Wow, it's been just shy of two months since I've done any blogging!
I haven't really done anything exciting enough to blog about. The weather has been crappy (not as crappy as you northerners have had, but crappy in the Florida sense) I got my taxes done...but so have most of you and that's NOT my idea of fun. I haven't been camping since January as I knew I had a big trip coming up. I did have some friends camp in Florida, which gave me the opportunity to visit with them without having to travel very far.
Our friends Bruce & Lisa came down and we were able to have lunch with them and visit the campground on the river they were staying at.
Caption this however you'd like......"man talk?"
Bruce and Trevor bonded while walking the dogs
We didn't get to spend as much time with them as we would have liked. Life & weather seemed to get us at every turn.
A couple of weeks later, our friends Genia & Tony came to the Daytona 500 so we drove over and spent the day with them.
I met Genia in person two years ago at this very spot, last year we camped alongside them, so this is our anniversary photo.
Everybody now: Awe......
Everybody now: Awe......
We skipped the race this year as we had bigger and better plans for Nascar. I did manage to grab one important shot from our drive out of there.
The first week of March was all about planning......My mother had bought us tickets to the Bristol race on March 16th, as a Christmas gift. We had two months to figure how we were going to do this trip. Trevor and I have our 25th wedding anniversary in July but July is so busy with work that we can barely manage to get away for the weekend. We decided to make this an early anniversary trip and spend a couple extra days in TN.
To explain the title of this report, you have to be a TV junkie.
Have you seen the new Geico commercial with Maxwell the pig?
Check it out here.
I can't tell you how many times this little ditty was sung over the course of 6 days, but it became our mantra for the entire trip.
So put on your boots & pants and enjoy the ride.
Wednesday the 12th, we pulled out around 6:00 am
NINE & 1/2 HOURS!!! Ugh!
Within a few hours we got into some elevation, which is quite exciting to a Floridian!
We saw a lot of beautiful sights along the way. Mountains, rivers, gorges, rock walls and log cabins.
It made the second half of the trip go much faster.
At the base of the Smokey Mountains in North Carolina
As we headed up the mountain, the scenery was gorgeous, our ears were popping and the temperature was 63 degrees.
Just a few miles up the road we saw a sign warning us about foggy conditions ahead.....
THEY WEREN'T JOKING!!
At this point, you could see about 20 feet in front of the truck. The temp outside was 32, we were on top of a mountain, on a road we weren't familiar with and everyone is driving 15 mph with their hazards on.
FREAKY!
As you can see in the photo above, to our left is a mountain. To the right is a WOODEN guardrail. We could only guess what was on the other side of said guardrail.
As we crept along, I finally got a semi-clear shot of what was to the right of us...
Yeah, those are the tops of trees. Not somewhere you'd want to test the strength of those guardrails!
After about 30 minutes of stressful driving, it cleared up as we descended.
I turned to Trevor (Who was ghostly white and working on unclenching his ass cheeks) and said:
"I bet that was a beautiful road!"
"I bet that was a beautiful road!"
Around 4:30 that afternoon we arrived at our first destination:
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
I had done some research on hotels in the downtown area and they had a Quality Inn, which is in the Choice Hotel program, which I am a member of. After reading all the travel sites, the Quality Inn was rated way under the Econo Lodge, which is also part of Choice Hotels. For 2 nights, it was $86! Almost too good to be true, right?
Not at all! It was one block from the main street, had ample parking, was clean as a whistle, free continental breakfast, free wi-fi and it took me about 3 minutes to check in.
Our room, with a king size bed
"so much room for activities!"
(Step Brothers movie quote for those that didn't get it)
The bathroom, which was sparkling clean.
The pool & courtyard outside of our window.
We settled in for a bit and then took off walking down the streets.
You can hardly see in the above photo but there are homes/condos/cabins at the top of the mountain on the right. I zoomed in to get a better look.
NICE!
We continued down the street
And visited some of the little shops
And of course, we stopped in the distillery (One of many)
The temps were dropping and we were getting hungry and tired from the long drive. We decided on Best Italian for dinner (recommended by my friend Blake)
I liked my tea mug so much that Trevor took my picture. (I look like a field mouse)
Trevor ordered a burger, which he said was great. I ordered a "simple" cheese calzone.
