Gatlinburg Bound!!

SURPRISE!! We took a little trip!!

You may or may not remember that last year, for our birthday trip, we went to the Tulip Time festival in Holland, Michigan. We froze the entire weekend. We wore hats and gloves at the beach. We were bundled up in lawn chairs to watch fireworks. And none of the tulips had bloomed because it was too cold. So this year, we decided to head SOUTH for our trip.

So Ryan took a half day off work last Friday, and when he got home, we jumped in the car and headed south. The trip was supposed to take seven hours. Yeah. Try TEN. Ten hours to make a seven hour trip - and we don't even have kids!! Isn't that kind of thing only supposed to happen to potty-training parents??

We blame construction and the misfortune of hitting Cincinnati at rush hour. But I'm excited to tell you about our week, and I thought I'd start with the trip, because it had its humorous moments!!!

We were kind of excited for a vacation.

Our first slowdown was in Oxford, Ohio, where our GPS routed us right through the center of town. It's a college town, and it seemed to be graduation weekend. The place was PACKED with tourists in for graduation, parents there to load up their kids' stuff to take it home, and unending construction. But that gave us plenty of time to enjoy this very cool bell tower:

{We also thought it was really cool that downtown, there was a Starbucks next door to a Chipotle, and both were in buildings with apartments above. We decided that would be pretty perfect: to live in an apartment above a Starbucks and a Chipotle. We would never cook. Or have money.}

We found the longest stretch in the midwest with NO McDonald's. Know how we know this? I had to go to the bathroom. You become acutely aware of the lack of fast food on your trail when you need a bathroom. About an hour later...we found one. And of course, there's the obligatory "thanks for the potty" purchase. 

Good thing we found it because the next thing we found was a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng stretch of construction and rush hour traffic.

No worries! It ended eventually, and we got to back to having fun - including car karaoke!

And...this was so cool. Random rainbow. No rain, that we encountered, anyway, but a gorgeous rainbow.

We picked a place we never get to eat {because we don't have one} for our dinner: Chick-Fil-A!!

We didn't linger long at dinner, so a little while after getting back on the road, we decided we wanted coffee. I did a search for the nearest one and found it...as we passed the exit. And apparently, at that point, we were in a Starbucks drought. So we stopped at a McDonald's instead. As we pulled up, so did two tour buses, and out poured DOZENS of military guys. Getting coffee just got comical at that point!

I will say, they did a fast bit of service there, and we got our coffee in no time!!

After getting back on the road, we missed an accident {didn't appear to be a serious one}, and just missed hitting a deer and a FOX. At that point, I just wanted to be there.

Finally, ten hours after leaving home, we rolled into Pigeon Forge, and found our home away from home for the weekend: The Spirit of the Smokies. {Photo taken later, in the daylight hours - in case you weren't sure.}

 Let me give you a quick review, in case you're looking to travel this way. We debated about getting a cabin and doing the whole outdoorsy thing the whole time we were gone, but we booked this so far in advance, there was NO way to know about weather. I hated to book a cabin and then be stuck in rainy weather the entire time and be so far from town that all we would do is drive back and forth. So we decided to stay in town, and after doing some research, we learned that still wasn't very cheap!

Ryan found The Spirit of the Smokies, and we got a good deal, partly because we were staying multiple nights. Some of the condo rooms have bigger kitchens and multiple rooms, but we chose a smaller one. It had two beds and a fridge and microwave, which was enough to keep us going for the weekend. It wasn't the newest hotel in town, and it was a little bit outdated, but it seemed clean, and we were comfortable. We liked it jut fine. We were gone most of the time during the day, and at night, we LOVED sitting out on this balcony, which we later learned had a lovely view of the mountains!

It may have been late at night, but Pigeon Forge was alive and happenin'! Not for the Shaffers, though. We were weary and ready for some SLEEP!!! Because we're vacation party animals that way.

Road Trip to Southern Indiana!

So here's the deal.

If you're not from Indiana, you might not know about Holiday World. It's an amusement park and water park just north of the Kentucky line. Here's a list of reasons {taken from their website} why you might want to visit it...and some help in understanding my thoughts toward a trip to this fine destination.

