Summer Vacation in the Smoky Mountains: Day 1

Day 1: Tuesday 8/16/16

After a night of tossing and turning on my sister’s bed (no air conditioner had been put in the window in my room, and that just wasn’t going to work), the day started about 4:30 am. Needless to say, I was a bit concerned, after a night of minimal sleep, how I was going to pull off driving 200+ miles when I arrived in Tennessee.

My flight out of Manchester was scheduled for 7 am, so we probably left mom’s a little after 5. The drive was filled with mom reminding me to keep in touch frequently, and telling me horror stories from the one time she drove through Knoxville (40 years ago...at rush hour), and asking me “you won’t be driving through there right?”. Nah mom…

About this same time we arrived at the airport. I hauled my luggage out of the car, assured mom that I would stay in touch, explained why there was no reason for me to use curbside check in on a Tuesday morning in MANCHESTER, said goodbye to her, and headed inside to find absolutely no one in the check in line.

About a minute after stepping up to the kiosk to check my luggage, I was on an escalator to the only security checkpoint, since my favorite was still under construction. But, it’s Manchester, so the lines always move quickly.

Security was tighter than I had seen at that point since the winter of 2002. Honestly, the only thing missing was the military with the big guns at the checkpoint and the random vehicle searches outside. We all had our hands swabbed while waiting in line for the ID check, and then it appeared that at least one bag from each passenger was being flagged for screening going through the x-ray. So it took awhile to get through, but I appreciate an airport that is actually doing something security like, rather than just waving everyone through.

And since it’s Manchester, I was still gateside within 20 minutes of arriving at the airport. I passed the time texting with dad until boarding. It was a very interesting group in the gate area, with everything from businessmen to families to nuns getting ready to board the plane, and at least 75% complaining that Southwest doesn’t allow seat selection.

Soapbox time. It’s very well publicized that Southwest doesn’t allow seat selection ahead of boarding the plane. We also were flying out of Manchester. Manchester is within a very short distance of multiple other airports with more airlines (and theoretically cheaper prices, but I often have a hard time finding them?). Now, I find Manchester to be the most convenient airport, and I LIKE Southwest, so I fly through Manchester, but...we’re not exactly in an area where you can’t find other options if you don’t like Southwest. So quit taking the good seats from those of us that like the airline, and find another airport or airline to fly!

Boarding began eventually, and moved quickly, because Manchester has rockstar gate agents. I had a pretty short connection in Baltimore, so I was thrilled when we pushed back from the gate a few minutes early.

The flight down to Baltimore was quick and pretty soon I was eating Auntie Annie’s pretzel bites at the next gate waiting for my flight to Nashville.

The flight to Nashville was also quick, and also arrived early! 2 for 2! After walking about 10 miles, I collected my suitcase, and then started on a 5 mile hike to the rental car facility. Thankfully, my information had been straightened out in the Dollar Express system, so my name was on their screen with a car assignment, and within minutes, I had my GPS set, and was pointing the Sonata towards the Eastern timezone, and settling in for a 3 ½ hour drive.

Minus a crazy pop up rainstorm, where it took me longer than I wanted to figure out the wipers (wipers should be universal use just like blinkers!), it was an uneventful drive across eastern TN. Despite my mom’s concerns, the Knoxville area was a breeze (though it was NOT rush hour when I tried to drive through there), and Cumberland County, as a whole, was quite a bit like driving in NH, just with more tractor trailers.

By 3:30 I made it to the Gatlinburg visitors’ center. I took a few minutes to pick up brochures and get myself oriented, and then I headed for the national park. Since it was sunny, and the forecast seemed pretty indecisive, it seemed like a good idea to do as much scenic stuff as possible ASAP.

When I reached the park, I took a few minutes to check out the Sugarlands visitor center, and then I headed deeper into the park, stopping for MANY pictures along the way.

After about 45 minutes of navigating hairpin turns and crazy hills, I reached the Newfound Gap overlook. This turned out to be a great place for scenery. Here you also have the opportunity to stand on the North Carolina/Tennessee state lines. 

Once I’d had my fill of picture taking here, I decided since I was so close, I should go to Clingmans Dome. It was about another 15 minutes up the road. The hike from the parking lot to the top was breathtaking, both in terms of views and physically. I tried to mask how out of shape I was by stopping regularly to take pictures.

