09-01-2011, 07:19 PM
We were so happy around this time last year. Maybe we should make a last-minute trip to Gatlinburg this weekend, because that was a very good vacation. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me.
I'll have to ask the others who were there how wonderful it really was. I do remember being disappointed at the repetition and tourist trap status of the place. There seemed to be a million of the same three things (pancake restaurants, 1800s photo booths, and whatever those places are called where there are miniature race cars on the wooden tracks). The traffic was incredibly slow, to the point that it was faster to walk around Gatlinburg's tourist attractions, because a lot of other people also had the idea to go there on the weekend before Labor Day. We had to drive, though, because the house where we were staying was driving distance from the inner city.
Something else I remember as annoying is that upside-down mansion with the rides none of us could ride on. That was a ripoff. The people selling tickets could have warned us before we bought from them. I don't understand the rules that place had, anyway. It seemed like they were making up rules just to be mean to our group. To ride anything, you had to be between certain heights and weights, and you had to ride everything with a partner of the same height and weight as yourself. While I forget the exact criteria, I recall that this meant none of us could ride anything except for Dee if she found a stranger built like her to ride with. She was too loyal to do that. So we left the upside-down mansion, having spent money on all-day passes with no refunds and getting nothing out of it. Also, that mansion had badly lit flashing lights that would have given Ben and I seizures had we not gone outside in time.
If we went back now, Dee and Nell could ride in the upside-down mansion together. Benita and Brooklyn could ride together now that Benita has grown more. The rest of us wouldn't bother again! I really don't understand how they keep in business, if they have kept in business. Most men are too tall for the height limit and I think more than enough would get angry at being cheated by now. I also think that enough people affected by seizures must have gotten upset. If that business closed, I wouldn't be surprised.
So, the vacation was not perfect. Still, I remember so many good things about the trip. Even the annoying things lead to good things. Outside the ripoff mansion, we found better attractions that were a lot of fun. Once we found a place to park in the city, walking proved to lead us to a lot of fun. Getting lost for hours at night, this time outside the city looking for a certain restaurant, I can't count as a negative because we laughed so much during that time.
The best part of the vacation was us, and the lovely old house in the woods we stayed in. Parts of the log cabin's floor plans have since been modeled based on this house. The best part of the vacation was really us. There were lots of very fun things to do in Gatlinburg, and listing them all would take too much time to explain. But it was our humor and indeed our love for each other that made the experience so memorable. Since the best part of the vacation was us, we don't need to go back there. What we need to do is bring back the feelings we had then. Well, maybe we shouldn't bring back all of the feelings. It's thanks to this vacation that my niece exists, and we've decided we can't afford more people for at least a few more years! (Let's see how well we hold up to that decision.)
Now I am more awake since I started writing this. My memory of last year is clearer. I'll still ask the others about their thoughts on Gatlinburg.
I'll have to ask the others who were there how wonderful it really was. I do remember being disappointed at the repetition and tourist trap status of the place. There seemed to be a million of the same three things (pancake restaurants, 1800s photo booths, and whatever those places are called where there are miniature race cars on the wooden tracks). The traffic was incredibly slow, to the point that it was faster to walk around Gatlinburg's tourist attractions, because a lot of other people also had the idea to go there on the weekend before Labor Day. We had to drive, though, because the house where we were staying was driving distance from the inner city.
Something else I remember as annoying is that upside-down mansion with the rides none of us could ride on. That was a ripoff. The people selling tickets could have warned us before we bought from them. I don't understand the rules that place had, anyway. It seemed like they were making up rules just to be mean to our group. To ride anything, you had to be between certain heights and weights, and you had to ride everything with a partner of the same height and weight as yourself. While I forget the exact criteria, I recall that this meant none of us could ride anything except for Dee if she found a stranger built like her to ride with. She was too loyal to do that. So we left the upside-down mansion, having spent money on all-day passes with no refunds and getting nothing out of it. Also, that mansion had badly lit flashing lights that would have given Ben and I seizures had we not gone outside in time.
If we went back now, Dee and Nell could ride in the upside-down mansion together. Benita and Brooklyn could ride together now that Benita has grown more. The rest of us wouldn't bother again! I really don't understand how they keep in business, if they have kept in business. Most men are too tall for the height limit and I think more than enough would get angry at being cheated by now. I also think that enough people affected by seizures must have gotten upset. If that business closed, I wouldn't be surprised.
So, the vacation was not perfect. Still, I remember so many good things about the trip. Even the annoying things lead to good things. Outside the ripoff mansion, we found better attractions that were a lot of fun. Once we found a place to park in the city, walking proved to lead us to a lot of fun. Getting lost for hours at night, this time outside the city looking for a certain restaurant, I can't count as a negative because we laughed so much during that time.
The best part of the vacation was us, and the lovely old house in the woods we stayed in. Parts of the log cabin's floor plans have since been modeled based on this house. The best part of the vacation was really us. There were lots of very fun things to do in Gatlinburg, and listing them all would take too much time to explain. But it was our humor and indeed our love for each other that made the experience so memorable. Since the best part of the vacation was us, we don't need to go back there. What we need to do is bring back the feelings we had then. Well, maybe we shouldn't bring back all of the feelings. It's thanks to this vacation that my niece exists, and we've decided we can't afford more people for at least a few more years! (Let's see how well we hold up to that decision.)
Now I am more awake since I started writing this. My memory of last year is clearer. I'll still ask the others about their thoughts on Gatlinburg.
