hop around on. So that's exactly what we did once we got down there, just hopped around on rocks and explored for a while. Once again, very fun, very relaxing. After hopping around on the rocks for a while we headed back to the car and said our goodbyes to the Smokies. They treated us well.



One more little bit: On our way back to Nashville from the Smokies we stopped in to see Kat and Jennifer. We got to see Kat and Jen's lovely dorm room and Kat showed us some fun hippie-esque shop where I purchased my favorite magnetic poetry ever:Romance Novel. Oh it's great, let me tell ya. One word for you: Bratwurst ;-) We then ate at the place where Jennifer works of of the UT campus. It twas nice and tasty and I love the fact that Jennifer sat with us and ate our food while she was supposed to be hostessing. Gotta love my friends!

Overall, it was a very successful and fun fall break. One I won't be forgetting anytime soon!