More From North Carolina

Jul 27, 2014, 7:22 PM

Friday Steve and I visited the North Carolina Arboretum. It was a really nice park with lots of wooded trails and gardens to walk through. There was a really cool quilted garden that my quilting sister would have loved to see. Plus in one of the little ponds we found tadpoles. It was so neat to see them swimming around. I can just walk around gardens in awe, I think it comes from my inability to grow things. We watched the birds, we listened to the bees, we found frogs, it was a good day. 

This weekend we decided to lay low and just relax. Sunday Steve was able to watch the NASCAR race. This was a nice treat for him. It seems like he hasn't been able to watch a race in a while, so that was a nice twist for him. So really nothing to report. 

Tonight our local radar looks terrible. So we have put everything that will take flight away or down or up depending on the item. Thank goodness we are very close to brick buildings. So have no fear, we will still be here in the morning. Hey, we have to be. We are meeting my brother, the newly promoted Warrant Officer and his family in Gaitlinburg for breakfast at the Pancake Pantry. It's a favorite spot for Steve and I. Hope you enjoy the photos. 

Asheville, North Carolina

Jul 24, 2014, 9:13 AM

Ok, let's see, what have we been up to the last couple days. . . 

Tuesday we went over to the Biltmore Estate to get our tickets. TOURIST ALERT: A visit to the Biltmore Estate has become an expensive day. If you just drive up and buy a ticket for that day you are going to plunk down $59.00 each for the day. On-line I found that you could buy tickets in advance and get up to $15.00 off. I wanted to ask a couple questions so instead of ordering on-line we went to the estate to ask our questions. I was really surprised when we got there there was no posted information about any discounts. The ticket lady was very nice and gave us as much information as she had, but she wasn't overly versed on the discounts either. She had to put the dates in the computer and see what the price came up for that day. I was really surprised. I guess it was just happy circumstance that I found information on the discounts, cause you won't find that information at the estate itself. Then on top of the $44.00 we spent per ticket there are additional tours you can take and of course they cost more. Since we'd visited the estate before I was really hoping to do a tour we hadn't done before, but last time I don't remember we had to pay just to get on the property. I remember we stood there and we had to choose from an "ala carte menu", do we want to tour the house and garden or the gardens and butler tour or the back rooms tours, etc. oh well, things change. We have our tickets and we are going to visit the estate next Wednesday. 

After the Biltmore we wanted to go to the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor's Center. We got Spanky a pin, of course. We watched a movie about the parkway and then we drove up to the Craggy Gardens picnic area. We hiked the .8 miles to the Craggy Gardens Visitor's Center, or so we thought. Oh my gosh! Let's remember Steve and I are typically sea level dwellers, this freaking trail went straight UP and we were at 5,000'. We doggedly kept going though. I had visions of fields of flowers or patches of wild flowers among rocks and boulders. We didn't find anything like that. The trail wasn't too bad, but it did make a steady uphill trek. It was pretty well canopied by trees so it was cool. There were lots of rocky outcroppings that were interesting to see and lots of trees that must have been struck by lightening because they were twisted and split and very compelling to study. We kept on, of course huffing and puffing the entire way. We passed another hiker coming down and asked him how close we were to the Visitor's Center. He said we only had about a half mile to go. Oh come on, we'd already been at it long enough that I was starting to be drawn to the light at the end of the dark tunnel. It was ok, I could feel the love and warmth of family members that had gone on before and were beckoning to me, but I resisted and kept going and going and going. Now we'd gone much more then the .8 miles we aren't THAT out of shape and we had definitely gone more than the distance and finally we came to a building/structure. We could see the roof, WE WERE THERE! As we came to the top of the small rise the structure we saw was just an open sided shelter. There was nothing there and no one tending it. False advertising!!!!!!!! That was a mean trick, oh and by the way, there was one field of some purple wild flowers, but I'd hardly call that "gardens". There were lots of rhododendron around and I'm sure at the right time when the rhododendron was blooming it would be beautiful, but of course we weren't there at the right time. 

