AGW Day Two

I guess third time is the charm, I wrote this review yesterday at the close of the day, went to post it and "poof" it went away and was lost to the network hell that all failed posts apparently go.  So I wrote it all again and then it was stuck on my phone for the whole night and all today and will NOT post - even now that I am home.. so I went to my computer and the photo's won't load in IE... REALLY?  So, now I am on Google Chrome and trying for the third time to post this... so I'm sure a LOT will be lost on the enthusiasm level by writing this again and again and again!

The day was BEAUTIFUL for sure and in hind sight of today's weather the PERFECT day for our outing on the river.  

 I got to put the patio to good use with a coffee and an iPad to sit and while the morning away!  I did do some productive stuff while out there too (setting up a gas account for the little house and such)

 Linda, on the other hand got the BIG prize as she walked the block a few times - or a few blocks AND the five flights of stairs up to the room... so she used her time super well!!

Then we walked the 1/4 mile down to the boat dock to await our lunch cruise.  The "dock" is a VERY old and very large boat that is moored permanently on the shore there.. on the top floor there is a bar/lounge area and I cracked up at the curtains that have seem much worse dart players than need be :)  ha!

 we are overlooking the true boat we are going to go on our cruise of the day.  it's a nice size boat with four levels to the captains level that we're eye to eye with.  it was really a nice size little boat at 140 some odd feet.

 While we were waiting for the cruise to start we were "entertained" by a singer/piano (keyboard) player who was 68 I believe he said.  You can tell how thrilled Mom is with him, her ears are plugged.  To her defense, it was LOUD in there with him hooping it up for sure.

 Here he is.. in the front of the boat... can't see him?

 Here it is zoomed in...

 ALSO while on this trip we got to have the police practice touch and goes on the boat - it's their way of practicing boarding a moving boat and I guess the river boat is a good practice vessel.  It was sort of fun to watch them out of our window.  They would pull up and touch the boat for x amount of time, then peel off and come back and repeat - they did this for MILES of the river.

 Looking up a branch of the river - the land to the left is an island - we ended up going UP this channel on the way back up river.

 at just about the 1/2 way point (turn around) we picked up some passengers ... no one knows why they were picked up here, but it was very interesting to see the captain pull up to the very edge of the river, then swing that boom over to the land to pick these folks up!

 The gal in the car was asking if she should move and the boat was swinging over quickly and she got a bit rattled and put her car in DRIVE instead of reverse.  She didn't splash in, but she really had a bit of a shock for sure!  She was there with a kayak to go into the river at that point.

 Here is the side that the boat was butted up against.. the limbs from these trees were poking into the boat - I mean REALLY poking into the boat... so we were CLOSE to that edge for sure!  I was busy watching the front so I didn't see the limbs coming in except for through the glass wheel house. VERY close!!

 More fun things to see...loved this house at the top of the cliff...

 with the leaves more visible the house practically glowed in the sunshine!

 Happy Veterans day!!

 Lots of pretty leaves and fun things to see along the way - mostly herons and turtles, but still very nice and very relaxing for sure!

When we got back to shore, we made our way up to Ruby Falls to check that out as our last big adventure of the trip.

 The road crews were replacing the guard rails, so I felt safe taking a quick picture as I knew NO one was coming my way :)

 Into the cave!

 Mom and Linda both commented that the cave wasn't nearly as pretty as the ones in Missouri, but the water fall was impressive to say the least.  After the one at Rock City, I now question the validity of the actual water... I'm sure the one there was faked... I wonder if this one is/was too?  Hard to know, but that is a lot of water coming in and not a lot going back out again...  We'll never know, will we??  ha!

Back at the hotel that night we were tempted to have ice cream for dinner, but we did get some proper nutrition before eventually having some Ben&Jerry's for dessert - well worth the stop there!!

All Girls Weekend - day 1

Day 1
I got up at normal time however dropped Angela off at school rather than have her ride the bus. A perk of mommy being home for the morning.

We drove to Tanger and had brunch at the Denny's there and mom and Linda did some shoe shopping/exchanges.

Then on the road again! We made great time to Chattanooga and chose to go ahead and start our adventures.

I had read that the incline railway was closed for maintenance however when we got here it was open. BONUS! We started there. It was IMPRESSIVE.


Us in the beginning. Nice recliner chairs. The walk in and such was awkward. But we understand why. The top is a 72% grade!!


Looking up the track. There are two cars and they are at either end of the HUGE cable so as one car comes up, the other is going down. They pass in the middle.


Going UP


And at or near the top!! look through the front window. Those seats that were recliner-ish now are almost dumping you put the front. Really impressive!!


Checking the views


Ok I need to photoshop this and the next together for the full effect!





Going down!!

Then off to Rock City. Very interesting if not a bit hoaky in spots BUT they had all the water off because they were erecting Christmas lights throughout the area. But still - fun places to wander through.








Walking through the needles eye


Yes, I had to walk through sideways pretty much the whole way through.





And some really cool swings on ewe went to the pavilion area and made our way to Lovers Leap


I really think this waterfall is faked. I don't recall seeing a stream down below the fall and there was a nice rocked in pond at the bottom.
Oh well it was pretty!


The official overlook to the states. This has proven false as the curvature of the earth prevents it but you can see quite a LONG distance from up there!!


There are spots of red in the leaves. Apparently this is just not a heavily red area of growth because on the drive up the hill there are tons of beautiful RED leaves over the road.

That being done we headed to the hotel to settle in.


It was as advertised with a cute little balcony and a wonderful river view. I want to get coffee and enjoy this in the morning.





The rest of the room is fairly normal.


And did I mention we are right next to the aquarium. Hum. Maybe we should go there too? I do LOVE this aquarium. This is where we would come to when we first moved here. It's only 3 to 4 hours north and such a great one!

Epiphany

This is my midlife crisis. I have been looking for something to do... a Masters? Will it pay, will it not pay? Am I willing to commit to something like that? What do I want to be when I grow up??
Doesn't that have ALL the hallmarks of a midlife crisis? Yep!
So there you have it folks, I'm going through my midlife crisis. Maybe I should just buy a convertible and be done with it? LOL. Oh, wait, I bought a vacation house instead. Yep, truly and fully in the middle of my midlife crisis here!!

Halloween Fun at Work

The Erkle twins – they won first prize together… they work in my office.

Clint and I made a good pair for the day J

Cleopatra is my Bosses boss, then me, then Erin our admin and then Harry – my boss.  Fun times!

Denise was Raggedy Anne and won 2^nd (well deserved!)  I don’t even think I showed in the running finance wise *($1 per vote)… but it was fun to participate!