We departed the swamps of Louisiana and headed for sunny Florida.  Granted we only went as far as Pensacola but still it is Florida!  We went to the Naval Air Station to see the National Museum of Naval Aviation. It was quite an impressive display of lots of airplanes used by the navy and marines.  Dating back to WWI through Vietnam and probably even sooner than that.  We saw Marine One (the helicopter that the president flies in).  We got to see what the aircraft carrier looks and feels like when running drills.  Pensacola is also home of the Blue Angels so their planes are there and we even got to go inside an old one.  Just a really awesome display. We spent over 2 hours! 

After a light lunch we headed to the Lighthouse. 177 steps were a lot.  It seems like it was harder this time to climb up then the last time.  I guess I’m really out of shape! LOL! It was a lot hotter too.  Unfortunately, they have had a lot of rain so the water wasn’t the beautiful emerald color it was last time…it was brown :( See…

We wound our way back to Orange Beach, AL for the night.  Our room is very nice, balcony with a waterfront view but I wasn’t upgraded like last time.  So we just have standard queen beds with no microwave or fridge.  This is the first hotel on the trip that we didn’t get those and it is the most expensive…go figure!  The beach is great…this is a white sugar sand beach.  We took a dip in the gulf, the water is really warm! We went to a local pizza joint for dinner and of course played some mini golf.  We like our mini golf. We both won free game tokens which we used this evening. 

Today we spent the entire day either on the beach or by the pool.  It was such a beautiful day and the waves were great.  So much fun. I don’t think I got burned, maybe a little on my face. But my freckles really came out!  My face is very brown…not tan…stupid freckles.  We ventured out in the middle of the day to a local cheesecake place, Hope’s Cheesecake Incorporated.  Cheesecake Factory step aside, this place has you beat!  We got the red velvet and Twix.  The red velvet was good but the Twix was beyond delicious.  Best cheesecake ever.  After a day of swimming we went to the Hurricane Grill and Wings.  Meh.  My steak was very peppery…if you know me that means trouble.  My mouth is still tingling.  And it really wasn’t that great.  I wasn’t impressed with this place.  Thankfully, I had a slice of Twix Cheesecake waiting for me at the hotel.  We used our free mini golf games and played the “harder course” and both of us finished under par (we tied, I won rock, paper, scissors so I win!)  

Well I guess this means our vacation is technically over.  Tomorrow we started the 20 hour drive back home.  I’m ready to get home and see what Swirl has been up to.  I’m sure we will be greeted with pee next to the litter box and a pissed off cat who will punish us for a few days.  To the “Vet Specialist” who said that cats are not spiteful obviously never met Swirl or any other normal cat.

MORE PICTURES CLICK HERE:
http://www.kim-eric.com/2013/LoneStar/LoneStarBaseball.html

What a weekend.   Let see where to begin. Well our 10th Anniversary came and went.  Not much happened. We both worked. After work Eric went to class while I cleaned the car and went grocery shopping. Very romantic, eh? Saturday was much the same. I made Monster cookies (and broke another spatula), cleaned the house and picked up a few things at Costco and Eric had class.  

After Eric’s class, we drove down to Mankato and meet my family. We went out for dinner. I had an awesome steak!  It was delicious.  And of course Mike and Mom and to tell them we were celebrating our 10th anniversary so we got a cake and champagne. It was also Bradley’s birthday so he also got cake…but no champagne for him.

After dinner we went swimming at the hotel. When we got sick of that, we played Dirty Clubs…a card game that would never end.  I think Mike ended up winning. Bradley had over 40 points (not good!). Eric and Bradley finished off a bottle of champagne. They were definitely “feeling” it. 

Sunday after breakfast we went to Flandrau State Park in New Ulm.  This is one of my favorite parks because it has a nice sand bottom pool. We try to visit at least once a year. It was the perfect day for it…hot and humid!  We had a picnic lunch and then went swimming for an hour or so.  After swimming we gathered around the picnic tables and played some lawn games.  After everything was packed up and we were ready to leave…Bradley popped the question!  Danielle demanded a soppy story first and then said, “I suppose.” Yep, Danielle is engaged! I couldn’t be happier for them.   I’m very disappointed in myself.  No picture of the ring…I’m not a very good photographer…I should have been all over this.

Well the last two post have been wedding related.  Hmmm...

The next one will be travel related...we leave for our vacation in 32 hours and 24 minutes... 

:-)

So I like to “countdown” to things and right now there are really 4 countdowns going on.

