Honeymoon Hideaway

It's been a few days since we've been back from our wonderful honeymoon.  The mountains were beautiful, but the fields of corn were a welcome sight!  We left earlier than planned on a Thursday morning and headed to Paducah, Kentucky.  I took plenty of water with me to sip on the way.  A couple hours before we arrived, Dustin looks at me and says, "You better slow down on your drinking, I'm not stopping until we get to Pinocchio!"  "You mean Paducah?"  I wanted to stop at the National Quilt Museum while I was close.  Dustin even enjoyed it too!  There were some really great wildlife quilts.  I asked how quilts get into the museum and I know I'm not up to that level yet, but maybe someday...  I also talked to the curator of the museum about a quilt I'm going to finish for one of my ladies.  Nobody knew the pattern so I figured I could ask the experts.  She brought out this encyclopedia of patterns, that included their publishing date, the magazine or paper it was published in, and the various names it was published under.  It was very fascinating and I really enjoyed my time there!

The next day we headed to Nashville.  We had a hotel close to the Opry.  We did so much while we were there!  There were so many people when we went downtown for the Country Music Hall of Fame, the American Picker store, the bars/live music and even when we went to the Opry Mills Mall right next to the Opry.  It was very fun not to have any really strict agenda and we could just pick things to do and go do them.  We also only ate at 2 chain restaurants the entire trip! 

Saturday night we went to a Grand Ole Opry show and I finally saw Little Jimmy Dickens!  We did a backstage tour the next day, but we were not able to go on stage and stand in the famous circle which was a little disappointing.

On Sunday night we headed to the Wild Horse Saloon and did one of my favorite things...  LINE DANCING!!!  This place is famous for it and had a huge dance floor and live music broken up by lessons. 

Monday we headed to our cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains!!!  It was FABULOUS!  My aunt had mentioned this place that she had stayed and was able to get us a pretty great deal.  We slowly drove the main drag through Pigeon Forge before getting off the main road and headed for our cabin.  We loved it and the man I started the honeymoon with was not the one I ended up heading back for Iowa with.  Dustin was not excited to travel and take off of work.  He didn't like all the people in Nashville, but 5 minutes after reaching the cabin, he started planning next year's trip!

We stayed one whole day at the cabin without traveling and without seeing anyone!  Between hot tub trips and playing cards, the day was done and we were eating steaks for supper.  We also explored Pigeon Forge for a day and then Gatlinburg for another day.  In Pigeon Forge, we went to the Hatfield and McCoy's Dinner Show.  So much good food was eaten and we watched a very funny show!

While we visited Gatlinburg, we both tried moonshine, I tried the much weaker and flavored stuff, and we did a ski lift to a scenic overlook at the top of the mountain.  It was high and that lift went basically straight up in the air!  Dustin was a little fearful, especially when it stopped while we were in the middle...  I just laughed at him!

It was a spectacular view!  We really had a wonderful time, and according to Dustin, we're going back next year!  He hardly left the hot tub, so basically, we'll be getting one of those soon too!