Trip North

September 5, 2011

Rain, rain and more rain! The tropical storm arrived in Blue Ridge with a bang. The heavy rain started during the evening and continued all day. Noel whipped up some French toast and Mary cooked up some bacon for breakfast. Although we swore on a stack of bibles not to eat anymore, it all disappeared, again. That left us with marathon US Open Tennis and Net Flex to entertain ourselves. There was also some lively debate in between sets that settled all the worlds’ important issues. The bottom line, throw all the bums out and start over. We would like to thank Jack and his best new friends for dinner the previous evening. I vote that we invite them to dinner at least once a week. We talked, we snacked, and we had leftovers for dinner and watched TV long into the evening, before we called it a night around 11:30PM. The sad part, we all knew it would come to an end in the morning, as we were all headed out in separate directions.

September 6, 2011

Early morning wakeup started with coffee and sad faces. Jack and Donna were first to pack up and leave around 8Am. Hugs and kisses along with promises to do this again. That was followed by Annette and me leaving around 8:30AM. We can’t say enough about our Camp Counselors, Noel and Mary, they were truly great hosts. What a great way to end our six week adventure. We all hope to be invited again. The drive to Zephyrhills Florida was long, with some traffic jams and a few down pours along the way. We stopped for dinner at Outback steak house, in Wesley Chapel, before arriving at Annett’s dads. Early to bed this evening, to catch up on some much needed sleep.

September 7, 2011

Annette visited with her dad, while I did some chores around the house. Everything seems to be going good with him. We ran some errands and made another visit to assisted living and then headed back to the house for dinner, some wine and needed rest.

September 8, 2011

We were up early and did the final pack for the last leg of the trip. We arrived home around 12:30 and logged the final mileage, 5,707.2. What a great trip it was. Thanks to all of you who put us up along the way and all of you who put up with us along the way. We can’t say enough about your hospitality and friendship. There were a few folks that we didn’t get to see, do to time constraints. We hope to see you all the next time. Well it’s time to sign off. We can’t wait to see you all back in Florida.
Bob and Annette

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September 2, 2011

We left Nashville in the morning heading to Blue Ridge Georgia to visit Noel and Mary. The last half of the drive was fantastic. It took us through some spectacular views along the Occoc Lake and river. The Olympics white water events were held here. We arrived at the cabin around 12:30 and after hugs and kisses we settled in for our first bloodies of the day. Noel and Mary made a great lunch of barley soup and BLT’s. How good is that? They also had some great news that Jack and Donna were on their way and would be arriving one day early. We poked around town for a few hours and then headed back to the cabin for cocktails and munchies. Jack and Donna arrive around 6:45 that evening and after some more hugs and kisses we all settled in on the deck for, you guessed it, more cocktails. We had a nice dinner that Noel had simmering for the whole day in a crock pot. After some more conversation and some TV we all headed off to bed around 11:30. Our camp counselors had us scheduled for tennis in the morning.

September 3, 2011

The morning was great. The sun was shining; we had coffee on the deck and nice views of the mountains. After a quick breakfast of fruit and peach bread, we laced up the sneakers and off we went. What a great club they have, along with some outstanding tennis players. Everyone was friendly and made us feel very welcome. It was couples tournament, with husbands and wives playing together. The divorce court that never ends! We played tennis until noon and then had a nice lunch. The tournament was scheduled to continue after lunch but most folks were burnt out from the heat and opted out of the afternoon event. We showered, changed and then it was off to town. The men and ladies split up in separate vehicles, we each had different agendas. The girls went shopping and the guys headed to Oysters, it’s not a raw bar, but a store that makes custom fly rods. They hold classed every week where individuals make their own fly rods. The rods were beautifully hand crafted. Most of the equipment sold for $1500.00 and up. The owner made a custom rod for President Jimmy Carter. After a few more stops around town we ended up in a wine bar. It’s a great place that opened a few weeks ago. The ladies finally tracked us down, so it was time to head back to camp for, you guessed it, cocktails and dinner. We had nice dinner of strip steak and fresh corn on the cob. We followed that up with a 3D movie of the Grand Canyon. Lots of fun and we all looked so cute with our 3D glasses. After that it was off to bed, not knowing what our camp counselors had scheduled for the morning.

