Sunday, June 1, 2008
Great Smokey Mountains
We drove through the Great Smokey Mountains on our way from Asheville to Nashville. Here are some pictures from the day. It was so foggy at one point that you couldn't see anything!
New Orleans May 30-June 1
We arrived at our bed and breakfast around 5:00. We stayed in a nice bed and breakfast on Esplanade Avenue called Ashton’s Bed and Breakfast. It’s a nice home in the Greek Revival style of architecture. We pulled up in front of the driveway, went in, and met one of our hosts, Patrick. He gave us a tour of our room and of the house. Our room, and the whole house, had 15.5 foot ceilings. They were quite impressive. There was a huge porch in front with rocking chairs and tables, a living room inside, a breakfast area and kitchen, and courtyard in the back for us to use. Our room was painted blue, had a ceiling fan mounted on the ceiling with an ornate medallion, had an old fashioned tub, beautiful moldings, canopied bed, and a little sitting area. It was very nice. The breakfast room had sodas and waters for us to take whenever we wanted. They also had cookies, chips, and fruit available. Most importantly, they had my favorite candy out…dark chocolate almond Hershey bars and soft peppermint balls. Yummy. After our tour, Ed and I changed and headed downtown to the French Quarter. We walked about a mile or a little more to the start of Bourbon Street. We then headed down Bourbon Street and saw what New Orleans had to offer. Young kids tap danced for money on the streets, tons of drunk people were in the bars, live music played in the bars and in outside patios. We went to dinner at a place called The Red Fish Grill, which was owned by Chef Brennan, an alleged famous chef in New Orleans. There were lots of seafood options on the menu in addition to steak and pork chops. Because there wasn’t chicken, I had a salad and French fries. Ed ate red fish with crawfish with sauce, potatoes, and tasso (ham). He enjoyed his meal thoroughly…definitely comparable to The Big Easy Saloon in Paoli, PA. We had some sort of dark and white chocolate bread budding that you had to order when you ordered your meal because it took 20 minutes to prepare. It was quite delicious. After eating, we strolled around and decided to get some drinks on Bourbon Street. Ed drank a hurricane to see what that was all about and I had a strawberry daiquiri. We sat in an outdoor courtyard and listened to two guys play some Dixieland style music. They were quite terrible. Ed pounded down his drink, grabbed Jeanette’s drink, and we headed for the road. We then wandered the French Quarter looking for Margaritaville in search of some girly drinks (think strawberry daiquiri mixed with pina colada…AKA hummingbirds). We saw St. Louis Cathedral for our first time. It was dice. We then walked by the Mississippi Riverfront. We heard some local jazz bands playing inside bars as we passed by. We finally found Margaritaville and were thoroughly disappointed as no one was there. We did use there bathrooms and then headed off. We found the area we were thinking of eating in the next night and checked out some menus. After scoping out the next night’s dinner, we grabbed a taxi and headed back to Ashton’s B&B. When we got there, there were many guests and Patrick and Karma (the owners) sitting and talking on the front porch. We chatted for a little bit and then headed to bed.
We woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee. One of the reasons we selected this B&B was because it got excellent reviews on tripadvisor.com. The past guests raved about Patrick’s cooking. We were quite excited to see what he had in store. The first morning, breakfast began with a fruit bowl consisting of strawberries, cantaloupe, and peaches. This fruit bowl was accompanied by delicious coffee bread. After the first part of the meal, we were served the main dish. It was poached eggs served in an artichoke on a bed of spinach, covered with hollandaise sauce. Ed liked it; except the egg was a bit slimy and he felt bad asking for hot sauce to masquerade some of the “eggy-ness” of the meal. I ate as much of it as I could. It was pretty good, although I tend to only like hard boiled eggs.
After breakfast, Ed and I started our day. We first walked from our B&B all the way down Esplanade Avenue (where many historic homes are located) to the flea market in the French Quarter. We walked around a little bit. There were lots of knock-off sunglasses and pocketbooks for sale. In addition, there were little crafts and New Orleans souvenirs available. After walking through the flea market, we decided to walk to the Garden District. We walked through the entire city by the water to the convention center up through the warehouse district all the way to the garden district on Saint Charles Avenue. We walked through the garden district and saw some really big and cool houses. We also stopped in an above-ground cemetery, which is common to New Orleans because the city is actually below sea level. We then walked back down Magazine Street, which was nicer than St. Charles Ave, back through the warehouse district to the River Walk. We grabbed some pizza and looked at steamboats. We then walked to a candy store that was rated as having the best pralines in New Orleans. Ed got a praline and I got mint chocolate chip ice cream. The praline was really good. It tasted similar to maple candy. Instead of a maple taste, it had pralines. After our afternoon snack, we continued to walk the streets and look at the stores. We tried to go to a Louis Armstrong park, but when we got there, we discovered that it had closed. The French Quarter wasn’t as badly affected by the flooding of Katrina as other parts of the city was, but it still seemed like ¼ of the shops were closed or for lease and about ¼ of the homes had been abandoned. We saw the blue dog that appears in all of a famous artist’s paintings, but we’ve forgotten his name. We saw a wedding leaving Saint Louis Cathedral. As the guests and bridal party exited, a five piece brass band played music while the guests all danced out swinging white handkerchiefs above their heads. They all filed into a park across from the cathedral. It was quite an exit…looked like lots of fun! We then walked back to the B&B around 5. We estimate walking somewhere between 12 and 15 miles in about 90 degrees of heat and humidity. We took showers back at Ashton’s, rested a little, then got dressed, and walked back downtown to Frenchman Street. Patrick told us that this area was less touristy and offered more authentic jazz musicians and a less crowded atmosphere. We had dinner at a Creole-Italian restaurant called Adolfo’s. It was a small, semi hole in the wall, restaurant situated above a bar called The Apple Barrel. Although the service kind of stunk, the food was pretty good. I had chicken parmesan and Ed had Creole mustard chicken. After dinner, we headed across the street to a place called d.b.a. where we watched a local jazz band play. The band consisted of a trumpet player, keyboardist, trombonist, and a saxophonist. The trumpet player also sang. The band reminded Ed of a jazzy version of The Toasters. They were quite good. Ed threw down a few Abitas, Louisiana’s very own brew. The wheat was crap. The jockamo IPA was pretty good and the Turbo Dog was solid as usual. When we first entered the bar, it was pretty mellow, but as time went on, things picked up in there. First, a bachelor party came in. Although they weren’t overly rowdy, one guy was decked out in pope gear. When I asked him if he was getting married soon, he told me the other guy was. We then saw a stray cat mosey up on stage. The bartender finally realized that a cat was in the bar and did his best to finally let the cat out the back door. Then a man walked in with a black lab on a leash, which shows just how laid back this place actually was. The man and the dog proceeded to the upstairs, back room of the bar. A pirate walked in next followed by a group of people wearing pajamas. The pajama party threw around miniature rubber duckies while yelling “duck”. The man and his dog reappeared a little bit later and went into the room with the band playing. Towards the end of the second set, we decided to call it a night and caught a cab home.