Clingmans Dome is kinda interesting. You climb an incredibly steep paved walking trail for about a mile to reach the highest elevation point in the park (6,643 feet in elevation). Once you reach that point, there is an observation tower that is beyond ugly, but at the same time, my father would probably consider it an “engineering masterpiece”. Regardless of whether it’s a masterpiece or ridiculously ugly, it affords some awesome views, even on a hazy sunny day, once you finally stop sucking wind enough from your climb to enjoy the views. As an added bonus it was 30 degrees cooler there than in town. 67 degrees instead of 98 makes a big difference!

Once I’d had my fill of picture taking from the tower, I headed back down the hill, stopping for a few more pictures. 

This walk was easier on the lungs, but I was starting to notice my foot. Those who read my Walking Wounded trip report will find this particularly interesting. The same foot that I rolled right before the Nov 2016 Food and Wine Festival weekend had been injured just a few months before...namely about 3 weeks prior to this trip to Tennessee. Because i worked summer school, I was the SLP tagged to evaluate students transitioning from Early Supports and Services to preschool prior to their 3rd birthday. This meant I went to a daycare to test an almost 3 year old. This turned out to be a daycare center out of my nightmares, with toys and art supplies stacked EVERYWHERE. As you can imagine, the 2 year old was active, and when he was DONE with testing, he started crawling around. This resulted in a giant roll of drawing paper crashing down on my foot. The foot was basically better before I headed to TN, but this slope was definitely putting it to the test. Good news? It’s not my driving foot.

Just before the parking lot, I paid a visit to the little store. Ended up picking up an ornament. Figured since that was the only “hike” I’d be doing this trip, the ornament from this trip should represent my survival:)

It was now after 5 pm, and a couple granola bars and 100 calorie packs of cashews don’t really count as a meal, so it was time to head back toward town. I mostly just drove, but I did stop to take a picture of one of the countless tunnels along the way. 

Once back in town, I found my hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn Gatlinburg. 

Check in was easy, and pretty soon I was ditching my stuff in my room on the 5th floor, and heading for a late dinner at Bennett’s Pit BBQ.

It took me no time at all to realize that this hotel was VERY conveniently located. Bennett’s was about a 3 minute walk from the hotel. I was seated immediately. Dinner was a pulled chicken sandwich. Honestly? It was just ok. The flavor was great but the chicken was super dry. However, dessert totally made up for this. The blackberry cobbler was out of this world!

After dinner, I headed straight back to the hotel. It had been a LONG (but really fun) day. I took a few pictures around the room (no, the fireplace did not need to be used on this trip!), and then crashed for the night. 

Summer Vacation in the Smoky Mountains: Pretrip

Pretrip

As several of my vacations have, this trip came about through several twists and turns. Through much of the 2015-2016 school year, I was determined that as soon as school ended, I was going to do a road trip. I really wanted the flexibility to just visit wherever I wanted to. However, school wasn’t ending until June 20th, the bombshell was dropped that my entire office needed to be packed, because not only was I moving to a different school in the district, but the speech room I’d been in was being relocated within the building (meaning I’d be returning to school beyond the 20th to finish purging and boxing everything), and I had to be back at work by July 1st for summer school set up day. So my beginning of summer road trip window was tiny. And I came to realize that, after a wild school year, I was WAY too tired to attempt a legitimate road trip in that short window of time.

I also knew that when summer school ended, I really wouldn’t have time for a road trip before the regular school year started. Mom had a 60th birthday happening, and the combination of that and some other things on the calendar just weren’t jiving. And I had a feeling I’d be pretty tired after summer school. Because of the quantity of kids requiring speech services, they’d given me clearance to start my day early and end late, and schedule certain students before/after the regular summer school day.

So...in the week and a half between the time I finished clearing out my old office, and summer school set up, I started pricing airfare for August. There was really no option left uninvestigated. In the end, the best option ended up being a trip to eastern TN. I booked flights, flying into Nashville on 8/16, and home the morning of 8/21, two days before school would start again. And I booked a hotel in Gatlinburg from 8/16-8/20.

And that was the extent of my planning for awhile. Summer school started, Nick and I got engaged, and trip planning went out the window. I even considered canceling the trip because, well, Nick and I got engaged, but we both agreed that if I didn’t have a vacation scheduled, I wouldn’t end up doing anything for myself, so I kept the trip on the books.

Eventually summer school ended. I had roughly 10 days to get the trip planned, so I got to work and loosely planned the trip. I was definitely going to be winging things a bit more than usual.