When the waiter dropped it off, I said "Holy Shit!"
Looks big right?
It's on a pizza pan. My dinner plate is behind it. I cut 1/4 of it off and put it on my plate for perspective.
If you're wondering, YES, I needed a to-go box!!
When we walked out of the restaurant, it was freezing. My phone only said 42, but it was damp and the wind was blowing like crazy. We speed walked back to our hotel to get a good nights sleep. We figured we would be up and out touring the whole next day.
While lounging in bed and catching up on my Twitter feed I saw that they had closed the mountain road we had traveled on about 2 hours after we crossed it. Thank God we made it over when we did.
I slept like a baby in my warm, humongous bed.
I was the first one up on Thursday morning. I had no idea what time it was, but I went to the window to see if anyone else was stirring about.
Here comes another:
"Holy Shit!"
"Holy Shit!"
(Which sat Trevor straight up in bed)
It was 6:00 am, and while no one else was out and about, Mother Nature had dumped 2 inches of snow on us!
As Florida folk, who were New York folk 30 years ago, we couldn't wait to get outside and see the snow. We showered, bundled up and took off walking.
We strolled down to the Quality Inn Creekside to see what it looked like had we picked that hotel.
It was extremely cold but we loved the snow! Such a nice change (for a short period of time)
Since most places were still closed, we scoped out the area so we'd know what we wanted to do later that day.
Rocky Mountain Brewery - Yes, please.
Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery - Yes, please.
At this point we stopped into a Walgreens to buy me some stockings to put under my jeans. I told you it was cold!
The whole 'boots & pants and boots & pants thing' makes sense now, huh?
After an hour of walking the streets we made our way to the indoor mall (anything indoors sounded great)
This delivery truck is right at the entrance, along with a plaque explaining that it was a 1934 Model A Ford truck used to deliver groceries from Ogle's General Store to the people of Gatlinburg in the late 30's early 40's.
The view from the back of the mall.
We didn't buy anything, though we did use the restrooms. There's something about the cold that makes those visits more frequent.
This is the only bear I saw the whole 6 days.
I'm wondering if the bears have even come out of hibernation yet?
I'm wondering if the bears have even come out of hibernation yet?
As you can see the sun is now shining and the snow is melting quick. There was something I REALLY wanted to do but I needed to check Twitter and go get the truck.
We were in luck, as Twitter confirmed that the mountain roads were open once again.
We hopped in the truck and headed back into the mountain.
Finally we saw the sign we were looking for.
If you're unfamiliar with Cades Cove, here is a brief story taken from the NPS.Gov website:
The valley has a rich history. For hundreds of years Cherokee Indians hunted in Cades Cove but archeologists have found no evidence of major settlements. The first Europeans settled in the cove sometime between 1818 and 1821. By 1830 the population of the area had already swelled to 271. Cades Cove offers the widest variety of historic buildings of any area in the national park. Scattered along the loop road are three churches, a working grist mill, barns, log houses, and many other faithfully restored eighteenth and nineteenth century structures. An inexpensive self-guiding tour booklet available at the entrance to the road provides in-depth information about the buildings and the people who built and used them.
An 11-mile, one-way loop road circles the cove, offering motorists the opportunity to sightsee at a leisurely pace. Allow at least two to four hours to tour Cades Cove, longer if you walk some of the area's trails. Traffic is heavy during the tourist season in summer and fall and on weekends year-round. While driving the loop road, please be courteous to other visitors and use pullouts when stopping to enjoy the scenery or view wildlife.
WOW, is really all I can say about Cades Cove. I also uttered that many times throughout the 11 mile loop.
I'm so disappointed in my photos. Not because the photos are bad but because you can't possibly capture the history and beauty in a photograph. There's a good reason that it attracts over 2 million visitors a year. If you ever have the opportunity to visit, I highly recommend you do so.
The roads are one way and very tiny.
The first cabin we came to was about 1/4 mile hike up the mountain.
