Day 3 - Hike and Raft

The day started off pretty early.  With the whole, missing money thing from yesterday, I couldn’t sleep. (for my non Facebook friends, couldn’t find my envelop with all my cash in it, made a report with the hotel, later that night remembered that I hid the cash from housekeeping and found said cash where I put it).  I’m an asshole.  Anyway, I didn’t get much sleep so I just decided to get up.  Found a little local breakfast joint on the way to my rafting adventure.  It was so good.  Breakfast is a big thing around here.  Lots of pancake houses everywhere.

Then I headed off to my hiking/rafting adventure for the day.  The directions to the rafting town took me on this very scenic road.  Luckily I was running ahead of schedule so I stopped and took some great panoramic shots.  The one above, of course, has Fiona in it.  She’s beautiful and so was the view.

My hike was up first.  I followed my guide, Amelia, just across the North Carolina border.  It was a good 5 mile out and back trail that lead to a nice little water fall.  I found out my guide just graduated from KSU and is was Lawrence, KS.  What a small world.  She said one of the rafting guides was also from Wichita and she would get me on her raft.  The hike was just perfect since I was still sore from Monday, and I had this new pain in my foot that made me think I may have broken it during one of my hikes.  It still hurts A LOT.  All my pics today were taken with my cell phone.  I didn’t know what the arrangement would be for the hike so I didn’t want to bring my good camera.

After the hike, I went back to base camp and got situated for my rafting trip.  Grimes party of 1.  They put me on a raft with a set a grandparents vacationing with their 2 young kids…yeah, kids.  They actually weren’t that bad.  Grandpa annoyed me more than the kids did.  Anyway, weight and strength to the front of the boat.  Yeah me.  So, the front of the raft also takes the brunt of the water coming over. So, it was a very wet and cold start.  There were about 4 class 4 rapids.  However, the class 4s in the eastern US are not like they are in Colorado.  I went thru class 3s in Colorado and Wyoming that were scarier than these class 4s.  It was a lot of fun and a great workout.  I got sunburned though cuz I’m too dumb for sunscreen.

Went back to the hotel and tried to take a nap.  That didn’t happen.  So, I got up, got cleaned up, and headed out for dinner.  Found a Mexican joint just around the corner.  I sat on the patio which was right on the little creek that runs thru here. There were little baby ducks in the water.  The pigeons and little birds would fly right up to your table.  Then I went to the Davey Crocket moonshine store.  I was stuffed after dinner so I just looked around.  They have lots of free samples, but I didn’t feel like drinking so I just bought a shirt and left.  I’ll probably go back for some moonshine later.  Not that I’d really drink the stuff, but I’m here and this is what they are famous for, so I should get some.  Then I went and got some chocolate covered strawberries and went back to my room.  I spend a few hours on my balcony till my neighbors came out and started smoking.  So much for my fresh air.

I’m trying to decide if I should stay one more night.  My room is available Friday night.  There is so much stuff I didn’t get to do.  Tomorrow I will probably spend just shopping around town.  I don’t know if my hip or foot can handle any more hiking, but the shopping will be hard enough with all the walking.

Day 1–Cades Cove

After a long 2 day drive in my beautiful new car, Fiona, I decided to take today to walk the Cades Cove Auto Tour route.

The auto tour route is an 11 mile loop road thru Cades Cove. There are several historic sights just off the trail.  I had read somewhere that walking the tour was a great way to see all the sights.  I thought, 11 miles doesn’t sound to bad.  And cove is what they call an open prairie area.  How bad can it be.  Its like Kansas with mountains around it, right.  Wrong.

My first Cheryl Strand moment came about .5 mile into the tour, all up hill in the sun.  What the hell was I thinking. I can just turn around and get my car.  But it would suck to have to drive and look around.  I got this.  The first sight on the tour was the John Oliver house.  He was the first white settler in the cove.  The house was .25 miles off the road.  OK, no biggie, hiking, I can do this.  When I got on the trail, I noticed a young couple in front of me appear to be stalking something.  As I got closer I noticed they were watching a deer.  The thing actually got pretty close to us before it wondered off.

