Anniversary Weekend

    Technically while paying off debt in Baby Step 2 you are not supposed to take vacations. Sometimes we take liberties with these guidelines. We rented a cabin in the mountains for our 1 year anniversary. We took off on Wednesday and got home this afternoon. I haven't had a day without obligations since the week before Easter so I was definitely ready for a break! We didn't really plan any outings or anything, just wanted some time away to relax. Here's the day-by-day rundown, mostly so we remember what we did and also to share the pictures with my family back home.

 Wednesday

  I took off work around 1:30 and headed home. Phillip was already packing up the Jeep and getting ready to head out. We rented through Bear Camp Cabin rentals, it was the same company we rented from for our honeymoon. They had a special of stay 2 nights, get the 3rd one free. We got to the cabin around 4:00, this time we stayed in Snuggle Inn which is actually in a resort. Since we arrived midweek the cabins around us were pretty empty. I promptly took some pictures of the rooms before we unpacked. We played some pool and watched a Duck Dynasty marathon, pretty exciting right?

 Trying to format these to make them fit prettily failed. Blogger is not fabulous for formatting pictures. I decided to just make them all in a line, probably not the best approach but there you go!

These people must have gotten fed up with lost tourists!

Teeny bathroom.

Fluorescent lighting is difficult!!

View from our deck

Same view, early the next morning.

Thursday

    I woke up around 7:00 because I heard Phillip in the kitchen. I was pretty sure he was making a surprise breakfast for me so I read for awhile while he finished cooking. It was definitely worth waiting for!

Strawberries and Cream Crepes!

      The night before it seemed that the A/C wasn't working very well. We opened up the windows instead and left them open the next morning. We took an early afternoon nap and I heard what sounded like the blinds flapping in the wind. Then I heard it again...and again. I opened my eyes and the blinds weren't moving at all. Then I realized, that's the noise a bird makes. So I walked out to the living room and there was a little House Sparrow hanging out in the kitchen! He must have flown in through the bathroom and gotten stuck! I didn't get a picture of him because he kept throwing himself at the big windows trying to get out, I opened the deck doors and hoped for the best. He finally made his way back outside. So much for my nap! 

  We knew we were going to head into Gatlinburg for dinner so we skipped lunch and headed into town around 3:30. We spent some time walking around and visiting some shops.

  

Around 5:00 we decided to stop at Best Italian for dinner. We opted for the creekside patio seating and got to watch this little raccoon while we ate. Apparently he's a regular and shows up every day for dinner begging for scraps.

    We always order the same thing when we go there, the calzone is just awesome. We barely ate half of it and took the rest back to the cabin for lunch the next day. They also offer a local 20% off discount so it was only $15 for the garlic knots and calzone. Pretty good deal!

Friday

    Friday morning we woke up REALLY early. At least for vacation it was really early. We got up around 6:30 and were out the door at 7:00 to bike Cades Cove. 

Brrr!! Luckily we thought to bring our pullovers, otherwise I think we would have chickened out! It was so cold that after riding down the first hill my hands were numb and my eyes were watering like crazy. After 2 miles or so we started warming up, thank goodness! Here are some pics from our ride, it turned out to be a very pretty day!

You might be wondering, where is that adorable yellow bike??? Sadly we ended up taking our bikes back to Target. They were just not as easy/comfortable to ride as our old bikes. The handle bars were more narrow and they seemed more suited for beach cruisers than for trail riding. They were so stinkin cute though! I'm keeping an eye out for a good replacement!

  Friday night our friends came up to have dinner with us. We spent some time playing pool and visiting. It was really nice to have them up to visit! 

   Saturday we just packed up and headed out.

  Here's a rough budget, we did try to be frugal but still enjoyed ourselves!

  Cabin: $273.00 

  Groceries: $70.00 (We ended up bringing a lot of these back home with us)

  Best Italian for Dinner: $15.20 + Tip

  Gas: $20 (estimated, it only took about 40 minutes to get there)

  Total: $385

  There are probably a few things I'm forgetting to add in there but overall that total is pretty close. Sorry this was such a long post, these pictures took up a lot of space!! 

   What's your favorite frugal vacation spot?