As we were walking back down a man and his daughter were coming up behind us and we stepped aside to let them pass. Steve asked the guy about the Visitor's Center. He chatted with us a few minutes and told us we could have driven to the Visitor's Center. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! I was having an out of body near death experience and we could have DRIVEN. Life can be cruel sometimes. 

Wednesday after a grueling Tuesday we decided to play it cool and not do to much. There was an Amish Market & Deli we'd heard a commercial for and we wanted to check it out. Steve also saw a notice for a tailgate fresh fruit and vegetable market that we wanted to check out so we set off. The Amish market wasn't really much at all. About the size of a convenience store and no deli, there was a deli case but it was empty. Not very impressive. The tailgate market that was a nice little find. We got some nice peaches, tomatoes, and there was a woman selling jellies that we really fell in love with. She had sweet and hot jellies. We picked up a jar of the Strawberry Sizzle, and next week Steve wants to go back to get the Scorched Woman. That one I wouldn't even try. The lady said it was really hot, that was enough for me, the Strawberry Sizzle had a nice bite to it I didn't want to get scorched. 

Today we are driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway some more. We made it to the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center (by car), we stopped at every overlook we came to. It was fun to watch the clouds sweep right past us as we stood at the overlooks. It was another cloudy day for the most part, but that made for some cool views of the mountains with clouds blowing in. We also stopped at Mt. Mitchell State Park. Spanky got another photo or two and a new pin. My goodness he is a well travelled monkey. 

I'm not quite sure what we have in store for the next few days so I'm not sure when I'll have another blog.  You know me though, it won't be long!! Oh and I almost forgot to mention, we have been hanging around with a new group of friends. They wait for us to get home and we have been enjoying their company. They don't say a whole lot, but still we like them. 

 

 

Southeast Regional Championship 2nd Place

Jul 20, 2014, 7:11 PM

Oviedo 10U

The last few days have been crazy for the girls to try to get their games in around rain, lots of rain. This morning however, they were able to play two great games. Their first game, which was the semifinal S.E. U.S. Championship game was good, they dominated and won. So they were in first place going into the last game, the game that would decide who was champs and who was runner up. It was a nail biter, they all were tired having played one game on top of the other, and our girls came in second. It was so close (3-2) and they played so well. These girls have NOTHING to be sorry about. They did their best, gave it their all, and hopefully they had one heck of a good time this week representing their state and city. They may be going home in second place, but I think they are TOPS!!!!!!!

Now that this is over Steve and I will be relaxing. It seems like since we left Florida we have been busy with one thing then another. It was great to be with family when Brian was promoted to Warrant Officer, and being here to see the wonderful ball games has been great too. It was such a happy coincidence that we were even in the area for the games. Now that it's all over we have no plans, and we aren't making any!! I'm not sure when I will write a blog next, but you know me, it won't be too long. Everyone have a great week, I'll be in touch soon. 

Traveling To Asheville

Jul 14, 2014, 8:42 AM

This morning we got an early start which really isn't like us, but hey even old dogs can learn new tricks. As we left the campground we were heading east instead of west as we had been doing during our stay and we found that the town of Ozark was actually very pretty. The entire time we'd been in the area we thought we were in Ozark, we didn't really think much of it. A little stretch of highway, a few strip shopping centers and the army base seven miles down the road. When we got to the corner of Route 231 and Route 249 we were going to make a left instead of the right we have been making and we noticed a sign pointing to Ozark. We thought we were in Ozark already. We drove through such a pretty little town. It had a quaint little downtown area then the residential area just to the east of that was beautiful. Gorgeously landscaped homes with wide front porches that spanned the entire front of the home, lawns that were lush and green, flowers everywhere, and rockers to spend warm summer nights just relaxing. I was very sorry we hadn't found this earlier. Oh well, something left undone for our next visit. 