Those 10 days passed quickly, and pretty soon my suitcase was packed, and I was on my way to mom’s for the night. It was her 60th birthday, so we did a big dinner out and then crashed for an early alarm the next morning.

The Walking Wounded Take on Disney World's Food and Wine Festival: A November 2016 Trip Report: Day 4: The End

Day 4: Sunday 11/13/16

Departure day. We were up reasonably early to finish packing. It became very clear before I even got out of bed that my foot had not appreciated the 50,000 steps I’d done in the previous two days (combined), and it would not be fitting into the Keens I’d worn for the flight down. I had to find room for those in my suitcase and stick to flip flops for the day.

Once packing was done, we dropped off our luggage with bell services in the lobby and headed for the bus stop. We had a breakfast reservation at Captain’s Grille.

The wait for a bus to MGM was about 15 minutes, and then it was a quick trip from there. We had time, so I dragged Nick over to the Christmas tree for some pictures. He had begun to grasp the size of Disney Christmas trees when I pointed out the top of the Magic Kingdom one visible over the train station the night before, but it wasn’t until we were up close and personal that he really grasped the scale of these trees. 

From here, we decided to walk to the Yacht Club because hey, we are already limping, so whatever. Truth is, we had plenty of time, and we both really hate those friendship boats. They’re loud, hot, and it was clear that even though we’d be traveling away from the park, we’d still be dealing with a crowded boat. So...we walked.

We got to the Yacht Club about 20 minutes early for our ADR. We were told they were running slightly behind, so we’d probably be seated close to our ADR time (9:35). Ok, whatever. We found a place to sit and relaxed.

To make a very long story very short, we were seated about 10:20. Despite running behind, they’d continued seating walk ins, and they were spending an eternity looking for people who checked in and then disappeared. So after over an hour, we were seated...absolutely starving, and really surprised. We’ve had breakfast here a few times, because it’s such a hidden gem. We’ve never had to wait more than a couple of minutes to be seated, even without an ADR. It WAS clear, however, that they were super busy, and quite frankly, I think it was busier than they ever really see it and they weren’t equipped for that, because it’s so rarely busy.

Thankfully, the server appeared quickly, and we were at the buffet within minutes of being seated. The food, as always, was excellent, and the server, although stretched thin, did a great job. I’m sure we will return, although, hopefully, at a less busy time next time.

When we finished eating, I dragged Nick over to the Beach Club to see if they’d started creating the gingerbread carousel yet. They hadn’t, so we headed for the bus stop, where we had a VERY short wait for a bus to Downtown Disney...err...Disney Springs.

I had been to Disney Springs twice in February, during my week in retirementville, so I’d experienced the new parking garage (love it), and seen the construction. But most of the new stuff had opened after I was there, so there would be a lot new to me, including the new bus drop off area.

Nick was thoroughly confused when we got off the bus and nothing looked familiar. I knew which general direction we needed to go, so we headed for the Marketplace, passing an over the top tree along the way. 

First stop was the design a t-shirt store, because Nick was apparently feeling inspired by all of the creative shirts we’d seen in Epcot the day before, and was feeling a bit left out by Disney’s lack of “real man” sizes. However, this store does not let you actually really be creative, so it was a quick visit.

Next up? The Christmas store. I found a POFQ ornament to add to my Christmas tree that’s quickly becoming a vacation tree.

From here we went to check on the hours of the Christmas Tree Trail. It had opened roughly 2 days earlier, so it really hadn’t been made clear yet. Turns out it would open at noon, which was just a few minutes away. Woohoo! More Christmas decorations. I believe Nick rolled his eyes.

While we waited we went into Once Upon a Toy to see if there was anything Star Wars that Nick could bring home to a co-worker.

Once Nick had sufficiently toured the Star Wars section of the store, we went back outside to check out the Christmas trees, including the one right before the start of the trail, outside Earl of Sandwich.

The Christmas Tree Trail was a GREAT addition to Disney Springs, and a really neat way to use the old bus stop area. 

From here we really just wandered in and out of stores, at the pace of SLOW. The crowds were huge here too, my foot was still bothering me, and as an added bonus, I just plain wasn’t feeling well. The idea of trying one of the new restaurants went out the window.

After poking around for awhile, I hit a wall, so we found our way to the boat dock, and took the boat over to Riverside. I’d love to say that the boat ride was peaceful and enjoyable. But, there was a kid on board that was a perfect ad for birth control. And the ladies behind me agreed. At least the view from the boat was nice?

