GATLINBURG

Hello Hello! It's been a while. In the week or so that I have been absent, something very terrible has happened...MY CAMERA STOPPED WORKING!!! Actually, it works, as in it can turn on and off and change settings and whatnot, but the screen is black and when I take a picture, it comes out black as well. Does anyone know what would be wrong with it or how I can get it to work? Unfortunately I can't just go and buy a new one as I do not have a job, therefore little money. Lame. I have no idea what is wrong with it, but all I know is that I won't be able to take pictures regularly now. But the good news is that I am back with some pictures from Gatlinburg - from before my camera stopped working.

My sisters and I went with our mother on a drive to Cades Cove (post on that here) and afterwards headed to Gatlinburg for dinner and a late night stroll. We ate dinner at two places. My sisters and mom ate at Johnny Rocket's while I went upstairs to grab some food to-go at the Loco Burro. Sometimes I don't much care for Johnny Rockets. I don't have anything against it, especially since there are a few vegan options. It's just that I don't like packaged/pre-made veggie burgers and sometimes I'm hungry for more than just a little salad (however, their sweet potato fries are divine!). So at the Loco Burro, I got three side dishes of black beans, mexican rice, and pico de gallo. Chips and salsa were complimentary with the meal. 

Once I was together with my sisters and mom, we had a blast! Our waiter, Carmine, was a real treat as well. He played the claw machines until he got each of us a stuffed toy, took turns drawing pictures with ketchup, he gave our mom his number so he can send us discounts for Twin Peaks (a restaurant that his girlfriend works at), gave us free milkshakes (in which Kuyuki and I couldn't have), and we even got up to dance with him twice. That experience at Johnny Rockets really was something else!

  

After our dinner, we hugged our waiter goodbye (we really did), and went across the street to the Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen. It's a must every time we go to Gatlinburg. We always get candy apples, multiple boxes of taffy, and other candies (all of which I cannot have now that I am vegan). But that's okay. It's still fun to look inside and watch the taffy being made!

The rest of the night we looked in various shops, sampled some of the hottest pepper sauces ever, and took pictures with and of some of the random things we thought looked cool (like the Claire's building and the statue of the world's tallest man). This was also the last day I could really take pictures because this was the day that my camera started acting up (hence some of the pixely and orangeish photos towards the end). From that day on I had to either use my webcam, sister's phone, or dad's camera if I wanted to take a picture. It's a burden to always have to ask someone to use their camera, whereas I used to be able to just whip out my own camera anytime I wanted. It sucks, but oh well. I know what's on my Christmas list now! 

CADES COVE

Here in Tennessee, it has been nothing but rain and storms almost every single day. Not fun when you're on vacation wanting to go cowboy tubing, swimming, tanning, visit museums, go on picnics, and just other fun stuff while on summer break. But on this one particular day, it decided not to rain! So since it was a bright a sunny day, we decided to head to Cades Cove!

Cades Cove is a place in the Smoky Mountains containing a lot of wildlife, wide landscapes, historic buildings, churches, and log cabins. It was so neat to see the log cabins. While walking and driving through there, I tried to visualize what life was like here from hundreds of years ago. The stairs in the cabins are also very steep. I definitely would have fallen off a few times if I lived there.

One time when we pulled over to take a picture of the landscape surrounding us, my sisters and I decided to take a little walk in the woods. I went full hillbilly status as I waked through the wilderness barefoot. After taking pictures on trees and such, we left as soon as I scared Brianna saying, "Imagine we're in one of those scary movies where a dead person just comes out of no where and starts following us." Smooth, Michaela...real smooth.

One of my favorite parts of visiting Cades Cove was walking in a river we found. Me, my mom, and Kuyuki got inside and the water was so cold! The rocks were also slippery from the algae coated on top, so we couldn't get very far. After taking a few pictures, we got out and I walked around barefoot again because I didn't want to get my sandals wet and have dirt stick to them. You can bet my feet were dirty by the end of the day. There's also a few waterfalls you can take a hike to go see, but my sisters didn't want to, so we skipped that. 

After spending a few hours in Cades Cove, and finding blackberries to pick by the cabins (don't worry, we rinsed them!), we went to Gatlinburg to have dinner and walk along the strip because Brianna has never been there before. But more on this in another post!

DOLLYWOOD

Dollywood's no Disneyland, but we certainly do have a ball whenever we go! Last week, I went to Dollywood with Brianna, Kuyuki, and our mom. Dollywood is located in the beautiful Smoky mountains and I love being surrounded by greenery every which way I turn! I have to say, it is such a pretty place filled with happy visitors and good times, but one thing is for sure...I CANNOT STAND THIS HUMIDITY!!! It was so humid, muggy, and hot, me and my sisters almost passed out a few times just from the time we left the car to the gates entering the theme park. I blacked out and fell to the floor but luckily wasn't unconscious for a few minutes like usual when I overheat. Since I was already feeling sick from the heat, I was scared for how I was going to feel for the whole rest of the day. Luckily it subsided after a while, and I loved the free ice water they had at every food court.

We went on a Wednesday, so there was not many people there, leaving us able to ride all the rides we wanted, however many times we wanted, without much of a wait! The longest we ever had to wait in a line was maybe twenty minutes, whereas normally we would have to wait an hour or so. My suggestion is that whenever you go to a theme park, go on a weekday if possible!

For food, we ate at a buffet called Aunt Granny's Restaurant. With Kuyuki and I being vegans, we were unsure of where to eat because everywhere we looked was BBQ ribs, pulled pork, BBQ chicken sandwiches, a pig roasting over a fire, and so on. So when we found this buffet, we figured there would be food for us to eat. We stuck to what we hoped would be vegan, such as roasted potatoes with bell peppers and green beans. The corn, cabbage, and a few other things we saw were soaking in butter, so we obviously passed on that. We also stopped by Red's Drive-In a little later to get fries. I didn't want any, so to pass the time instead of just sitting there doing nothing, I started acted weird and danced to the 50's music, which the waitresses got a kick out of! We also got high-fives from a bunch of random teenage boys running around the theme park to see how many high-fives they can get. They just hit one hundred when they got to us. It makes me so happy to see others happy. 

Now, what more is there to say? Well, we had lots of laughs, took loads of pictures, rode many rides, was able to see the fireworks at night, got good exercise from walking around, stopped inside some gnarly shops to look around and cool down, and indulge in some good family time and country music. Once we left Dollywood, it was raining and lighting, so we had a little show on the way home.