Vacation Recap: Part 2

Thursday morning we slept in, drank our coffee and rocked in the chairs. It was still pretty cool in the morning so we would relax in the hot tub before it got really hot outside. It was pure relaxation and just flying by the seat of our pants. I thrive on a schedule, but for some reason on vacation I can let it all go and do whatever we feel like whenever we feel like and it just feels amazing.

We got ready for the day and headed to Gatlinburg for lunch. I could not get over what a crazy town it is! I found a site before we left that listed the top ten places to eat in Gatlinburg as well as friends' recommendations so I felt well prepared for our trip. One of these recommendations was the Smoky Mountain Brewery and it did not disappoint.

Garth ordered the beer sample and it was quite the sample! Look at all those beers!

I ordered the Black Bear Ale and it was really good. It was also Garth's favorite beer of his sample.

And if you're wondering, yes, I finished that baby!

It was delicious.

I'm more a wine girl, but this was a dang good beer. And nothing goes better with fried food than a beer, am I right?  Garth got the ribs and loved them. I got the chicken fingers and mac and cheese. My mission in the south was to eat as much mac and cheese (and fried green tomatoes) as possible. Oh the mac and cheese here was heavenly. SO creamy! The chicken was a little tough, but I forgot they were known for their pizza so that was a fail on our part. Next time! It was a fun atmosphere, good food, good beer, great view and a nice server. I give this place a B+.

After lunch we walked around the touristy town. It was so crazy! I just could not get over all the little shops and miniature golf courses and people. So many people on a Thursday afternoon. We putzed around the shops and enjoyed the scenery and stumbled upon The Smoky Mountain Moonshine Distillery. 

This was one of our favorite parts of the vacation.

The people were so funny and outgoing here. They got such a kick that these "yankees" had never had moonshine before.

I do not enjoy liquor and do not drink it often so I opted NOT to do a straight shot of White Lightning Moonshine like Garth did. I opted for a cherry soaked in moonshine because lets be honest, I'm scared of it. Ha!

We bought some moonshine to share with our fellow Michiganders that have never experienced it. I can say I had it and that is enough for me. Even on a cherry it burned! And the guys next to us were talking about how they make it in their basement since they were teenagers. Hilarious.

We walked it off at a nearby park. 

Ahh love a good creek. So pretty!

Garth is a sucker for a good creek. 

After our stroll around the park and exploring Gatlinburg we came back to our cabin and planned to walk to our pool. Let me just say the pool looked close to our cabin on a map so I agreed to walk the bear infested walk in the woods....errrrr....mountain to this pool. Turns out the map was deceiving. We walked for over forty-five minutes to that dang pool with me about to have a heart attack around each corner expecting a bear to be there and ready to attack. But we made it and never did see a bear. 

We came back to our cabin after over an hour of walking in the hot sun UP A MOUNTAIN while I freaked out about a bear only to find out the pool was closed. This was annoying because it was 80 degrees and all the other hotel pools were open. But it was a good hike and I got sun burned and it was fun seeing the other cabins and the gorgeous scenery. Not a total loss, though the pool sure did look inviting. 

We enjoyed wine, cheese and salami for dinner and then relaxed in the hot tub. Stay tuned, tomorrow we explore some more great BBQ food and the aquarium.