When we got to Riverside, the first stop was the food court. Nick got a chicken sandwich for himself. I had breadsticks (a Disney bargain by the way). We decided right away that we liked this food court a LOT better than the food courts at the values.

After eating and unwinding a bit, we started wandering a bit to check out the resort. Nick had already decided this was a reasonable substitute for French Quarter, but I wanted to see just how spread out it is..in other words...how it would be for a solo stay.

Nick’s hip really started bugging him (SHOES), so he found a bench and parked himself. I kept wandering. My foot was still bugging me, but I knew I’d be sitting for awhile on the plane that evening, and that the pain was less noticeable if I kept moving. And I really wanted to check out the resort.

I pretty much wandered all over. I like the layout of this resort a lot. This is one “big” resort that didn’t feel big. I’d have no qualms about staying here solo.

After wandering, we went back over to the main building, and, after checking that out some more, we hopped on a boat back to French Quarter.

We still had over an hour before our bus pick up, so we got our luggage and found a place to park ourselves to charge our phones and just chill. At some point, Nick went into the gift store to get a thank you for his mom for watching the dogs. Apparently while he was in there, he picked up a Mickey pancake mold. 3 days later, on my actual birthday, he surprised me by getting up early and fixing me Mickey pancakes for breakfast before I left for work. 

Eventually, it was time for me to change into long pants for the trip home. Somehow this ended up with a 20 minute chat with the custodial CM that was cleaning the restroom. She was truly what we’ve come to expect from Disney cast members.

A little before 6 pm we headed outside to wait for the no-fun bus. I’m positive that neither one of us were ready to leave. Even with the crowds and the injuries, it had been a really fun weekend.

The bus showed up right on time. We stopped at both Saratoga Springs and Old Key West, and then we were on our way. Sort of. Traffic to get to the highway was INSANE.

I think we finally made it to MCO after 7. Thankfully the security line was non-existent (they were actually only using one side of the checkpoint because of it), and within minutes of arriving we were gateside. So we had plenty of time to have some pizza for a late dinner, and relax at the gate.

Somehow, despite an 8:45 pm flight on a Sunday, we’d both ended up with B boarding positions. We ended up doing the gateside upgrade to get on the plane first. Nick really wanted to sit in the emergency row for his hip. So that’s exactly what we did.

Despite having gotten a notification from TripIt earlier in the day about a massive delay, our flight ended up being right on time. And because the Pats were kicking off right at departure time, everyone boarded quickly so that they could get in their seats and get their devices connected to watch the game. I must say, it was amazing watching all of these New Englanders come together to position computers, tablets, etc so that others could watch the game too.

I had the middle seat and the guy on the aisle was chatty, drunk, and reeked of cigarette smoke. Thankfully, he shut up once the plane was airborne (early, because everyone was in such a hurry to board and watch the Pats), and I fell asleep and slept for most of the flight.

It ended up being another 2 ½ hour flight to Manchester, which was certainly a win. We were off the plane by 11:30, and after a quick ride on the shuttle, we were scraping frost off the car, and headed home.

Final thoughts:

I want to find a way to go to Food and Wine every year! So much fun!

My foot was too swollen to fit into my work shoes the next morning. Can I recommend NOT sitting on your foot the week before a Disney trip? That being said, it was worth it! And the foot is pretty much better now, so all is good.

Facebook has its plusses and minuses, but the fact that we were able to stay in touch with our cruise dinnermates, find out that they would be in Disney at the same time as us, and meet up with them because of it is a HUGE plus. I still can’t believe that Disney did such a good job matching us up, and loved having the chance to catch up with them.

We really couldn’t have asked for better weather. I don’t know if upper 70s/low 80s and no humidity is the norm for November, but wow was it awesome!

Loved MVMCP!

I had always wondered why people would go moderate, when the values are available. I get it now. Loved French Quarter and loved walking around Riverside.

I’m looking forward to exploring the new stuff in Disney Springs more next month...hopefully with a cooperative foot and digestive system this time…

The crowds this trip were insane. However, the people were better behaved than I have EVER seen. People were friendly to each other, engaging in pleasant conversations, and helping each other out. Nick normally freaks out in crowds, thanks to having worked security in Boston, and even he did ok. It was usually me hitting the wall with crowds. So soon after that wonderful election, the fact that people were being so pleasant (and I heard exactly one election conversation the whole weekend), was even more welcome.