That's the John Oliver Place, who was the first settler there in 1822
While we were looking around, another visitor showed up and offered to take a picture of Trevor and I.
We took a marked trail back towards the truck....and I made a pit stop.
Yep, I copped a squat in the Great Smoky Mountains!!
You can barely see the red nose of my truck in this photo.
And back out to the clearing.
Next stop was at the Baptist church
Behind the church is a small graveyard. Some of the grave markers were so old and weather beaten that you couldn't even read them, while we saw some as recent as 2007.
Onward to the Methodist church. We didn't tour through this one. Not because we have anything against Methodists we just had to pick and choose where to stop because of time and weather.
As you drive though Cades Cove it's almost impossible to imagine the life these people led.
We saw a lot of deer!
This next one was my favorite.
This is the Dan Lawson Place. Lawson was the Cove's wealthiest resident. The homestead includes the cabin, a smokehouse, a chicken coop and a hay barn.
This photo of the whole property was taken while standing at the barn.
The Tipton Place which includes the cabin, a smokehouse, a carriage house, a woodshed and a double-cantilever barn
It was absolutely amazing to visit these homes. There are a few other places of interest that we want to go back and visit (when it's warmer) but it was well worth the 24 mile drive up the mountain.
On the long road back we stopped at a rapid moving waterfall.
And climbed down the rocks to get a better view.
It was around 3:00 when we got back to our hotel. We set off in search of food and drinks.
We started off at Ole Smokey Mountain moonshine where we sampled all 12 of their moonshines. Next up was Sugarland moonshine distillery where we sampled their 3.
If you're good at math, that's 15 shots. They weren't full shots, more like 1/4 shots, not that it makes much difference.
We knew we had better get some food in our gut, now to decide where to go.....The Smokey Mountain Brewery serves food (another recommendation by Blake) AND beer!
We couldn't decide which beer we wanted to try so we went with 6 out of the 10 they offered.
Purely research.......
Surprisingly enough we liked the light American pilsner the best and ordered 2 more of those with dinner. Dinner was great. I had a philly steak and Trevor had a sausage sandwich though I didn't get any photos.
I blame the alcohol.
When dinner was over we strolled back downtown where I picked up some sweatshirts to bring home to the kids, we bought some homeade taffy logs and ended up at Davey Crocketts whiskey distillery where we tried 3 shots there. We both LOVED their Tennessee Wildfire, which tasted just like a creamy fireball. We knew a bottle had to come home with us.
You just can't waste a good buzz though so we stopped at Fannie Farkle's where I played some skeeball. Trevor took some pics, though mostly of my ass bent over, so this is all I'm posting.
I'm normally pretty good at skeeball but this time, not so much.
I blame the alcohol.
With our purchases in hand, we made our way back to the hotel.
While I sipped some wildfire over ice, Trevor was watching the back of his eyelids.
I blame the alcohol.
We slept well that night and woke up early Friday morning for our trip to Kingsport. We were booked at the Colonial Inn for the next three nights. Kingsport is about a 20 minute drive from the speedway.
On the road again.....
In planning this trip I did a lot of searching of attractions in the area. How cool to find out that we would be driving right past Dollywood on our way. How not cool to discover that it wasn't open until the following week.
Bummer, maybe next time.
Lo and Behold, we did pass right by the entrance. The best I could do was get a picture of the sign as we sped on by.
Our ride was pretty uneventful, with just one stop at a rest area for a bathroom break
We arrived at 11:30. Check in was 2:00. It was super easy to find and the parking lot was empty.
I figured we had beat the Nascar crowd so maybe I could at least do our paper work and check in. The gentleman behind the counter was super sweet, told us all the restaurants nearby who offered discounts since we we were hotel guests, found our reservation and gave me the keys. When I found our room, the door was wide open and the maid was hard at work. She apologized numerous times (though WE were 2 & 1/2 hours early) I told her we were off to get some lunch and give her time to finish.
Right next door to the hotel was an Arby's. Arby's is my favorite of any fast food, so that was our lunch destination. After we killed an hour stuffing our faces we went back to our room where the maid was just finishing up.