We woke up this morning, got our things together, and packed the car. We then came inside where Ed drank coffee and chicory, which we’re not quite sure what it is. We then sat down to eat Patrick’s breakfast creation of the day. It was bananas foster Belgian waffles, some sausages, and a little fruit garnish (strawberries and oranges). It was quite tasty. We met a guy from Canada who was in town for a medical convention. He told us a bunch of places to go in Canada while we’re there on the second portion of the US trip. He asked us if Tim Horton’s had moved to Syracuse yet, which it hasn’t. We then spoke with Karma about the destruction from Katrina, she showed us some pictures, and spoke about the upkeep of her house. She also talked about different renovations that had been completed on the house and what else she wanted to do in the future. The current house has eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms for guest use, one bedroom and one and a half bathrooms for their use. She walked us upstairs to an unfinished part of the house that used to be a grand ballroom. It was another 3000 square feet of space. She showed us some of the destruction from Katrina and told us how she would like to finish this for her and Patrick’s own use. It was really interesting to see…especially since there was original furniture and mirrors up there.
We then hit the road to head towards Austin…a nine hour drive away. Ed told me that he wanted to drive and that he wants to drive the entire trip out to LA to say that he has done it himself. So, I have yet to drive my own car on this trip. Louisiana was nice to look at with all the bayous and rivers. We saw a Cabelas in Louisiana, but didn’t stop.
It really flattened out as we got closer to Texas. Once we got into Texas, it was surprisingly green and had many lakes. The first traffic we’ve hit throughout our trip was in Houston where the road was shut down for an hour due to a multi-car pile-up. We would have turned the car off and left the windows open, but it was 95 degrees out and humid at 4:30 in the afternoon. Too hot! One thing we’ve noticed about the south thus far is the lack of toll roads. It’s quite nice. We’ve gone over many bridges and on many interstates without paying anything. The last toll we paid was in Virginia.
During the car ride, we reviewed some scuba information as we will be finishing the open water portion of our scuba diving course in Austin…thankfully, as it will be 96-100 degrees in Austin while we’re here. We’re definitely not used to this kind of heat!
We woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee. One of the reasons we selected this B&B was because it got excellent reviews on tripadvisor.com. The past guests raved about Patrick’s cooking. We were quite excited to see what he had in store. The first morning, breakfast began with a fruit bowl consisting of strawberries, cantaloupe, and peaches. This fruit bowl was accompanied by delicious coffee bread. After the first part of the meal, we were served the main dish. It was poached eggs served in an artichoke on a bed of spinach, covered with hollandaise sauce. Ed liked it; except the egg was a bit slimy and he felt bad asking for hot sauce to masquerade some of the “eggy-ness” of the meal. I ate as much of it as I could. It was pretty good, although I tend to only like hard boiled eggs.
