by Jessica Kaaz

Created on: December 18, 2007

Planning a vacation is, sometimes, the best part of the trip. Even with today's technology, not everything can be planned for or anticipated. Recently, it was my responsibility to plan my first anniversary trip with my husband to Gatlinburg, TN. I did all my research, checked consumer ratings with Trip Advisor, and asked for the opinions of friends and family. I was confident I had covered all my bases and joyfully looked forward to a long weekend away with my wonderful husband. The only thing I hadn't planned for was the local wildlife.

As our vacation neared, my husband and I longingly gazed at pictures of the cabin we had rented in Gatlinburg. It was a one bedroom log cabin, close to town, but still secluded, complete with a hot tub, full kitchen, cable TV, porch swing and balcony overlooking a peaceful mountain stream. It was perched on the side of a beautiful mountain and was sure to be surrounded by splendid fall colors during our October visit. It seemed to take forever for that Friday in October to arrive. But once it did, we hit the road enthusiastically, easily chatting away the four hour drive south.

Once we arrived in Gatlinburg, we checked in and made the dark and spooky drive down the winding mountain road to our cabin. We parked in the off-street parking spot in front of our cabin, which by the way, was very small and hard to fit in to, even with a Ford Escort. It was a small hiccup I was content to overlook, despite the inconvenience of difficult parking every time we came back from town.

The cabin was exactly what we had seen in the pictures online. It was beautiful, came with a hot tub and gas fireplace and was literally perched on a mountainside, making it difficult to enjoy open windows in the back of the cabin. But the porch swing and stream were wonderful. The only issue I had so far was that the cabin seemed a bit off-center and sort of flimsy, but I decided to look past that as well and enjoy my vacation with my husband.

The next day was full of southern food, mountain drives and shopping. By the evening hours, we were exhausted and ready for some alone time. After we painstakingly parked in front of our cabin and climbed about a hundred stairs to our cabin doors (we were warned of the stairs in advance, so no surprise there), we both took some time to enjoy our fireplace. Since we had had little time to fully appreciate the views of our mountain cabin, my husband and I decided it was time to check out the porch swing.

As he opened the

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