Raincharm’s Weblog

This will probably be the last post about the 2010 Tennessee Vacation.
Not that we did not thoroughly enjoy being on vacation, and getting to see Rey, but we have been back for 3 days now and reality must intrude.

So – here are the pictures, more or less in order. Click on them to make them larger and get the back story.

Oh – and the WORLD CUP has begun. Being on the west coast will make it interesting. Ashlan and I saw the kickoff and about 1 minute of the Mexico v South Africa game this morning before leaving for work. But we have a DVR with the cable, so we taped both of the games and are in the process of watching the second now. Well, I am in the process. Ashlan is taking a nap on the couch.

I owe one more vacation posting with pictures, for those that are still interested (me, myself & I)

This is more about things that you have to remember when you get back from vacation.

• There will be a large pile of mail to deal with
• It will take several days to get to the stuff that is not recycled or shredded immediately
• There will be a large number of e-mails to deal with (at work)
• There will be a large pile of new work things to complete (unexpected)
• People will try to leave you alone on the first day back – but not on the second or third.
• It can take longer to unpack than to pack.
• The laundry pile will be good sized
• If you didn’t take care of updating your calendar for the first week back before you left – you might miss something.

Ashlan & I were getting ready to leave work today, and I decided to check the traffic map before we headed out the door. Yikes – traffic looked bad, so I looked at the “Incidents” listing on the side bar to see if anything unusual was up. And they noted that there was a Sounders game at Qwest Field at 7 PM (watch for traffic).

Wait – a Sounders Game?!? But we are season ticket holders, so we must have tickets.
Checked with Carl and we sure did – so home through the traffic and off to the game.
I am so glad I looked at traffic before we left. I would have felt pretty silly if we had missed this one.

The Sounders lost 3-2, and scored their 2 goals in the last 4 minutes of the game – an exciting conclusion. It only rained a bit at the game, even though it poured on the ride home from work. Carl & I used the tickets, so Ashlan could hang with Angela for part of the evening (Angela is 5). They watched The Cat Returns. Then she picked us up at the stadium so we could get home (since we had not planned to go out this evening, there were some things to do at home).

Life seems very busy since returning, and yet I don’t feel like I have finished anything.

we chose to go to Tennessee – Rey.

The last one asks a prompts a Sesame Street song 

One of these things is not like the others.
One of these things doesn’t belong.
Which of these things is not like the others.
Come on now, let’s all play along.

Now – I never watched Sesame Street growing up, and only saw bits and pieces when my kids were small, so the words may not be quite right.

Answer below

Tomorrow I will try to post pictures from the rest of the trip.

ANSWERS
1.  Carl has grey/white hair (all of it) – the rest have brown hair
2.  Jay is wearing glasses – the rest can see just fine without
3.  Ashlan is not showing any teeth – really, even Rey is showing some
4.  Rey lives in Tennessee – the rest on the left coast

We all saw the waterfall at the end of the Abrams’ Falls trail. And Ashlan saw a bear.

We also saw a lot of cars driving slowly along the 11 mile circuit that is the Cades Cove loop in the Smokie Mountain National Park. The road was like a small childs roller-coaster, rising and falling with the terrain, and going round full circle. The average speed is maybe 10 mph. Many trucks had their beds filled with people looking into the woods and across the fields. Once you realize that nobody is going to drive the 20 mph speed limit it is easier to accept.

The Abram’s Falls trail was at the halfway point of the loop. A 5 mile round trip hike through the forest, along the creek and up and over about 3 ridges. The description we had seen indicated an elevation gain of about 350 feet. What it didn’t say was you did this gain and loss about 3 times, there and then back again. The end of the trail is at the foot of a 20 foot waterfall.  Many people were enjoying the cool water in the good sized pool at the  foot of the falls. This is apparently a local favorite, based on the number of young folk making the trek with beach towels in hand. It was a nice hike, a good distance to stretch your legs and see some beautiful sights. It reminded me a bit of the hike between the lower and upper Tahquamenon Falls, but with more height to gain and fewer bugs.

We returned to Jefferson City with just enough time to get changed and head to the ballpark for our final game with the Smokies. They lost 6-4. It was a fun game nonetheless.

We returned to Rey’s apartment in two shifts – Carl & Ashlan, and later Rey & Jay. Both had the same thought and went shopping to replenish Rey’s diminished stores. So now he has food to last a bit.

We are readying ourselves to leave shortly. Packing the last of the clothes and into the car to head south to Atlanta.