After breakfast, Ed and I started our day. We first walked from our B&B all the way down Esplanade Avenue (where many historic homes are located) to the flea market in the French Quarter. We walked around a little bit. There were lots of knock-off sunglasses and pocketbooks for sale. In addition, there were little crafts and New Orleans souvenirs available. After walking through the flea market, we decided to walk to the Garden District. We walked through the entire city by the water to the convention center up through the warehouse district all the way to the garden district on Saint Charles Avenue. We walked through the garden district and saw some really big and cool houses. We also stopped in an above-ground cemetery, which is common to New Orleans because the city is actually below sea level. We then walked back down Magazine Street, which was nicer than St. Charles Ave, back through the warehouse district to the River Walk. We grabbed some pizza and looked at steamboats. We then walked to a candy store that was rated as having the best pralines in New Orleans. Ed got a praline and I got mint chocolate chip ice cream. The praline was really good. It tasted similar to maple candy. Instead of a maple taste, it had pralines. After our afternoon snack, we continued to walk the streets and look at the stores. We tried to go to a Louis Armstrong park, but when we got there, we discovered that it had closed. The French Quarter wasn’t as badly affected by the flooding of Katrina as other parts of the city was, but it still seemed like ¼ of the shops were closed or for lease and about ¼ of the homes had been abandoned. We saw the blue dog that appears in all of a famous artist’s paintings, but we’ve forgotten his name. We saw a wedding leaving Saint Louis Cathedral. As the guests and bridal party exited, a five piece brass band played music while the guests all danced out swinging white handkerchiefs above their heads. They all filed into a park across from the cathedral. It was quite an exit…looked like lots of fun! We then walked back to the B&B around 5. We estimate walking somewhere between 12 and 15 miles in about 90 degrees of heat and humidity. We took showers back at Ashton’s, rested a little, then got dressed, and walked back downtown to Frenchman Street. Patrick told us that this area was less touristy and offered more authentic jazz musicians and a less crowded atmosphere. We had dinner at a Creole-Italian restaurant called Adolfo’s. It was a small, semi hole in the wall, restaurant situated above a bar called The Apple Barrel. Although the service kind of stunk, the food was pretty good. I had chicken parmesan and Ed had Creole mustard chicken. After dinner, we headed across the street to a place called d.b.a. where we watched a local jazz band play. The band consisted of a trumpet player, keyboardist, trombonist, and a saxophonist. The trumpet player also sang. The band reminded Ed of a jazzy version of The Toasters. They were quite good. Ed threw down a few Abitas, Louisiana’s very own brew. The wheat was crap. The jockamo IPA was pretty good and the Turbo Dog was solid as usual. When we first entered the bar, it was pretty mellow, but as time went on, things picked up in there. First, a bachelor party came in. Although they weren’t overly rowdy, one guy was decked out in pope gear. When I asked him if he was getting married soon, he told me the other guy was. We then saw a stray cat mosey up on stage. The bartender finally realized that a cat was in the bar and did his best to finally let the cat out the back door. Then a man walked in with a black lab on a leash, which shows just how laid back this place actually was. The man and the dog proceeded to the upstairs, back room of the bar. A pirate walked in next followed by a group of people wearing pajamas. The pajama party threw around miniature rubber duckies while yelling “duck”. The man and his dog reappeared a little bit later and went into the room with the band playing. Towards the end of the second set, we decided to call it a night and caught a cab home.
We woke up this morning, got our things together, and packed the car. We then came inside where Ed drank coffee and chicory, which we’re not quite sure what it is. We then sat down to eat Patrick’s breakfast creation of the day. It was bananas foster Belgian waffles, some sausages, and a little fruit garnish (strawberries and oranges). It was quite tasty. We met a guy from Canada who was in town for a medical convention. He told us a bunch of places to go in Canada while we’re there on the second portion of the US trip. He asked us if Tim Horton’s had moved to Syracuse yet, which it hasn’t. We then spoke with Karma about the destruction from Katrina, she showed us some pictures, and spoke about the upkeep of her house. She also talked about different renovations that had been completed on the house and what else she wanted to do in the future. The current house has eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms for guest use, one bedroom and one and a half bathrooms for their use. She walked us upstairs to an unfinished part of the house that used to be a grand ballroom. It was another 3000 square feet of space. She showed us some of the destruction from Katrina and told us how she would like to finish this for her and Patrick’s own use. It was really interesting to see…especially since there was original furniture and mirrors up there.
We then hit the road to head towards Austin…a nine hour drive away. Ed told me that he wanted to drive and that he wants to drive the entire trip out to LA to say that he has done it himself. So, I have yet to drive my own car on this trip. Louisiana was nice to look at with all the bayous and rivers. We saw a Cabelas in Louisiana, but didn’t stop.
It really flattened out as we got closer to Texas. Once we got into Texas, it was surprisingly green and had many lakes. The first traffic we’ve hit throughout our trip was in Houston where the road was shut down for an hour due to a multi-car pile-up. We would have turned the car off and left the windows open, but it was 95 degrees out and humid at 4:30 in the afternoon. Too hot! One thing we’ve noticed about the south thus far is the lack of toll roads. It’s quite nice. We’ve gone over many bridges and on many interstates without paying anything. The last toll we paid was in Virginia.
During the car ride, we reviewed some scuba information as we will be finishing the open water portion of our scuba diving course in Austin…thankfully, as it will be 96-100 degrees in Austin while we’re here. We’re definitely not used to this kind of heat!
Nashville May 28-30
We stayed at the Alexis Inn and Suites just outside of Nashville. It wasn’t the greatest hotel, but it wasn’t the worst either. Even though they advertised having high speed internet at the hotel, it was as slow as or even slower than the connection in the Outer Banks (the signal came from surrounding homes). We began our day much the same as the others. Ed ate his standard southern breakfast – sausage, biscuits, and gravy (although the gravy was sub par). I had toast and cereal. We discovered that one of the wheels on my suitcase had fallen off. Therefore, we first went to Home Depot to pick up a screwdriver. On the way into the parking lot, we discovered that Home Depot sold gas in Nashville, and that is was reasonably priced (relatively speaking for the current price of gas). I got my oil changed at a Jiffy Lube while Ed went in Home Depot. After the car was ready, we headed down the road to The Hermitage, which is the home of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the US and Ed’s favorite president as he did a report on him in fourth grade.
The tour was actually pretty good. We were planning on taking a quick look, but ended up going in. The tour began with an informative film about the life of Andrew Jackson and how he came to Nashville after being orphaned during the Revolutionary War (his parents and siblings were all killed) and going on to law school. He became a general and kicked butt in the Battle of New Orleans. The people liked him and convinced him to become president. Although some people liked him, he was quite stubborn and was hated by others. After watching the film, we strolled the grounds leading to the house, which was built three times by Andrew Jackson. The first version was small, so he rebuilt a bigger house. This house was destroyed in a fire, and the third version, a Greek revival mansion spanning 8000 square feet was built. The house was nice and well preserved as it has been standing since the 1830s. The gardens outside were quite nice. There were also slave cabins on the property and a farm.