I made it up to the house.  It was a small cabin made by very short people.  I had to duck thru the doorways and the ceiling was just barely off the top of my head.  But I’m a giant compared to 1800’s standards.

The next stop was the Primitive Baptist Church.  This was about a mile off the main road down a narrow dirt road that also seemed to be mostly uphill.  Its your basic old church with an old cemetery behind it that had several of the first families buried there.  The next church was a Methodist church.  While I was walking up to it, there was a major traffic jam.  I was walking faster than all the cars.  As I get closer, I ran into the couple from the Oliver house.  They said I missed a black bear and 2 cubs playing in one of the open fields.  This was the cause of the traffic jam.  I stopped and had lunch at the next church, the Missionary Baptist Church.

 

 

 

 

As I continued to walk along the road I had another Cheryl Strayed moment.  I felt like my big toe nail was falling off.  Then I remembered I didn’t buy my shoes from REI so I was just screwed.

Next as the Elijah Oliver house.  This is John Oliver’s son who came back to the Cove after the Civil War.  Another half of a mile off the trail. As I’m walking up this trail, a lady stopped me and said “you're the lady walking thru whole thing, that’s great, good luck”. Again I ran into the same couple.  I was like, you guys are getting as far as I am in your car.  I took a few pics of this little cabin, but I was starting to get pretty exhausted and photography was no longer interesting me.  I just wanted to get to the end at this point and I was pretty sure I was only about half way thru this adventure.  From there I was able to catch a back trail headed toward Abrams Falls.  It was about .6 miles to the area that catches up with the cars.  From there it was 2.5 miles back to the falls. I started walking it, but then decided, nope.  I found a place on the trail that was close to the creek that runs to the falls.  I walked down there to get my shoes off and put my feet in the water.  This brought my next Cheryl Strayed moment.  I remember watching the movie when she was sitting next to a cliff and took her shoes off and of course, one rolls down the cliff.  I was thinking why would she sit there and do that.  So, as I was sitting right next to this cold, fast rushing river trying to get my shoes on, that’s what I thought about.  What if I dropped my shoe in this water…I’d be screwed.

So, I walked back toward the parking lot and ran into a ranger who told me I looked tired.  I told him what I was up to and told him I needed to find the visitor's center, which was the next stop on the tour.  He pointed me to a secret ranger path (he said it’s a path not a trail, what’s the difference?) that leads to the visitor’s center and the rangers use it as a shortcut.  He said I’d be there in 15 min.  It was a small quite path with no screaming children.  Just me and some banjoes.

I got some water at the visitor’s center and used the facilities, then began the final 5 miles of the trail.  I eventually gave up taking photos.  I pretty much hurt from the waist down.  Every time a truck went by I wanted to jump in the bed and ride the last few miles out.  I finally got back to my car and talked to the ranger at the starting point of the loop.  I said the brochure makes it sound like everyone walks this thing.  He said “not really, that’s quite a feat”.  Then I went and had ice cream.

On the way back to the hotel I called the rafting company and told them I was going to reschedule my rafting/hike trip that was planned for tomorrow.  Now I’m not sure what I’ll do tomorrow, but I think I will definitely sleep in.

Even though it hurt to walk, I decided to venture out into the town and find food.  The closes steakhouse was .6 miles down the road.  That is a really long way, but I made it.  I had a great steak dinner.  Now I am gonna get to bed.

Hot Springs Spa Weekend–Day 2

I slept great.  I am pretty sure I slept for 10 hrs.  I got up at 9am for breakfast that was served in my dining room.  It was an apple turnover and bacon.  It was very tasty.  I got to talk to Vista a little more this morning. She was telling me about how this is a big horse racing community.  She says it is interesting to get to know the jockeys and trainers.  Best conversation of the day:  Vista: I see the jockeys at the grocery store. I used to think short men were creepy. ME: Hey, I’m 5’10”, I think short men are creepy.