1. Two parks – Holiday World Theme Park and Splashin’ Safari Water Park – in one. I'm scared of all rides, so this is like double the fear.
2. TIME magazine named The Voyage the #1 Wooden Roller Coaster in America. Roller coasters make me sick and zooming over wood...well...refer to point number one.
3. Free soft drinks. Just sayin’ …You have my attention.
4. In 2013, USA Today proclaimed Splashin’ Safari to be the Best Water Park in the USA. Well if I'm going to go, I do want it to be the best.
5. The friendliest bunch of employees you’ll ever find – that’s why they’re called Hosts & Hostesses. Okay, I like that. Hope it's still true after they meet me.
6. Holiday World is the world’s first theme park (we opened, as Santa Claus Land, in 1946 – that’s nine years before Mr. Disney got started!). Impressive.
7. Voted the Cleanest Park in the World for more than a decade. We’re a bit fanatical. No wonder Ryan likes it so much! And clean is good.
8. Fun shows – with singing, dancing, and diving. But not at the same time … This sounds good.
9. Free parking. As does this.
10. Yummy food, from pizza and burgers to Thanksgiving Dinner. Reasonably-priced, too! I'll take the pizza and burgers. Not really a fan of Thanksgiving food.
11. Mammoth and Wildebeest – the two longest water coasters on the planet. Pray for me now.
12. Santa Claus. Every day. Now this, I like.
13. Free inner tube usage. Free Wi-Fi, too. Can I use the Wi-Fi in the inner tube??
14. Special menus for those with food allergies. Not me, but that's a nice thing to offer.
15. New for 2014: Mayflower swinging ship ride plus Friday Night Fireworks! I like fireworks but I'm not going on Friday. Sadness.
16. We’ve received nearly a thousand positive TripAdvisor.com reviews. I hope to be 1001.
17. Free sunscreen. (You know you always leave yours at home on the kitchen counter!) Impresive.
18. Holidog hugs. Kitty Claws, too. We left Braeya at home.
19. We’re in Santa Claus, Indiana. We’ve got that whole Mayberry vibe going on here. You’ll feel safe and happy in a sweet, old-fashioned way. I do like Mayberry.
20. Your family deserves it! So my husband says.

Ryan loves this place. LOVES IT. And as soon as we started dating, he started talking about visiting here. But the year we dated, we elected not to come because it would have meant spending the night away from home and that's just a whole can of worms I didn't want to mess with when we weren't married. And then last year we were up to our necks in home renovations, and we never had time to come. So that meant...this was our year.

Gulp.

And so it was that last Thursday, I packed these:

And this one got mad:

And when the husband got home, we did our pre-vacation photo:

And we hopped in the old car to head to Holiday World. I was both grateful and nervous for this trip. Grateful because tomorrow is the great dental event of 2014, and it was a merciful blessing to have this soaking up the weekend before so I didn't think about THAT. Nervous because I really don't like rides and big crowds and things outside my comfort zone.

We ate dinner on the road {It's a four hour drive, so we were going to be getting in late as it was} and stopped for coffee, of course, on the way.

I can only guess that what happened next has to be blamed on the coffee creamer. It was the ONLY thing we didn't have the same that evening. Two hours into our four hour trip, my stomach went on STRIKE. I felt crazy sick. Hot and cold, shaking and anxious, heart racing, absolutely sick to my stomach. There we were, in the winding hills of southern Indiana, as far from home as from our hotel, and I'm sick.

Not. A. Good. Situation.

We stopped a total of three times {where I managed to NOT get sick, but boy did I ever think about it} - and arrived safely at our hotel. I. Was. Exhausted.

And that's how we started our vacation. You can only imagine what was to come.

First Ever Freelan Family Vacay

One of the disadvantages of the wide age gap between my sisters and me is that we've never...since the year of my birth {which amazingly, I don't remember}...gone on a real family vacation together. This August, my parents will celebrate 60 years of marriage, and rather than having a big party, they wanted to have a family vacation. With everyone. So we all consulted our day planners and found that this past weekend was the time all of us could actually get together and enjoy the first ever Freelan family vacation.

My parents took care of all the details. They wanted to get together in Shipshewana, in northern Indiana, because it's one of my Dad's favorite places to go. Mom reserved rooms at the Farmstead Inn, and I was excited about that, because I love the Farmstead! I've stayed there a few times before - including twice for spiritual retreats I went on before I was married.

We all gathered there on Thursday afternoon...which was pretty great. Ryan and I took the whole day off work, slept in, went for an exercise walk that morning and out for breakfast...and then enjoyed our drive north.

Mom met us all at the door of the hotel to take our pictures - just like she does on Christmas Day when we arrive at their house:

 Ryan and I - and of course, our fountain pops and my camera. We are so blessed predictable when it comes to a vacation.

 My sister Julie and her husband, Tom - all decked out for golf. They are so blessed predictable when it comes to a vacation. :)

My sister Lori, her husband Jeff, and their daughter Cassie won the prize for longest drive...making the trek all the way from Kansas to join us for the weekend!

We had some time to kill on Thursday between arriving and heading out for dinner, so we went around town and shopped a little bit.

Yeah that's Ryan and my dad supervising a mural painting in town. Good thing they were there to keep it going!!

 Awwwww......