1 – Our 10th Anniversary (can you believe it has been 10 years!)

2 – Eric’s last class (hopefully his thesis will get approval)

3 – The Lone Star Baseball Adventure (on the road again…)

4 – Triathlon (I really haven’t trained, oh no)

So first things first…our 10th anniversary is coming up in a week.  We have had a crazy 10 years but I’d say most of it has been happy.  I’m sure I will reflect on that later.

If Eric gets his thesis approved, he will be done with school in 8 days and 18 hours. Fingers-crossed this will be the end of his master’s program but I’m very fearful it may not be.

The long awaited and highly anticipated Lone Star Baseball Adventure road trip is in 12 days and 20 hours. The name is kind of a misnomer.  Yes we are going to be spending many days in Texas and we will be going to two Twins baseball games (one in Arlington, one in Houston) but we are also heading over the he beautiful state of Alabama.  Even though my last trip to the Orange Beach area ended badly, I still have fond memories of the area.  I loved our hotel and I loved the beach.  When people tried telling me that Jamaica had white sugar sand beaches…I said no, these aren’t white beaches; Orange Beach, AL has white sugar sandy beaches. We are spending a few days there and then we are making the long way back home.

Last but not least is the Triathlon.  That is in 30 days and 12 hours.  I really haven’t trained. I’ve gone on a few long rides.  I know I can do it but I could do so much better if I was training.  Eric hasn’t trained either and said that the will be walking some of the 5K. It should be interesting…

If I never visit Jamaica again, I’d be ok with that.  I’m not one to go to the same place over and over again.  There are only a few places I like to visit again and again namely London and Vegas. The water was beautiful and the climate was nice.

Hagglers and Ganja

I was warned about this but it really didn’t prepare me for the vast annoyance. The ganja (marijuana) was always in the air and the hagglers on the beach were very annoying.  By the seventh day I was so pissed off at being constantly harassed to buy drugs, get my hair braided and the other various things that I just got plan old rude with them. I even flipped off the one guy. It is very annoying to walk down the beach to a restaurant that was less than 100 yards away and being approached to buy drugs 4 times. Seriously!  I was standing inside the resort fence, watching the waves crash on the beach and some guy was harassing me to by ganja.  I told him over and over no but he wouldn’t leave me alone. I was so upset I had to leave the beach area. I couldn’t even enjoy the crashing waves. Everybody was smoking ganja, we couldn’t escape it.  We went on a sunset cruise and the other 7 people on the tour and the boat captain were smoking it. You can’t escape it when you are trapped on a boat with them.

Service and Food

I will never complain about slow service again. Nothing will be as slow a Jamaica.  They have this thing called Jamaican time.  It is annoying, especially for me.  You have to plan ahead for your meals and go when you aren’t hungry because by the time you get the food you will be starving. If you wait until you are hungry it is too late. A cheeseburger…a simple cheeseburger…took over an hour.  Yes AN HOUR! ARGH!  The only meal that we got fast was our breakfast but seriously how long does it take to toast bread?  As far as the food I concerned there was some really good food and some terrible food. Mostly it was terrible. Breakfast every morning was great, fresh fruit, toast and some sort of pastry.  One day we ordered pancakes/French toast and that was even delicious (but took over 30 minutes to get). The cheeseburger mentioned above was terrible…it tasted like a slice of meatloaf with cheese on top. It was gross. Thankfully the fries were good.  I had a jerk chicken Caesar wrap…it was disgusting. I couldn’t eat it. We ate Jerk Chicken many times.  The most delicious was at the jungle river tubing place. It was a chicken breast (which is unusual, it usually was dark meat) and it was juicy and wonderful.  I think that Jerk Chicken was my favorite meal, unfortunately Eric and I shared it. My favorite thing in the world was the various juices I drank.  I didn’t realize I love pineapple juice. Also there were these blended juices called Tropical Rhythms. My favorites were Fruit Punch, Mango Carrot and the Reggae Blend (Banana, pineapple, papaya, guava and passion fruit). 

Hotel and Staff

The hotel was adequate.  Our room had a view of the water so that was nice. The room was clean and the AC worked (very important for me, I hate being hot). The Wi-Fi didn’t work in the room so we had to go by the pool every time we wanted to use the internet…and it cost us $90 for the week. ROBBERY! The toilet didn’t like to flush and shower had hot water but no pressure. The last day before we left for the airport we couldn’t even use the shower! The bed was comfy and the TV had all of our favorite channels and some new channels. The pool area was nice and there was a friendly family of cats that were all over. They were so cute and some were friendly. The staff of the place was great, very helpful. I would stay there again because it was nice considering the price.

