The week of August 5th, 2015 was one of the most memorable weeks of my entire life. It was me, my mom and my best friend that decided we were going to take a spontaneous road trip down South for a couple of days. It was perfect timing to take this trip because my mom had off work and Natalie and I both had a few days off poms and cheer. Natalie and I stayed up super late the night before talking about everything we wanted to, like drive through the mountains, go horseback riding, and so much more that we had always dreamed of doing.
We started our drive to Tennessee on a Tuesday night at about 10pm, in hopes of making it there by morning. My mom started off the driving, and the first thing we did was stop at starbucks to all get coffee so we could make it through the night. Driving with my two best friends was already exciting enough, and knowing we would be in another state all together made it all more fun. We jammed to a lot of country music all the way there, having our favorite songs on repeat over and over. Crammed in a car with our luggage next to us didn’t matter at all because we made time go by so fast, singing and telling random stories to each other. About half way there, my mom and I switched driving, so I drove the rest of the way which was fine by me because I had about 5 cups of beverages that had caffeine in them. Driving through the mountains as we starting getting closer to Tennessee was breathtaking,  you were completely enclosed and surrounded by nature. Whenever we stopped for gas, Natalie and I would always go in and ask if they had a bubbler, because no one knew what it was. We loved to see the clerks confused faces as we then explained it was a water fountain. We got to Tennessee by about 11 am the next day and we were all completely exhausted from the long drive, considering we didn’t stop for a break because we were all too eager just to get there right away. At about noon, we checked into a hotel at Gatlinburg and slept the day and night away trying to make up for all the lost sleep.
The first “real” day in Tennessee was that Thursday when we all woke up in Gatlinburg. We decided we were going to do something big on each day, so we decided that day we were going to go horseback riding in the mountains. We found a brochure for horseback riding and it was only about 25 minutes away so we scheduled a session for noon that same day. When we got there, the workers were super friendly and all looked like real cowboys. They all were wearing cowboy boots, cowboy hats and had that southern accent you expect to hear when you are down South. Luckily, we were only with two other people in our group, and while waiting we became pretty close with them. Believe it or not, they were from Milwaukee! What a coincidence it was to be at a ranch horseback riding in Tennessee with someone else that lives just 20 minutes from you.
We were all assigned horses depending on our size and experience, although none of us had actual experience they still gave some of us the “naughty” horses, including me. My horses name was Savannah and they warned me that she likes to be the boss of everyone, which scared me because I really had no idea what I was doing. Natalie and my mom got good horses, and the other couple from Milwaukee got “naughty” horses too but they both had experience so they weren’t worried at all. The workers really gave us no instructions, other than to pull back to stop them from moving, which I later learned they did not know how to do that well. We started walking in a line, following the leader’s horse and it all started off fine and easy, until we got to the woods where there was a tight trail we had to go on. Little did I know, horses are very stubborn and like to do things their own way so mine started trotting and bumping into my mom's horse ahead of mine. Seconds later, my mom’s horse turns around and mine stands up on it’s two feet with me on top of it! I screamed so loud because all of a sudden I was holding on the horse completely vertical while my horse was trying to fight my moms. The worker who was leading us quickly hopped off her horse and came running to mine, grabbing it and smacking it in the butt. She then brought me and the horse to the front of the line right behind her so she could “keep an eye on it”. Really?! I was just flipped vertically and that was all she was going to do about it? I mean I still had fun but I was shaking the rest of the trip, teeth chattering and feet shaking the rest of the 45 minutes. Everything we saw while riding was beautiful. The mountains in the distance almost looked like they were painted on a canvas because of how perfect they were. The weather was perfect as well, it was about 75 the whole day which isn’t too hot or too cold. The rest of the time was fine, I mean you don’t get to horseback through the mountains on a regular basis. When we were done, we drove back to our hotel and stopped to get food on the way. We just swam at the hotel pool and relaxed the rest of the day.
The next day we did a lot of sightseeing and driving through the mountains. We decided it would be fun to drive up to Cades Cove because apparently that was where all the bears were and we all wanted to see one so bad. We started that drive at about 6 am because that’s when the bears are the most active and awake. The drive took about 45 minutes and about 30 minutes in we were getting very discouraged because we hadn’t seen one bear when we were promised by almost anyone we talked to we would see many. All of a sudden, my mom screams out of excitement and points across the street to a little cub bear on the side of the road. We quickly pull over the car so we are only a few feet away and pull out our phones to take pictures. We knew better than to get out of the car though, because when you see a cub, you have to remember the momma cub is within feet away ready to attack anything she thinks is a threat to her baby. Looking at the baby cub only a few feet away from us was so surreal, it was playing with the grass and stared at us, looking so innocent and real. It wasn’t even scared we pulled up next to it, it was probably just born because if it were any older it would have ran right away. Staring at it for about five minutes, we see the momma bear come out from the woods and my mom speeds away, we didn’t want anything to do with a momma bear that was trying to protect her cub because her intent would have been to kill us. We were mesmerized by it the rest of the day, sending the pictures to our family and friends. That didn’t really do anything to them though, because it was hard to explain what it was like being so close to a wild black bear, it wasn’t like you were in a zoo or anything.
The last day of the trip, we all woke up super bummed because we were having such a fun time, we never wanted to leave. My mom then told us to get into the car because she has a surprise for us. Natalie and I were really confused because we had no idea what we were doing, or why we started driving up this super big mountain. My mom was not going to tell us what we were doing though, all she said was “you will love it, I promise”, so we just sat back and enjoyed the scenery until we got there.
After driving up the mountains for about 30 minutes, we pull up to a building with a sign that says “Gatlinburg Ziplining” and Natalie and I just about flipped out right there in the car. We had always dreamed of going ziplining and couldn’t believe my mom had planned this for us. We ran out of the car and checked in. They gave us our helmets and gloves, and the instructors put out harnesses on for us. We then took a truck up to the tippy top of the mountain and realized we were going to be ziplining over the smoky mountains. Not just through the mountains, but over them! We were alls o nervous because each line was about 2 minutes long and we knew if it were to break, we would be dead, but we just didn't’ think about that and tried our best to enjoy it. After going over a few courses, we got to our last line and the instructor dared us to go upside down, so of course I took the dare and did it. I was extremely scared yet was not going to leave without doing it because I know I would have regret it if I didn’t. So the second I started going, I tipped my body completely upside down and screamed at the top of my lungs, it was truly the most amazing thing I have ever done in my life. The rest of the way on the last line, I just took in what was around me. I feel like I never really appreciated the beauty that nature has to offer until I was flying over the smoky mountains. I wish I could capture that moment into a picture, or at least words, but it is impossible. Even talking about it now is hard because there are no words to describe the feeling of flying over the beautiful mountains. You could see the tips of the trees looking down at the bottom, and you were up as high as the birds which is something you don’t get to do on a regular basis.
Driving home later than night, knowing that we made the best of our trip was such an amazing feeling. I know the memories we made will last forever, even if it is impossible to explain them to others, us three with cherish this trip for the rest of our lives.