Last month, Erik and I talked about taking a vacation. We both needed it and, since we hadn’t been anywhere together since we had gotten married three years ago, we decided to go for it. We didn’t “go all outâ€, but we just took a ride north-west to Gatlinburg, Tennessee to spend a few days to unwind before the hectic winter season began for us.
On Monday, we went on a hike up a mountain to get to Grotto Falls. We had gone up the hill before, but when we had gone, there were lots of people and as soon as I got there, my camera died, so we didn’t get good pictures. This time, I was determined. I had a fully charged battery in the camera, along with a spare to boot. What I wasn’t planning on was the snow. You would think I would have thought of this, but I didn’t. So, almost immediately, we ran into snow, sludge, mud, and just general ickyness. We managed to make it up through all of it to get to the falls. There was lots of snow, some icecicles being upwards of 2 inches in diameter, and lots of ice on the walkway that you had to be careful walking on and around.
But even though the effort to trek up there wasn’t wonderfully glorious, the waterfall was. I could have sat there all day if there had been a dry place to sit. The snow and ice had everything wet, and we couldn’t sit and enjoy it like we had before. (Note, it doesn’t look like much snow around the fall, but it’s because of the angle I took the shot. If you could have seen behind, it looked much like the picture above where Erik is bravely treking through the mud and sludge to get to the top.)
As beautiful as it was, we had to get down the mountain. I tried to pre-game for this hike as much as I could to try to avoid the drastic low bg I had the last time, but it got me again. I had already turned my pump off before the hike, but I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be enough. True to form, half way up the mountain, my CGM started alarming. So, I grabbed the big bottle of glucose tabs, chewed four of them with a swig of Dr. Pepper and kept going, just not as hard. This kept going. By the time we got to the top of the mountain, I had eaten 16 glucose tabs, drank half a bottle of Dr Pepper, and learned that 3 beeps means I’m at the “70 or below†mark and 4 beeps means that I’m at the “55 or below†mark. I also learned that if we ever do the hike again, I HAVE to pack more than glucose tabs. Something with protein like a protein bar or even a peanut butter sandwich would have been good. That was error on my part. Lesson learned.
Tuesday, we went up to Uber Gatlinburg. It’s not that big of a place, just really an attraction site, with lots of games, little shops, and an ice-skating rink. But the reason why we go is to take the chair lift to the top of the mountain. It’s a pretty steep ride, but once you get up there, it’s beautiful. You can see the whole town of Gatlinburg, as well as a large aerial view of several mountains far off.
Erik was finally able to relax in the peace and quiet of the mountain top, while I walked around snapping pictures. A few other people were up there as well, but they didn’t bother us. It was nice and relaxing. One lady offered to take our picture, and I’m glad she did. Erik finally smiled a true, genuine smile. Something I haven’t seen in a long time. And I’ve got it “on filmâ€:
In part, I’m glad to be home. But mostly, I wish I were still there. In the peace and quiet of God’s creation. There’s something about it that revives me. It pushes my internal “restart†button the way nothing else can.
So, a big “Thank You†to Cherise, George, Alexis and Martin for guest blogging for me this week. I really do appreciate having you guys help me out while Erik and I were on vacation! You guys are so awesome and I’m proud to have you guys as my friends and fellow d-bloggers.