Overall
Overall I had a great vacation.  There were some things like the ganja that made it unbearable at times. But I have been there and I’ve done that. Next time I’m going to try another island. 

I know I’ve been slacking in the writing department. I guess I’ve run out of energy. LOL!  So on Saturday we went on a Jungle River Tubing Adventure.  It was lame.  First thing was they were late in picking us up at the hotel. We waited an hour and they never showed. The security guard at the hotel was nice enough to call and ask where they were. They said that I never confirmed hotel…um I called you yesterday and confirmed hotel and you gave me a pick up time. Stupid people. It was a snafu but we eventually were able to go on the later tubing tour.  We also got an awesome driver Morris. He was a fun guy and he was really early. He said he is on American time not Jamaican time. We picked up another couple from the San Francisco area…it was an interesting discussion there and back.  Morris took us the “scenic” way. Yikes what a drive through the mountains.  Narrow roads with big rigs makes for a fun/scary drive. The tubing experience was ok. The river was so mild it makes Rapid Creek look like the Colorado River.  There were a few rapids but for the most part it was nice float through the bamboo. We were also tied to each other so there was no drifting away or worries of flipping over…the best part of tubing. Oh well, we got to see more scenic parts of Jamaica and not just the beach. This was also the night one of the cats actually jumped on my lap and was head-butting me. He was so dang cute. He was lovin’ me up. And then two other cats followed us up the stairs to our room and kept guard at our door for while. When I checked back later they were still there.

Speaking of the beach, the last two days have been mostly devoted to the beach. Yesterday morning we went to Mass at the Mary of Heaven’s Gate Catholic Church just up the road.  It was an interesting experience. First off the Mass started 40 minutes late because the priest that was saying Mass was in the neighboring town and the main priest was filling in at another church.  It was fun because the main priest asked if anybody from the US was going back this week and then he gave this couple a bunch of mail. Economizing priest. LOL!  We meet a couple from Salem, SD who were staying here until February.  They have been coming here for 25 years and always stay a while.  The warned us that the priest saying mass is long winded…they weren’t kidding.  For the 40 minutes we waited the choir sang songs. They were very festive. The priest had over a 30 minute sermon.  So on top of being 40 minutes late he had a 30 minute sermon. It was 2 hours before we got out of there. And the funny thing is one of the guys trying to sell us pot on the beach the night before was playing a tambourine…Ya Mon!  After that we went over the Coco La Palm, a resort run by Minnesotans.  The service was terrible.  It took over an hour for a cheeseburger and jerk chicken and the jerk chicken was already prepared!  We were so hungry by the time we scarfed down the food. We spent the afternoon on the beach and in the water. It was so nice except for guys harassing us on the beach.  The beach hagglers are AWFUL.  We went for a walk down to the shopping mall which was closed (I guess because it was Sunday?) and the ATM was out of money.  But the ice cream place was open so Eric got some ice cream.

Today we lounged around the beach, reading and riding the waves. This is the first day the waves were actually decent and fun to play in.  We also went back the shopping mall to buy some gifts.  The ATM was still out of money. It is the closest ATM and doesn’t require a taxi ride so this was very annoying!  We had lunch at a café…both of us were very disappointed…our food was gross.  Eric also bought me a new ring with a Caribbean blue diamond. I haggled the guy down to over 70% off. I’m good and the ring is beautiful. Well time to cuddle with my cats. Hopefully they will come to me again. It is also New Year’s Eve…I wonder if I’ll stay awake til midnight…doubt it. 

I'm wide awake early from a very awful night of sleep.  Well the first 3 hours were ok and the last 4 hours were ok...it was the 3 hours in between where I couldn't sleep. I woke up around 12:30am with this insane itching on my legs. It wasn't the jellyfish sting, you can't even see that anymore their potion worked wonders. Jamaica has sand flies here which are like a mosquito   They suck. You can't see or feel them biting you but you get the welt later and it itches like crazy. I have probably a dozen or more bites on my leg and there were all itching at the same time. I scratched my legs so hard I thought they were going to bleed. Finally I got up and put cortisone cream on my legs which helped a lot. I'm so glad I brought that along.  So I tried to fall back to sleep but there there was this annoying beeping noise coming from outside our room.I have no idea what it was but it was driving me nuts.  So I turned on the TV to see the last 30 seconds of the Gopher Bowl game. The first thing I saw was the Gophers throwing the interception and Texas Tech throwing 2 passes and kicking a field goal to end the tied game.  Well that made me a little upset but I'm actually amazed it wasn't a blow out. Way to go Gophers! I thought I was tired enough to shut the TV off and fall asleep...wrong. The damn beeping noise again. Finally I put the TV back on and settled for the first Harry Potter movie and eventually fell asleep but I know it was after 2am.  I'm not sure when I shut the TV off.

