Holy Smokes!!! Day Five (ErkPow! wedding)

ErkPow! wedding day has arrived! We were so excited for it but it wasn't until 5. We had the whole afternoon to kill. We could have gone to Dollywood but nah. Instead we did the NASCAR Speedpark in Sevvierville, TN. We purchased an all day pass so we could ride the go-karts as much as we wanted and also could play mini-golf on two courses all we wanted.

It was so much fun! There were a few courses where there were a lot of bumping going on from people trying to pass others on tight turns. The best part was one of the times, Joshua ended up with the SLOWEST car and I had one of the fastest cars and I ended up passing him 4 times. I felt so bad for him so when the time came for us to come in, I slowed down and drove with Joshua to end at the same time. By the time we left that place, my head was spinning from inhaling all the fumes and the vibrations from the go-karts.

After the Speedpark, we went looking for a quick place to eat a late lunch. I suggested Five Guys, an awesome burger joint that's also in Madison and as we drove into that area, we saw a building that had a Japanese, Italian and Thai restaurant. We thought we should be different and decided to do the Thai place called Thai Thani. 

The three restaurants were really in one place. Servers could walk from the Thai dining room to the Japanese dining room to the Italian dining room...very interesting. We order an appetizer...Thai spring rolls that were delicious. We did the lunch specials which came with salads and an entree and it was all great. We were full and headed back to the hotel.

Since we had some time to kill, we decided to hit the whirlpool in the hotel to relax our bodies from the sleeping on rocks the past few days. Ahhh, that felt amazing. We wished we could've been in there longer but we had to get ready for the wedding so we reluctantly went back upstairs.

Cleaning up after not shaving for 5 days or so

We clean up nicely

We head over to the B&B area again where the entire wedding was going to be. The ceremony area was really cute. Chairs were set up and there was a gazebo where the ceremony was going to take place in front of. And the background? The Smokies...absolutely gorgeous. We could see the tent reception area was off to the side away from the ceremony area. 

The wedding went as smooth as can be. The bridesmaids and groomsmen looked great and the bride and groom looked amazing and were too cute. They had a friend officiate and they wrote their own vows. And we got some awesome fans that were on our chairs.

At the ceremony

Fanning away the heat and bugs

Ceremony area

View behind the ceremony area

The B&B where the bride and groom where staying
as well as a bunch of their guests

The groom with his parents

My friend Diane

Melissa and her dad

After the ceremony was cocktail hour on the veranda with some snacks. I love veggies and everything but I was starving and ready for some real food but we had to wait another hour and half for that. Joshua was schmoozing people I didn't know and I relaxed with some peeps I knew.

When it was time for dinner, we all gathered into the reception tent. But before we entered the tent, Melissa's sister was taking photographs with a Polaroid camera. Interesting idea! Instead of a traditional guest book where people just sign their name and maybe a message, they had a small picture album book. Once you took a picture and let it develop, they'd put the picture in the album and there'd still be an area to post a message and sign your name. I wished I thought of that!

Dinner was amazing just like the night before! Kebabs, fresh salad and a bunch of sides. What was even better were the cakes. Yes...cakes! Even I as a non-cake person thought they were fabulous. They were well decorated and absolutely delicious. I can't remember all the cakes but the one the stood out was the red velvet cake. I've never heard of it until this year from all the bake-off shows I watch on tv. It was just as delicious as it sounds or looks. If I were to eat cake all the time, I'd want the red velvet cake.

The wedding was awesome...the reception was awesome...the whole week was awesome! Now it's just a 13 hour drive back to our apartment and to get back to reality as much as we don't want to.

Don't worry...Joshua's just sniffing an
herb that were left at our seats

The happy bride and groom

Decorations in the tent

The various cakes

My favorite decorated cake

The reception tent

Dancing!!!

My friend Diane and me

Joshua may be a little blitzed here...just a little

These two boys always have to have a serious face pose

Attempting a classic shot in pure darkness

Holy Smokes!!! Day Four

Friday!!! Woke up around 7:30 again, made some coffee. We broke down the tent and got everything cleaned up. Today starts another adventure in the Smokies. The reason why we came to Tennessee was because of a wedding. The ErkPow! wedding. Our friends Melissa and Aaron were getting married on Saturday but they have invited all the wedding guests to the rehearsal dinner, basically just a dinner and a get together to know everyone. But that wasn't until 6PM.

So...what to do? Well we first got breakfast at that family restaurant that Joshua and I went to earlier that week. Mmmmm, those apple critters and apple butter was so good! And the apple cider!

Then we headed towards the town of Gatlinburg to play some mini-golf. We had to go to this one place. The name was just too intriguing to pass down. Hillbilly Golf. It was quite interesting. The entrance/admission to the place was on the road level but then the course was up on the hill. We actually had to ride a tram up to the start of the mini-golf...it was a good 5 stories up. The course was based on hillbilly things, hence the name of the place. I felt like I should have put on my overalls and straw hat. At the end of the game, we had to take the tram back down but only from halfway since we were slowly going downhill throughout the course.

