Road to Gatlinburg: Part 3

Day 3 (continued): On Tuesday, I made the hike up Laurel Falls Trail. It was only a three mile hike, but I wanted my incredibly out of shape ass to start with something slow. The hike up was pretty, but nothing crazy special. It was calming, yet filled with people carrying babies, grandparents, and definitely a few very overweight ones. I was surprised, but proud of the dedication people had to get up there, which pushed me further. Getting closer to the top, you can start to hear the waterfall, even though you can’t see it yet. Once at the top, I mean, FUCKING gorgeous (video below). I would have loved to have sat there for hours just reading, but there were not many dry places to sit, and this trail was pretty heavily trafficked. As for the hike itself.. Being at the top, I immediately forget that I had barely made it up the trail and hated life even in the time I had to walk from the parking lot to where the trail started. That said, there’s no way I’d be able to do the Mount Le Conte hike I wanted to try because it’s a 17 mile hike marked as difficult. (Insert maniacal laughter here.) Definitely put a damper in the mood.

I got some food and started researching more reasonable hikes when I came across an issue I did not expect. A number, and by that, I mean most, of the longer hikes had reviews from the last week or so about them still being icy. Many recommended not doing them without proper “ice” shoes, which I do not have, mentioned some trails being closed at the top due to the amount of ice, and warned that having to be that careful on the incline caused the hike to take twice as long to complete. Given my choice of death, I would have preferred to let my car fall down the cliff the day before than to slowly fall 1,800 feet. That fucking sucked, so I gave up and went over to the pool and hot tub for a bit 🙂

Day 4: On Wednesday, I again woke up in a crap mood, so I sprung into action to try to change that shit. I refused to go on a calming vacation and then spend any time in bed, crying. I woke up slowly – watched some motivational and funny YouTube videos, made a bomb ass breakfast, wrapped myself in a blanket, and took my journal and a book out on the porch for a while. It was completely silent, except for a few birds, and it was incredible, to say the least. In the evening, a friend who lives nearby came to visit for a few hours, and it was amazing amazing to see him 🙂 Our conversation got slightly deep at one point, which forced me to think about some things I’ve been avoiding thinking about. More on that once I’ve talked through it in therapy a bit more. That night, I ordered food and went back to the pool, where I immediately caught the eye of a little six year old boy, who was extremely excited to show me how long he could hold his breath for underwater. Over and over. #istillgotit

Day 5: I took no notes for myself on Thursday, so it’s a little bit of a blur. That or because I started the day with a moonshine tasting at 1 p.m. Seeing as the hikes idea had failed, I needed to find a way to be outside. A note on that: I’ve heard the phrase “mountain air” before, but I didn’t actually think air could be that much different. Guess what – it is. (So is the tap water.) So I drove downtown, parked, tasted the shine, and began the walk around tourist lane. I know what you’re thinking – “Um, bitch, you just said you drove – and almost died driving back up the mountain two days ago – and you’re gonna sample a dozen moonshines without a DD?” Let me reassure you that, aside from the fact that they gave you very small pours, I knew to do that first, so I had hours of activities before I needed to drive home. #smartalcoholic Downtown Gatlinburg is essentially Wisconsin Dells with a much better backdrop. I walked into every little shop to compare mugs (which I’m not allowed to buy because we don’t have the cupboard space, but I did), look at overpriced hoodies that I absolutely did not need (I have three VERY high piles of them), and look at all the name keychains that I will never be able to purchase because I’m foreign.

They also had a “Star Cars” or something museum that I wanted to go to because they had a few from Fast series, but luckily, the blue Nissan Paul Walker drove throughout the series, and one of the last cars he drove :(, was parked in front, so I could creep for free. I then stopped at Dick’s Last Resort for dinner. Luckily, I knew this going in, but if you’ve never been, the staff is an asshole to you on purpose. That’s just how the place works. It’s a chain, so feel free to enjoy it in Chicago. The bartender yelled at me about how the two old couples around the bar are “out-drinking” me when I just asked for one Bud Light, threw a stack of cocktail napkins at me when I asked her for one, and suggested that I decide what I want to eat sometime before her shift was over. Do I fucking wish I could talk to people like that at work..

Day 6: It’s technically Friday and time to head home, and it was about 1:30 a.m. when I woke up. I was nauseous, panicky, and filled with cramps. I thought about just packing up and leaving, but I convinced myself that I needed to fall back asleep, and it might help the nausea – it didn’t. I laid in bed until about 4 a.m. before deciding I was completing wasting driving time (I LOVE morning driving when no one’s on the road yet) and got up to leave. I will not explain in further detail, but I believe I stopped close to 342 times. I also started very much dozing off the second I hit Indiana. No offense to Indiana.

I got home and cried or semi-cried at least four times that night. Parts of me knew why, and I think other parts were in denial. I will expand on this in my next and final Gatlinburg post – I know this is a lot to go through at once, especially for those who don’t generally read. It’s also going to take me a minute to compose. Enjoy the beauty below!