Tennessee Bound Were We!
At the end of March, we decided to surprise Bee's parents at an exclusive Parents only get-away in Gatlinburg, TN. We decided to drive as far as we could on Thursday night, before stopping for a place to sleep. We only stopped off to grab something healthy to eat at BK (Burger King) in Roanoke. We used our 2 for 1 coupons and almost took a picture of the exuberant staff...but we didn't.
After about 5 hours, we decided we should pull off and get some shut eye. We took the next exit that had a hotel listed and we ended up under the red glow of the Budget Inn just outside of Marion, VA. We were definitely in the sticks! This was a locally operated motel that had to have been built and furnished in 1971.
We enjoyed the green glow of our room (especially the bathroom), but the one thing that drove us nuts was the smell. It smelt like... Indian Flavored Pringles. I'm sure that's not politically correct, but hey, if you can spend a night there and give us a different description, we'll change it. We asked for some air freshner, and the manager didn't even hesitate; it was like she was asked that several times a night. The smell even woke J up in the middle of the night. He gave the can a spray and it scared Bee half to death.
Ahh, the adventures of last minute road trip motel stays...
After about 5 hours, we decided we should pull off and get some shut eye. We took the next exit that had a hotel listed and we ended up under the red glow of the Budget Inn just outside of Marion, VA. We were definitely in the sticks! This was a locally operated motel that had to have been built and furnished in 1971.
We enjoyed the green glow of our room (especially the bathroom), but the one thing that drove us nuts was the smell. It smelt like... Indian Flavored Pringles. I'm sure that's not politically correct, but hey, if you can spend a night there and give us a different description, we'll change it. We asked for some air freshner, and the manager didn't even hesitate; it was like she was asked that several times a night. The smell even woke J up in the middle of the night. He gave the can a spray and it scared Bee half to death.
Ahh, the adventures of last minute road trip motel stays...
Next up on our road trip adventure was our very first stop in Tennessee. We decided to grab some gas and something to eat....the Inn promoted coffee and donuts, but when I asked for a donut the next morning, the coffee was out and she grabbed a handful of Little Debbie honey buns and said, "have a donut" so...we were still a little hungry. Anyway, we found this sweet little market called Andy's Market. It used to be a gas station, but now it sold everything, but gas. They had the regular gas station food inside, but they also had a kitchen for made-to-order items and a sitting area with TVs and plenty of Nascar paraphernalia! Bee had a BLT and J had a plate of southern biscuits and gravy. As we left, they were firing up the BBQs for their special cookin'
Once we reached Gatlinburg, we made our way to the reserved cabin and surprised Bee's parents and enjoyed our time with her grandpa's exciting family!
We spent some time wondering the (tourist trap) streets of Gatlinburg with family.
And went to a show with the entire fam. We went to the Comedy Barn and it was good, clean, fun.
We even won a car!
just kidding :)But after a weekend that was way too short, we were back in the car with our road trip food (donut) and made the 7 hour trip back home in one straight shot.
Don't you just love a good road trip?