After touring The Hermitage, home of Old Hickory (Andrew Jackson’s nickname), we headed to the Grand Ole Opry. As Ed and I are not country music fans, we had no idea what to expect or what to do. We pulled into the parking lot of a mall, which is about on par with the hockey hall of fame, and followed the signs to the Grand Ole Opry. We took a picture in front, went to the information booth, and were informed no tours were available that day and that we weren’t allowed inside. Although it was kind of a bust, we can at least say that we’ve seen it (from the outside). The speed limit there was 24 for some odd reason. If anyone knows why the speed limit is 24, please feel free to share with us.
We then headed to Jack’s BBQ for some lunch as we had read this had the best BBQ food in the area. Ed had a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and turnip greens. I had mac and cheese. It was good, but definitely did not blow the Dinosaur BBQ away. After lunch, we drove to Centennial Park, where an exact replica of the Parthenon is built (except it is completely intact – and therefore an exact replica of what the Parthenon is thought to have looked like). We went inside where an art gallery is housed on the first floor. On the second floor, the Greek statues were on display. These were to show us what was on the outside of the building up close. In addition, there was a huge gold plated statue of Athena. The original statue of Athena in Greece has been missing for ages, but this Athena was recreated based on records of the original. Athena is the daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom and was known to protect her city. I actually did a report on her in fourth grade. After touring the Parthenon, we took a walk around the lake outside. We quickly drove through the Vanderbilt University campus and weren’t overly impressed with the architecture, but we may not have found the nice part of campus. We then drove to downtown Nashville. While driving, we listened to the Bluegrass and Nashville stations on XM radio. We’re trying to have an authentic experience (a little authentic anyhow).
The skyline was nice as we drove into town. The hockey rink, The Sommet Center, was pretty nice and looked like it was being renamed while we were there as there was a man sanding the metal where the old sign had been. We walked down the streets, by the river, and through the city green (park in front of the courthouse). There were some nice water fountains and water features there. The windows and doors were so tall in many of the buildings. It was really cool. We kept walking until we went into Mike’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream Fountain. I had mint chocolate chip and moose tracks with chocolate sprinkles. It was delicious and very filling. Ed had a white chocolate raspberry milkshake. It was really good. They filled us up so much that we didn’t need to eat a real dinner. After eating our ice cream, we proceeded up the road and passed some of the honky tonks. There was live music playing in about 6 or 7 places and they advertised having live music playing all day. We decided to stop at Layla’s Bluegrass and Country Inn because there was a sweet rock-a-billy band playing. They had a stand up bass and everything. They were actually really good. We stayed for about an hour and they played: Great Balls of Fire, Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash, Secret Agent Man, a song from Pulp Fiction, some country songs, Johnny Be Good, and Elvis song, and more. It was really fun being in there.
After the live music, we headed back towards the hotel as the Lost season finale was on that evening. We first stopped for some pizza hut (personal pan cheese pizza) and failed miserably while attempting to fix our suitcase. We packed up for the next day and attempted using the wicked slow internet to plan our trip through Alabama. We then watched the awesome Lost season finale. Desmond is Ed’s favorite. Ed was right…Penny did rescue Desmond; even though I kept telling him Desmond was going to die. After Lost, we went to bed as we had a long day of driving ahead of us.
As usual, Ed had the only breakfast the hotel had to offer and I had a waffle. It was hard to find a table at breakfast as there was some choir from Tennessee that was on tour. They were all different ages and had even toured at our new found favorite place, Pigeon Forge. While eating breakfast, we watched another segment on Good Morning America, which again scared me. The segment covered a couple who was recently lost in the Grand Canyon for 11 days. If we get lost for 11 days, we will miss our flight to New Zealand, and who knows if we’ll survive? We’ll have to eat bugs and snakes and shimmy up canyons the way Bear Grylls taught us. Hopefully it won’t come to that.
We started driving at 8 and drove straight to Birmingham, Alabama. We stopped to eat at Jim-n-Nick’s based on the suggestion of Jason. Birmingham was a pleasant surprise and was very nice…at least the area in which we walked around. Jim-n-Nick’s is a barbeque restaurant. It was really nice inside with brick walls, exposed beams, nice wood tables, etc. Ed had a pulled pork sandwich, creamed spinach, and chili. I had a Greek salad and a loaded potato with cheese, sour cream, and butter. The corn biscuits were delicious! Everything was really good there. After lunch, we got in the car and began our long drive to New Orleans. We flicked off every Tuscaloser sign (Tuscaloosa) we saw, again, based on the recommendation of Auburn alumni Jason. War eagle. This is a tradition started by Ed while driving past Rutgers because they are the most horrible, miserable excuse for a university in the world (because they beat Syracuse on a half court shot the year Syracuse won the national championship…Ed is a sore loser…Syracuse beat Rutgers later in the year anyhow).
As we drive through Alabama, we notice that there are lots of exits, but no houses…lots of trees though. They call is Alabama the beautiful on the signs, and it looks pretty nice to us, although it is 90 degrees and humid at 1:35. After Alabama, we drove through Mississippi. Mississippi was green without much going on. One thing we noticed while driving through Alabama and Mississippi on the highway was there was nothing on the sides of the roads…no farms, no houses, no towns, not much. People are smart enough to not live near the highway there. We then headed into Louisiana and drove to New Orleans (or Nawlins as they pronounce it).
