Shana's Birthday Trip 2019 : Ober Gatlinburg

 Finally, we went to the Winter ski resort called Ober Gatlinburg! It is truly a ski resort, but during the summer they offer some summer activities, each for a hefty fee of course, like the sky lift and even an Alpine slide. I hadn't been on one of these in many years. I love them!! And just like anything else in Gatlinburg, everything was a little bit off. The strangest thing was that there was nobody there. So it looked like a creepy, abandoned amusement park. It was kind of like a bad version of German Disney world. Shana got a kick out of the words redemption center. I was amazed at the interesting crafts you could buy. I found quite a few things with oma on them, so I bought them for my mother.

Shana's Birthday Trip 2019 : Christ in the Smokies of Gatlinburg

 One of the specific things Shana wanted to see was Christ in the smokey's museum and gardens. This ended up being a good parking spot as well! This featured lots of life size biblical scenes that you walk through and ending with beautiful gardens surrounding an art sculpture called. The Face of Christ.  And in true Gatlinburg fashion, each biblical scene and each art piece had something a little bit off. Either there was a surreal representation of satan, or some kind of prop that wouldn't be used at that time, or some kind of piece of clothing that wasn't right Or the art piece itself  Featuring Christ with the background of the smoky mountains. Even the parking lot, with the contrasting signs of the signs of the face of Christ and dear God, please lock your car! I was especially intrigued by their real collection of antique coins from Israel, all from near Christ's time! I have one on my miniature shelf, and I've always wanted to see what kind of coin it actually was. I saved these pictures to do further research.

Shana's Birthday Trip 2019 : Gatlinburg Skybridge & Skylift

Shana's Birthday Trip 2019 : Downtown Gatlinburg Tennessee

 I always take Shana to a special place for her birthday, and this year didn't disappoint!! Shana chose Gatlinburg, Tennessee! I had never been there before, and it is truly a redneck paradise! There are all all sorts of free photo opportunities all around downtown including many fall- themed displays, a life size wax figure of Trump, and a huge gumball machine. And the FOOD!! Our one must-have was a corn dog from Fanny Farkel's. And a huge amount of Souvenirs with such an incredible dichotomy of taste! You will find something about God directly next to something throwing the middle finger. You will find Marilyn Monroe holding guns and LGBT meaning liberty guns Beer and Trump.You'll find Bob Marley right next to the Virgin Mary! The dicatomy of products was absolutely surreal! and of course it wouldn't be Noelle and Shana, if we didn't visit the local Catholic Church, Saint Mary's!

Beautiful Annie Happy at Sierra Nevada 2019

Another Favorite Pottery Piece 2019

Sweet Leia, Always Texting Harvest 2019

Mamma & Annie Day at the Mountain State Fair 2019

Annie and I have a private joke about "Who would ever want a Rasta Banana?" Now MAMMA does! And Annie might win me one for my birthday!

My favorite fsir food: the Greek Gyro.

Daddy's favorite fair food: THE FRIES!

Leia's Mountain State Fair Wins

This awesome beerstein was made specifically for Daddy for Christmas (or was it Birthday? Father'sDay?). He LOVED it! Leia made one for Grandpa, too!