And Back Again!
It's really crazy how fast the months are flying by. I'm now two months behind on our blog, editing and uploading 85 pictures to somehow fit into this entry. That's in no way meant to be a complaint. Just an observation that with all our repairs completed we now seem to be full speed ahead.
We'll start this entry with our stay in Sharonville, Ohio at an extended stay hotel. (Because we stayed in a hotel and did not stay in the camper, we don't get to fill in the Ohio state sticker)
The BIG event for me was attending the Opening Day Reds parade and catching a couple of games during opening week. I've never done this in my 35 years as a Reds fan! It was way fun!
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I lived in Ohio the first 12 years of my life and have been back dozens of times since to visit. Interestingly I've never been to the Cincinnati Museum Center. We went this time around because they had a traveling exhibit about the Roman City of Pompeii. Literally a city "Frozen in Time".
It was fascinating and disturbing.
The image above really summed up the whole thing for me. Hundreds of people frozen beneath volcanic lava and ash. There were many actual body casts created from the voids left in the lava.
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After the trailer was finished we stayed just outside Indianapolis for a month. I had an all-day client meeting in Spokane so we flew back for a quick visit with friends and family and needed a resting spot for the camper while we were gone. We ended up staying a month in Indy since we liked the really peaceful campground. Sheila really missed an actual campfire (you would be amazed how few campgrounds allow campfires anymore) It also had the best daily 1 mile "walking trail" we've had yet. The "pond" you see below is actually a swimming pool fed by artesian spring water.
Just a funny note here. On the flight into Spokane (while we were landing) they were showing "The Top Ten Worst Airplane Crash Landings on the Discovery Channel. Proof below : )
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We had prearranged for another month in Galveston, Texas starting June 1. So we had two weeks to explore after leaving Indianapolis. We mapped a route to Orlando through the Smokey Mountains and then back over to Texas.
I've been here a couple times before, but have always loved Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. They have many different tours exploring miles of caves. We chose the "Lantern Tour" which explores the original paths into the caves without electric lights (as it was done many years ago).
I included this picture of Sheila outside the cave entrance just because I'm always in awe of how beautiful she is and consider myself very fortunate to have her in my life.
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Next up was a trip to the Smokies. We were really looking forward to this stop. We only booked two days here and later wished we had a week or two, so we'll come back. The campground here was outstanding. We had a semi-private spot along a rippling creek. Once again we had the pleasure of a campfire. I think this was one of our best camping nights to date.
We were both amazed at the city of Pigeon Forge (entry point into the Smokey Mountains). This was like a mini-disneyland of sorts with a lot of Dolly Parton influence (Dollywood and Dixie Stampede Dinner Show) This was just a fun upside down building ; )
The real treat here of course was the Smokey Mountains. We immediately found a driving loop tour that ended in a great day hike into a waterfall.
If you've ever seen the movie "Last of the Mohicans. It really felt like that at times. We would walk through thick forested areas and happen upon small clearings that had original settler cabins. It was really magical and beautiful.
Then of course there were the bears – probably way too close for these pictures : )
Like I said. This was a fantastic trip into the Smokies. We could have spent weeks. An interesting thing happened on our way out...we set the GPS as usual to find the best highway out and down the road toward our next stop in North Carolina.
Let's just say the GPS screwed up.
We ended up on a secondary road deep into the mountains. I attached a satellite picture here to show you what it was like. Explaining it doesn't do the thing justice.
You guessed it...we were on 32. Not 40. Seven long miles worth!
The unlevel switchbacks were crazy bad. At one point we had two trucks following us with every expectation we were going to get jack-knifed in one of the turns and be stuck for good. Turning around was not an option. Eventually the pavement gave way to a single lane dirt road with the same unlevel switchback turns. Sheila was an emotional mess. We even had to remove the bed cover and have one of our friendly followers carry it for us. The turns were less than 90 degrees in some spots, and the cover was getting hammered.
Amazingly, we made every turn with inches to spare and made it through without a blemish much to the surprise of our caravan : )
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Well, I warned you this would be a long entry. So this is where we will take a small intermission. We'll wait for you to come back before we start again.
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Welcome back!
Eventually we made it into Orlando and setup for a weeks stay in the sun. Below is my wonderful partner in life sunbathing on Daytona beach.
The Florida trip was simply based on the amusement parks. We still love them, and our inner-child was screaming for some play time!
We reserve Disney trips for when we are with Shelby (yes at her request). However, Universal has changed a lot, and is all grown up. I would suggest they were better than Mickey's place in several areas. We loved Jurassic Park, and the Super Hero areas at Universal.
We had a 2 day pass for Universal. We went during the week, and the lines were short if any at all. So we never had to rush or stand in long hot lines. We also went to see the Blue Man Group. We saw them in Vegas years back and loved them. They were just as good the second time around. If you get the chance and enjoy completely off-the-wall fun and comedy, you should catch this show somewhere. The music throughout is awesome too.
I saved the best of Universal for last. I never was a Harry Potter fan. I think I might have seen the first movie, but that's about it. The Harry Potter area at Universal was absolutely incredible! Now, we've been to amusement parks all over the country. Disney alone probably half a dozen times. And I have never seen anything like this before. It's worth the trip to Universal just by itself. The attention to detail in this place was...well...like a movie set : )
Oh, and they had some pretty cool rides too! The Harry Potter coaster inside the castle was great, but the Spiderman ride has to be one of the best I've ever been on. The have now taken a roller coaster, simulator, Imax and 3D and combined them into one heck-of-a ride. Have to see it to believe it!
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Finally we were ready to head toward Galveston. We scheduled stops in Alabama and Louisiana. We only spent a single night in Alabama, but we toured the USS Alabama and sub while there.
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Our next stop in Lafayette, Louisiana was also an incredible experience. As Sheila would say, this was our most culturally informative experience so far. We toured an original cajun village, listened to authentic cajun music and ate a variety of real cajun food.
I thought the "fan" in the middle picture above said a lot about the time period. Yes?
Again, some of the imagery was breathtaking.
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Well, we've finally made it back to Galveston. We will be here a month, and head back toward the Spokane area in July. We just put Shelby on a plane home yesterday, as we flew her out for a vacation with us here in Jamaica Beach. She enjoyed the break from that crappy spring weather y'all are havin over there in Spokane : ) Shelby got to meet some of her family from my side for the first time. We drove to Corpus Christi, Texas to see my cousin's Jack and Tina, my Aunt Tessie and a bunch of kids and grandkids. It was a great but way too short visit.
They just reopened Pleasure Pier here in June. It was destroyed by Hurricane Ike years ago.
Shelby riding the carousel.
Shelby brought her best friend, softball teammate and roommate with her. Because the trailer would be a bit small for three girls and all their "stuff", we rented a condo for Shelby and Nicole. Shelby is on the balcony and Nicole is floating in the pool below : )
And of course the Reds were in town while the girls were here. (playing the Houston Astros). Never been to Minute Maid park, the Reds won, and they opened the roof and had a really good fireworks show after the game. It was all good!
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As always, thanks for spending time with us on our blog!
I'll leave you with yet another great image taken in Kingsland, Georgia.
Mossy trees in a graveyard.
