Birthday Celebration in Gatlinburg

I've started this post about 10 times, but have never finished! My husband had teased me for about 2 months about my birthday surprise. He would only tell me we were getting away, but he can't keep a secret very well and I would ask questions every so often that caught him off guard and got him to admit we were going to Gatlinburg for the weekend. My birthday was on Friday, October 22nd, which was my Friday off. So we left around 2 p.m. on Thursday the 21st for Gatlinburg. We ate a late lunch/early dinner and made it to Gatlinburg around 8 or so. We stayed in a cabin and unloaded the car and had pizza delivered, when I realized I had forgotten all my toilettries at home! I was so mad! So we went out around 10 at night to a local grocery store to get everything that I needed. When we got back, there was a a Chevy Suburban parked at our cabin! Bill looked at me and said SURPRISE!!! The vechile belongs to my older sister and brother-in-law, who Bill had invited down to spend the weekend with us! I was definately surprised! So we sat and talked that night, but went to bed to prepare for the next day.

On Friday, my birthday, Bill and Ryan, my brother-in-law made breakfast for us. We then got ready and headed to Gatlinburg. We did some shopping, went to the Ripley's haunted house, which was funny, ate a Bubba Gump Shrimp for lunch, and went on the Sky Lift. Here are some pictures.

Ryan as Forrest Gump

My brother-in-law Ryan and sister Laurie

The view from the top of the Sky Lift

So beautiful!

Bill and I

Ryan and Laurie

After being in Gatlinburg that day, we went back to the cabin to get ready for the night. We ate supper at Calhoun's, which was so good, then we headed to the Titanic Museum. This was one of my birthday presents, as I wanted to visit the museum since last summer, but it was not open yet. The museum was definately my favorite part of the trip. As soon as you enter, you are given cards of people that were on the ship and you have to find their artifacts. There are so many items and interesting things to learn about. They have a room that is the exact temperature the night the ship sank and water that was the temperature it sank, which was EXTREMELY COLD! They wouldn't let you take any pictures, but I did take the picture below. As you can see, my husband died on the Titanic!

The view from the outside! I definately recommend this to anyone!

After we left the Titanic Museum, it was late, but we decided to get some ice cream and then head back to the cabin. We played pool and then headed to bed.

The next day we went to Pigeon Forge for the day. We went shopping, played putt putt, rode go-carts, and ate yummy food. We went to the Ripley's Aquarium, which is always fun. Bill and I went there last summer and enjoyed it again. This year they added the penguin exhibit and it was really neat.

Pengiuns are my favorite!

Baby pengiuns that were very young!

Sting rays

My yummy birthday cake!

After the aquarium, we went back to the cabin and watched football and played cards. The next day we left early to head home. It was such a fun weekend, but we had to go back to reality. I was really glad I got to spend it was family and my amazing husband. I had such a great birthday!

More updates to come

Whitney