The tour was actually pretty good. We were planning on taking a quick look, but ended up going in. The tour began with an informative film about the life of Andrew Jackson and how he came to Nashville after being orphaned during the Revolutionary War (his parents and siblings were all killed) and going on to law school. He became a general and kicked butt in the Battle of New Orleans. The people liked him and convinced him to become president. Although some people liked him, he was quite stubborn and was hated by others. After watching the film, we strolled the grounds leading to the house, which was built three times by Andrew Jackson. The first version was small, so he rebuilt a bigger house. This house was destroyed in a fire, and the third version, a Greek revival mansion spanning 8000 square feet was built. The house was nice and well preserved as it has been standing since the 1830s. The gardens outside were quite nice. There were also slave cabins on the property and a farm.
After touring The Hermitage, home of Old Hickory (Andrew Jackson’s nickname), we headed to the Grand Ole Opry. As Ed and I are not country music fans, we had no idea what to expect or what to do. We pulled into the parking lot of a mall, which is about on par with the hockey hall of fame, and followed the signs to the Grand Ole Opry. We took a picture in front, went to the information booth, and were informed no tours were available that day and that we weren’t allowed inside. Although it was kind of a bust, we can at least say that we’ve seen it (from the outside). The speed limit there was 24 for some odd reason. If anyone knows why the speed limit is 24, please feel free to share with us.
We then headed to Jack’s BBQ for some lunch as we had read this had the best BBQ food in the area. Ed had a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and turnip greens. I had mac and cheese. It was good, but definitely did not blow the Dinosaur BBQ away. After lunch, we drove to Centennial Park, where an exact replica of the Parthenon is built (except it is completely intact – and therefore an exact replica of what the Parthenon is thought to have looked like). We went inside where an art gallery is housed on the first floor. On the second floor, the Greek statues were on display. These were to show us what was on the outside of the building up close. In addition, there was a huge gold plated statue of Athena. The original statue of Athena in Greece has been missing for ages, but this Athena was recreated based on records of the original. Athena is the daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom and was known to protect her city. I actually did a report on her in fourth grade. After touring the Parthenon, we took a walk around the lake outside. We quickly drove through the Vanderbilt University campus and weren’t overly impressed with the architecture, but we may not have found the nice part of campus. We then drove to downtown Nashville. While driving, we listened to the Bluegrass and Nashville stations on XM radio. We’re trying to have an authentic experience (a little authentic anyhow).
The skyline was nice as we drove into town. The hockey rink, The Sommet Center, was pretty nice and looked like it was being renamed while we were there as there was a man sanding the metal where the old sign had been. We walked down the streets, by the river, and through the city green (park in front of the courthouse). There were some nice water fountains and water features there. The windows and doors were so tall in many of the buildings. It was really cool. We kept walking until we went into Mike’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream Fountain. I had mint chocolate chip and moose tracks with chocolate sprinkles. It was delicious and very filling. Ed had a white chocolate raspberry milkshake. It was really good. They filled us up so much that we didn’t need to eat a real dinner. After eating our ice cream, we proceeded up the road and passed some of the honky tonks. There was live music playing in about 6 or 7 places and they advertised having live music playing all day. We decided to stop at Layla’s Bluegrass and Country Inn because there was a sweet rock-a-billy band playing. They had a stand up bass and everything. They were actually really good. We stayed for about an hour and they played: Great Balls of Fire, Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash, Secret Agent Man, a song from Pulp Fiction, some country songs, Johnny Be Good, and Elvis song, and more. It was really fun being in there.
After the live music, we headed back towards the hotel as the Lost season finale was on that evening. We first stopped for some pizza hut (personal pan cheese pizza) and failed miserably while attempting to fix our suitcase. We packed up for the next day and attempted using the wicked slow internet to plan our trip through Alabama. We then watched the awesome Lost season finale. Desmond is Ed’s favorite. Ed was right…Penny did rescue Desmond; even though I kept telling him Desmond was going to die. After Lost, we went to bed as we had a long day of driving ahead of us.
As usual, Ed had the only breakfast the hotel had to offer and I had a waffle. It was hard to find a table at breakfast as there was some choir from Tennessee that was on tour. They were all different ages and had even toured at our new found favorite place, Pigeon Forge. While eating breakfast, we watched another segment on Good Morning America, which again scared me. The segment covered a couple who was recently lost in the Grand Canyon for 11 days. If we get lost for 11 days, we will miss our flight to New Zealand, and who knows if we’ll survive? We’ll have to eat bugs and snakes and shimmy up canyons the way Bear Grylls taught us. Hopefully it won’t come to that.
We started driving at 8 and drove straight to Birmingham, Alabama. We stopped to eat at Jim-n-Nick’s based on the suggestion of Jason. Birmingham was a pleasant surprise and was very nice…at least the area in which we walked around. Jim-n-Nick’s is a barbeque restaurant. It was really nice inside with brick walls, exposed beams, nice wood tables, etc. Ed had a pulled pork sandwich, creamed spinach, and chili. I had a Greek salad and a loaded potato with cheese, sour cream, and butter. The corn biscuits were delicious! Everything was really good there. After lunch, we got in the car and began our long drive to New Orleans. We flicked off every Tuscaloser sign (Tuscaloosa) we saw, again, based on the recommendation of Auburn alumni Jason. War eagle. This is a tradition started by Ed while driving past Rutgers because they are the most horrible, miserable excuse for a university in the world (because they beat Syracuse on a half court shot the year Syracuse won the national championship…Ed is a sore loser…Syracuse beat Rutgers later in the year anyhow).
