We departed Ann Arbor the day after Christmas and of course we were traveling right in the midst of that huge nasty storm that slammed the East Coast. Well, if you thought the ride through Ohio was boring in itself it gets a whole lot worse when all you see is snow and breaklights for hours! Once we got into Kentucky it wasn't so bad but then wham! Hello Tennessee, nice to not see you! It was pitch black and we were driving in a blizzard going about 10 mph in stop and go traffic through mountain passes. It was awful. Add on top of that a screaming toddler it was enough to make you want to pull over and walk. Well, we were super happy to get to our destination. Our cabin was 15 minutes out of Pigeon Forge and once we hit Pigeon Forge the rest of the trip was going to be easy peesy...or so we thought. We're driving 10 mph on sharp curves in high altitudes with no barriers....lovely! We get off a side road, then another and another and we turn a corner to look up at this steep grade God only himself could probably get up.....As we stood there in ahhhh a man drove down in his huge 4 wheel drive truck. He stopped, looked at our car and in his lovely southern Tennessee accents coyly smiled saying, "You ain't getting that car up here tonight....I see you got a youngin with you so I'll wait here at the bottom of the hill to make sure you don't get stuck."
Of course, it's 10pm at night; we had been in the car for 13+ hours and we were stranded in a city and state we had never been too....Mommy lost it at that point and Daddy being positive did what daddy did best...he took charge, calmed mommy down and got us back to Pigeon Forge where we got an awesome hotel for the night. By the way, Clarion of Pigeon Forge, we love you; thanks for your amazing hospitality! At this point Justin was jacked up and did NOT want to sleep after being trapped in the car forever. Daddy yet again saved the day and saved mommy's sanity. We love daddy!
Well, Monday morning we decided we would give a bit of time for the plows and salt/sand trucks to get out and we would try to conquer the mountain yet again....We were also prepared to rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle if need be but we hoped we wouldn't have to do that....Well, around 10am we packed up our stuff and trekked the mountain and some how we made it up that nasty grade from the night before and we were just about there when we got to yet another even worse grade. Defeated...sort of! We had about 1/4 to our cabin and noticed a few cars had obviously had the same problem as we did. Mommy and daddy looked at each other and said "We're walking!"
So imagine this….a mountain, pure ice, a whole car full of luggage, toddler toys, a weeks worth of groceries ect and a 2 ½ year old making it’s way to the cabin (Justin plops in the snow sad as can be and says, mama-no carry me!). We look back and laugh now, but in that moment we were such a sad pathetic site. After 4 trips up and down to our car we finally made it to the cabin; which was absolutely everything we thought it would be-secluded, beautiful & comfy cozy. It was at the point we finished unpacking and the real vacation began….Stay tuned to part 2 of our vacation diary but enjoy some photos of the winter wonderland! (Mind you, the photos do NOT do any justice to the reality of the mountain inclines!)
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