There’s also a covered hot tub, which I’ll take a picture of at some point.
After we got here, we unloaded the car, then laid about, gasping for air. At some point, Fred and the spud went out to the hot tub, and I laid on the couch watching TV and snoozing. We finally made dinner – steak on the grill, mmmmmm – and then sat around watching TV, talking, and looking at the view out the sliding glass doors. Fred and the spud went to the bottom floor and played pool and ping pong for an hour or so while I watched TV and read.
Just like being at home.
We sent the spud to bed around 11 last night, and headed upstairs ourselves at the same time. We laid in my bed and talked for a while, then Fred left for his own bed, and I rolled over prepared for a good night’s sleep.
Which so didn’t happen. I tossed and turned all night, not sleeping worth a shit. I don’t know why – the bed was comfortable, I brought pillows from home, it was cool enough, I had my earplugs. Fred didn’t sleep well either, and neither did the spud. Fred finally got up and came into my room sometime after 6, and we talked about how tired we still were. Fred went to take his shower, and I tried to get more sleep, which didn’t happen. Finally, I gave up and got up to take my shower and get ready for the day.
By the time I came downstairs, Fred and the spud had had their bowls of cereal and were watching TV. It was only shortly after 7, and since nothing in town opens until 9 or later, we sat around shooting the shit.
It’s now 9:30, and Fred and the spud have gone into Gatlinburg for the morning. They’ve been gone 45 minutes, and Fred’s called 3 times already, necessitating my putting down the laptop and running for the phone each time. Grrrr. They’re going to visit the arcades and all the other places I have no interest in seeing, and I’m going to hang around the house, watching TV and reading Watermelon. I brought four books with me, just in case. I’d hate to run out of books!
If I’m lucky, I might snooze.
This afternoon, we’re going back into Gatlinburg to visit the museums and other places we all want to see. There’s a local channel which runs nothing but local commercials, and there’s a store called HHI in Pigeon Forge (just on the other side of Gatlinburg) which appears to sell each and every piece of crap ever invented. Naturally, Fred and I are dying to go there. If nothing else, there’s plenty of shopping in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.
We plan to go to Cherokee, North Carolina tomorrow. Fred is all kinds of excited that there’s gambling there. He’s talking about dropping the spud and I off to go shopping, so he can go gamble for a few hours. I’m not sure if he’s serious; I suspect not. As I tell him, though, "It’s your money, babe. Lose it if you want."
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05/26/2000