As we drive through Alabama, we notice that there are lots of exits, but no houses…lots of trees though. They call is Alabama the beautiful on the signs, and it looks pretty nice to us, although it is 90 degrees and humid at 1:35. After Alabama, we drove through Mississippi. Mississippi was green without much going on. One thing we noticed while driving through Alabama and Mississippi on the highway was there was nothing on the sides of the roads…no farms, no houses, no towns, not much. People are smart enough to not live near the highway there. We then headed into Louisiana and drove to New Orleans (or Nawlins as they pronounce it).
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Asheville
After leaving Duck, North Carolina, we drove to Durham, NC to visit the campus of Duke University. We took some pictures in front of the cathedral (for you Danielle, except for Ed giving the thumbs down because he thinks Duke sucks – that coming from a Syracuse fan, who miraculously won their 10th national championship in lacrosse this year while we ate lunch on the Duke campus). Because we were there on Memorial Day, there wasn’t much going on. We strolled around in the heat looking for something to eat, but couldn’t find much. We asked a few students, who all told us to eat in a dining hall. We finally wound up eating at Firehouse subs. We were hoping for something with a little more local flavor, but what can you do. After our brief stop at Duke, we proceeded to drive to Asheville. We arrived around 8:00, checked into the hotel, and watched hockey.
The next morning, we got up early, had free sausage, biscuits, and southern style gravy (courtesy of our hotel). While watching the news during morning breakfast, there were two stories in a row about two activities in which we soon be participating. The first had to do with a two year old who recently fell to her death at Chimney Rock Park, the same park we were heading to that morning. It turned out that the parents let the child under the railing, and she fell. That scared me a bit, considering we were heading there in fifteen minutes. The next story covered a recent scuba trip by a British couple in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The couple stated that they had been left by the boat in shark infested waters when the current brought them approximately 200 meters away from the boat. They were rescued the following day. However, people on the boat and crew members stated that they never saw the couple and that the couple had been talking about recklessly diving while on the boat. Many believed that the couple staged this event, especially since they had enough water with them and didn’t inflate their safety devices. So, I felt a little reassured that everything would be okay while scuba diving in Australia…although a little apprehensive. Hopefully we are not the next couple found in shark infested waters. After the news, we were off.
We drove up the winding mountain roads (the windiest road we’ve ever been on) to Chimney Rock. We hiked around the park for hours. I had some difficulty in the beginning as I wasn’t feel the greatest, but after drinking some water and eating some granola bars, I was back in action. There were lots of fun rocks to climb, mini caves, waterfalls, and climbing stairs involved. We took lots of pictures. After Chimney Rock, we headed down the road to Lake Lure, but we didn’t spend too much time there. We drove back into Chimney Rock village and walked around. It was an old-fashioned, yet touristy, “hillbilly” town. We picked up some lunch consisting of a Boars Head sandwich (my favorite deli meat!) and headed back up the mountain to return to the hotel for a quick shower.
After washing up, we headed back out, this time to downtown Asheville. We walked around downtown for hours looking at little shops and art galleries. The town was really nice and hippie infested (Ed’s words, not mine). After exploring, we wound up eating in a Bier Garden. Microbrews were only $2.50!! The Cuban sandwich was excellent. The chicken fingers were pretty good too. The original plan was to head to a local bar for some live bluegrass music, but after calling the bar, the bartender playfully asked a patron at the bar, “Billy, did you bring your banjo? No, there’s no live music tonight, but plenty of cold beer.” Apparently the local newspaper was wrong. Instead, we headed back home, watched some TV (The Office reruns), planned the next day (decided to go The Biltmore Estate), and spoke with Jason. Jason informed us that we had forgotten my coats in his dining room. Oops. I’ll need that for New Zealand. We then headed to bed.
We started the next morning pretty much the same way. Ed ate sausage, biscuits, and gravy while I ate fruit loops and yogurt for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed down to The Biltmore Estate. While admission is quite pricey ($47 a person), you can definitely make a full day out of the visit. We first toured the house…something like 43 bathrooms and 60+ bedrooms in the house, not including the stables. The house was immense. I believe it was 1.2 million cubic feet. The basement included a bowling alley, a gym, an indoor swimming pool, several kitchens, servants’ quarters, and other things that I’m forgetting. It’s hard to imagine The Biltmore actually being a person’s house, let alone a country retreat. After touring the house, we headed outside to see the gardens. It was sprinkling at this point, but we looked around anyhow. The grounds were enormous! We walked around most of the gardens, and then got back in the car as it started to rain harder. We headed to the bass pond, took some pictures of the pond and waterfall, and then headed to the estate winery and farm. We took a quick tour of the winery, but didn’t stop for wine tasting as we would be on the road later. We then headed to the farm while it poured. They have several reenactments of the way things were done back then. While we were there, a blacksmith was doing a demonstration. We didn’t stay long because there wasn’t enough room underneath the roof. They also have butter churning, sewing, woodshop, and farming demonstrations. In addition, on fairer weather days, live music plays. You can also take horse rides, go bicycling, go rafting, etc.