Then at 10am, I had my first massage of the day.  She set up in my living room.  It wasn’t completely relaxing, but it was therapeutic, which can be painful.

After the massage I decided to head into town.  Vista gave me a secret back way and told me about a little known parking area.  I am sure it saved me tons of time figuring out where I can park. That’s another plus on the B&B side.  I only had about 2 hrs till my spa treatment at the Quapaw.  I walked down bathhouse row and read all the little historical signs.  It was also interesting to see some green trees lining the street.  I am not sure what they are, but it was nice for this time of year.  Most of the bathhouses, like in the picture, had a hedge of what looked like holly.

I walked about 2 blocks to get to the one place I really wanted to come to while I was here…Fat Bottomed Girls. It’s a cupcake place that I have heard was on the Food Network show, Cup Cake Wars. I got a pink Champagne cupcake. To be honest, I’ve eaten so much this weekend, I still haven’t tried it yet.  So, stay tuned.  I left there and walked back to bathhouse row and found a place called Bathhouse Soapery.  They have soaps, scrubs, and those bath bomb things.  They saw my bag from Fat Bottomed Girls and said I get a discount because I shopped there.  Awesome!  The stuff wasn’t cheap, but I bought some foaming body scrub.  It will come in handy if I keep getting these awesome spray tans.  And I bought a small bottle of bath salts called Melt. It is suppose to be relaxing.  Now all I need is time to take a bath.

I was getting closer to my spa time so I decided to head somewhere for lunch.  I had read about a place called the Ohio Club.  It is in a very historic building.  It still has its original name from the early 1900s.  It used to be an illegal gaming house that sold liquor during the prohibition.  I sat down at the bar and read about how it was still the original mahogany carved bar that was brought in from Chicago by horse drawn carriage. It honestly looked like something out of the old saloon days.  They had 2 TV’s in the bar area and they were on an Arkansas/Florida game.  Come 1pm, I thought I was going to have to wrestle some Razor backs, but they let me have a TV for the KU/KSU game.  The food was excellent.  I started with chips and salsa which came out in a humongous plate.  I could have easily just had that for lunch, but I had to get one of their famous burgers.  The burger was also very good and so were the fries.

Now it was time to head to my spa treatment.  I didn’t feel bad leaving the KSU/KU game cuz Kstate was sucking it up. I got to the Quapaw Bathhouse and got all checked in and into my robe and flip flops.  My first treatment was a therapeutic mineral water bath.  They don’t use the jets, they just shoot a bunch of little bubbles into the bath tub.  I’d have to say it was the first bath tub I’ve ever got into that I fit in.  It was relaxing.  It kind of felt like when you are in the lake and you get nibbled on by a school of minnows.  Once that was done, I head to my next treatment.  It is a mud wrap.  The lady smears super hot mud all over my body then wraps me in a sheet, plastic, then a mylar blanket, then more blankets.  I felt like a burrito.  Then I got a facial. This also included a neck, shoulder, and scalp massage.  After I was unwrapped, I got to take a shower.  The water was kind of cold but I’m sure that is because my body temp was so high due to my burrito experience.  Then my final stage was my 50 min massage.  I tired to have her make this more of a relaxing one, but I always have knots they want to work out.

So, after that I had every intention of going back to my B&B, cleaning up, and going to a nice steakhouse for dinner, but I think I relaxed myself into a coma.  I decided to find a pizza place where I can pick it up and bring it back here.  I chose Rod’s Pizza Cellar.  What was even better about this place is they had a pick up window.

All in all, a good day.  I still haven’t eaten my cup cake or opened my wine. I stayed up a little late texting with a friend back home. He doesn’t seem to understand how I can have fun vacationing by myself.  He asked if I was enjoying my vacation so far.  I am enjoying being away from home.  I like having someone cook breakfast for me and clean my room and make my bed.  I also get fresh cookies every day.  I like making my own decisions on what I want to do and I don’t have to play the whole “well what do you want to do” “I don’t care, what do you want to do” game.  I can drive fast down curvy road and no one bitches about my driving.   I think its hard for a lot of people to understand why anyone would want to travel by themselves.  Its easy for me.  I don’t have to wait around to find someone else who can afford it or who wants to do the same thing or go to the same place.  I go where I want to go and do what I want to do.  Would it be nice to share this time with someone, sure, but until I find that right person, I’ll just do it on my own.