Yesterdays ball park adventure was a bit more relaxed, in a way.
We went at noon, to have lunch with Rey. We took cupcakes (surprised him) and sandwiches, bananas, veggies and humus. After that he went back to work. Ashlan & Carl played catch on the concourse and I looked at maps for an interesting way back to Atlanta.

Ashlan & I finally left to go back to the apartment and hang for a bit. A shower for me – the first thing I would do here is cut my hair. [Note that Rey has very short hair now.] Ashlan worked to straighten her hair, again. It is a losing battle, and her hair looks more like mine here – kind of. We did some sleuthing for things to do the next day as well.

While we were gone, Carl just hung out at the ballpark, watching it come alive as the afternoon progressed. First he was writing letters, and then when they were doing batting practice he went out beyond the outfield and shagged balls for the visiting team. The home team did not take batting practice. One of their coaches tossed him a “nice” ball, and he ended up with two others for his efforts. He also chatted with various other Smokies’ workers.

Ashlan and I arrived back as the gates opened and went inside to find Carl. It was the 66th anniversary of D-Day and they had quite a celebration of our military services planned. They had motorcycle riding vets on the field (non-grass areas), flags – American and all the military branches, a trumpet band, Blue Star mothers, and Gold Star mothers that were presented with roses by the players. They did a medley of all of the military branches  theme songs and had folks in those branches (past and present) stand and be acknowledged as their song played. They acknowledged over the loudspeaker and on the big board the servicemen and women that were represented by the Blue Star and Gold Star families. This was followed by a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps by two buglers (kind of a call and return version – very well done and moving).

The only planned portion that did not happen was the flyover. I am not sure what type of aircraft it was meant to be, but it had to be scratched. Actually, the whole show was almost scratched. It was starting at 4:15 (5:00 game), and the rain started coming down hard at about 4:16. The stands self-evacuated and they announced the program delay. The sun finally came out, again, and the festivities did resume about an hour late. This was a brief, but intense storm. The game eventually started at 6:15. The Smokies lost 8-6 to the Stars.

One of the new and exciting things we got to see was the tarp pulled on and off of the infield. Rey (and most of the workers not involved in the concourse work) was part of the tarp crew. They got in on in fairly short order. I did take some video, but again, have no way of sharing. The more impressive sight is pulling the tarp off. It balloons up as a big orange sheet, the color of the infield dirt, as it is towed out to left field in one big pull. Then they set about folding it just so, so it will be available next time it is needed. They also squeegee the field itself to spread the puddles, and blow dry parts with a landscape blower.

Early for us anyway. We got up at 7 AMish. Definitely the earliest rising for me since we left the left coast. The reason –

happy birthday Rey!

Rey - about 2 years ago now

[I am not on my computer, so we are doing with the pictures available.]

Rey

Found another one.

We got up to celebrate breakfast with Rey before he returned to work. Maple sausage and toast (wow). We are going to join him for lunch later today.

He works – a lot. When the team is out of town they work M-F 8:30-5:30 (or something like that. When the team is in town they work 8:30 until an hour or so after the game. Last night, the first game of the homestand they worked probably a 14 hour day. Only 9 more games until the team is out of town again.

But we see him when we can and try not to bug him too much at work.

Sevierville, Tennessee was named for John Sevier, the only governor of the State of Franklin, and later of the State of Tennessee. It is also the home of Dolly Parton, but not of Dollywood. We took a quick trip into Sevierville and got off of the main road about one block. What a difference. From cars to quiet. There we found our goal – a statue of Dolly Parton, in front of the courthouse. The kind woman in the visitors center (much further up the busy road)  had provided the directions, as well as the road on which Dolly Parton’s mother’s condo was located. There was no one else at the courthouse. If I can figure how to get pictures from my camera to this computer, I will share.

That is what we did after sharing lunch with Rey. Carl made a great meatloaf (turkey) and we took that and fruit salad and mushrooms and met him for his lunch time. We will see him (or at least be in his proximity) at the Tennessee Smokies baseball game later tonight.

Things that we did not stop to see while on the road to Dolly were:

• The World’s Biggest Knife (and the knife museum)
• Floyd’s Golf and Guns
• Muscle Car Museum
• The Giant Bible Sale

And those were the attractions before you hit the big time of tourism.

Day 4 – slept in. I did not get up until 10:40. Now I try not to keep comparing to the west coast time zone, so I did feel guilty. But I think I also really needed to sleep. The heat and humidity are such a change. Seattle had not really left winter/spring behind when we left, so we are dealing with a 30 degree increase. It just seems to make us move slower.

Rey is at work, and our late start put us off of sightseeing much today. We are planning to do some local exploring and a little shopping.