 Sometimes you can't wait. Gotta use what's open.

That first night, we had dinner at the Essenhaus over in Middlebury. It is a HUGE {whatever's in your mind right now - double, possibly triple it and you've got the Essenhaus} home cooking restaurant where you can eat either family style or buffet. We went with the buffet.

Dinner was fabulous!!

After dinner, we walked around at the shops near there...and Cassie hung out with Ryan and me for a while. We found this shop that had a silo on the side, and you could walk up to the top of the silo to look around:

So...we did!

 Fun to look out over the grounds:

 And I don't know if you can see him or not but look who I spied meandering through the car show? My Dad! He's right in the middle in the tan pants.

While we waited on Mom and Dad to stop socializing...because it's true that they actually found people they KNEW and were talking in the parking lot...we had some photo shoots of our own!

Sisters!!

 And checking the photo....

 Photobombing my Mom's phone....

Oh...and here's a nice one of the lovebirds:

After dinner, we went back to the hotel, and Ryan, Cassie and I hit the pool for a while. We found a beach ball and played some hard-core volleyball...which I believe canceled out our entire dinner, thankyouverymuch.

And that's how family vacation, day one, went down.

We Can't Make This Stuff Up

So I told you in the recap yesterday that Ryan and I took a weekender trip to Holland, Michigan, for the Tulip Time Festival. Last year, we decided to start a tradition of taking a trip somehwere sometime around our birthdays, since they're so close to each other. Last year's trip was to the Creation Museum and also contained our ziplining adventure. This year, we decided to try out the Tulip Festival. Neither of us had ever been.

The forecast for the weekend wasn't that great...cold and rainy, they said...but we were determined to have a great  time anyway. So we got up Friday morning, packed up the car and set out on our great adventure. So many stories to tell you...but I have to start with these because they cracked us up so much!

We were almost to the Michigan line when we stopped at a truck stop for a bathroom break and to get a fountain pop. The men's restroom had been relegated to a trailer outside the gas station while they remodeled the one inside, so I waved goodbye to Ryan and some trucker with an eye patch and hoped I would see him again. {Ryan - not the trucker.}

We met up at the fountain pop and saw a sign that said the drinks were 99 cents - YAY! We got 32 ounce drinks and when it came time to get our straws, we found the l.o.n.g.e.s.t. straws on earth. Ryan said he might as well tape two together and leave the cup IN the cupholder to drink. When we got up to the register, the manager asked us if we found everything okay.

Ryan joked, "Well, unless you've got some longer straws somewhere." The man didn't crack a smile and said, "No, I think those are the longest ones we have." Okay! So no sense of humor here. Noted. Our total seemed high, so Ryan asked if the drinks weren't 99 cents. The guy said, "The 44 ounce drinks are, but not these." Ryan rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, so you pay more to get less?" Mr. Personality said, "Well, it's a promotion on the part of the cup manufacturer. But...I can sell you the smaller one at the same price."

As we walked out, I said to Ryan, "You know we're going to be the people he tells his wife about at dinner, right? Those crotchety curmudgeons who complained about the straws and the price of pop?"

Ryan laughed and said, "Well, he just messed up my whole quinoa."

Stop.

WHAT???

"He messed up my quinoa. You know. My aura."


I am STILL laughing about it. It's a new word for us now. Perogi = Pergola. Betrothing = Annoying. And now....quinoa = aura. I hope you're making a list of our Shafferland vocab.

We continued on our merry way and stopped at the hotel we booked last January. The hotel that gave us one of its last rooms and was the only room we considered affordable in the heart of Holland's Tulip Festival. The hotel where we mutually agreed to spend less than we might normally because we would hardly be there anyway, and it would be more fun to spend our money on festival-y things.

That hotel.

I should have known, when I was standing in the 8x8 lobby, leaning against the counter that boasted the promise of a continental breakfast...reading the photocopied rules about unattended pets in rooms and the hotel's strict policy against prom-goers staying there...that we were in trouble. Furthermore, we BOTH should have known when the nice clerk at the desk said all the rooms weren't clean yet and it was almost 5:00 in the afternoon...that this was going to be a rough one.

My quinoa should have been all over that.

But it wasn't. The {really, truly} nice girl handed us our key card and we made our way down the hallway toward good ole 116. We passed the open laundry room {red flag!} and walked over the giant hole in the carpet {BURNING red flag} and flung open the door.

Please, oh please, oh please, hear me when I say we are not hotel snobs. I REPEAT. We are not hotel snobs.