So, today (I’m actually writing this on the AM of day 3) its raining.  It is suppose to clear up around 1pm, but who knows. I was going to spend today at the botanical garden.  If it stops raining that’s where I’ll be.  Not sure what it is going to be like in February, but I guess we’ll see.  Not sure what I’ll do about the Super Bowl tonight.  My DirectTV receiver in my room is acting up and all I seem to get are Christian channels and some old movie channels.  Vista said she will try to get it fixed while I’m out today so I can watch the game on the 19” TV in my room.

Technorati Tags: Bartee Meadow,Arkansas,Bathhouse Row,Bathhouse,Quapaw Bathhouse,Fat Bottomed Girls,Cup Cakes,Ohio Club,Hot Springs,Rod's Pizza Cellar,Vacation,Spa

Hot Springs Spa Vacation–Day 1

So, I decided since my life has been so crazy lately, that I would get out of town and take a spa vacation.  I did some research and found a spa package at a bed and breakfast in Hot Springs Arkansas called Bartee Meadow Bed and Breakfast.  It was called the Serenity Package for One.  It included 2 nights at a bed and breakfast and an in-room massage.  I went ahead and added an extra night to make the trip worth while.

Mom and dad loaned me their Chrysler 200 cuz they thought my old truck wouldn’t make the trip.  The 200 includes Sirius radio which came in handy in the “mountains” of Arkansas.  It also has a K-tag, which also works on the OK turnpikes.  So, I’m racking up a nice toll bill for them, but it saved tons of time and cash. Once I got into the more curvy roads of the Ozarks, I really appreciated the peppy little car.  The thing takes curves real nice at a good speed. Just don’t tell my dad.  I kept my self entertained by singing along to the old school country music.  Its all fun and games until Garth Brooks’ “If Tomorrow Never Comes” song comes on.  It got me really thinking about why I really needed to get out of town and reset myself.

So, I made it to my B&B.  I have never stayed at one before so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I met the lady who owns the place, Vista.  She showed me around.  I pretty much have a living room, 2 bedrooms, and a bathroom in their house. My room also has a patio and private hot tub.She informed me that she would be delivering me dinner around 6:30. 

I had realized I had forgot to bring a small camera bag for when I am in town.  So I ran to Best Buy (they don’t have a Target here).  I found a bag that will work (now I own like 4 camera bags).  Then I hit the liquor store for some Cupcake Moscato.  Came back and had my dinner delivered to my room.  I decided that picky people like myself probably shouldn’t go to bed and breakfasts.  It was some sort of salad.  I picked out the spinach and ate that.  The rest was stuff I wouldn’t eat.  Then the main dish was some kind of chicken noodle casserole.  It had celery and mushrooms in it so I had to pick thru it.  There was a cheese bread, that was yummy.  The dessert was an Italian Cream cake.  It had promise, then I crunched into some coconut.  I hate coconut.

I didn’t realize when I booked this trip that the Super Bowl is this weekend.  I have a 15” TV in my room here so if I have time to watch it, it will have to be at a bar somewhere.  If the weather is nice I’m going to the Botanical Gardens here.  Tomorrow is going to be a relaxing day that includes 2 massages, a mud wrap and a facial.

Technorati Tags: Arkansas,B&B,Hot Springs,Spa,travel,Bartee Meadow,Serenity,Vacation

Cruise Photos

I've finally got all the photos updated and uploaded to my Picasa account.  You should be able to go to the "My Pictures" link on this page.

