The plan was to drive 3 vehicles to the Gatlinburg area, with Debbie (our wonderful musician) driving a 4th vehicle which would be bringing her back home on Tuesday after our performance. Bonnie & Anthony were taking a car, Dave & Kelly were taking a van, and Glenn & Clara were taking a van. We (me & Anthony with 3 kids in tow) were leaving Birmingham at 9:30AM so that we would arrive in Gatlinburg early, check-in, get settled, etc. Dave van & Glenn van were leaving at 11:30AM.
That's not what happened.
You see, our car was picking up David and Lilly in Homewood, then travelling to Trussville to pick up Reid. Before we even got out of Homewood, the windshield wiper starting moving really slow. No big deal, right? Then it stopped. Anthony had gone out to Trussville earlier that morning, so I was driving with the two kids when it stopped. We pulled over in downtown Birmingham and pushed the wiper until it worked. It kept going until about the airport, when it stopped again. By the time we picked up Anthony and Reid, it had stopped going completely, and the decision was made to pick up another car to take. So, we drove all the way back to Pelham from Trussville to pick up my car to take (we had originally been in my dad's car). In case you're not familiar with the Birmingham area, Trussville to Pelham is about the longest distance you can go and still be in the Birmingham area.
So the 9:30 group got out of town around 11:45. The 11:30 group got out about 11:20. So the late group and the early group had swapped.
I talked to Kelly shortly after we left town and told her to take their time getting to Tennessee. So, the "late group" (which was now ahead of us) stopped at the Mayfield Dairy for a tour. They had a great time. I'm sure there are pictures somewhere.
Meanwhile, our car is trucking along, packed to the brim. Keep in mind that we have 2 adults, 3 full size kids, all of our stuff and most of the stuff for living in a cabin with 18 people for a week. It was not pretty. We finally made it to the Tennessee line and were stopped when Debbie (remember...driving her own car?) called and said that she had run out of gas and was waiting on AAA. We had already passed her, and she seemed to be doing OK, so we kept going.
Somehow, we all made it into the Galtinburg area around 6:30 or 7:00. All except Debbie, of course. AAA came to bring her gas and decided it was a timing belt issue instead, so she rented a van and was still on her way to Tennessee.
The good news is that after all the that, we checked into the most wonderful cabin ever...
We unloaded everything from the cars, got settled in and then all piled back into the cars to head into downtown Gatlinburg for the first time.
Tonight, we were scheduled to do the Amazing Mirror Maze and Blacklight Circus Mini-Golf. After a quick stop for McDonald's and Subway, we were on our way. We walked from our parking area, got a good look around the town, posed for a group picture and went in.
The mirror maze portion was first. The mirror maze in in blacklight, except for the parts when it goes almost totally dark. We all had a great time trying to figure out what was a mirror and what was actually another person. The great part was that we were able to do the mirror maze as many times as we wanted. Once was enough for me, but the kids, along with Glenn, Anthony and Dave, did it multiple times.
Apparently, I missed the best moment of the trip (in Anthony's opinion) when Emily ran full speed into one fo the mirrors. I can't blame her...it was really hard to tell. But they both had several more good laughs about it over the course of the trip, and Emily had a big bruise to prove that we had been through the mirror maze.
After everyone had successfully finished the mirror maze, everyone donned their 3D glasses for the blacklight mini golf portion of the combo. We all played in groups of 6. I know the
"adult" group had a great time with this! We'd like to take this time to remind Ms. Carole that the ball is supposed to go
toward the hole. :)
After we all finished mini-golf, we took a nice stroll down the almost-deserted streets of Gatlinburg back to the cars and headed back to the cabin. The adults all went to bed fairly quickly, while the kids played a little air hockey, maybe watched a movie and then headed to bed to get ready for our performance tomorrow morning!
Downtown Gatlinburg at Night
Anthony & David...being manly?
Carole & Debbie
WonderWorks
Me & Julia...I dread the day she's "too cool" to hang out with me :)
Zoe kicking Dave's butt on the climbing wall
Playing in the bubbles at WonderWorks
Danielle, Emily & Julia
