♪♫life STYLE: Smokey Mountain Vacay, Part 1

I am feeling pretty sad about not being able to post more regularly. Work is picking up, as its the start of our busy season. Also hardcandy house is gearing up for another event, which I am extremely excited about. Well, I'm going to post about my vacation tonight! I've had to split it up into three parts since I have so many pictures. Its been such an endeavor trying to edit over 600 pictures using just Microsoft Paint! I can't wait to get Photoshop, then I can make a new lay out as well!

So my family and I left for our week long vacation on August 1st, headed to the Smokey Mountains. We decided to go as a "congratulations" gift to my two younger sisters, who just graduated from Paul Mitchell The School! I was pretty excited, since this was the first real vacation that I've been on in about 10 years!

Day one:

Our dog Poopie is such a momma's boy and wanted to sleep next to her on the trip up there.

Ugh, some quick and crappy acrylics I did the night before we left.

I love taking pictures while on the road. It such a nice change to not see billboards and telephone poles everywhere!

Wish my flash hadn't gone off. :( This scene was beautiful.

Finally close to our destination! We passed some really cool looking places on the way.

Upside down building!

The Titanic!

We also passed by the "Teddy Bear Inn." ha ha I wish I had taken a picture of it. We all agreed that the name kinda sounded a bit pedophile-ish, and it didn't help it looked a little run down as well.

The drive to our cabin! We were pretty high up in the mountains, and driving up there was a pretty scary experience. There were drop offs on the side of the road that weren't railed, and a lot of the road was so hilly that when you got to the top of the peak you couldn't see the other side. It would look like you were falling! So scary!! I always tried to get back to the cabin before it got too dark, I was worried we would wreck since there were no street lights up on the mountain.

Our cabin!

Huge tub in the master bedroom! But we couldn't get it to work :/ Which is probably for the best since it was all sulfur water. Stinky~!

There was also a Jacuzzi!

My mom, sister Mallory, and nephew Hayden jumped in right away!

Day two:

My Aunt and cousins joined us the second day!

Well I meant to edit this photo so I wouldn't be showing off so much, but I forgot. Whoops! Hayden is holding my hair back, but I think my hair wold look really cute in a short bob! But then I would have to straighten my hair every day, since my hair is curly, and I'm too lazy for that!

What I wore! Sailor themed~

Our first visit was to a place called The Old Mill. Its a big shopping center and restaurant all owned by an old mill, and features a lot of things that are made on site.

Wonder what these old machines do?

Old Mill made mixes and jams.

My cousin Michalia, who has a much better camera than me. :/

Huge Old Mill restaurant. It had an elevator. But we didn't eat here since the wait was so long.

This candy shop was so cute!

Candy shops were really popular in the Smokey Mountains! Practically every fifth shop was a candy shop! It was kinda exciting, since all the candy shops in Huntsville closed down.

I saw a LOT of fudge while on vacation, but I was longing after this particular kind the entire time I was there!

Sisters and cousins debating on what to wish for at the fountain.

More driving photos while searching for a not packed place to eat.

If my boyfriend had come with me, I can guarantee we would have gone to this place. My cousins had been to it and said its like a live action video game!

This fancy hotel looked like a beautiful mansion. I wish I had gotten a better picture.

We settled for this sports bar for food, since it was deserted.

Doggy in the parking lot!

Aunt got this huge taco salad.

I got a chicken wrap. It was ok, but later that night I got really sick! I pretty much had to spend the night in the bathroom, and hardly got any sleep. I'm not sure if it was what I ate - no one else got what I ordered, or got sick - but I probably won't ever try that restaurant again.

Day Three:

I unfortnatley was too sick and exhausted to join my family when they visited the Titanic museum. I told them to take pictures, but no pictures were allowed inside T_T.

They told me all about it when they got back, and it sounded really awesome. They had built exact replicas of some parts of the Titanic, like the grand staircase. A funny story - the guy who built the Titanic wasted no cost for his first class travelers. He chose to use the most expensive flooring for the grand staircase - linoleum! Haha, to think the crappy stuff in my kitchen used to be more expensive than marble!!

Some of Titanic the movie was filmed at the museum!

A funky hillbilly theater house next door to the museum. Hilly billy was a really played up theme around the Smokey Mountains. I always thought of it as something to be embarrassed of, not a tourist attraction!

After a nap at the cabin we all headed out to do more shopping!

We headed back to the Old Mill! We ended up revisiting a lot of places during our trip.

The Mill shop sold a lot of soup and dip mixes. I love these kind of places, because it usually tastes delicious! We bought Creamy Vegetable Soup mix, Hearty Spinach Dip mix, and Blueberry and Lemon Dip mix - which I can't wait to try!

ha ha

Fail photo! There was a mustache on this mirror, but I couldn't get my angle right.

Next stop was this amazing Christmas shop. It wasn't just one building, but an entire complex of stores. To be honest, it was pretty overwhelming!

There were a lot of birds in huge cages outside.

It was sweltering and extremely bright!

creepy ha ha

There was a sign in front of this bird showing all the phrases it could say. We tried to get it to talk for a long time, but it wouldn't T_T

Aww, Wisard of Oz dolls in the gift shop.

Ocean theme for Christmas. Never seen that before!

Whats in the sky, Hayden?

Santa!

More creepiness!

The tree alley was so beautiful!

Bear themes were everywhere in the Smokey Mountains.

I was getting pretty upset because I couldn't find a sweet themed section. Luckily my aunt pointed out this ornament:

Which I promptly took silly pictures with. I look dumb, but my excuse is that I was sick!

And then I saw the sweet section. Wasn't big enough for my liking, but at least it existed! ha ha

Almost bought this, so cute!

snow covered cotton candy tree \OuO/

Grabbed some dinner at this place next.

Family Sunglasses shot! From the top: Mallory's (my sister, though I picked out those glasses!), Amber and Michaelia's (my cousins), mine, my Aunt Robin's and sister Megan's

Mallory, and my two cousins. Being pale obviously runs on my side of the family!

I ordered artichoke angel hair pasta, and added shrimp to it. Maybe it was because I was sick, but the shrimp was the best part! The artichokes, olives, and those little green things (forget what they are called) all have a very similar taste, so I think this pasta should have had a chunky tomato sauce with it to help break that up. In fact, it would have been delicious with that sauce!

Sweet bike outside the restaurant.

Went by Gatlinburg for more touristy fun!

I am pretty sad I didn't come home with one of these guys.

The lady at this shop was saying I was crazy for wearing heels. I just don't get it - I was wearing wedges - which I think are the most comfy heel! I mean, I was sick, and I still was able to walk the whole night in them just fine.! But I noticed a lot of people looking at me funny through the night. I am the only person that I ever saw wearing heels the entire week in the Smokey Mountains!! What is up with that?!