We plan to go to a bar tonight to watch some hockey. Report later.

Day 3 found us getting up “early” so Rey could make an appointment he had in Oak Ridge Tennessee. That meant trying to be out of the apartment by 9 AM.

Rey’s apartment. Let’s see. It has a kitchen/dining area, a living room, bathroom and two bedrooms. It is sparsely furnished. Dining table, 3 wooden chairs, 1 folding camping chair (newer style with arms and good backrest), card table, twin blow-up bed (interestingly not quite a flat bed shape any longer), full bed box spring and mattress, and …….. a folding stool. I think that about covers it.  Oops – forgot the microwave oven.

Rey has graciously been sleeping on the floor, giving his guests the beds. I feel a bit guilty, but he seems little the worse for wear.

Onto our day – we visited the Sunsphere and area park (home of the 1982 Worlds Fair) while Rey delivered some tickets. Then went to the Knoxville Art Museum. Met up with Rey for lunch and back to the museum to finish up our viewing. On to downtown, where we visited the Tennessee History museum and learned about the settlement and growth of eastern Tennessee.

Then it was out to the ballpark – the Tennessee Smokies ballpark.

At this point we discovered that the car engine looked like it was “smoking”, and I assumed it was overheating. When we popped the hood we discovered the oil filler cap was missing. Rey had added oil the day before and apparently did not replace all of the parts. No oil light or poor performance, so whew – we caught it. I actually preferred this to an overheating engine. Easily remedied. Which we did with some new oil, duct tape for a temporary cap, and a new cap from an auto parts store just a few miles away.

Rey answered a few e-mails for work and we were back to the apartment again, for dinner and an evening of  naps and crossword puzzles.

Day 2 found us forcing ourselves out of bed for breakfast.
Carl & I that is. Ashlan chose to stay abed until the last moment, counting on her doting parents to bring her food from the breakfast buffet.

Then on to – wait for it – wait for it …. a Baseball Game!

Atlanta Braves day game. Got there early – but limited batting practice.
So we wandered around the park and had a sausage.  [One note is that as we have traveled around it has become clear that Safeco Field has more variety of food offerings than most ballparks.]

Our seats were in the front row in right centerfield. A fairly similar location to our Seattle seats. The seats were in the sun, and it was probably in the mid to high 80s. There were moments of respite when the cloud cover would come into play. We drank copious amounts of water and used up the last of our sunscreen. (Carl got pink arms – oops).

The game was fun, and fast. Braves 2 – Phillies 1. The Braves scored their second run in the bottom of the 8th, and faced only 4 batters in the top of the 9th. 2:28 was the time for the game, good for us as we were then headed to Jefferson City, TN.

Leaving Atlanta proved challenging. We did not have a good map of the area, and after waiting probably 30 minutes to get out of the ballpark parking lot, the only signs we could see were for I-75 south. But of course we wanted north. So we improvised through stop and go traffic. Finally after consulting with a neighboring car’s driver we were able to get onto I-75 north, in rush hour traffic. This was heavy and slow, but could have been much worse. We even went past an accident that had several lanes closed, and it was not a tremendous delay.

Finally after hitting Gainesville we broke free of most of the traffic. Our route followed US 441 North, I think almost until we entered the Smokie Mountain National Park, on the North Carolina side. We passed an elk feeding on the side of the road, and a few minutes later were greeted with lightning and an intense downpour. I was happy to have a vehicle in front of us to follow. The rain continued, but at a slower pace for most of the ride going up. At some point we entered Tennessee and headed down – more or less. The ride down was also dryer.

The Smokie Mountains were beautiful, and fully lived up to their name, even when the sun was poking through. There was a switchback on the way up that seemed to take you almost in a complete circle, and I commented that we were going to drive over ourselves. And then on the way down – we did. The road sign shows a complete circle, and that is exactly what you do, circling under your starting point in a short tunnel.

After coming down we had a choice to go through Gatlinburg, or take the Gatlinburg bypass. We chose the bypass as it was getting late, and we were ready to be at our destination. Part of me wanted to go through Gatlinburg to see if I could recognize our lodgings from my childhood. But I had heard that the area has changed quite a bit since then.

The only stressful part of the drive, from a directions standpoint, was our travel through Pigeon Forge. OMG. It is amazing and terrible. And long. And in the end the directions seemed to call for more turns than were necessary, and occasionally in the apparently wrong direction. Lucky for us we followed our senses, but were not sure we were right for several miles. This was the testy point of the trip, but we survived. Finally got to Rey’s place around 10 PM. He had dinner ready for us, and I am sure he was starving.