Our Christmas Vacation

A great vacation leaves you wishing for more, pining over what life of a continual vacation would be.  It also brings the realization that this time is special because it is not the norm.  You have escaped the alarm clock, the normal chores, the schedules and routine.  This is what our Christmas trip 2013 represent to me.  The secret is to not let the dread of it ending rob you of the joy of enjoying the trip.

As steam surrounded us, waves crashed and the wind blew, our family started to reflect on our vacation, as we spent our last night swimming and enjoying the hot tub.  Ryan said he was glad to go home because he missed time with his friends, but then after a while of thinking and contemplating, he stated, "I can't wait for our next vacation."  I asked, "why?"  He stated, "because then you can be off work again and spend your whole day playing with us!"

The Begining

We left Green Bay after work and school on December 20th.  Full of anticipation but worried about freezing rain, we traveled at a slower pace than normal.   By bedtime we made it to Indianapolis, Indiana.  We were all ready for a good nights rest.

Saturday we greeted the morning early and headed to Kentucky.  Our goal was Mammoth Cave National  Park.  The park is in southern Kentucky and was something that we missed the year before.  The guys all went on the cave exploration tour and the gals visited the gift shops and enjoyed a game while we waited.

The guys enjoyed the cave.  It was full of crickets.  Sometime the crickets would jump of the ceiling and spin and reattach.  They found a rats nest.  

 
Crickets

The weather was much better here than the snow and cold at home!

After cave exploration we headed to Nashville.  The year prior John and my parents had found a BBQ place that they really liked.  Parking was crazy downtown and it was decided at at the last minute we should all pile out of the van at a red light.  Panic followed.  "Hurry" "get out!" "the light is going to change."  "Hurry up Ryan!"  Despite the craziness we escaped in time.

While Dave followed John searching for a parking spot that would allow for our carrier on the van.   We all started walking up the street.  We found a little candy store that made homemade pecan candies and Carmel corn.  We convinced the boys that dinner needed to come first.

Jack's BBQ lay in front of us, with its bright neon sign.  Inside we were greeted with the smokey smell of BBQ.  Jack's is a narrow wooden building sandwiched in the bustling Nashville downtown.  Inside a line forms and customers order and pick-up there food at the counter that fills half of the lower level.

It was the best of meat and it was the worst of meet.  Confused?  So were we!  How can we have the best smoked brisket and the worst smoked brisket all at once?  Dave and I ordered the family meal.  The first portion of brisket was juicy and succulent.  Then they ran out of that piece and grabbed a new roast for the rest of our serving. This portion was everything the first was not.  It was dry and tough, lacking flavor.  Josh enjoyed the Mac and Cheese and I liked the beans.

Our review, you might ask?  It was the best of BBQ and the worst of BBQ!

After dinner, we headed down the street for a little shopping. The wind had picked up, but instead of cold it brought in warm air and it felt like the temperature had risen.   The wind whipped around us as music greeted us from the bars as we passed.   We did some souvenir shopping and then headed back to the candy store.  Ryan bought some candy and Josh had some gelato that was handmade in the shoppe.  Finally, we trudged up the hill to the car.  I almost lost my footing as the wind whipped down the streets.

 

The following day we made the final segment of our trip to Gulf Shores.  We stopped at the border to Alabama and enjoyed the Rocket at the visitors center.  Halfway through Alabama we decided to have lunch.  None of us had been to a Steak and Shake, so we all voted yes!  I had a great salad and the kids all liked their shakes.  We decided it was something we all liked.

About lunch we hit the rain.  In fact most of our trip had been in rain, but this was a downpour.  It was hard to complain about rain when it was snowing at home.  At sunset, we arrived in Gulf Shores.  The rain finally stopped as we settled into our new home for the next 9 days!

For dinner that night we all headed to Lambert's Cafe for "throwed" rolls and a fun experience.  Our waiter pretended to spill tea on my mom and we were served raccoon for pretend.  We all enjoyed our huge portions and the boys had fun catching the rolls.