Thursday, November 10, 2005

We put the smoke in the Smoky Mountains!!!

We are now back in good ole Tejas and I am trying to catch up on the loads of smokey smelling laundry, as well as finish up my work for the week.  I believe there has been a hint of our adventures already posted so I shall fill in the blanks.


 


Let's start at the very be-ginning, a very good place to staaaart, when you read you begin with A-B-C, when you sing you begin with Do-Re-Mi (Do-Re-Mi), the very first thing just happens to be-- Do-Re-Mi (Do-Re-Mi)...


 


We arrived in beautiful Tennessee on Sunday and spent a fabuloso time at Dollywood (hehehe...can't help but snicker at the name).  We returned to our cozy cabin in the woods to find the ceiling crawling with (gasp!)..........ladybugs.......yup, they look innocent enough but see the creepy picture towards the middle of the page where they are in a swarm?  THAT was what parts of our cabin looked like.  Now before you call me a sissy city slicker, let me tell you that I would've been just fine had they congregated on the living room ceiling.  But I just have to draw the line when I'm lying in bed and watching the ceiling move...they were also covering the lamp and crawling into my luggage.  That is so very total-double-yucky-gross!  So we vacuumed what we could, went to sleep as best we could, and they were so very kind to move us to a different cabin the next day.


 


We spent the next day driving through Cades Cove and then met up at dear, sweet, kind, and very hospitable Amy Beth's house.  She made some killer chicken and dumplings and showed me her secret to perfectly delicious cornbread.  I was very excited to finally meet JenIG, Gena, AnneMarie and their very fun clans!  Jen was quite the southern lady to have a very nice gift for our hostess and for myself (once she mapquested her way over)-- we were all impressed!  Oh and AnneMarie, you may be the youngest but you better remember to have some respect for your elders!  LOL  And we almost got a real picture of Gena but since I/we enjoy living to see another day, Amy put the camera away.  Maybe her kids would be brave enough though...


 


After a great evening of eating, talking and laughing we forced ourselves to leave.  We went to Cabin 2 and settled in for a late night.   I hunkered down in the bedroom to watch a movie, my little men went upstairs to play, and dh watched the game in the living room. 


 


Next thing I know, dh is hollerin' (since that's what it's called in TN) for me to come out of my room.  I walk out to see the entire living room and loft filled with smoke!!!  I yelled at the boys to get outside while I called the Fire Department.  We ran back inside to open windows, shut doors, get our luggage (yes, you read that correctly), and try to figure out where the smoke was coming from...we saw it pouring out from inside the walls behind the refrigerator.


 


The Police were the first to show, followed very quickly by the Fire Department.  The boys were tucked safely in the back of the car and thought the emergency lights on the vehicles were really cool.  Long story short, they put out the fire that seemed to be coming from the walls and under the floor.  The boys didn't seem too traumatized although my 6yo did cry just a little...and my crazy 4yo was just a little, excited chatterbox and is still talking about the smoke and fire.


 


PRAISE THE LORD that he allowed us to stay up late after a very long day!  The smoke detectors didn't work and I can only imagine what the outcome could've been...very scary indeed... There were several things that the Lord allowed:




  • staying up late when we should've been tired (it was around 11:30pm or so),


  • dh was in the living room adjacent to the kitchen (instead of with me in the other room and with the door shut)


  • and the phone number to the Fire Dept and our cabin address was posted clearly on the fridge.

We certainly don't deserve His mercy and grace but we sure are grateful for it!!!


 


Once things settled down, we were able to move, once again, to another cabin for our last night in TN.  With the harrowing events of the evening, we decided to cut our trip short by a day and head home.  It kind of turns your stomach a little bit when you think about what could've been. 


 


We finished up our last day in TN with a gorgeous hike to Laurel Falls and a quick trip back to Dollywood to visit the rides one last time...where I was blessed to meet two very fun HSBloggers (sorry T, but I couldn't remember your bloggername!).  How random is that?!  She tells a great story about noticing my bald boys and making me feel like a total celebrity... Now that is a friend! :-)  Actually I was a bit jealous that she had her dear hs'ing friend T to go to the park with...it would be nice to have one of y'all near me...Anyone, anyone???


 


It's late, I'm getting sick and I've still got that laundry to sort...thanks for reading this very long blog about my vacation...I'll try to get a few pics up next week...G'night Y'all!  And G'night my dear TN friends...I miss y'all already!


