Skelton Photographie: 5th Anniversary

October 17, 2009 - Wister Gardens

{Longest Post Ever!}

Today, October 17th, 2014 marks 5 years of marriage for Tay and I.
And we celebrated the only way we know how: traveling!

But before we get to the trip and the trip photos let's play a game{say it in the creepy Jigsaw voice if you must}...In 5 years of marriage:
- We've moved 6 times.
- I've had 4+ jobs, while Tay was steady until he quit for school
- We've acquired more junk from our families than we know what to do with. Each time we go home, his mama or my mama will randomly throw something into the trunk. Thanks ladies!
- We've had one dog, though we talk about a day when we can have many more
-We are still driving the same cars we drove when we got married. I'm actually driving the car that Tay drove in high school.

Five years of marriage has been fun and awesome, but stressful and exhausting at the same time. I think if it like this: by the time Tay graduates school, he'll have been in school for 3 years, and we've only been married for 5. More than half our married life has consisted of him being in school, not to mention the process of applying and getting accepted to school. That's where all the stress & exhaustion come from!

Hence the reason for this break. It is much needed.
I submitted my paperwork in June to be off in October. It's technically our fall break, but the college is still open, just no students, so I decided to be the first person to submit for time off. APPROVED!

Also, Tay is allowed up to two weeks vacation, which he cannot take consecutively, and it cannot be taken during a specialized rotation...that only left us with one option, and we seized it!

Enough of that...bring on the trip you say? We talked and talked about what we wanted to do this year. For the most part, our anniversary always involves the outdoors or camping or hiking or mountains. This year, we decided to do it all. We contacted a reputable canoe rental company in the middle of nowhere Arkansas and set out on our 5th anniversary Buffalo River Expedition.

We all know the saying, "If you want to see God laugh, tell him your plans." Well, our planned trip didn't go as planned. We were all set and ready to canoe camp the Buffalo River, then massive storms came through, and we had to cancel the trip. We were both devastated, but already had the time off and decided to make the most of it. So we packed up and headed to Chattanooga! I've never been and have been slightly (obviously) hinting to Tay that I wanted to go. And bless him, he got the hint.

On the LONG trip to Chattanooga, we talked about what each of us has brought to the marriage.
Tay's contributions:
Sushi
Phantom of the Opera
Culture in general :)
Dexter

My contributions:
John Prine & Johnny Cash
Rescue Me
A love for big dogs

Now, finally...Photos from the trip!


Our first stop was Ruby Falls. It was great finally seeing it in person, but the tour guide, well, she didn't know much. And the group was entirely too large to enjoy it...but I got my photo anyway!

After Ruby Falls, we headed farther up Lookout Mountain to Rock City. I've always seen the red barns that say 'See Rock City,' and I finally saw it. And was not disappointed.

After our Day 1 excusrions, we checked into our fancy downtown hotel and ordered room service and proceeded to eat ribeyes while wearing white plush robes. It was awesome!

We woke up the next day to torrential downpours. Torrential. How do you vacation in massive storms? Hit up the aquarium of course!

I took tons of photos at the aquarium, but let's be honest, we've all seen the photos of fish in tanks and I'm going to spare you those photos.

After the aquarium, he headed to the theater to watch Gone Girl. GO SEE IT!

Once we left the theater, the weather cleared up and headed to Georgia to Cloudland Canyon State Park.

**WARNING**Selfie overload below. When you are hiking in the middle of nowhere, you must take photos together somehow. We don't typically do selfies and I sure didn't bring my big camera or tripod on the 3 mile hike. Thank God!

After surviving the dreadful hike and thinking we were going to die, we went to the hotel, cleaned up a bit and hit downtown Chattanooga for beer and burgers and karaoke. And then biked our way around town.

The next day, we packed up and headed out to Lynchburg to see the Jack Daniel's Distillery. My daddy visited a few weeks ago, and they weren't making anything; we were hopeful that we would get to see/smell the mash. And we did. It was a two hour tour that was totally worth it in the end, thanks to the sampling :)