Back From Pigeon Forge

Mom's wedding was beautiful! She looked so very happy. Unfortunately all my pics turned out bad, so until she get's hers back...you will have to just use your imagination. :)

But man oh man what an exhausting trip!

Friday, April 15, 2011 - Day 1
Casey was running late (as always) got a late start! Richie, Casey, and I headed off to get Derek, lunch at McD's, drop off stuff and pick up stuff Casey forgot at her place. Finally, hit the interstate. Made relatively good time until traffic came to a stand still. We made it about 1 mile in 1.5 hours. The cause? A bad motorcycle wreck, by the time we got there the coroner was there and most of the wreck had been cleared, but the motorcycle was still there and what looked like clothing on the road. *shudders*.

Finally get to Pigeon Forge. Takes nearly an hour to get 5 miles to our hotel. Traffic was bad. But not as bad as it was going to get. Not as bad at all.

Walk to dinner since traffic is so bad. Dinner was good. Yumm :-) Rush back to hotel to leave for rehearsal at Cabins. Rehearsal goes well. Mom was a giddy nervous mess tho! Awz.

Make a pit stop at Wal-mart for a few more forgotten necessities and snacks. Go back to hotel to get a good night's rest.

Saturday, April 16, 2011 - Day 2

Get up, rush around, meet Mom, go to her hair & make-up appt. No one is there...

Finally! about 30 min. late (due to speeding ticket) our Stylist arrives. She makes mom look like a star!

Rush to Chapel.

Everything goes off without a hitch, wedding was beautiful, my voice did not crack while reading the poem, and Mom looked so beautiful! She and Dave looked so happy. It was just so very sweet. I kept trying to tear up.

We did photos with the photographer outside, it was really windy, so for mom's sake I really hope the pics turn out well!

That night Casey, Richie, and I decide to go to the Penguin Play House and Ripley's Aquarium. It is only 11 miles away. We leave at 3:00 p.m. and make it there at 5:45 p.m. Traffic is drastically worse. We were informed that there is a huge car show and prom night in Pigeon Forge.

We do the aquarium thing (LOVED IT) and walked down to a little mall and shopped around. Lotsa cool stuff. Then left from Ripley's Parking Garage at 8:15. Our hotel has not moved at this point I promise, it is still only 11 miles away from Ripley's. We make no pit stops. NONE. And we arrive at our hotel at 1:05 AM. ONE OH FIVE. That is NEARLY FIVE HOURS driving ELEVEN MILES.

At this point pure exhaustion has set in.

Sunday, April 17, 2011 - Day 3

Drive home is fairly uneventful (thank goodness). We eat at Krystal Burger before heading out of Pigeon Forge. Richie and Derek wanted Casey and I to try it since we'd never eaten there before. It was awesome.

We also stopped at Great Smokies Flea Market and Books A Million. Found the neatest copy of Lamb by Christopher Moore EVER. So I had to buy it. Richie drove the rest of the way home, thankfully because my leg was still killing me from sitting in traffic for 5 hours the night before.

We arrive home to find our beautiful Apple Tree blown to chunks by lightening. :( But at least everyone is ok, and safely in their homes.

Now it is time for bed.