*Clearly the title is me being a little bit bitter that I stepped on the scale last night and found out that I gained 5 lbs in cheese grits during our trip to Tennessee… but I’m not going to dwell on that little fact, so let’s move on to a vacation recap*
I really know how to plan a full vacation, let me tell you. I’m exhausted just thinking about all of the stuff we did over the last few days. 
This weekend started off with us driving 7-8 hours to Nashville on Friday morning. Of course I gently requested forced the Husband to wake up at dawn so we could get our booties on the road at 6:30am to maximize our time in Nashville.
On our way to Music City, we stopped and walked around a civil war battlefield for a bit (the Anthony Woodson farm, to be exact). I’m a history nerd, so my inner-self was super, super excited.
It was the first battlefield I had ever been to! (By this fact alone, you know that I don’t take many roadtrips through the south).
We arrived in Nashville in the afternoon and spent our day walking around and exploring a bit. And by ‘walking around’ I mean that we walked to a bar and enjoyed live country music and ate (a lot) of food and drank some beer.
Then we changed clothes and went to dinner at Puckett’s, which also had live music. But more importantly, they had cheese grits.
Downtown Nashville – aka ‘Music City’
On Saturday we woke up early and went to another civil war battlefield in Franklin, Tennessee. We toured a plantation and a confederate cemetery and I was just so, so happy.
I think I’ve found a cemetery to tour on every single vacation the Husband and I have been on together. I get even more excited if it’s raining while we’re there! I can’t explain my fascination with tombstones, it just exists. But I only like looking at really old tombstones… you could say I’m a cemetery snob, if such a thing exists.
As you can see, I’m the height of fashion on vacation.
The Husband is a lucky, lucky man.
Then we stopped at a restaurant in downtown Franklin (I ordered cheese grits, of course) and we headed on over to Knoxville, TN to see our good friends and celebrate their recent marriage!
Yep, eat this every day and gain 5 lbs. It’s proven that this will happen.
Our friends (L & B) eloped in July, so this weekend they reserved a room at a bar in Knoxville to celebrate their nuptials with friends! We drank a lot, ate pizza, and mingled. I love meeting new people, so I was a happy, happy camper. I used to live with L in college, but had never met her childhood friends, so I was super happy to finally meet them!
You will notice that the longer I stayed in Tennessee, the bigger my hair became.
Yep, it’s safe to say that a great time was had by all. I even drank my first fireball shot in celebration!
On Sunday we woke up (late) and after a scrumptious little brunch, we drove to the Smoky Mountains for some hiking. We weren’t able to hike as much as I had hoped (boooo late start) but we saw a waterfall and some beautiful views, so that’s really all I could ask for.
Plus, we hiked the highest part of the Appalachian Trail, which was neat.
Next time we go on a vacation like this, I want to hike for DAYS.
After hiking, we went into the town of Gatlinburg, TN for some food (you guessed it, cheese grits again!) and mini-golf.
Of course, I won in mini-golf and so I will not be playing again, ever (I like to end things on a high note). I’m actually surprised our relationship survived these 36 holes. I didn’t even cheat!
On Sunday night we stayed in a lovely little bed & breakfast and it was the most comfortable bed I’ve ever been in. I felt like I was sleeping on clouds.
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Then sadly, our vacation was close to over. Monday we had a nice breakfast (the breakfast is the best part of staying at a b&b) and talked so some of the other guests before heading out on the road and heading all the way back to Chicago. With a few stops, the return trip took us about 11 hours. UGH. I really think 10 hours is the maximum I can sit in a car in one day – it was definitely a long day, but our looooong list of podcasts helped to pass the time! I recommend ‘Freakonomics’ and ‘This American Life’.
And now I’m sitting in my apartment and am suffering from post-vacation depression. Obviously.
I’m trying to convince the Husband that we just need to move to a cabin in Tennessee, but he keeps bring up practical things like ‘what would we do for work?’ and blah blah blah.
Anyway, it was a lovely little road trip and I would definitely go back there for a long weekend, even with the long car ride.
And now I’m going to try to do something productive today… or maybe I’ll just go out and lay on my porch. Yep, that sounds about right.
Cheers to happy memories!
