Nala & pride "A Bucket Full of Magic" TR About This Page:

[Nala]

Hi everyone,

If you are just joining me for this adventure, you might want to start with the pre-trip report here: http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...-trip-ptr.html

If you have already read that, well, then read on. Let the adventure begin.


Tuesday morning finally came and our routine was pretty much normal. Grumpy got Kiara ready for school while I got ready for work, and when the time came make our morning drive, Grumpy got behind the wheel to drop us both off. From there, he headed home and loaded the Toaster and waited for the time to pass. I, in the meantime, was busting my hump to clear my desk. It was an ugly day at work, but after 8-½ hours, I finally threw in the towel, told my co-workers I was done, and made my way out the door to join the pride, who were waiting for me in the parking lot.

And while I didn’t scream on the way out, I did pass a co-worker, that I have a good relationship with, and as I walked out the door, I turned to her and in a very loud voice said “I’m going to Disney World!” and out the door I ran. I hopped in the passenger side, looked at Grumpy and said “DRIVE!” I wanted to get as far away from that place as I possibly could. I was extremely stressed out but after we got a few miles down the road, I felt my frustrations leaving me, and a smile began to break out on my face. We were on our way.

We had traveled about ten miles when from the back seat we heard Kiara say “Is that Florida up there?” It was going to be a long drive.

The drive that evening was pretty much uneventful, but Kiara did say something from the backseat that puzzled us. Out of the blue she said “I don’t like Ak and Eddie. Eddie scares me” Grumpy and I couldn’t figure out what in the world she was talking about, or who Eddie was, but it finally dawned on Grumpy what she was saying. Yak and Yeti! We got a good laugh out of it, and then explained to Kiara that Yak and Yeti was a restaurant, and there was no scary Eddie in it.

We had traveled a few hundred miles and decided to look for a place to spend the night. We had no intention of pushing too far that evening, so we started looking for a hotel. In previous trip reports, I have talked about this strange thing that happens to my brain when on a Disney trip. It is what I affectionately refer to as my “Disney dumbness”. It is almost as if the logical side of my brain pulls down the shade and closes for business, and it became clear that it was setting in rather quickly on this trip.

Grumpy and I started watching the road signs for a hotel and when we passed one I said “Wow, that's cool”. Grumpy asked what I was talking about and I said “They had the room rates above each of the hotels listed on that sign”. Grumpy reached over, patted me on the leg and said “Ahhh, honey, that would be the EXIT numbers, not the room rates.” We both got a good laugh out of that one and we were still laughing when we pulled into a Comfort Suites. Grumpy checked us in and we headed to our room.

With an indoor pool on the premises , Kiara, of course, wanted to go for a swim. Grumpy took her to the pool and Sarafina and I watched the finale of Dancing with the Stars. Shortly after ten, we all turned in for a good night's rest to ready ourselves for the drive in the morning.

We awoke without the alarm, cleaned up and packed up and were on the road shortly after 7 AM. The drive to Chattanooga was mostly uneventful, with the exception of some heavy rain for the first few hours. Once we passed Nashville, the skies cleared and we noticed it was very warm outside. After about five hours on the road, we found our little cabin on the lake at Hales Bar Marina.

Grumpy headed into the office to check us in and came back out a few minutes later. He told me there had been a mix up in our reservation and instead of a land cabin, they had us booked in a water cabin. This freaked me out a bit, as the water cabins were literally little cabins floating on the lake, with a front and a back door that opened to a little balcony over the water. I knew I would never be able to sleep in one for fear that Kiara, the water obsessed child, would get up in the middle of the night and want to go for a dip! Grumpy said he considered taking the cabin, but the same fear hit him as well. The woman checking him in then realized her error in our reservation and since there was not a one bedroom land cabin available, she did the only thing she could. Upgrade us!

We took a little winding road up a steep hill and found our THREE bedroom, TWO bath cabin! Grumpy had really scored well on this one. We stepped inside and began exploring our home for the evening and found a nice living room with a fireplace.



OK, so the fireplace was an electric one with the fake logs, but it still was a nice touch and added to the ambiance of the place. We explored some more and found a master bedroom with a full bath attached and Grumpy immediately claimed it for us.



We found two more bedrooms and the other full bath, as well as a large eat in kitchen.



And of course, there was the deck with a large grill and a view of the marina and the old power station. Hales Bar Marina was quite the interesting place with a lot of history around it. The power station is reported to be one of the most haunted areas in the state of Tennessee and they offer ghost tours of it. I wish I would have been able to do a tour but there was not one scheduled for the one evening we were there.

We were yet to have lunch, and rather than go on a quest for a restaurant, we decided to make good use of the facilities in the cabin. While I am not one to want to cook while on vacation, or clean up the mess, it seemed only fitting that we should grill some steaks and just spend the evening relaxing and enjoying our surroundings. We found a grocery store, picked up what we needed and headed back to the cabin. Sarafina and I set to work getting everything ready for dinner while Grumpy did what he does best:



Grillin’ and chillin’

The meal was wonderful, even if we cooked way too much food, and we spent the rest of the evening sitting on the deck and enjoying the warm night air. The pride was full and tired and one by one they each turned in and I was the last one standing. By 7:30, I found myself alone, but I didn’t mind as I enjoyed the quiet of the surrounding woods and water around me. It really was a peaceful place to be and I wished we were able to spend a bit more time there.

After a few hours, I decided to turn in as well and sleep quickly found me.


Up next: Life’s a beach