Days at Port

Montego Bay, Jamaica

In Jamaica, we decided to go kayaking and zip lining.  We loaded up on the bus and headed up into the mountains. The roads are very narrow and they drive on the wrong side of the road.  It sounded like New York City because every one was honking and I don’t know why. After the perilous drive to our destination, they got us all rigged up for the zip line.  The zip line consisted of 3 lines that went over the river that we kayaked later. After the zip line, we got geared up for our kayak ride. The were individual kayaks so Justin and I didn’t have to argue about who got to steer.  After kayaking, they bussed us back to the terminal.   Then we headed back to the boat.  I did get some video of the zip line rides.  I’ll try to figure out how to upload those to Facebook.

 

Georgetown, Grand Cayman

We had to get up very early for this excursion.  We left the terminal at 8am and boarded the booze cruise.  This was a catamaran boat with a full bar on the deck. We rode for a short while before we got to the reefs.  We got geared up to go snorkeling.  I had never been snorkeling before so it was quite an adventure.  I had my handy waterproof camera with me and I was able to get a few decent pictures.  Pretty sure I saw a barracuda and what I thought were 3 sharks, turns out they are called Tarpon and they are harmless. After snorkeling, we were taken to 7 Mile Beach for a short beach break.  It was only 30 min and Justin and I took that time to grab something to eat.  Then the boat picked us back up and we headed out for the party.  They had free Rum Punch, shots and local beer.  All of which were pretty horrible, but we drank it anyway. We spent the last 45 min of the cruise drinking and dancing.  We got back into Grand Cayman and decided to go shopping.  That was pretty short-lived when the huge tropical storm came in and it was pouring.  We decided to head back to the boat.  We were tendered in at this port so we made our way to the little boat that took us back to the boat.

Grand Cayman night was also Halloween.  So, after dinner, we all got all dressed up in our costumes.  Justin went as Magnum PI and I went as a beer wench.  Some of the people from our group were finalist for the Halloween costume contest.

 

Cozumel Mexico

We didn’t have a real plan for this day.  We slept in and got off the boat around noonish.  It was a really hot Mexico day.  The pier for Carnival has an area with lots of shopping.  We decided to skip all that and head to down town to shop.  We grabbed a cab and headed downtown.  We shopped until we were tired.  Cozumel was pretty uneventful.  The most exciting thing was I got my picture taken with 3 macaw birds.  The money went toward a foundation to save the endangered animals.

Today is the last day at sea before we arrive at Galveston.  The weather is kinda crappy, which is why I got to update my blog.  I’m sitting in the Ocean Plaza listening to Name that Musical.  Now I’m off to the pool to watch the afternoon activities.  I’m hoping to go down the slide today, but don’t know if the weather will cooperate.

Cruise 2013 Sept 27-29 Boarding and Days at Sea

On Sunday, Sept. 27th Justin and I boarded the Carnival Cruise ship Magic for a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean.  We will spend the 1st 2 days at sea then our first port is Montego Bay, Jamaica.  We spend the 1st day just exploring.  I didn’t get my luggage till it was almost time for dinner and I ended up not getting one set of luggage because the paper tag they sent us fell off.  I had gotten Justin a massage for his birthday so he did that most of the afternoon. Our first night at dinner was casual.  After dinner we went to the Red Frog Pub for the Pub Trivia.  Our team ended up winning the pub trivia.  I attribute it mostly to me knowing the national animal for Canada (the beaver) and Danielle knowing what’s in a gross.  We ended up tying with another group so we had a tie breaker.  We chose Justin as our team rep.  In order to win he had to name the song that was playing.  It ended up being Dead or Alive and Justin got it right.  So, our prize was a fishbowl drink.  Its a large glass that holds 62oz of alcohol.  It was yummy.

 

We spent the next day hanging out at the pool.  The seas got rougher as we got further out to sea and the wind was blowing about 40 MPH on the top deck.  Then that night was our first formal night.  I was lucky enough to get Justin in a suit for dinner.  After dinner we checked out the first show of the cruise.  It was a 70’s themed singing and dancing show.  After that we headed back to the Red Frog to finish off the night.

 

Today is another day at sea.  We’ll probably just chill by the pool again today.  Hopefully Ill have more to report when we get into some ports.