After leaving The Biltmore Estate, we headed to the Great Smokey Mountains. We drove around this national park for hours admiring the huge mountains covered in clouds. It started to rain hard during part of the trip. At one of the pull-offs, we walked ½ mile up hill to a tower, which we climbed and saw nothing but clouds. On a clearer day, you can see different mountains, trails, etc. At this point, the Appalachian Trail hit. We saw several hikers that were hiking the trail. I can’t even imagine as I was huffing and puffing going up ½ mile. Very neat. When we left the Great Smokey Mountains, we went through a village in Tennessee called Pigeon Forge. This was Ed’s dreamland. There were more putt putt, strangely called Fantasy Golf, courses than I could count. In fact, there was even a Professor Hacker’s mini golf course (which we played in the Outer Banks). There was a magic show, a country medieval times with cowboys instead of knights called Dixie Stampede, a dinosaur museum next to a Cracker Barrel, a hillbilly fair, Country Bear Jamboree, acrobats, a huge go-cart track, some sort of crazy upside down building, and lots of other crazy “redneck” (Ed’s word) events. Ed says that if a word exists to describe beyond redneck, for example redneck + tourist, that’s what this town was. It was his fantasy come true. Hotel rooms were being advertised for $19.99 and $24.99. At first, I thought my eyes were playing a trick on me until I saw motel after motel advertise similar prices. It was crazy! We should have stayed there just to say that we stayed in such a cheap motel. However, we carried on and proceeded towards Nashville.
On the drive to Nashville, we spoke with Sarah, who said she would mail my jackets to Austin for us to pick up. We also made reservations to stay in a hotel while we were here. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. Ed had country fried steak, fried okra, mac and cheese, and hash brown casserole. I had chicken fingers and French fries. We then drove the rest of the way to the hotel.
The next morning, we got up early, had free sausage, biscuits, and southern style gravy (courtesy of our hotel). While watching the news during morning breakfast, there were two stories in a row about two activities in which we soon be participating. The first had to do with a two year old who recently fell to her death at Chimney Rock Park, the same park we were heading to that morning. It turned out that the parents let the child under the railing, and she fell. That scared me a bit, considering we were heading there in fifteen minutes. The next story covered a recent scuba trip by a British couple in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The couple stated that they had been left by the boat in shark infested waters when the current brought them approximately 200 meters away from the boat. They were rescued the following day. However, people on the boat and crew members stated that they never saw the couple and that the couple had been talking about recklessly diving while on the boat. Many believed that the couple staged this event, especially since they had enough water with them and didn’t inflate their safety devices. So, I felt a little reassured that everything would be okay while scuba diving in Australia…although a little apprehensive. Hopefully we are not the next couple found in shark infested waters. After the news, we were off.
We drove up the winding mountain roads (the windiest road we’ve ever been on) to Chimney Rock. We hiked around the park for hours. I had some difficulty in the beginning as I wasn’t feel the greatest, but after drinking some water and eating some granola bars, I was back in action. There were lots of fun rocks to climb, mini caves, waterfalls, and climbing stairs involved. We took lots of pictures. After Chimney Rock, we headed down the road to Lake Lure, but we didn’t spend too much time there. We drove back into Chimney Rock village and walked around. It was an old-fashioned, yet touristy, “hillbilly” town. We picked up some lunch consisting of a Boars Head sandwich (my favorite deli meat!) and headed back up the mountain to return to the hotel for a quick shower.
After washing up, we headed back out, this time to downtown Asheville. We walked around downtown for hours looking at little shops and art galleries. The town was really nice and hippie infested (Ed’s words, not mine). After exploring, we wound up eating in a Bier Garden. Microbrews were only $2.50!! The Cuban sandwich was excellent. The chicken fingers were pretty good too. The original plan was to head to a local bar for some live bluegrass music, but after calling the bar, the bartender playfully asked a patron at the bar, “Billy, did you bring your banjo? No, there’s no live music tonight, but plenty of cold beer.” Apparently the local newspaper was wrong. Instead, we headed back home, watched some TV (The Office reruns), planned the next day (decided to go The Biltmore Estate), and spoke with Jason. Jason informed us that we had forgotten my coats in his dining room. Oops. I’ll need that for New Zealand. We then headed to bed.
We started the next morning pretty much the same way. Ed ate sausage, biscuits, and gravy while I ate fruit loops and yogurt for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed down to The Biltmore Estate. While admission is quite pricey ($47 a person), you can definitely make a full day out of the visit. We first toured the house…something like 43 bathrooms and 60+ bedrooms in the house, not including the stables. The house was immense. I believe it was 1.2 million cubic feet. The basement included a bowling alley, a gym, an indoor swimming pool, several kitchens, servants’ quarters, and other things that I’m forgetting. It’s hard to imagine The Biltmore actually being a person’s house, let alone a country retreat. After touring the house, we headed outside to see the gardens. It was sprinkling at this point, but we looked around anyhow. The grounds were enormous! We walked around most of the gardens, and then got back in the car as it started to rain harder. We headed to the bass pond, took some pictures of the pond and waterfall, and then headed to the estate winery and farm. We took a quick tour of the winery, but didn’t stop for wine tasting as we would be on the road later. We then headed to the farm while it poured. They have several reenactments of the way things were done back then. While we were there, a blacksmith was doing a demonstration. We didn’t stay long because there wasn’t enough room underneath the roof. They also have butter churning, sewing, woodshop, and farming demonstrations. In addition, on fairer weather days, live music plays. You can also take horse rides, go bicycling, go rafting, etc.
