Other things - Smoky Mountain vacation

 Shopping: 

We hit the outlet malls twice. Maggie needed some retail therapy, and Darcy had given me a list of bras she wanted that she'd gotten several months earlier in Pigeon Forge. Both of them got what they needed.

Steph, Kim, and I sampled odd moonshine flavors at a distillery while Maggie shopped. Afterward, we contemplated purchasing moonshine, but came to our senses about the time our stomachs told us it wasn't for us.

Tunnels:

In the national park, we came upon several tunnels. The first time we drove through one, other cars honked loudly, scaring the shit out of Steph. 

Steph: "Why are they honking? I thought I'd done something wrong."

I told her that's a thing people do. I remember my dad doing the same every time we were on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Steph said that was ridiculous, so I googled it.

Apparently, it's a TN thing. And illegal. 

But it never failed to make Steph jump. Every single time. Finally, I started reminding her when we'd come upon a tunnel so she could brace herself, and sure enough, no one would honk.

On our last drive through a tunnel, Steph scared all of us by blaring her horn! 

Accents:

By the last two days, we could not stop talking in a southern accent. Maggie was really good at it. She sounded authentic enough to be mistaken for a TN native.

Maggie: "I'm from Tennessee because I'm the only 10 I see." 

She really liked that joke.

Pictures: 

Have I mentioned how GREEN everything was in this state?

Wrap up:

Me: "I'd come back to the mountains, but I've definitely seen all of Pigeon Forge I care to see."

Steph: "Totally. It wasn't my scene."

Me: "We could've been in Vermont. Who's idea was this?"

Maggie: "Yeah, mom, who's idea was it to come here?"

Steph: "Okay, okay, it was mine. People kept talking about Pigeon Forge. I thought it would be different. But we had fun, didn't we?"

Us: "We did. But next summer, someone else picks the location."