Last night was lot of fun and was kind of an adventure.  We decided to a sunset cruise with the same guys who did the earlier snorkeling.  Well another group had organized a ride out to Booby Cay, an Island not far from here.  Well we got to do both.  We went out the island which was beautiful. I found an awesome seashell...I'm talking a massive seashell. We hung around for a while so they could do some snorkeling and then we went to Rick's Cafe, Lighthouse and caves.  I got a nice picture of the sunset from the cave. Then we went to Rick's where one of the guys in our group jumped from the cliffs. I don't think I would do it from that height. Maybe the smaller ones.  Crazy! The group we were with were interesting.  There were 3 couples and one other guy. They were from all over the US. The one girl was from Michigan and her father lives here part time so they were staying at his house.  The others were from Northern California, Memphis and Atlanta. The were also smoking ganja (aka pot) most of the ride. It was a long cruise but we saw lots of interesting things.

This morning we went snorkeling with Captain Papa and Capitan Sponge Bob. They work for Capitan Moses, a legend on seven mile beach.  It was so much fun. It was nice because it was only 4 of us that went so it was small group. Papa took us around the coral and brought up a starfish for us to feel. Then he brought up a sea urchin. Eric and I both held it. That was a weird feeling.  I got some great shots of underwater fish, urchins, a shipwreck anchor and cannon. It was very cool. I also got attacked by a jellyfish…AGAIN!  It is Mexico all over again.  But this spot was way better than Mexico.

Happy Birthday to me!

What a busy, bumpy day. We started the day with a 2 hour drive to Black River, Jamaica.  It was a very nice drive but VERY BUMPY.  The roads in this country are horrible!  In Black River we rode a boat up the Black River.  We got to see the crocodiles and mangroves. It was a very nice ride on a scenic river.

The second stop on the tour was the YS Falls.  They were beautiful.  I didn’t know that you could swim in the water around there so I was a little disappointed because that would have been fun but we waded around. It was a multiple layered waterfall. They also had swing ropes. Dang it next time I need to bring my suit.

The final stop was the Appleton Rum Estate. We had a great meal of Jerk Chicken, sweet potatoes (I actually ate them) and rice. It was ok.  Not the best but I was hunger. The tour was kind of short we got to see how they used to get the sugar out of the sugar cane and we saw the vaults in the distillery and final the ageing room.  It was interesting seeing all those barrels.  We didn’t do too much of the tasting as I don’t like rum. I tried the coconut and the mango and it burned.  Water for me please.

After that we had the 2 hour ride back to Negril on the same bum numbing drive. Crazy drivers and roads in this country. 

We were glad to get home and go out for some dinner.  Now we are just relaxing in the room and watching ALF…yes that ALF. LOL!

Well our first official day at Jamaica is done and it was fun even though it rained this afternoon.  We ventured up the beach to see what is around.  We ran into a lot of people that want to offer you stuff. They are like vultures.  Glass bottom boat rides, braiding my hair and marijuana was a common theme. We stopped a gift shop and got Eric his standard National Team Soccer Jersey.  It is really cool.  Also at this place was the original bobsled from the movie Cool Runnings. How cool is that???  We walked back on the road side and got beeped at numerous times from taxis wanting to give us a ride. They are just as persistent as the beach vendors.  We stopped to check out the Catholic church just up the road from our hotel. We meet Father Jim the parish priest.  He is from Cincinnati and works here as part of his mission...sweet mission...across the street from the beach!  He said that people from Minnesota come to this church the most followed by Wisconsin.  I thought that was interesting.  He said it must be the cold weather that makes us come here. :) After that we stopped at a small street shop for some water, Coke and cookies.  They were playing the Manchester United game on the TV in the show so Eric was watching  the game and talking with the locals while I walked around.  We had lunch at the hotel.  No Jamaica food today...burgers and fries. I know I'm bad but I wanted something that I knew I would like. Bad Kim. We finally got into the water after that. It was amazing.  I think it was warmer last night but it didn't matter it felt wonderful.  We were one of the few people in the water which was odd.

