Debbie Downer

Last year we planned a trip to Florida with my parents.  4 kids.  4 adults.  Two minivans.  Negative 10 sanity.  We got to Montgomery, AL and stopped for the night.  When we awoke the next morning, The Weather Channel people were having on-air orgasms because there was a TROPICAL STORM COMING RIGHT NOW RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE GOING!!  TAKE COVER!!

We had family in the area so we called them.  They were pretty nonchalant about it.  It was just cloudy and sprinkling.  So we checked The Weather Channel again and they weren't sure of the path Debbie would take but IT HAS BEEN UPGRADED FROM TROPICAL STORM TO HURRICANE!!  TAKE COVER!!

We talked about what to do.  I got a headache trying to contain the little darlings in two hotel rooms without causing damage.  We watched The Weather Channel again and called some friends who were in the area and they confirmed that it was just cloudy.  But I was very hesitant to continue toward the area.

We were supposed to be in a condo on the beach.  Facing the beach.  Large windows down one whole side.  On.  The.  Beach.  I am from the mid-west.  I know what to do in case of an earthquake, severe thunderstorm, and tornado.  I even have some ideas about zombie apocalypse. But hurricanes are an unknown.  I hear you need sheets of plywood.  I was bringing my crockpot and griddle and a butt ton of food but no plywood.

So we opted to turn around and head to Gatlinburg, TN.  It was another full day on the road and we were very happy to pull up to our jumbo cabin with 4 bedrooms, each with its own jacuzzi tub, a kitchen, large living room and deck with another hot tub.  Lovely!  We paid much less for the giant cabin in the mountains than we did for the condo on the beach.

Then we went to Dollywood and had to take out a loan to get in.  We hiked some mountain trails and almost saw some bear.  We ate out nearly every meal because cooking in a cabin in the mountains was a whole different deal than cooking on the beach.  And we visited the Ripley's Aquarium and took out another small loan.  In the end, though our accommodations were cheaper, it was much more expensive to do things in the mountains than it would have been on the beach.  Because on the beach we would have just played and swam and walked.

We are attempting another trip to the beach this summer.  My kids regularly curse Debbie in their little 8 year old ways.  I don't think we would let The Weather Channel turn us around again unless there was truly a hurricane coming.  Not the hands-in-the-air, gleeful, the sky is falling sort of reporting.

I hate The Weather Channel.