Let’s see…where did we leave off?
Oh, yes, the decision to go on vacation even though Ezra was not feeling well and was needing breathing treatments. Listen…parenting is like 80% making a decision with absolutely not enough information to make said decision, and then 20% doubting the decision that we made. Or at least that is what it felt like for this choice. We choose to leave and drive 6 hours to Gatlinburg, TN.
The drive was actually nice because it kept Ezra contained and sitting. We still had to give him his nebulizer treatments while we were driving, but he was at least holding steady and not getting any worse.
Since I became a Mom, I have struggled with car sickness so I armed myself with several different strategies for our road trip through the mountains. I can’t do drowsy medication, so I used seabands and some Bovine Ginger capsules, and I did pretty well the whole trip!
We arrived in Gatlinburg and followed the GPS to our rental cabin. The drive seemed SO LONG and it felt like we were SO REMOTE. The driveway was excessively long, with one lane that had hairpin turns and winding mountain cliffs. We arrived close to 7pm and Ezra was in need of another breathing treatment. As I turned the corner on the driveway, there right in front of us was a BEAR! And then we spotted a second, third and fourth. A Mama with her three cubs.
It was so crazy!!! We proceeded up our driveway and stumbled into our Airbnb cabin to THIS VIEW
If you need a breathing treatment, at least it’s a breathing treatment with a view!
We got unloaded, dinner cooked and eaten, and then crashed for the night. Well, the two big kids did. Ezra, Theo and I didn’t sleep a wink. Ezra was up coughing all night long. Theo alternated holding him and sleeping on the floor so I could sleep next to him with my hand on his chest. It was scary. And both Theo and I spent all night long worrying about the winding, hairpin driveway and how far away we probably were from medical care.
Thankfully, everything looks better in the morning. We decided to lay low and let Ezra focus on recovering. It was basically movies on the couch, lunch on the porch and a short walk down the driveway on repeat all day.
By late afternoon, we decided to go find some food and a short little hike since we were in Gatlinburg, after all!
After our gorgeous hike in the sunshiney, spring woods, we decided to see what this whole Gatlinburg thing was all about by driving through town and finding somewhere to eat.
BIG MISTAKE.
We were just innocently driving down the road when BAM! We were in Gatlinburg. And we were STUCK in Gatlinburg along with the hundreds and hundreds of other people who decided to go to Gatlinburg for Spring Break.
Oh my lanta. Gatlinburg proper is probably less than 2 square miles. We were STUCK IN THE TRAFFIC for over an hour just trying to turn around and get out. Of course, we were also hungry and struggling to find somewhere to eat that didn’t have a three hour wait. Shew, it was STRESSFUL!
We finally found a place that had good ol down home barbecue with almost no wait at the door. We got to the counter only to be told that they had run out of meat! Guys, I’m telling you…Gatlinburg was not prepared for Spring Break. And we were not prepared to handle Gatlinburg during Spring Break.
We decided to eat at the only place that didn’t have a line out the door, and it was Mama’s Country Chicken. It was alright, but certainly not our favorite. We were really glad they had some tables that we could eat outside, though!
We decided that while we were down off the mountain we should also get some ice cream…
Long lines, sweet treats, sticky fingers…it was starting to feel like vacation!
We tentatively made plans for the next day. We assumed we had absolutely over exaggerated the downtown crowds and we would try out Anakeesta, which is a mountain amusement park type place. It is accessed by parking at the bottom of the mountain and then taking a bus or a ski lift chair up the mountain. We figured we would arrive 30 minutes before it opened and be able to enjoy the morning on top of the mountain.
……
To be Continued.
Oh my goodness! We went the week before and had such a different experience! We kept marveling that traffic and lines moved so quickly! And I thought that was spring break weekend, but I know different places do spring break on different weeks. So sorry you got the crazy week!