After a quick shower we flagged down a taxi, Carlton was his name, he drove us the mega grocery store where we got some food.  They probably think were sugar addicts because we stocked up on candy bars and sugary cereal. We are just like Santa, we like our sugar. Carlton waited for us to do our shopping and then gave us a ride back. That was convenient. And then it started to rain so it was really good we didn't try walking (about 2.5 miles).

We have a sweet tooth!

After the rain shower we walked down the beach to unexplored stores.  Again more hassling from vendors. I'm not kidding they are like vultures.  One of them though was nice. He was wearing a Justin Morneau Minnesota Twins Shirt.  His name was Lobster and he and his dad, Captain Moses do glass bottom boat tours and snorkeling. I think we will go with them later this week when go snorkeling.  Got to support the Twins...and those who support them. I'm looking forward to that.  We stopped for some dinner and now I'm  relaxing poolside listen to the reggae from the local nightclub..."Enjoy the Vibes." I'm surrounded by cats and a bird that keeps diving for the pool water. I also almost stepped on a crab at the bottom our of step. He scurried away.  Besides the cats, there are dogs that roam the beach and goats that roam the countryside. The cats make me happy.  It reminds me of Swirl.

Cat protecting his alcohol

From 0 to 85

Hey everybody from SUNNY and HOT Jamaica.  I'm having a great time so far.  I'm not sure what the temps is but I'm all sweaty and hot. I can't wait to jump in the water.  It will be awesome.  We went walking along the beach last night the water was amazing.

Well we got here about 5:30 last night.  It was a long day of travel.  It started at 12:30 am Christmas morning.  I woke up with symptoms that I thought was a UTI.  So I waited a couple hours and couldn't sleep so finally I went to the ER at 2:30 just to make sure I didn't have it.  The doctor said that my test came back negative but he was going to give me a prescription just in case it is in the early stages.  So I had to find the closest 24 hour pharmacy that was open on Christmas day.  Thankfully it was only 10 miles away in Savage.   I got home about 4:30. I tried to sleep but couldn't.  Greg picked us up at 5:30 for our early morning flight.  The flight to Atlanta was really BUMPY!  Atlanta to Montego was kind of bumpy too but not as bad.  Immigration and customs went by smoothly and then we got in a mini bus for the 90 minute drive to Negril. What an amazing driving. It was beautiful but also very realistic.  Big beautiful houses next to run down shacks.  I don't think there is a middle class here.

View from the room :)

Our hotel is right on the beach and our room faces the ocean. Unfortunately we didn't get a balcony but we have a sliding door so that is cool.  We got to our room just in time for the first of many sunsets.  BEAUTIFUL!  We ventured down the beach to Alfred's Ocean Palace.  They had good, cheap food and some American food for us spoiled people. I had Jamaican fried chicken. It was good but Eric's fancy chicken was much better.  I had the banana cake for dessert. It was a delicious piece of cake similar to banana bread. I think we will visit them again.

Today we are going to adventure around the beach and see what there is to offer. I'm so excited.

Well it less than 70 days until 2013 which means that vacation planning has started.  Actually vacation planning started in early September when MLB released the schedule for next year.  Eric had mentioned that it would be cool if the Twins played at the Rangers and Astros in back-to-back series.  Well, MLB didn’t disappoint...August 30-September 4, the Twins play 3 games in Arlington and 3 games in Houston.   Wow!  That is two years in a row we got lucky. Last year I mentioned that I wanted to see Pittsburgh and Cincinnati and MLB granted the Twins back-to-back series on June this year. Seems like the MLB has been listening to us! Ha!

So we are planning on either driving or flying to Dallas, spend a few days there then drive to Houston for a couple days and visit with my friend, Mary Linda. Other than the two baseball games, I’m not sure what else we will do. I guess I have more planning to do.

Another trip that I’m planning is to Rapid City in late June/early July.  Apparently we are biking/running in part of a Triathlon with Eric’s sister Carrie. She is swimming, I’m biking, Eric is running.  I’m not sure which one she wants to do but I’m thinking it is the Rapid City one which is June 29th.

