FIRST COUPLES TRIP | GATLINBURG 2018

This past Friday we loaded up our car, headed to Cookeville to pick Ethan and Rachel, and headed up to the mountains for our first couples trip! The Shoats spent the weekend all over Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. We ate, shopped, rode go-karts, and did all the touristy things in Gatlinburg....and enjoyed every second of it!

We arrived a little after 9pm on Friday night and after dropping our bags off we headed out to visit a new place (new to us), called The Island in Pigeon Forge. We got ice cream and walked around a few shops before it started to rain. After the rain set in we decided to call it a night and headed back to our hotel.

Saturday morning we got an early start to beat the wait at Paula Deen's restaurant. It was, hands down, the best meal of our trip. The food is served family style and it's bottomless. Needless to say we skipped lunch because we were so full the rest of the day. 

The dining area is upstairs in the restaurant with a gift shop on the first floor. The views were great from our table!

The gift shop was adorable too.

After our huge breakfast we drove up to Gatlinburg and went to the aquarium. It was a lot smaller than we remember, but it was still a fun experience. It's a great place for kids!

After the aquarium we walked the strip and went into a few different shops. It started to rain again, so we headed back to Pigeon Forge. 

TIP:

If you are going to Gatlinburg and wanting to find a place to park to walk/eat/shop the strip, park at the aquarium, it $6 (less if under a certain amount of time) for the whole day and it's a covered garage.

We decided to go through the new Alcatraz East Crime Museum and it was really interesting! I would not recommend taking children there as it's a lot of walking around and reading different facts. 

After the crime museum we ate at Timberwood Grill for an early dinner, since we skipped lunch. I got a burger topped with macaroni and cheese and bacon (calories don't count on vacation!) and it was delicious. After dinner we went back to the hotel to change and rest before going back out that night. We were exhausted from all the walking, ha!

Saturday night we went back to The Island and walked around, we also decided to have a late, second dinner (second dinner is totally acceptable on vacation) at Mellow Mushroom. We sat on their patio for a couple of hours, chatting and people watching. The weather was incredible and it was so nice to just hangout!

We had planned on riding the huge ferrris wheel, but it started to rain, so we called it a night and headed back to the hotel. We watched a movie and then went to bed pretty late.

Sunday morning we slept in a bit and then headed to Applewood Farmhouse for brunch! While we waited for our table, I browsed their Christmas shop- so many cute things! Our meal was incredible, just as I remember from when I was younger and went their with my family. The apple fritters were the perfect starter to our meal!

We went to Tanger Outlets and then to The Christmas Place (can you really visit Gatlinburg and NOT go to Tanger Outlets and The Christmas Place??) before heading to to go-kart track. Matthew and Ethan's one request was go-karts at some point during the weekend, so go-karts it was! We spent a couple of hours riding on different tracks. It was fun and the guys were l-o-v-i-n-g it.

It was a great trip and we are excited to plan future couples trips with our best friends!!

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FIRST COUPLES TRIP | GATLINBURG 2018

GATLINBURG | LDW 2017

Last Thursday morning we packed up my little ole car, buckled Reagan in her car seat (lol), grabbed a quick breakfast and hit the road. We had been planning to spend Labor Day Weekend with my husband's family for months and it was here, and it honestly could not have come at a better time! Matthew and I both needed the break away from work, and we enjoyed every minute of it. 

We stopped by our cabin to unload our stuff and change before driving another 2 hours to Johnson City to see my BIL receive his white coat. We celebrated with Mexican after and then headed back to our cabin for the holiday weekend.

Friday morning we woke up and had a delicious breakfast and then headed out to the outlet mall for some shopping. We found some really good deals and I spent way too much time walking around the Kirkland's outlet store with heart eyes for everything. My MIL made Cajun chicken pasta for dinner back at the cabin and then we all watched Slumdog Millionaire. Still not so sure how much I liked the movie, but it was different for sure lol. Friday was pretty relaxing and I was able to sneak in a couple of naps, which was definitely nice!

Outside of our room was a beautiful porch swing and we enjoyed sitting out there since the weather was so cool the whole weekend we were there!

Reagan loved her first trip to the mountains! 

Saturday we woke up and headed to Gatlinburg to walk the strip, get some fudge, and to do some of our favorites. We grabbed lunch at a small hot dog shop, wasn't our best idea, but it wasn't too terribly bad! While eating lunch outside a duck kept coming up to us and my BIL kept feeding it fries, so little buddy stuck around the whole time we ate lol. 