 


~Marshie


 


PS TN is a wonderful place to visit and the people there are super friendly!  Definitely a thumbs-up vaca in my book, smoke and all!

14 comments:

TNMOMTO5BLESSINGS said...

Marsha - glad you made it safe. And many Praises to the Lord for his mercy during that shocking episode of fire and smoke.


T- opened a blog but sadly she doesn't have time to write blogs. She only reads them. I think she is a professional lurker.. wouldn't you say? She is happy2homeschool but you can't even make her write cause she hasn't posted anything so I don't think we can comment and tell her she has to now that she openend one up. I'll try to work on her.


In the mean time I hope your clothes comes out smelling like Texas again. You were in the Smoky Mountains you know. What did you expect!!!!


I am so honored to have ridden the flying elephants with a celebrity such as yourself and your lovely family.


Maria aka TNMOM

RainyDayMichele said...

Wow! Marsha....you sure know how to vacation don't you?! Rejoicing that our Heavenly Father kept y'all safe up in dangerous TN, that you had such a wonderful time, that you got to spend time with some really, really cool hmschbloggers, and that you are back. I missed you!


Hope you feel better soon. :o)

MySmokyMtnHomeschool said...

I'm sorry your vacation was so *eventful* I'm sure you will not want to come back to TN anytime soon! I hope you weren't too disappointed with TN. :-D When we used to come here on vacation when I was a kid, that *fresh* mtn. air always used to give me a sore throat. I hope you feel better soon.


And I just want to state for the record that it was Jen that blamed you for bringing cooties, NOT ME!!!! lol


Thank you again for the muffin mix. As soon as we all get to feeling better I'm going to make some, although I am sure they will not be as good as yours!


Feel better soon!


Love,

Amy


DiWilliams said...

Wow, what a crazy vacation! Thank God for His mighty protection that night with the fire! Did they figure out what caused it?

<*///>< Blessings ~ Diane

ccmmum said...

Since reading about your vacation plans, we have been looking at Dollywood on the internet. Both my girls really want to go next year when we are home. Then we noticed that there is a Homeschoolers day in August! We are going to try to go there for that!

Christy said...

Oh Marsha, what rotten luck with those cabins! Hope that doesn't turn your family off from our beautiful autumn beauty here in the country. So gald you're all ok! Geez- the place should have refunded your money!


And how incredibly unbelievable that you ran into another HSB! That is just WAY too funny! I know it's a small world, but man oh man! How fun.

mommyx3 said...

Thanks Marsha for sharing your vacation with us. I cannot believe all you've been through, and what a wonderful attitude you still have! So glad you are all safe at home!


Donna


P.S. Love your portraits!

lynan said...

I wish we had been at Dollywood that day too! Sorry about your cabin. Ladybugs freak me out too (in large quantities) and the fire! WOW!!

JenIG said...

i still can't believe your trip. nutty. plain nutty. and weird. when i come to your house for a visit i want you to make some real live texan food, k? i like it over there in TX. except for the being hot part. noooooo thanks. I'll keep living here in TN where it is only 80 degrees in November.

MomToTwo said...

What an experience! The lady bugs would have creeped me out too! I probably would have slept in another room. The cabin looks gorgeous though! Would you recommend it even with the problems? Did they give you a refund? I'd think they should have done something for you all. I'm glad you were protected that night from any harm!


Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Beth said...

You're already back! I'm so not with it, I just told Jen to say "hey" to ya!...Guess it has been a week! I'm so glad you're all okay, and had a great time it sounds like!

ccpeterson said...

Wow, that is scary. Thanking God with you that things turned out the way they did! Glad you had a good time.

Charity

BrooksideAcademy said...

Oh wow, what a mixture of a vacation...Very wonderful, getting to visit and meet with so many people. But, wow - very scary too! (Like my youngest described our trip to Cape Cod one last year "The most funnest and the most scariest trip ever" LOL.

Very glad you're all home safe and sound though :)

momofgirls said...

So thankful that God protected your family! What an adventure!


Oh, and I'm jealous that you went to Cade's Cove. DH and I spent a day being lost trying to get there before we were married. We spent something like 12 hours in the car! Sheesh!!! Those were the days before mapquest and we were obviously not so great at reading a real map. I hear it's breathtaking though.