Back in November Kevin and I had planned to go and visit Dollywood with some of our church folks during the Christmas season because its beautiful and we hadn't ever been. So we set the date for the weekend of December 19th and were anxiously awaiting a few days off in Gatlinburg. Our friends had heard rain and cold weather were coming and decided not to go but Kevin and I were determined to have a couple of days of relaxation.
We left home last Friday morning and the rain was pouring so hard all the way to Knoxville we couldn't hear ourselves think! Once we got past Knoxville the rain turned to dense, wet, snowflakes. Gatlinburg was beautiful in its white winter-wear; however, a semi had jack-knifed on Ski Mountain Rd. and we were unable to get up the mountain to our condo. Making the best of winter's cruel joke, we rented a hotel room on the main drag in town and went in search of dinner. I usually make fun of Kevin for packing everything we own "just in case we get stranded" I have to admit I was glad he packed my gloves and snow boots! The snow kept coming and we had about an inch on the ground by dinnertime.
Our dinner at the Brass Lantern was disappointing (sadly misused plastic greenery, over-cooked steak, and funky tasting Diet Coke). And just as we were paying for the overpriced fare the power went out ALL OVER TOWN...not so much as a "Don't Walk" sign flickered anywhere in sight. All the shops shut their doors for the night and the place was completely deserted! You would think they'd never seen snow before. AND IT WAS ONLY AN INCH! I was more than a little annoyed that Mother Nature was winning with so little effort.
So, we debated what to do and trudged back to the car through the slush so we could see if our hotel had electricity. Unfortunately, our room was like a cave...cold and pitch black. No one knew how long it would take to get power back because a tree was down somewhere in the national park. Instead of waiting out the cold we reluctantly packed up by flashlight (yet another handy item Kevin insists on keeping in the car) and headed back to home-sweet-home in Jasper. After an unsuccessful hunt for ice cream (Hush! It IS an appropriate comfort food regardless of weather) and a 20 minute detour to a Cleveland Starbucks we made it home by 10:30pm and got to sleep in our own bed.
Oh well, it was a good try. Next time - to the beach....less chance of snow. But then again they do have hurricanes.
I hope your holiday travels are more successful. We're headed to Georgia on Wednesday....and it better not snow!
Mandy
P.S. No pictures....because we weren't there long enough to see anything picture worthy...and it was dark. Really dark.
No comments:
Post a Comment