Today is our ANNIVERSARY!  I know it’s trite, but it really is hard to believe that we’ve been married for ELEVEN years.  {I’ve been a married woman for ELEVEN years?  How is that possible?}

Due to Chris’s impending job change and Little Davis Man needing to be near his mama we ended up taking an anniversary trip a couple weeks early WITH the kids in tow.

We had a great time together on our little Mountain Getaway.  It wasn’t the quietest most peaceful anniversary trip to be sure, but it was memorable. 

Nana actually came with us and stayed the first two nights.  She was such a HUGE help and blessing.  Chris and I were able to take Haylee and Wade to party it up at the Water Park while Davis got to stay in and nap!  It would have been tricky for sure trying to keep up with Haylee and Wade while trying to keep Davis happy {and dry for that matter} in the stroller or even in the Ergo. 

It was also AMAZING to be able to go out for a night by ourselves!!!!  We went to the new Titanic Museum and out to dinner.

The Titanic Museum was pretty cool.  Very well done with a very eye catching building designed to look like the front of the ship. 

There is even an “iceberg” on one side.   There are people throughout the ship dressed in period costumes who are there to offer more information about the exhibits. 

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They actually spent 1 miiiiillion dollars recreating the grand staircase and it is built to scale. The staircase girl told us that the floor was made of something new at the time that was more expensive than granite or marble.  It was linoleum.  :)

It is not really much of an interactive type tour.  It’s mainly a lot of reading, but we did hear that they were going to be offering an audio tour soon, though I’m sure that will cost extra. Speaking of which, our tickets were $25 a piece and there were NO coupons that I could find to offset the cost unfortunately.

With stories like the Titanic there are often scores of fascinating “side stories” that you sometimes have never even heard.  There were several such stories… one of a young couple.  The wife was put on a boat I think THREE times before she would finally stay.  She wished to remain with her husband and was only convinced to get on a lifeboat because he told her he would have a better chance of surviving in the water without her.  He did not survive.

You were assigned a real life passenger when you bought your ticket.  On the ticket it gave a bit of background information about them and you had to wait until the end to see if they lived or died. 

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Mine was Edith Evans who was a first class passenger.

She and her friend were late getting on deck and by that time most of the lifeboats were gone.  There was room for only one, so she sent her friend and told her she should go since she had children at home waiting for her.  She was one of the few first class women that did not survive.

Ironically, Chris’s person was a crew member and was one of the few  male crew members that DID survive.

It had some neat things… like a room made to look like you were on the deck of the ship at night. 

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You could stick your hand over the rail on one side and feel the icy cold water and on the other side feel an iceberg!

They also had a piece of the deck you could stand on at different angles to simulate how hard it would have been to hold on as the ship was going down.

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Some things I didn’t like were that for some reason they REALLY didn’t want you to take pictures.  I say REALLY because there were signs up outside and a dressed up person who welcomed you as you walked in, was also quick to make it clear.  They even went so far as to say that your cell phone had to be turned all the way off.  What??  They say it’s around a two hour tour, and I’m supposed to be unreachable for two hours? I don’t think so.  Especially since we had left the kids with Robin. 

That brings me to the second thing. A lot of their ads proudly claim that it’s a “Family Experience.” Um, I think that’s a load of bunk.  I think they are trying to convince themselves that it’s an attraction for kids since Pigeon Forge is such a family destination spot.  They have ONE teeny area for kids called Titanic Tots or something. 

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Seriously, my kids would have driven me crazy the entire time. Most of it is walking around reading small print! Not my kids’ idea of a good time.  I would have been saying, “Come here, Wade!”  “Don’t go under there Wade!” And a host of other “Fill in the blank, Wade!”  Not to mention answering 185 kabillion questions from Haylee.

I did read that they give kids a scavenger type hunt thing to do along the way which maybe would’ve occupied their attention, but more than likely it would’ve required our help.  

Very glad we were able to go sans kiddos and despite the cons, it IS definitely something I would recommend especially if you’re a history fan.  It was a neat experience and a special something to remember anniversary activity!

After the Titanic, we tried out The Alamo Steakhouse for the first time.  It was SOOOOOOO very good!  It was pretty pricey, but I’m so glad we went.  It was nice to go somewhere different for this special night.  We had great service and they did some nice extras too which always helps make the night enjoyable.  :) I even wrote a rave review on the comment card. {It was that good. I’mtellinya!}

Happy Anniversary to me and my Hunny!

{more getaway goodness coming soon…}