Hillbilly Mini-Golf

The ride up

View from halfway up

One of the many hillbilly objects

The boys team

The girls team.
We played best score from each gender and
we ended up tying with each side having a few aces.

After mini-golf, we played real golf and carried on the tie from mini-golf. This was going to be my second out this year and I only went once last year. This is going to spell out disaster but I was going to have fun anyways. The girls had their own carts and the boys theirs. Brett, the golf pro, determined the handicaps for the rivalry. I had a 3, Joshua 2 and Diane 2. I needed that three because I kept getting a 7 or 8 or 9. But Brett is too good. He either parred the hole or got a birdie. Needless to say, the boys won even with my three handicap. But we got some tips from the golf pro and fun was had by all. It was time to head to our hotels, get settled in and freshen up for the rehearsal dinner.

Brett checking out Joshua's swing

PGA tour material? Probably not :)

We got to the rehearsal dinner at 6PM at the B&B where the bride and groom where staying as well as many of the guests. The rehearsal dinner was as casual as can be. Melissa's dad had rented a house next to the B&B on their property so we ended up eating in the yard of the house. Music was blasting from the house and there were games set up...horseshoes, bags, and testicle toss (ladder toss). Beers and drinks were everywhere. Good times!

Dinner was AMAZING! They had roasted a pig for hours and hours and actually cut it in front of us. I had a bunch of the pulled pork and it was so tender and juicy, the best I've ever had! There was also salad, fruit, corn on the cob, corn muffins and baked potatoes. I stuffed myself mainly with pork because I didn't know when I'd have that good of a pork again. I was ready to go to bed.

Pig roast!!!

Joshua's unconventional bag toss

The rental house and rehearsal dinner

Me chilling

Holy Smokes!!! Day Three

We woke up again around 7:30 with severe back pain...this rock bed is brutal. We'll have to buy a memory foam pad next time we go camping in case it happens again. We were feeling pretty sore so we decided to do an easier hike, even though the hike I had planned was even longer than the day before. We were still going to see the waterfall but instead of doing a long loop with the waterfall on the way, we would just hike to the waterfall and back, 5 miles total. Then if we felt up to it, we'd hit the nature trail that was just by our campground area.

We left around 10AM. This time around, we packed a bunch of food and drinks so we wouldn't run out like last time. There was a lot more people on this trail, the Gabes Mountain Trail. We passed by people going towards the falls and coming back from the falls. Ahhh, never did I think it would be nice to see people on a trail but after last time not seeing anyone, this was heaven.

2.5 miles later, we get to the waterfall area. Not amazing but not horrible either. It was definitely better than the Devil's Lake waterfall we had encountered earlier that summer but not as great as the waterfall in Hawaii where we actually got to swim towards it and let the water fall onto our heads. I got as close as possible to the falls. It was a bit dangerous since the rocks were jagged and slippery. The water was really cold and I used it to cool myself down, even took a sip to see how it was but was afraid to drink too much. We then relaxed for a bit and ate some lunch and some snacks. Enjoyed the nature around us.

Check out the bridge made of wood

Hen Wallow Falls

Hen Wallow Falls

Falls from below

Getting as close to the falls as possible.
The water was surprisingly cold.

Trying not to hurt myself

Joshua and the falls

I heart this pic of Joshua

And this one too

Joshua and I and his creepy eyes at the falls

After spending some time at Hen Wallow Falls, we hiked the 2.5 miles back. I don't know why but this was the part of the hike that I kept tripping and tripping and tripping. I even ended up falling down, slightly spraining my ankle. But I just got back up and kept hiking. I think that in previous years from high school, I sprained my ankle so much that there's nothing left to sprain. We had planned to do the nature hike since it was still early in the day but Joshua didn't want to since I fell down twice and hurt myself. But I convinced him I was fine when we got to the end of the trail so we headed towards the nature hike trail.

The nature hike trail wasn't too bad...a one mile loop. We purchased the nature hike guide which told us a few things about, well, nature. It had number marks on the guide and on the trail so we could see what we were reading about. We saw a bunch of salamanders and butterflies. Even a shelter that was built a loooooooooong time ago with stones. After that hike, we finally headed back to the campsite.

What a weird tree!

We got back around 1:30PM. We had some time to kill until our friends would show up. Woohoo! They were driving from WI from visiting their families and needed a place to stay before the wedding. Since we were already camping out, we were happy to share our campsite and tent. While waiting around, Joshua and I threw the frisbee around, played some catch and played some card games...and drank more beers.

Finally around 6:30, our friends Diane and Brett showed up. Time to get the party started! Not really. We just ended up making dinner...hot dogs that they brought, drank more, roasted some marshmallows for some s'mores, and played some cards. It was good times hanging out with friends. But the good times had to be put on hold for some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us.

Brett roasted his marshmallow.
Joshua carving his stick to make it pointy.

Your mallow is on fire!

Our friends Brett and Diane

Having fun camping

Playing Bullshit

Telling ghost stories...we were horrible at it