The Happy Clown With A Frown: Our Little Love Story Part V: The Honeymoon

........ So we were a little late getting to the hotel where we were to spend our first night before continuing up to Gatlinburg TN. We checked in went to the room and as it was already late we began getting ready for bed. I was in the buff when someone knocked loudly on our door! I jumped into the bathroom to hide while hubs went to see who it was. The hotel had sent a guy to our room with a platter of fruits and cheeses with a bottle of champagne in the center and two glasses. It was lovely! Not that I was totally innocent where alcohol was concerned (He was!), but neither of us had ever had champagne so we popped the cork and gave it a whirl... YUCK! Neither of us like it so we put the plastic cork back in and set it aside. We enjoyed munching on the fruits and cheeses. They were very good.....

The next morning we repacked our suitcase and gathered our things. I don't remember taking any of the fruit but we kept the champagne for a souvenir. We didn't want to break it so we wrapped it in Hubby's black leather jacket and stashed it behind his seat in the truck. We proceeded to hit the road. We were just rolling right along having a great time. At some point we began to smell something odd. We couldn't figure it out but it kept getting stronger and stronger..... We decided to pull into the Tennessee Welcome Center for a short break and by the time we got there the smell was very strong. When we got out of the truck, we noticed the smell was only INSIDE the truck! We started looking through our things and Hubby picked up the leather jacket.... it was wet. Very wet. The champagne bottle! It must have broken! We began to unwrap it... it wasn't broken, but it WAS nearly empty! And the cork was missing. We finally found it all the way down one of the sleeves. We had wrapped the bottle into the body of the coat and crossed and TIED the sleeves around it and it blew that cork all the way into one of the sleeves! There wasn't much we could do for the coat at that moment so we rounded up a paper sack to put it in and put in it the back of the truck. We had to let the cab of the truck air out for a bit to get the alcohol smell out. We certainly didn't want to get pulled over by a cop and have that odor waft out into his face!

After letting the truck air out for a bit, we got back on the road and had a great trip up into the Smoky Mountains. We spent our Honeymoon weekend in a Honeymoon Hideaways chalet at the edge of Gatlinburg.

Looking back it seems a little cheesy.... hearts on the front doors, bright red heart-shaped tubs, mirrors on the bed.... but we didn't care. It was perfect and we had a perfect weekend. It was mostly care-free, just spending time together, exploring a new place, and dining on great food.

Exploring Gatlinburg for the first time was thrilling. The people were so friendly and helpful. I don't remember having a single negative experience... not sure if that's a fuzzy memory or just the "honeymoon high" we were on. We walked and shopped, explored the attractions. The chair lift up the mountain was fun!

Every morning and every evening we got to step out onto a little balcony and watch the ducks swimming in the creek that ran by our hotel. They were so playful! And sometimes LOUD when they wanted a bit of bread!

We had such a great honeymoon! So great we returned to Gatlinburg every year to celebrate our Anniversary for five years. When life started getting a little crazier, we broke our streak and haven't made it back since. I hope to get back very soon. I love it up in those mountains!

Oh and remember that jacket and the champagne bottle? Well, we didn't! The bag stayed in the back of the truck the whole weekend and for the ride home. It endured rain mixed with heat during the days and cooler night time temperatures. We were on such a honeymoon high all the way home. When we began to unload our things from the truck, everything was brought in and dumped on the floor. After unpacking our clothes and things that we needed right away, we unpacked our souvenirs and treasures over the next day or so. I finally came upon a paper bag and when I looked inside, I could not for the life of me figure out what it was...... I did not remember any green fuzzy lump! If we had lived in a science lab we would have had a years worth of cultures in that bag! The ENTIRE jacket was GREEN with mildew! It was leather! I called around and none of the dry cleaners in our area would do leather because they wouldn't guarantee the results. Whatev! I figured the jacket was ruined anyway so I cleaned it myself. I wiped it down with Tilex Mildew Remover (This was before I used natural products!) and then rubbed it with vegetable oil to keep the leather moist for a few days to make sure the mildew didn't come back. I had to wipe it with the Tilex one more time and by then I had bought some leather conditioner and I used that. Over the years I have periodically had to wipe it down with leather cleaner and conditioner...... but it still looks pretty good! Our son will probably be ready to wear it soon!