This is an older hotel that was once a Best Western (we know that because the sign was tossed in the grass at the back of the parking lot)
As we discovered later, the whole city of Kingsport is old. Being from upstate NY, it reminded Trevor and I both of small towns up in that area.
The good news is our room was super clean. Yes, our bathroom sink drained slow and the exhaust fan made a ruckus when first turned on, but it would serve our purpose for the next three nights.
We relaxed a while in our room (we had free wi-fi and HBO) and then decided to check out the area. Back in the truck we go.
Here's a couple shots of the area we were in.
We knew the chance of rain on Sunday was 100%
Not a good outlook for a Nascar race.
Did I pack our ponchos?
Nope!
In order to pick up some new rain gear we headed into the Walmart. You can really get a sense of the locals if you visit Walmart on a Friday afternoon.
We spent the afternoon in our room preparing for the Nationwide race on Saturday and relaxing. That evening we walked next door to Crazy Tomato and ordered a pizza.
A large pizza and two iced teas, after our room discount, was $17. Can't complain about that!
Early Saturday morning, I stepped out of our room and it was beautiful. The temp was around 60 and the sun was shining off the mountains.
We had planned to make the most of this day as we were pretty certain that Sunday would be a wash out.
We left our room around 9:00 am and headed north. Within 15 minutes we saw our sign.
Traffic wasn't too bad and the scenery was great. We were both anxious to see the 'Last Great Colosseum'
Bristol is extremely different from Daytona as far as location and surroundings. Since it is literally built into a mountain, there are houses, farms and fields all around. That whole road you see was filled with camping areas and parking areas. Some of the folks were charging to park right in their front yard. Hell, the grass is dead anyhow!
As we got closer we realized there is a four lane BUSY highway between us and the track. Law enforcement was thick and directing pedestrians and traffic and we were thrilled that we didn't come in that way. That could have been a nightmare when trying to leave that evening.
We saw many "not-so-fit" folks who needed to stop and take a breather before continuing. Trevor and I saw it as an opportunity to burn off all the calories we had ate and drank for the last 4 days.
Here's the view from the top of that incline
And a view across the highway.
Bristol Baby!!!
We made our way back down that hill to the merchandise trailers. Anyone want to take a guess which one was first?!
Why of course it was Jimmie Johnsons!!
I also snapped a picture for my girl, Genia, who is a Kyle Busch fan.
There's another big difference between Bristol and Daytona. Since space is so limited here we saw way less merchandise trailers. While all the drivers were represented, some of the teams had one trailer for all drivers of that team.
Right past the merch trailers is a trackside campground filled with sponsors tents and non-licensed vendors.
We picked up some Bristol t-shirts, visited the manufacturer tents and got a free Monster Energy drink.
(Yeah, great idea to get everyone amped up before a race!)
I hit up the port-a-johns specifically for Genia's viewing pleasure.
When our browsing was finished we made our way back up to the track.
Since Sunday was calling for rain we wanted to see the last Sprint Cup practice at noon, then the Nationwide race, then the K&N late model race which were all included with our tickets.
With another small hike uphill we found our seats, Holy mackerel!! You can't begin to fathom how small the facilities are. It's hard to imagine a 1/2 mile racetrack with a very tiny pit area, all surrounded by seats. There really isn't a bad seat in the place.
When this picture was taken there are 43 Cup cars on the left side and 40 Nationwide cars on the right.
About this time Trevor asked me if I had brought the binoculars.......oops. I believe they were sitting at home next to the ponchos.
Having an 80x zoom level on my camera came in handy because I was looking for one car and one car only.
The zoomed pictures are a bit grainy but hey, IT'S JIMMIE JOHNSON!!
Enough said.
The spotters had assumed their position.
While we waited for the cars to come out, Clint Bowyers team was filming a commercial with Michael Waltrip right in front of us.
Finally the Cup cars were ready
Practice begins!!!
Most cars would take a few laps then pull in for some adjustments. They had one hour to practice.
Everyone told me that this race was loud....Oh boy was it!!! When the cars are on the track, you cannot possibly have a conversation with the person sitting next to you. Trevor and I really honed in on our sign language skills this trip.