After leaving The Biltmore Estate, we headed to the Great Smokey Mountains. We drove around this national park for hours admiring the huge mountains covered in clouds. It started to rain hard during part of the trip. At one of the pull-offs, we walked ½ mile up hill to a tower, which we climbed and saw nothing but clouds. On a clearer day, you can see different mountains, trails, etc. At this point, the Appalachian Trail hit. We saw several hikers that were hiking the trail. I can’t even imagine as I was huffing and puffing going up ½ mile. Very neat. When we left the Great Smokey Mountains, we went through a village in Tennessee called Pigeon Forge. This was Ed’s dreamland. There were more putt putt, strangely called Fantasy Golf, courses than I could count. In fact, there was even a Professor Hacker’s mini golf course (which we played in the Outer Banks). There was a magic show, a country medieval times with cowboys instead of knights called Dixie Stampede, a dinosaur museum next to a Cracker Barrel, a hillbilly fair, Country Bear Jamboree, acrobats, a huge go-cart track, some sort of crazy upside down building, and lots of other crazy “redneck” (Ed’s word) events. Ed says that if a word exists to describe beyond redneck, for example redneck + tourist, that’s what this town was. It was his fantasy come true. Hotel rooms were being advertised for $19.99 and $24.99. At first, I thought my eyes were playing a trick on me until I saw motel after motel advertise similar prices. It was crazy! We should have stayed there just to say that we stayed in such a cheap motel. However, we carried on and proceeded towards Nashville.
On the drive to Nashville, we spoke with Sarah, who said she would mail my jackets to Austin for us to pick up. We also made reservations to stay in a hotel while we were here. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. Ed had country fried steak, fried okra, mac and cheese, and hash brown casserole. I had chicken fingers and French fries. We then drove the rest of the way to the hotel.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Outer Banks Highlights
Here are some highlights of our trip to the Outer Banks:
Playing miniature golf at Professor Hacker's
Climbing the dunes and watching the hang gliders at Jockey Ridge State Park
Getting buried in the sand
Playing miniature golf at Professor Hacker's
Climbing the dunes and watching the hang gliders at Jockey Ridge State Park
Getting buried in the sand
Shopping for hats
Pretty flowers
The Currituck Lighthouse and sunset in the neighboring park
Having fun with friends on the beach
Monday, May 26, 2008
More Outer Banks
On Friday night, Pat Nugent and his lady friend, Amanda “Hugandkiss”, came to visit us. We ate steaks for dinner. While we cooked steaks, Jason and I tried to knock cans off of lawn furniture with a football. It was a lot harder than expected, and I got 5 ticks on me chasing the ball. Then we played some crazy game called catchphrase. We ended up playing for hours; it was much more fun than anticipated. The girls cheated their way to victory.
We went to bed wicked late so we all slept in the next morning, except Jeanette. We had free bagels for breakfast, including French toast bagels. Then we went to the beach and played football. I actually went in the cold ocean water, but Jason did not, even though he acts tough and has a Mohawk. We buried Lincoln the dog and Jeanette the lady in the sand up to their necks. We had a late lunch at the Duck Deli BBQ restaurant. The food wasn't as good as the Dinosaur, but nothing to complain about. Then we were dragged to some stores and to get some ice cream from a shop called “I scream, you scream”. We went to a very nice lighthouse that was unfortunately closed. Sarah and Jeanette wouldn’t hop the fence, but everyone else did and got some nice pictures. We watched the sunset and went back to the house. We bought some glue and Jason and I got real Mohawks. We had venison burgers courtesy of Pat. He actually shot the buck. Since dinner was late, we played a quick game of catchphrase for some revenge and went to bed soon there after.
This morning we had grits, steak, and eggs for breakfast. It was like being at Crackerbarrel. Jeanette and I took a stroll down the beach, and then we came back to meet up with everyone else. We played Pro Kadima (paddle ball to common folk) for a while. Jeanette was the best at Pro Kadima. I dove into the ocean again while Jeanette took a nap on the beach. We had a quick lunch, jumped in the hot tub, and then learned how to pitch a tent. I got my head buzzed the rest of the way since a Mohawk is too much work. We went back out to the beach for Pro Kadima round deuce. We started to get dinner together by making chocolate chip cookies. We also had some calamari, shrimp cocktail, and cheese whiz (for Jeanette, courtesy of her work buddies). Jason prepared kabobs with tuna, shrimp, and bacon wrapped scallops while others cleaned the house.
We went to bed wicked late so we all slept in the next morning, except Jeanette. We had free bagels for breakfast, including French toast bagels. Then we went to the beach and played football. I actually went in the cold ocean water, but Jason did not, even though he acts tough and has a Mohawk. We buried Lincoln the dog and Jeanette the lady in the sand up to their necks. We had a late lunch at the Duck Deli BBQ restaurant. The food wasn't as good as the Dinosaur, but nothing to complain about. Then we were dragged to some stores and to get some ice cream from a shop called “I scream, you scream”. We went to a very nice lighthouse that was unfortunately closed. Sarah and Jeanette wouldn’t hop the fence, but everyone else did and got some nice pictures. We watched the sunset and went back to the house. We bought some glue and Jason and I got real Mohawks. We had venison burgers courtesy of Pat. He actually shot the buck. Since dinner was late, we played a quick game of catchphrase for some revenge and went to bed soon there after.
This morning we had grits, steak, and eggs for breakfast. It was like being at Crackerbarrel. Jeanette and I took a stroll down the beach, and then we came back to meet up with everyone else. We played Pro Kadima (paddle ball to common folk) for a while. Jeanette was the best at Pro Kadima. I dove into the ocean again while Jeanette took a nap on the beach. We had a quick lunch, jumped in the hot tub, and then learned how to pitch a tent. I got my head buzzed the rest of the way since a Mohawk is too much work. We went back out to the beach for Pro Kadima round deuce. We started to get dinner together by making chocolate chip cookies. We also had some calamari, shrimp cocktail, and cheese whiz (for Jeanette, courtesy of her work buddies). Jason prepared kabobs with tuna, shrimp, and bacon wrapped scallops while others cleaned the house.
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