Spring Break!

Hope all of you had a swell and most-deserved Spring Break! As for myself, I had several new experiences and funny adventures to share. Feel free to comment below, either in response to my post or add your own experiences over spring break. Beware non-school appropriate comments will be deleted. I do not want to know about any illegal, lude, or otherwise immoral activities in which you were participant or observer. Keep it clean. TY. :)

First of all, after five years of marriage, my husband and I finally ventured to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We decided to stay in a chalet -- because it seems like that's what one is supposed to do while in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge or the mountains, in general. So after making reservations for a swell cabin with wireless internet, we got a phone call a week before departure that the owner would be working on the cabin and it was no longer available. They offered us two free nights at that cabin for future use, two free tickets at the local aquarium, and several other alternative cabins to choose from. We chose Lofty Dreams, very similar in design to our original choice.

However, when we finally arrived after 7 fun-filled hours of driving, we found the cabin infested with hundreds of ants which is, as I believe you all refer to things, too nasty. We immediately called the office and were offered an alternative called John David with no ants. (We weren't charged extra for the 'no ants'.)

Over the trip, I finally read a book my librarian friend bought me for my birthday back in December called Life of Pi. The book club at school is reading it and since I missed the last two meetings I was interested in attending (Lovely Bones [have read]; A Great and Terrible Beauty [haven't read]) I felt doubly obligated to read it. It took me approximately 3 days to read it; it's 100 chapters long, just over 315 pages and wildly interesting. A 16-year-old boy survives 250+ days on a lifeboat in the ocean with a full-grown Bengal tiger. That's all I'm saying about it. If you want to know more, read the book. I'd be willing to look over a book report for extra credit, as long as it follows my criteria.

Back to the vacation. For those of you not familiar with Gatlinburg (or Pigeon Forge or Sevierville), they're big into several key things. 1) Pancake Houses. 2) Country-fied Dinner Theatres. 3) Mini-Golf. 4) Old Tyme Photo Studios. 5) Mini 4-wheelers. We avoided all but the pancake houses, although we didn't eat at an official Flapjack Pancake Cabin, but a swell little Denny's-esque place called Mel's Diner.

We couldn't help but notice the large upside-down building on the way to Gatlinburg, so we deicided to visit. It's called WonderWorks, a sort-of hands-on museum of sorts with over 150 displays and exhibits. After last year's venture to Florida with the marching band and experiencing Disney's Mission: Space I discovered I no longer like the virtual-reality motion-sickness fun-filled rides. Thus, I realized I couldn't enjoy half of the exhibits at WonderWorks. Sigh. But you all would probably really enjoy it.

There was a really neat bicycle thing where you pedal and it flips you 360` and a rock-climbing wall, which I actually accomplished. Go me. Of course my arms and legs felt like jello afterwards not to mention I was the only adult not attached to elementary-aged children who attempted it. Again, go me.

We also walked through the Guinness World Records Museum located on the main walkway in Gatlinburg. (Oh, did I not mention that? In Gatlinburg, you park and walk. A lot. Yay for walking. A lot.) Among the most interesting findings in the museum were Burmese neck-stretching and a French dude named Michel Lotito who has eaten grocery carts and an airplane. Not a typo - go ahead - read it again. Grocery carts. Airplane. Yep.

The last and best attraction we visited was Ripley's Aquarium. I'm always awestruck when experiencing wildlife upclose behind the safety of very thick glass. Shark Lagoon took its visitors on a 300-foot or so venture in an underwater tunnel while sharks and fishes and turtles swam around and over. Super, super cool. This was definitely my fav part of the trip -- plus it was free because of the goof with the cabin, which free is always good. Very, very cool.

We wrapped up our trip with a two days in Nashville visiting two of their malls, Hickory Hollow and Opry Mills. What awesome buys did I get at two malls? A shirt for my mom. Two very expensive flavored dog biscuits for Butters and Jazz. A hair-cutting kit for my husband which made the trip extra fun because it set off the alarm in every store we visited after. Eh.

We arrived back in town Thursday to an exhausted puppy after spending a week with The Jazz, a yard which desperately needing mowing, and about 2 loads of dirty laundry.

So how was your Spring Break?