And it wasn't even the hello-1982 decor that got me. It was that this stuff really WAS from 1982 and suddenly explained a whole lot about why housekeeping was still cleaning rooms. It doesn't come clean anymore. Ryan ripped the comforter off the bed and we walked {in shoes} across the squishy carpet, surveying the room. I dared to sit on the couch, which was shiny slick in ways it really shouldn't have been - and the TV was one of the old kind - complete with a grainy, static-y Phoebe Buffay sauntering across the screen.

We sat on the edge of the bed, and I tried to figure out how I would take a shower the next morning without removing my clothes.

The dogs {unattended...breaking rule #2 from the photocopied sheet} were barking mercilessly two doors down and the overwhelming, sickening aroma of the entire room being immersed daily in Febreze about choked me.

Ever the {really and truly} loving wife that I am, I wrapped my arms around Ryan's waist as we sat on the edge of that thank-goodness-there's-not-a-black-light bed and kissed his cheek. "It will be okay," I said, willing myself to believe it as I pushed away thoughts of the shower. "We won't be here that much. We can do this."

Ryan pulled back the blanket and sheets to take a nap and stared at the long black curly hair{s} in the bed, recoiled and said, "No. That's it. We're out of here."

He went back to the front desk...to plead against the no-refund policy. The manager was merciful and gave us a full refund, even while the girl said, "We try to get all the hairs off the sheets before we make the beds."

You can about guess the state of our quinoa at this point.

Ryan came back and began mostly running our possessions back out to the car while I searched for a new hotel...in a festival-laden town that had been sold out of the good rooms since January.

We managed to find one hotel still renting rooms for both nights...paying more than twice as much as we had at the first hotel, but feeling so grateful to NOT worry about needing the services of the CDC that we really didn't care. We rushed up to our clean room on the fourth floor...one where we could kick off our shoes, lie down and sleep peacefully...and not hear dogs barking over the TV.

With our quinoa feeling much better, we knew...this was going to be one interesting vacation.

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday, we had a pretty convicting church service {at least for this girl} followed by communion. I love it when we do communion in a way that lets me sit and think for a while before I take it. Ryan and I were bums all afternoon and then I started taking a look at the weather forecast and freaked out. This week was our Share fundraiser at work, and it wasn't an option NOT to go. So Ryan took pity on me and drove me to Fort Wayne and got us a hotel room so I could be right there by work for Monday morning. Husband of the year award!

* Monday morning, Ryan left the hotel at 5:30 to get to work on the messy roads, and I waited for one of my co-workers to pick me up for work. It was Cyber Monday, so Lynne and I worked together on the Mid-Morning hour to interview some listeners about how the station has impacted them. After work, I "moved" into a dorm/lodge on the campus where the station is...for the week! Ryan drove up to join me, and we situated our little "Ricky and Lucy" beds for our stay!

* Tuesday was the first day of the phone call portion of Share! I spent most of the day in the phone room, ready for calls from listeners! I did spend the Mid-Morning hour on the air with Ken and Lynne - thanking listeners for their pledges. Loved that hour! Ryan drove up about 6:30 that night and ate dinner with me there at the station before we were done for the evening and could head back to our home-for-the-week! My brain was tired, so we just sat and had a good talk together and went to sleep!

* Wednesday was another fun day at work! I was on the air with Ken and Lynne again {man, selfies for three really test my skills!} - and I spent most of the rest of the day on the phone or taking pictures for Share! I was MOST excited though, about my surprise for Ryan! Last week I mailed my Mom a gift card to Starbucks, a doctored up coffee sleeve and detailed instructions on Ryan's favorite drink. She surprised him at work with a coffee and note from me! It was so fun. Also fun - I got Starbucks too! :)

* Thursday we hit the million dollar mark in our fundraising! It happened during the Mid-Morning hour, so it was fun to be able to celebrate with all the staff and volunteers when they announced it! Spent most of the day in the phone room - and so enjoyed talking to people and learning their stories! And for the dramatic part of the day...Ryan and I were hanging out in our home-for-the-week that night when the front door opened at 9:00 and someone came in and disappeared into a room! No idea who it was, but it sure freaked me out! We didn't know anyone else was staying there!

* Friday was the last day of Share and it was a LONG day!! We started work at 5:45 in the morning and I left about 8:30 that night. So enjoyed spending time with my co-workers, though, and loved having Ryan up there at the end to be part of the final on-air portion of the night. We raised all but about $200,000 of our goal, and we're trusting God for that part! It was so good to be back home in our own bed that night, even if Braeya DID try to dump the lamp on my head while I slept!!

* You would think we'd have rested yesterday - right? WRONG!! Got up at 4:30 and got ready to go to work with Ryan...and he had an extra long day. I worked on projects while he worked, and then we headed to the hospital to meet our new nephew, Korbin, who was born while we were in Fort Wayne for the week! We ended the evening with Ryan's Dad's surprise party - he turned 60 years old yesterday!