We found a great deal and got to play laser tag, glow in the dark golf, bumper cars, and this fun laser game. Basically stuff we haven't done in a few years, ha.'

Saturday night we went to a hypnosis show and it was hilarious! My MIL, FIL, and SIL all volunteered and went up on stage. It was a great show and definitely had us all laughing the whole time!

After the show we headed back to the cabin for dinner and cake and ice cream to celebrate my BIL a little more! Sunday before heading home from our trip we met my parents for breakfast at their cabin. They had gotten into Gatlinburg the day before to celebrate their 30th anniversary, It was good seeing them and their little cabin. They rented a small one bedroom cabin and it was adorable! I was glad we got to see them and hang out for a little bit!

We got home late Sunday afternoon and were completely exhausted so we went to bed pretty early. Monday we worked on things around the house all day, but then decided to go on a date to Olive Garden! It was a great way to end our long weekend and I'm already looking forward to the next time we get up to the mountains.

Labor Day Weekend | 2016

Labor Day Weekend | 2015

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GATLINBURG | LDW 2017

BEARS & PUPPIES

Yesterday I recapped about the first half of our long weekend trip to Gatlinburg and today I am going to share the second half....which includes bears and puppies!

Saturday after we left Ober Gatlingburg we decided to go back to the cabin and just take it easy, Matthew was still pretty tired from work that morning. We were getting out of the car fixing to go into our cabin when we heard someone yell and say "better lock your doors the bears will get in your car if you don't!" We never saw him clearly because of all the trees but it was our neighbor in the cabin close to us. He was standing on his balcony and said the bears are out. I immediately got excited and asked where they were and he told us to look under his balcony...

You can't see them all because some were behind trees or in them but there were 10 bears! I about died. I started snapping pictures and Matthew talked with our neighbor. The neighbor told us they have lived there for 8 years and this is the most active they have ever been. There were two mama bears and eight cubs. The cubs were playing around while the mama bears just laid around. At one point two cubs started growling at each other and "fighting" it was really fun to hear and watch. We stood there for a good 10 minutes watching them when all of a sudden I saw something out of the corner of my eye...

There was another cub sitting up on the hill behind a tree about 20 feet from us watching us. I couldn't get a good picture because it was hiding out behind the tree waiting for us to leave, and I wasn't getting any closer to it to get a picture. After we saw him we decided to go on in since he was so close lol. We both ran up to the balcony to watch them and that's when the cub that was so close decided to go to our car and try to get in. Matthew and I didn't realize how smart they are. He seriously went to every single door and pulled on the handle to try and get the door open and then went to the trunk and tried to raise it. We we so amused by watching him lol.  After he realized he wasn't getting in our car he just laid down in the yard lol

We watched them off and on for a good hour or so and more tried to get in the car and then a mama and two cubs crossed over our front porch to go up in the mountains. It was so interesting and fun to watch them, but we were a little hesitant to go outside to leave that night for dinner lol.

Sunday we decided to go to Flapjacks for breakfast and it was really good! We stopped in Cookeville on our way home to hangout with everyone again and to go to church. On our way to Cookeville we decided to stop in Knoxville and drive around the University of Tennessee's campus since I have never seen it. It is a very big campus compared to Tech's campus! We also decided to stop at a place I have heard about through multiple friends call Puppy Zone. You can go in there and play with the puppies, and of course buy one if you want to. 

Matthew fell IN LOVE with this little guy, a shih poo. He just want to lay on and be held by Matthew, and every time he put him down he would jump back up on the side of the bed and wait for Matthew to hold him. It was THE cutest thing in the world, and my heart melted every time I looked at them. Unfortunately little man was about $1300 so we had to pass, but Matthew said if he would have been cheaper he wouldn't have been able to leave him...

We both thought this little one was cute, but definitely agreed that if we had to choose one it would have been Matthew's little buddy.

My favorite picture of the two lol

Every since we left Puppy Zone Matthew has been researching all about shih poo's and looking up different breeders in and around Nashville while I am trying my VERY best to convince Matthew that it would be better to wait until we are in a house to get one. 

It's really hard to do that when he keeps sending these kind of messages to me throughout the day...

and then he started adding little messages "from the puppy" to them

STRAIGHT UP KILLIN' ME Y'ALL.

#staystrongshelby 

And yes, my husband's name in my phone has a smiley face beside it. It has been that way since we started talking back in spring of 2010 and I don't think I'll ever be able to change it. :)

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BEARS & PUPPIES