Spring Break

What I did on My
Spring
Vacation

What I did on My Spring Vacation
words by Abbey Byrne
images by Abbey Byrne with machine assistance
2023
copyright free
kindness and consent appreciated

march 2003

i can't
find my
headlamp
When I arrive at
Max's place, he
hasn't even
started packing
yet.
He looks tired
and hungover,
but i don't mind.

Max and I Borrow
adam's westfalia
and head to the
smoky mountains..

This is the gas
station where
we stop Sunday
afternoon to
buy this
notebook and a
pack of number
two pencils.
Specialty gas
and shoppe
I'll write down
everything that
happens on this
trip.

probably
are you just
gonna write in
that notebook
all night?

It takes about siX hOurs
to drive from oXford,
Ohio to Gatlinburg,
Tennessee. That's a lot of
time to spend in the car
with MaX.
we camp in smoky
mountain national park
for the night.
we try to Zip our
sleeping bags together,
but it doesn't work

We wake at 8am and
take down the
tent. We go to the
sugarland Visitor
Center to register
for a camping
permit for night #2.

gobble
gobble
gobble
Debi!
I see some wild turkeys and
become unreasonably excited.
We go to Superwalmart where
Max must purchase new contact
lenses because one of his broke
on the drive down.. A nice lady
named, Debi, helps us.

Elkmont EST. 1921
On the way up to our
camp, we pass
abandoned houses in the
hills..
Behind the broken glass
I think I see people, or
ghosts, but I don't say
anything to Max.

I'm not
even sure I
enjoy spending
time with you.
it takes too
long to hike
to our site
are we
close?
just a
little
further

it's all worth it
when we see the
campsite.
Of course, we
don't have much
time to enjoy the
view, because it
soon begins to
rain..

Max keeps
talking about
distortion
pedals.

What's
your biggest
fear?
Did you
say
something?
Max and I are
dirty and smelly,
so we take a
little shower in
this waterfall.
It's very cold.
We put our
clothes back on
and dry in the
sun.
We have deep
conversations.

MaX is eager to go on
a hike. he is so eXcited
to hike, that I become
eXcited too. we hike up
the mountain and
drink capri sun.
MaX becomes impatient
and races up the
mountain, leaving me
behind.
I'm not sure why
he's in such a hurry.

We go to a place called Laurel Falls. Laurel falls
isn't very beautiful. it's kind of a disappointment

What are
you thinking
about?
My
mortality
Oh

it rains and rains and
rains, so there isn't
much to do. we feel so
sleepy from traveling.
maX talks a lot. he
doesn't know how to be
still.
when i write in this
notebook, he seems
irritated.

when
should we
take it?
Um,
tonight?

As it gets dark, we make
diNNer and try to start a
fire. we also take the
drugs.
we discover that our
flashlight is dying, so
we must descend the
mountain into town, in
search of batteries.
we traverse the city
several times, in search,
but everything in
Gatlinburg closes early.
For a time, we forget
about batteries and just
eXplore.
Gatlinburg is a strange
place filled with fudge
and cheap souvenirs.

As we walk
through the
streets of
Gatlinburg, i begin
to feel the
vibration and
movement
.

Gatlinburg
looks different
than it did
before.
we forget
about finding
batteries.

when we return
to our
campsite, it's
very cold.
I wander into
the forest to
stare at the
trees and the
stars, the dirt
and dried leaves.
everything on
this soft, old
mountain is
magnified, and I
can feel the
steady
breathing of
the forest
sync with my
breath.
i'm glad we
came to
this place

the forest magnified

MaX struggles to start a
fire. the wood is still
wet from the rain. when
we finally start the fire,
it's quite small. We
nurse it for a long time
before it finally dies.
MaX and I snuggle
uP close as the drugs
wear off.
As I fall asleep, I think
about the PeoPle of
elkmont.

I remember what ranger dan
lawson said about the
abandoned town of Elkmont.

Ranger dan
when the
government
declared this
area a
national park,
they leased
the land to
the people of
elkmont for
20 years. They
renewed the
lease until
the 1970s. Then
the people
were forced
to leave their
homes.

they must have liked
each other a lot because
they built their houses
so close together. I feel
sadness.
When I wake up, I
know they must have
been sad to leave each
other.
I feel like they are
telling me that,
communicating with
me from beyond the
tent.

she is a real bitch
wait, this
isn't even
about
camping

It's about
our Trip
though
he's such a fucking dick

we Pack up camP the
neXt Day.
there are big fluffy
cotton candy clouds in
the sky.
ON OUR WAY DOWN, WE
STOP TO LOOK AT THE
HOUSES OF ELKMONT.
THERE ARE LOCKS ON THE
DOORS, BUT IT'S NOT
HARD TO BREAK IN.

such strange
abandoned
possessions
litter the floor.
Lamps and old
newspapers,
whiskey bottles
and stained
mattresses.
Looks like
they left in
a hurry

I try to make sense of the names on the magazine
labels and faces in faded family photos. All these
people I would never know.

I'm ready to leave,
but I'm not ready
to go home.

I don't want to be
with Max, but I don't
want to be alone.

Did you
ever find
your
headlamp?
No

I'm
hungry

afterword
In 2003, I scribbled and doodled this story into a spiral
notebook, as we drove, hiked, camped, and tripped our way
through Tennessee. I was studying to be a writer at the time,
and it seemed frivolous and unimportant.
Over the next two decades, many of my romantic relationships,
would wear down my creativity in the same way Max did, and
eventually that creativity would be eroded into near
nonexistence.
This version of me was filled with so much hope, enthusiasm,
and naïveté. I wrote in my diary before leaving for this trip
that I sewed a special “camp dress” with rick rack trim. I wrote
that my boyfriend and I were going to “ride deer and eat
marshmallows”. I don’t think we did either of those things, but
it sounds fun.
Twenty years later, I hope I can reclaim some of her whimsical
energy, and I hope this story brings a few people joy.