The other reason that I start my vacation planning in late October is because Eric needs to have his PTO for next year figured out about now.  I know that sounds crazy but because of his union they have to plan this far ahead of time.  Now he doesn’t have to plan every day but if there is a day/week he really needs off, he has to do it now.  Unfortunately, he is last man on the totem pole for next year. In his old area he was close to the top so he got any days he wanted.  When he moved to this new area in late January he went back to the bottom.  That means no PTO the day after Thanksgiving or the Monday before Christmas Eve.  How sad! I guess no Omaha for us next year.  He should be able to get off the two days after Christmas though so that is good. 

This is a good time of year.  I love planning vacations and this is great time to start.

It has been booked...ok not Hawaii!  How about "Da Plane, Da Plane" from Fantasy Island? Anyways, we are off to the white sandy beaches and turquoise waters of Jamaica.  We are leaving Christmas Day and coming back New Year’s Day.  7 days of sun, water and relaxation.  I’m so excited!  Hopefully I won't get bored! I have been dragging my feet on purchasing it and the price went up $400 yesterday!  I was so pissed.  But today I got a Delta Vacation code and saved almost $500.  Yes!  I’m spending another Christmas Day at the airport.  This is becoming a tradition.

I ran 4 miles on Monday and 5 miles today!  5 miles!!  I was so happy.  It was slow but 5 miles!  I was only going to do 4 again but I went to the preserve by the river and the out and back is only 3.8 miles.  So I had to turn around and when I did I thought what the heck I can do another mile.  I’m not sure what is going on here but I really like running. I celebrated by going to Kohl’s and to buy new running shirts.  I’m getting annoyed by baggy t-shirts, I want something that wicks sweat. 

Tomorrow is my last day of work for the week.  Yippy!  I have Friday off to prepare for Milwaukee and to go to Abbie’s Confirmation.  

Well it is day 5 of our trip and I'm ready for the rain to go away. Yesterday was a good day we got up early and headed south to the Cape May ferry. We got there in time for the 9:30 ferry. The ferry takes about 80 minutes and cuts over 100 miles off the trip.

We drove down the coastal highway through Delaware and Maryland to the Assateague National Seashore where you can see wild horses on the beaches and marshes. They were beautiful. Check out my pictures.

After checking out the beach we head back into Ocean City, MD for some lunch at the Dumser's Drive-In. I definitely suggest it. Awesome food and apparently good ice cream. I had strawberry shortcake. Yum! Our hotel is on the beach but the beach is awful. I got spoiled in Alabama and Myrtle Beach. But maybe the beach is suffering from Irene? I'm not really sure. We couldn't go into the ocean as the surf was atleast 6 feet high. Not happening! We spent some time in the hotel pool and hot tub. After relaxing a bit we went and played some mini golf...27 holes! It was fun...mom had 2 hole-in-ones!

Today is a dismal day with showers in the area. We are currently heading to Baltimore for an Yankees/Orioles game. Tickets were cheap so we thought why not?

I was up at 5:25 am for a sunrise that was non-existent. :-( I went back to bed and actually slept in...until 8 am. We are staying at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Orange Beach. It is amazing! It just opened a few weeks ago and the whole hotel is awesome. They upgraded us to a corner suite so our balcony wraps around the building...very cool...we have a lounge area with a couple chairs, couch, and a table for playing cards. These sisters...all they want to do is play cards. I've been very successful, I don't think I've lost yet. After the awesome complimentary hot breakfast, I went in for a dip in the bath temperature gulf waters. The waves were at least 3-4 feet high so it made for fun swimming. I see they have taken the red flag down so I'm sure the waves aren't as great. I also went in the hotel's pool. My mom even went into the pool!!!! SHOCKING!!!! Around noon we went for a drive to Pensacola Beach, FL. It was such a pretty drive over many large bridges! After driving around Florida aimlessly we returned to Alabama and stopped at Moe's BBQ. Really good food...pulled pork sandwich...YUM! Now we are relaxing in the hotel room. The sisters are playing cards (AGAIN!). I'm going to back out the beach for some more swimming.

