How Sweet It Is!

How ironic that today when I was sharing photos with a friend about a candy shop in Gatlinburg, TN (from a trip 2 years ago) that it turns out to be National Candy Month.

According to my Robyn-pedia... you should get ready to satisfy your sweet tooth all month long because June is National Candy Month! "This delicious holiday was created in 1974 to celebrate the wide variety of candies available and the joy they bring to our lives. From chocolate bars to gummy bears, there's a candy for everyone's taste buds. Did you know that the first candy ever made was a form of honeycomb in ancient Egypt? And now, we have countless options and flavors to choose from. So go ahead and indulge in your favorite treats guilt-free this month!"

The Gummy Chandelier image up top is from a candy shop in Gatlinburg. They are about to head in that Smoky Mountains area and I told her there are plenty of things to see and do in Gatlinburg for a family with teenage kiddos. My candy shop photos from a store on the "main drag that I don't recall the name of" came to mind first.

The wall of ceiling-high candy dispensers caught my eye first! (Especially while I'm chewy on spicy jelly beans from Easter as I type this.)

Then there were the store's obviously sugar-laden breakfast cereals on display – that we never EVER would've been allowed to have in our childhood. I think Kellogg's Sugar Smacks and Corn Pops were the extent of that. Unless we could sneak a few chocolate chips to melt in our lumpy oatmeal!

On that note, don't judge my parenthood skills, but it just happens that Carter's fave cereal is Cinnamon Toast Crunch and his girlfriend's is Fruity Pebbles. Where did we go wrong?

I guess we all need that sugar rush.

Of course, as the maintainer of our team candy dish at work, I can tell you my peanut butter M&M's dispenser is the most popular. Followed by ... I'm not sure. Some love Snickers. Others love Hershey Toffee. And still another finds York Peppermint Patties to be the ultimate treat. 

So I buy them all and wait anxiously for my Yelp reviews.

And often think, "It's free. Don't complain to me if your favorite isn't there!"

But in the end realize we all need that little boost of sugar at some point in our day. 

Thankfully for you, I'm just so sweet by nature. 😁

Well, That's a Few Things I've Never Seen Before

So we'll skip the Biltmore Estate for now since that had a lot of things I've never seen before. But here are a few others...

At Mellow Mushroom Pizza in Asheville they had a saddle on a bear.  I lasted more than 8 seconds, thank you very much.

They also had something cooler than gazing balls in their wall...

Yup. Those are bowling balls!

In a dressing room in Gatlinburg, I was surprised to see a bear watching me. As a result, I grabbed and purchased the wrong size shirt. Stupid bear.

If you think your kids eat cereal with too much sugar, try this one with "no nutritional value" to it!

The same "sweet shop" also had a gummy bear chandelier. Pretty sweet!

Have you ever been on a road ABOVE the clouds? That was a first for me!

We stopped at the overlook just to prove we weren't imagining it!

We did not see elk or bear. If we had, we'd been warned.

We'd also been warned about snakes. But thank the Lord we didn't see any of those!

Purely random chance I saw my first blue butterfly that probably has an official name I obviously don't know. Very cool!

Also saw a bee trying to pollenate some wood. How'd that work for you, Buzz?

And saw a moth staring me down at our vacation home.

Also saw what our North Carolina residents Carter and Mamie thought was a cockroach. That's all I needed to know. And was grateful that was the only one I saw.

Of course we saw some spectacular views too. I'll try to share a few a day as I make my way through the work week. Thankfully we had golf league tonight, too, so my re-entry wasn't all work and no play.

Wild Women's Week

Our annual sister weekend was pretty different this year. First, since we decided to fly somewhere – Asheville, N.C. Second, since it was in summer not fall. Third, since it was much longer than a weekend. And finally, since there was less than 24 hours that all 7 of us were together at the same time!

Since I was 100% on vacation last week – including from blogging – here's a quick recap in words with many photos to come this week since nothing I have going on is as interesting or photo worthy.

So last Tuesday, August 1, all 7 sisters were going to fly out of Minneapolis. But my sister Romey's hubby fell ill and she decided to stay behind while they figured out if he was just dehydrated from the heat or what. So 6 of us flew to Asheville on Tuesday. 

We took the scenic route to the vacation rental home in Waynesville. That's when we learned quickly that just about every road was going to be twisty-turvy – as you'd expect on mountain roads. 

My poor sister Rachel was the only driver of the rental mini-van (aka R Bus – and yes, we all think ahead and R creative!) and she had to put up with 6 backseat drivers all week as some (OK, all) of us took turns freaking out about curves, heights, and traffic. Uff da.

But the views were worth it and so was the time with sisters. Romey was able to join us Wednesday night so we had all of us together that night and Thursday when we went to the Biltmore estate (pictured up top) before Raylene had to fly back home.

Since I was in the same state as my boy, he and Mamie made the 4-hour trek over from Raleigh to see us all Friday night. 

They had to leave Saturday morning for work, but it was worth it having a few awake hours together! Even though that breaks all rules since we never ever let anyone except our sisters participate in Wild Women's Weekend – except occasional dinners out with brother Ron. My grown-up nieces definitely called me out on that!

Sorry, not sorry. I missed my baby!

We flew back last evening and I got home about 12:30 a.m. I took today off to do laundry and recover (and golf, of course). I've learned you need a vacation or at least one vacation day after a vacation!

I look forward to sharing the beauty (and unique sights) of North Carolina and eastern Tennessee! Have a great week!

To the Hollers and Back

Hey y'all! Of course I attempted to pick up a bit of a Southern accent after a trip to the hollers of Tennessee and back. 

Left Wednesday morning by 4 a.m. and just got back tonight at 10 p.m. It felt more like a week than just 3 days. That's what happens with long travel hours on the front end of the trip, very long days with the customer, then squeezing as much enjoyment out of Nashville in one evening and morning!

Tennessee like Wisconsin in some aspects, but they've greened up a lot more, naturally. And when you're driving through the hollows (hollers) with no cell service, you just hope you get from point A to point B without any issues.

And we did. Saw some pretty things in the Bradyville area an hour out of Nashville, where our customer is, and met some amazing people. Plus thoroughly enjoyed my first experience in the music city.

Will have to share some photos and interesting stories, later, but wanted to report in that I survived and am back. And this girl is fixin' to get some decent shut-eye tonight!