We got to witness God's beautiful creation this weekend in Bryson City, Cherokee & everything in between on our trip to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary this weekend. We are Thankful for God Blessing us with a beautiful opportunity, wonderful weather, traveling mercies, a renewing of our love for each other, fabulous fun just being together, the opportunity to see with our own eyes the Lord's handiwork of the mountains, valleys & even SNOW!!
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I hope to post pictures soon so bear with me! Matthew stayed with my parents for alittle spoiling while we were gone. We left Friday morning, stopping for food & gas & up the mountain we went! Yay! We both LOVE the mountains so much & it always amazes us to see how majestic they are.
Bryson City is a sweet little town & not far from Cherokee with wonderful winding river(s) & surrounded by mountains. We made our way to our cabin, enjoying the scenery & getting to check the tail lights of our own vehicle in the hairpin turns. =) The cabin was in the middle of two others & only a few other homes/cabins on the same road. So it was peacefully quiet. We were overlooking a small pond that had 2 ducks living there. Our front porch had 2 rocking chairs (I've GOTTA get me one!) & another outdoor table, chairs & a grill. Inside we had 2 bedrooms, one had 2 twin beds & our's was a queen, I think. Once you get used to a kingsize bed, everything else is just too small...LOL...but it was nice to have 2 bathrooms & large kitchen area connected to the living area. Oh, I can't forget the hot tub that was on the side porch!! Glorious!!! Even though it was cold out, we did indulge! WOOHOO! I 'need' one of them too!!
Saturday morning we had our coffee & headed to Cherokee. The trip even to there was the most amazing blessing to our eyes. We found a quaint little mom & pop type waffle house to have a late breakfast. It was nice & then I drug Eddie thru some of the shops for some souvenirs. Poor guy. I think he enjoyed it pretty good but atleast he was a good sport about it. After alittle shopping, we made our way to Harrah's casino. We had set aside a certain amount of money, agreeing that when that was gone we were outta there. I had never been there before & Eddie hadn't been to the one in Cherokee. It was packed but still seemed to have plenty of machines to play on! Thankfully there was a shuttle bus to ride on or we would've been worn out before we got to the building. The place was HUGE & so was the parking lot. I don't think I've ever been anywhere they had valet parking but Harrah's did. Of course we didn't use it, but I thought it was neat.
You have to be 21 to enter, have a valid I.D. to even get in the doors. There were some security staff as you walked in "carding" everybody. I was almost offended when the little (older) guy waved Eddie & I on thru...I even had my license ready! Oh well! We had so much fun playing side-by-side at the various machines, sometimes holding hands (awww!) for support/good luck...not really since we don't believe in 'luck'. There they have self serve (free) soft drinks which was cool. As Eddie says, they're making money hand over fist so they're not hurting by giving free drinks. =) We spent our allotted money, & won it back in a longer amount of time than we expected. Then we had supper at the buffet they have there. It was nice to have that time together. After that, we went back to play alittle more, making our day of fun last from about 2p-9p. We broke even & were proud of ourselves for not going over the amount we had decided to spend.
We were tired but made our way back to the cabin, slowly since it was dark. The hot tub was calling our names so we enjoyed the rest of the evening together. It wasn't as cold as we expected. Sunday morning proved to be a bitter cold one. As we were getting up for coffee, we looked out and it was SNOWING! Big beautiful flakes in a flurry!! We had some breakfast as we watched out the window enjoying the snow. We started packing, getting faster as we went since the snow was not letting up but getting heavier. I wish we could've stayed to see how much the area would get but we knew we needed to get out while the gettin' was good...The roads weren't bad yet but with all the curves & mountainous terrain we didn't want to take any chances. On our way out, we fed the ducks our left over bread & headed out. How bittersweet to know our time together was coming to an end.
Once we got down 'our' mountain, Eddie surprised me by asking where I wanted to go next. I was prepared (mentally) to make our way back to the interstate but he was willing to go back to Cherokee for alittle last minute souvenir shopping & site seeing. I teased him about going back to Harrah's "one more time" but he surprisingly said No. LOL! Instead I asked to go back to the main 'drag' where the shops were & he obliged me. We ran across a petting/bear "zoo" that we'd seen Saturday so we stopped in. There were several bears (silver tipped grizzlies,& native black bears), a couple raccoons, 2 tigers, several goats & a couple other animals I can't remember. We did alittle gift shop hopping & went into this cool shop that had all kinds of true "Indian" merchandise like the dream-catchers, drums, jewelry, baskets, etc. Since we had gotten several things for several people (kids & Eddie) it was my turn! WOOHOO! I don't jewelry shop much but when given the 'ok' to shop for myself, I do enjoy it. I spotted some handmade beaded earrings & glanced over into the jewelry case...there were the prettiest silver dream catcher earrings I'd ever seen! I saw the price tag & thought I'd continue looking at the original ones I'd been looking at. Eddie liked the silver ones too & we found out the price was for a "set" that included a choker type necklace. I'm not really built for "chokers" but the sales-lady pulled out more to chose from that weren't on display. She was telling us how we could lengthen the necklace to suit me. Eddie told her we would be getting a set because he thought they were pretty & he wanted me to have them. So I took my treasures & we headed back out. Oh I also got a dream catcher to hang on the rear view mirror, even though we won't be sleeping while driving...it's just I've always loved dream catchers. The jewelry is special to me because it serves as a reminder of our special trip but Eddie helped pick it out & wanted me to have it, which was even more special to me. Now I just need to have an outfit to go with it. Then I will be his "Indian Princess" (his words...) HeHe!
We've had special times together but this was a very memorable trip for us. We intend on trying to make it a tradition & we are looking forward to next time. I love you, Eddie! I'm so thankful for you! You mean the world to me! I'd marry you again right this second! Happy Anniversary to us!