September 8, 2010 - 6:25 PM CT - CAVE CITY, KY -
Yesterday we drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway on our way to the Great Smoky Mountains. It was very beautiful but like the name says very Smoky...hazy. We hiked up the Clingman's Dome which is the highest point in NC at 6,632 feet. It was a 1/2 mile hike straight up hill. It was the longest 1/2 mile hike of my life. Then we made our way down to Gatlinburg, TN. Very touristy for my taste. We walked around a little bit and had some dinner. It was pretty busy for a week night after the summer season. We checked out where we need to go for the tramway and suck. BUT today started out crappy....Rain, Rain, Rain. So we had planned on a cable ride to the top of the Gatlinburg...but obviously that wasn't happening! So we decided to head out. We ventured up I-75 to Knoxville, TN and across the Kentucky border, drove up 11 miles, turned around and drove back into Tennessee to get the silly Tennessee sign. Then we went to Cumberland Fall State Park for the Niagara of the South. It was a nice waterfall but no Niagara. We ventured over to Big South Fork NRA to do some hiking above the beautiful gorge of the Cumberland River. We decided to head to Mammoth Cave. This is where it gets interesting. Our AAA map, Rand McNally Atlas, Google Maps and my phone's GPS told us to go on KY State Hwy 9008. There were no signs for KY 9008, nothing. We continued driving for a few miles and this stupid road was no where to be found! We saw KY 80 which eventually intersects this phantom highway in 14 miles and after we couldn't find KY 9008 we eventually figured out that it was the "Cumberland Parkway." It never said 9008. None of our maps said that the other name was Cumberland Parkway. Very stupid! On our way we listened to Betty Bath on the Trader on the Radio. Very funny old women dj. She loved to say the word V-HICK-ALL (vehicle) we cracked up at the various things people were trying to trade/sell (bunnies, "hard worker" looking for some work in the Tobacco fields and many many V-hick-alls). I think Kentucky folk is funny. We finally got to Mammoth Cave at 5:30. The last tour was at 4:30. Oh well, we get up early for the 8:30 tour. We are back in central time zone so it should be easy. Cave City is a bit of dump. I'm glad to not be spending much time here. Now Eric is watching some local Country Blue Grass music on the old color tv...Eric don't like country...I mean doesn't like country. Here are some "vital" statistics as of right now; Miles driven: 2,290, cops seen: 75, states/prov. seen: 48

September 7, 2010 - 3:18 PM ET - I-26 somewhere in NC.
It is very interesting what a day makes. Sunday driving through Myrtle Beach was crazy. Tons of people on the streets, all the places are open until 11pm or later and it is overall a hopping town. Last night after we watched the Season Finale of Eric's favorite show, The Secret Life, we decided to hit a mini golf place. (because the 36 holes that we had already played for the day wasn't enough). The place was closed!!! 9pm! They really take the seasonal hours seriously. We found one that was open but as soon as we paid he slapped the "Closed" sign on the door. That was the quickest round of mini golf ever. We were the only ones on the course so it was great. We drove down the main street and again...DEAD! I kind of liked it. Now our hotel had quite a few cars still and we saw a lot of school aged children around so apparently they don't go to school (or they are home schooled...don't know). I dragged myself out of bed at 630 for the sunrise and I'm glad I did it was great. I hung around the beach for about an hour. I found this awesome seashell and put it by my shoes as I waded in the ocean....somebody took it! Seriously who low must you go to dig in a shoe to get a stupid shell? I pretty much collapsed into bed and tried to sleep again. We packed up and said our good byes to the Atlantic. The beach was very DEAD, they didn't even put out the chairs and umbrellas! We are now on our way to Great Smoky Mountains. We should be there soon. How exciting!
Here are some "vital" statistics as of right now; Miles driven: 1,854, cops seen: 59, states/prov. seen: 44 (wow more cops than states!)

September 6, 2010 - 8:00 PM ET
Oh so sleepy. Today was great. I love the ocean! The waves were very high. There were rip current warnings and I could definitely feel the current tugging me away. It was fun! And I certainly learned a lesson last year and wore a shirt so I wouldn't get burned. I got a little on my neck so it was a good thing I wore the shirt. We spend most of the day in the ocean and pools at the hotel. Around 4pm we went to Boardwalk at the Beach and played 36 holes of mini golf in the blazing sun. It was hot! After that we made a trip to Wal-Mart for new swim trunks for Eric. It was quite exciting...we saw two young pretty Lindsay Lohan-type girls getting arrested for shoplifting. Handcuffed behind their back and everything. Cool! They had pink purses....need I say more? We came back to the resort to chill out for a while. Eric has to watch the Season Finale of Secret Life of the American Teenager...he loves this show. Then we are going out for more mini golf. Eric loves mini golf...

