Jeff and I are coming up on our three month anniversary in a few days, so I thought I would begin our new travel blog with a look back at our mini honeymoon to Gatlinburg, TN.

We were married at the Christian camp where we met, and left late in the afternoon, covered in bird seed that we still find in crevices of the Beetle. It was about a four hour drive – and a change in time zones – to get to Gatlinburg, but the time flew by. As we got closer, we noticed that Google Maps kept pushing our ETA further into the night. A little investigation showed that the main drag through Gatlinburg was completely shut down, so we adjusted the directions to take us around a back way. By back way, I mean up and down mountains in the pitch black on narrow roads with hairpin turns. The headlights showed just enough for us to see that the drop on either side of the road went straight down. Jeff got us through safely, though, and my knuckles started to get a little color back in them once we rounded the final curve and emerged into the glitz of the Parkway. Late night Saturday on the Gatlinburg Strip was still very busy, so we carefully navigated the pedestrians and side streets to find some elusive free parking, and Jeff walked a few minutes to find us some pizza to go from Luigi’s. I will take a moment for an aside: Jeff and I are pizza fiends who make it a point to try a local pizza place wherever we go. Luigi’s was just incredible, with the perfect ratio of cheese to meat to sauce. Gatlinburg will be an anniversary destination if for nothing else than that pizza.

We took the pizza back to our room for the weekend at Zoder’s Inn and Suites. We stayed in a renovated hundred-year-old cottage that had been moved to the premises from land in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was plenty big, with a mini-fridge for our wedding leftovers, a microwave, and two sinks; a TV we never watched; and a fireplace with a sitting area. Breakfast was around the corner and a short walk away, with both hot and cold options. Had we chosen, we could have used a gym and lovely pool in the same vicinity. The decor was a little dated, but it was a very comfortable room, and we plan to book the same cottage any time we go back for an anniversary.

We went to church Sunday morning, then walked up and down the Parkway to see what we could see and do what we could do. Jeff is a big fan of the Dukes of Hazzard, so I made him pose with the General Lee at Cooters.  We got fudge, ate really well at a few restaurants, and visited Ripley’s sites over the rest of Sunday and Monday morning. Because it was Gatlinburg, it probably goes without saying that everything was overpriced, but we were newlyweds and had fun splurging and being together. We visited the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum and stayed a little longer than intended because of a torrential downpour; Ripley’s Mirror Maze, which was fun and trippy, but a little too short for the price; and Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, where Jeff got some great pictures, and I got motion sickness on the moving glidepath through the Shark Lagoon. Yes, I am that pathetic!

On Monday afternoon, we detoured on our way home to see the historic buildings and wilderness of Cades Cove after a weekend of souvenir collecting. We got out a few times for photo ops, but as there were several people on the trail even in early April, we didn’t stay too long. There was a funeral visitation at the end of our journey for one of Jeff’s good friends, so we said goodbye to East Tennessee and hurried home to begin the day to day living of husband and wife.