September 4, 2001

Dawn broke with a partly cloudy day and coffee on the deck. Even though no one was hungry, Noel whipped up some scrambled eggs and onions, along with some fruit and toasted bread. Oh, and who can start the morning without a bloody. No one was hungry but all the food disappeared. After some small talk, the camp counselors booked us on a hiking trip to Amicalola Falls. It’s the tallest continuous falls east of the Mississippi. Jack and I took the trail up and the rest of the kids meet us at the half way point for pictures. It was a great spot with a great view of the falls. After the hike, we drove to the top to check out the lodge. One of the lady rangers was giving a talk on owls and had several different live species to show everyone. Funny story, she had this high pitched squeaky voice, and everyone agreed that she would be a one date girl. On the way back to the camp our counselors scheduled a stop at this pumpkin place. I’ve never seen so many pumpkins in my life. Some of them were huge. I’m not sure what you do with a 200lb pumpkin. We left there and headed to camp, for you guessed it, cocktails and getting ready for dinner out tonight.

Bob and Annette

September 1, 2011
OMG, it was 100 degrees in Nashville today. It was awful difficult walking around the town. We visited some of the local shops and saloons, in the downtown area. Many of the saloons have music playing all day and into the night. We took a walk up the hill to the State Capitol. The place was fairly empty with the exception of security and office staff. It’s a grand old building with lots of granite and marble. The Senate and House were open to view but there wasn’t anything going on. Maybe that’s a good thing. We made a quick stop at the Hermitage Hotel. It's next to the Capitol and where many of the dignitary's stay when they are in town. After losing all that body fluid, it was time for a cold one. We started out at the Coyote Ugly Saloon. Let’s just say, it was a fun time, with another fun couple and a great bartender. Dancing on the bar is not restricted to employees only. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. Great time was had by all. After a nice lunch at Rippy’s Ribs we stopped at the Wildhorse Saloon for another cold one. It’s a great place with line dancing, live music and Wild Horses. Well, maybe there were no wild horses. We made it back to the parking lot and to my surprise, our car was still there. There are a few shady folks that hang out in town and around the parking lots. There was a big basketball game going on in town and the place was starting to get crazy. So we headed back to the condo with only one wrong turn. Time to pack up again and it’s off to see Noel and Mary. We can’t wait and hope the weather will be a little cooler. See you all soon.
Bob and Annette

August 31, 2011
We arrived in Nashville around 1PM. We came to see the Grand Old Opry again and it was closed again. We are batting one hundred. The last time we were here they were recovering from water damage, this time they are only open on the weekends. Oh well, there is always next year. After checking in we headed out to the grocery store for some essentials. Then it was off to check out the area. We stopped at the Gay Lord Opry Hotel. It’s an unbelievable place with waterfalls, and tropical gardens inside the hotel. The rooms have balconies that face out toward the gardens. We went to the bar and had two house wines each. The bill came and it was 40 dollars. Nine dollars of the total was sales tax and sin tax. Makes you want to stop drinking. After the drinks we went to the Opry Back Stage Grill for some ribs. The dry rub ribs were extremely dry, almost arid. We would not go back for ribs there again. So we are back at the condo sipping some wine and working on the plans for tomorrow.
Bob and Annette

August 30, 2011
Well, we celebrated our anniversary today with a trip to Marengo Cave. I really know how to impress a girl. The cave was fantastic, once you got past the bats hanging a few inches over your head. We have seen a few caves around the country but this was one of the best. It’s amazing what nature can do. We followed that up with a stop at Turtle Run Winery for a wine tasting. All the wine was great but we settled on a few bottles to take along with us. Two other girls at the tasting were from St Louis. We asked what was in St Louis to see and the best they could come up with was, we have the arch. Can’t wait for that trip! The girl doing the pouring was from Massachusetts and her parents live in Falmouth, small world. This was followed by an anniversary lunch at the Overlook Restaurant, that overlooks the Ohio River. After a great lunch we moseyed back to the condo at French Lick. We will pack up a few things tonight and plan on heading out tomorrow morning for Nashville. Have a good one and see you all soon.
Bob and Annette