Ocean is my calling

September 6, 2010 - 6:21 AM ET - Myrtle Beach.
It is 6:21 in the morning and I'm sitting on the deck waiting for the sunrise. But that doesn't happen for another 30 minutes. Why am I up so early then? I had a dream I missed it and woke up at 5:56 am in a panic. How lame! And of course my body says...I'm Up, I'm up why are you still in bed. So alas I'm out on the deck. Eating Golden Chocolate Oreos (first thing I could easily grab), drinking water, listening to the waves and writing. Awesome! Let see, Duke was interesting. Lots of skinny people running. The campus looks very regal. I suppose if you pay a fortune to go there you expect that. We tried to check out the chapel....but ran into a incident. There was a wedding but it was over by the time we got there. The bride and groom and all the guests were standing around outside and getting in the limo. So I, along with a bunch of other people went in the side door and were standing in the vestibule. This very rude woman said "You need to leave! You can't be in here there is still a wedding going on" (the church was empty they were all outside). She then said the wedding party still needs to take photos (you mean the dress fancy people that just got in the limo?) If I was cleaver I should have told her asked her if she was St. Peter at the Perily Gates! So I peaked inside...I didn't go up the steps or nothing I just turned my torso to see the main stain glass window and she pushed me! I'm like seriously women? get a grip. So anyways we all got kicked out....literally. I also was tempted to say...well it's no St. Peter's anyway so I'm not missing much...but I was nice about it. So we left Duke kind of late and headed south. I must say Google maps had us going some random route. My hubby and I were going a long Sunday drive on NC back roads and I mean back roads. But when I looked at the map, there really was no other way to go that didn't involve a lot more driving. Oh it is 5:39, the sun is suppose to rise in 13 minutes but it doesn't look like it! Very cloudy...hum...disappointed!

September 5, 2010 - 3:32 PM ET - on I-40 East near Durham, NC!

We have been having an excellent day. We drove some mountains, saw some high bridges, deep valleys, waterfalls and rivers. Wow West Virginia is beautiful. We took the Midland Trail (US Hwy. 60) from Charleston, WV. The Midland Trail was commissioned by our very own George Washington! SO it is old! The views were amazing. Good thing Eric drove as I would have stopped every 5 miles to take pictures. The roads were twisty curvy and not much keep us from going off the edge. We stopped at Eagle Nest State Park and got a great view of the New River Gorge. Shockingly we saw a long train carrying coal...imagine that in West Virginia...how strange...HAHAHA. We drove across the US 19 New River Gorge Bridge. This bridge is the longest single arch bridge in the western hemisphere (so the sign says) and at the time it was built it was the tallest. Seriously tall, the pictures don't do it justice. Every year they close the bridge and people parachute off it so you know its high. After that we drove down the gorge under the bridge...this was the old road and it was a single lane most of the way but the view at the bottom was great.

After that we decided to skip the tollway and head down the state highways to Babcock State Park so I could take a picture of the Grist Mill. According to them it is the most photographed spot in West Virginian so of course I had to have a picture. After that we dropped down some more mountains to Virginia. The most exciting thing about Virginia was $2.45 a gallon gas! Considering we have been seeing $2.75/gallon this was awesome. Lets see we also were traveling north and south at the same time. Weird thing. We were on I-77 South and I-81 North. Granted we were actually going east but I thought it was cool so I took a picture of the signs. (I think the only other person that would find this cool is my nephew Dylan....we are atlas/map crazed people). We are currently on our way to Duke University for my Duke fanatic husband. Then we make our way south to Myrtle Beach. Ciao for now!

Here are some "vital" statistics as of right now; Miles driven: 1,322, cops seen: 44, (16 in OH I thought WI was bad!, states/prov. seen: 39 (wow more cops than states!)

CRICKET!!!!!!

September 5, 2010 - 7:03 AM ET - West Virgina
Ok so I know I'm suppose to be up already but we have another resident in our room that keeps me from getting just a few more winks of shut eye. This annoying cricket that keeps making that cricketing noise. Oh how annoying! Recap of yesterday, drove through Illinois - Corn, drove through Indiana - more corn, drove though Ohio - State Troopers, 16 in all! Thankfully all buy 3 had somebody stopped. Crazy! We finally got to our destination of Charleston, WV. We stopped at this tiny town gas station that had the cheapest gas in miles and I had the feeling they were going to tell me "we dun't like yer kind har" But alas the people seem very nice. We swung by the capital building. It looks like most others. The grounds were very nice with fountains and flowers. That was the excitement for the day. Exciting, eh? Oh now I hear a train...Nice hotel, except for the cricket, in a weird part of town. Hey the cricket stopped...it must be all my typing has intimidated him....Ha!