$10 helicopter ride? why not!

Day 2: Gatlinburg, TN and Nashville!
We woke up early Friday morning and drove to Gatlinburg, TN. Our dear friend, Candace, suggested we hit this town on the way to Nashville. We're so glad we did! It's an adorable, quaint little town full of candy shops and little touristy stores. The plethora of cheesy t-shirts is enough to entertain you for hours. We walked around the town for a few hours after making a delicious lunch of PB&J with bananas.

Oops, almost forgot to mention getting extremely lost on the way to Gatlinburg. The GPS took us through the most remote mountain towns I've ever seen. Have you seen the movie Deliverance? If so, then you can accurately picture what we experienced. I am both thankful and surprised we did not get eaten by some creepy mountainmen. However, during this experience, we were graced with a beautiful scene and I just HAD to get out of the car and take a couple pictures. 

Beautiful, isn't it?!

So on our way out of Gatlinburg, we passed a sign that read, "Helicopter tours, $10 for anyone!" Obviously, we had to make a ridiculous U-Turn and check it out. Sure enough, we were able to take a helicopter tour for ten bucks! (Fine print: a $10 ride lasts 2 minutes. A $200 ride lasts 30 minutes. We chose the 2 minute ride.) Even though it only lasted 2 minutes, it was two of the coolest minutes of our road trip!!

After our ride, we set off for the remainder of our trip to Nashville. Our first night in Nashville was a little rough: the room reeked of cigarette smoke and our motel was for-sure in the ghetto (proof: stray dogs, bullet proof windows, and a waffle house). Either way, we made the most of it and headed to Broadway for dinner and honky-tonks. Broadway is the street where aspiring musicians go to play - either in the bars or on the streets. Definitely visit this place if you want to hear phenomenal music of all kinds...though a majority of it will be, surprise surprise, country. Although Val insisted that we listen to Tim McGraw at all times in the car, and country music typically makes me want to puke, it was a blast!!