ahhh vacation

For a long long time, vacation seemed like a mythical event - something that amounted to NEVER, when I worked at PwC, or something that would be broken into smaller segments and/or mixed with CPE, at my current job. It was actually a travel expense reduction initiative at my employer that started me thinking about doing the real deal.

We planned it about 2 months ahead, and it was very difficult to try to impart the idea of vacation on a 2 yr old that's never gone somewhere else for a whole 7 days straight. Especially when we're trying to tell her about something we're planning to do two toddler months in advance, which, by my calculations and some actuarial tables, must be about 6 years in adult years. (Who says I can't create?? That was an impressive statistic. Oh yeah, I was the one who said that, courtesy of immediately prior post. Well I apparently wasn't counting the amazing ability I have to generate nonsensical numbers. Just ask my boss.)

Back to the trip - we're kinda into the old American-romanticism days-gone-by era type ideals of National Park travel. Before this trip, we had only been to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. It seemed kinda strange that we had not been to the most visited National Park, and also the second-closest in proximity to our house. (Incidentally, I learned recently that there is a National Park close to Columbia which I have inexplicably never visited - Congaree National Park - going soon for sure!) So once we had the epiphany of visiting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, our next idea was to find a slammin' cabin to rent for the week.

We picked a cabin that was listed on VRBO.com as something like "top of the world views, extremely secluded." Uh, so when you think secluded, think like, Eric Rudolph, or Unabomber secluded. (Picture hooded sweatshirt wearing bearded dude here. Whoa, I have those sunglasses!) Secluded, like, hearing coyotes at night and like being able to convince ourselves that sounds we heard in the forest while roasting marshmallows in our fire circle were of large, black-furred human-eating mammal origin. But the seclusion added to the mystique of the elusive vacation.

The drive up the 5 miles of steep winding gravel "road" was quite an event, one that almost left us stranded halfway up a remote mountain the first time up. But never fear, for we were soon to become accomplished scary-road maneuverers. Big ups to the Nissan Quest for not dismantling itself on the mountain due to the bone shaking rattling we caused as we careened up the "road" trying to build up enough speed to not slide back down.

Of course, at the end of said "road", there was a major payoff. Here's a picture I took from our front porch at sunset. (Major Disclaimer - I am not implying in any way that this is a good photo. Richie probably has 600 better photos of sunset, not to mention sunrise, from our wrap-around porch!!)


I'm working myself into quite a post-vacation funk as I reminisce over the phenomenal sightlines from our cabin. Today I didn't even open the blinds into our backyard from our huge kitchen windows as I knew I would become depressed that our 10 large trees, various sickly azaleas and dying daylilies are inadequate in comparison to bordering a 1500 acre Nature Conservancy preserve. Boo freakin hoo right?

So tomorrow I am back to the grind, er, pleasant workplace that I longed for so during the past 7 days (hi boss/coworkers). I'll post some more vacation stuff later.

Holla!