You know, when you're traveling in a 42' long motor home with a car in tow behind you want to trust that the GPS knows what she's talking about when she doles out her directions, and that ain't always the case. We were driving down whatever road she put us on, it was definitely a back road, one lane going in each direction, just a yellow line down the center and no shoulder to speak of, we get the heads up that we are going to be turning in about a mile, she gives us two more warnings that our turn is coming. We are looking around, but we aren't seeing a road, she is counting it down in feet and nothing!! There isn't a road there! Of course this barely gives us pause, we are seasoned travelers by now, she is going to recalculate the route and give us another turn. Oh yeah, here we go, it's coming up, HELL NO!! It's a dirt road that looks like a driveway into a farm. Now you can't just pull into a drive way and back out to turn around when you are in this thing. It just doesn't work that way. You also can't just pull off onto the side of the road and grab a map to see where you may be going wrong here, but thank God we do know you can just keep on going till she (the GPS) wants you to make a turn that makes sense and get back on course that way. No worries!!!! It's all good!! These little mishaps give me fodder for my blog. I know my devoted follows, ahem that's you, really enjoy these little side trips into our travels. 

Finishing Up In Ozark

Jul 13, 2014, 9:07 AM

Well I have been remiss in my blogging but I did mention the last time I wouldn't be writing a blog every day. So let's see on Thursday after graduation and pizza we just relaxed. Friday we all went to McClelland's Critter Zoo. Oh this was a wild place. As far as backyard zoos go this one had a lot of animals. As we drove in we passed fenced in areas with goats and sheep and some monkeys, there were a few goats just milling around. We drove on and parked up by the gift shop/ticket office. We got out of the cars and there was this sound like waling babies and there were all the little goats that were just roaming free coming up the driveway to us. In the gift shop you can buy animal feed and those little goats know it. They just kept bleating and checking out any outstretched hand to see if we had food. It was so cute, Charlotte just loved the idea of these little guys. The problem was they really didn't want to be petted, just fed. 

Over by the bear cages there was a guy giving a tour, such as it was, he was part carney hawk and part crocodile man. He was an Aussie and all of his bears were fluffy, not fat, and to hear him tell it everybody (the animals) was lazy. He let bears eat marshmallows right out of his mouth, stuck his hand in the mouth of a tiger, had monkeys take marshmallows from his pocket, fed lions chicken legs, but the best part was when he brought out a snake. He wanted volunteers to put the snake on. I thought to myself the only way I want to hold a snake is if it's a handbag or a suitcase. NO THANK YOU!! Of course daddy had to have a go at this, but then there is an unspoken professional courtesy, one snake to another (snake/IRS agent same thing). 

After the zoo we had lunch then headed home. The pool was calling our names. Damn the luck, all week long we'd had the pool completely to ourselves. It was so nice, but not today.  There were other people in OUR POOL!!!!! How rude, but who cares, we were wet and cooling down so it was all good. Again we'd eaten so darn much at lunch nobody really felt like dinner, we got ice cream instead. Heck yeah!!!!! This is vacation, normal rules don't apply. Sam's 10th birthday is in just a few days, so we took the opportunity being all together and we sang happy birthday over an ice cream cone at DQ. 

Saturday we wished everybody a safe trip home. Brian Kirsten and the kids were driving back to Ft. Bragg, daddy and Sandy were flying back to Philly. Steve and I relaxed after a crazy week. It has pretty much been go, go, go since we left Florida. Today we are off again to visit Rich and Carole. The boys are thinking they may be able to go fishing.

Jul 13, 2014, 5:30 PM

Well we are on our way back to the RV from a wonderful day with very very good friends. Steve and Rich didn't waste any time getting the boat out on the water and Carole and I found a shady spot where we could watch and talk and just relax the day away. The campground Rich and Carole are in is a pretty place right on a lake and they have a waterfront spot, so we watched a lazy gator and two fishermen most of the afternoon. When the guys got back we were treated to a wonderful dinner. Thank you Rich and Carole, so much for a fun day!!!! 

Steve and I are on our way back to our motorhome. Tomorrow we pack up and head to Asheville, North Carolina for a month. I can't wait!! It has been years since we were in Asheville. So be looking for photos, cause you know they'll be coming. Good night everyone. I'll leave you with some pictures from the last few days.