After the Cup cars practiced, they loaded the cars into the trailers, pushed all their gear and pit boxes up against the trailers to get ready for the Nationwide race. Now they were able to use each side, 20 cars each, for pit lane.
It's a super tight set up, but very well run.
While we waited for the NW race, we went and grabbed some lunch.
View from the 3rd level.
We got back to our seats for driver introductions. Since there isn't room for any sort of stage, they drive one in on a flatbed.
Then each driver made their lap waving at the crowd.
This guy gets A LOT of boos and "finger pointing"
And by that, I mean, the middle finger.
But he waves with a smug little grin.
They got the track cleared up and it was time to race.
Here's what 40 cars on the track looks like
A pit stop for the Kyle's (Busch & Larson)
A couple of crashes
And like a lot of NW races, Kyle Busch wins!!
Take note of his (& his crew's) famous bow to the crowd.
Here's Kyle's crew taking the car through tech.
We had a slight break after that before the K&N cars came out We only watched about 1/2 of that race as we were tired out and ready to go back to the hotel.
We made it back to the hotel, went for some dinner and chilled the rest of the night.
When I woke up Sunday morning I checked on the weather.
NOT GOOD!
I walked out onto the balcony to look at the sky.
It looked pretty damn dreary.
We lounged around while watching the weather channel, Twitter feeds and Facebook posts. We had no desire to sit in the pouring rain all morning, even with our brand-spanking-new ponchos.
Around noon they were broadcasting a rain delay. Trevor and I were getting cabin fever and hungry. We hopped in the truck and drove a mile up the road.
In case you can't see, that's a Perkins sign. We had a huge hot breakfast, while I continuously checked social media and texted with Genia on what she was hearing on TV.
Back at the hotel, we saw a break in the rains. They were reporting that drivers were coming out and getting in gear. That was our cue! We drove the 20 minutes to the track.
From our parking area you can see to the right that it was trying to clear up.
We got to our seats just as driver intros started. Perfect timing on our part.
The track dryers were still at it
So I did some "camera stalking" while the drivers were getting prepped.
Joey Logano
One of Denny Hamlins guys working on his helmet
Oh yeah, then there's this guy.....you KNEW that was coming, right?
The fuel guys were doing their work
Finally we're about to race!!!
What's 43 cars look like at Bristol?
AWESOME!!
Time for a pit stop
They made 125 laps when the rains moved in once again.
The cars were brought down pit lane and covered.
The track dryers were out in full force.
The crews did their part to keep their stalls dry.
A lot of fans were leaving at this point. It was wet and freezing!!
We went to the concessions and got some coffee and I called home to check on Nate. As we stood there we heard them announce "Drivers report back to your cars"
That brought a wave of applause from us crazy folks who were trying to stick it out.
Just as we headed back into the stands, people were rapidly coming back out. We asked a guy if it was raining again and he told us that it was, hard!!
We had waited an hour, now it was raining again which meant we had to wait for it to stop and then wait another hour for them to dry the track.....that's IF it stopped raining.
It was 6:00 pm and we had had enough!!
We made the Nascar walk of shame back to our truck, along with a ton of others
Back at the hotel we got out of our wet boots & pants (and boots & pants) and ordered a pizza. Around 7:30 they were able to finish the race and we thoroughly enjoyed it from our warm hotel bed. As soon as the winner took the checkered flag, it poured rain once again. We had no regrets on leaving early!!!
I set my alarm for 5:00 am so we could grab a cup of coffee and make the long journey back to Florida.
When we woke up Monday morning, SURPRISE! It was raining!
And it rained all the way home, 10 1/2 hours.
We had a great 6 days in Tennessee. I have never been to a friendlier state in my entire life. No matter where we ventured off to, or how confused or lost we looked, someone was smiling and chatting away like we had know each other our whole lives.
I can't wait to go back for a do-over of the mountains when the weather is nicer and I would surely go back to the speedway! For now I will watch it on TV every Sunday and allow my bank account to heal itself.
Til next time.......
