A Blue Ridge Road Trip (Pt. 2)

It was our second full day on our Blue Ridge Parkway trip and we (rather I) woke early once again before the girls did. For some reason, this whole trip I was always the first one up. I guess knowing that I had Robin and Ashby to contend with for the bathroom, my subconscious decided it was best to be first before anyone else was up and avoid fights over the bathroom.

It wasn't long after I was done and ready, that Robin was up and at 'em. Not long after Ashby and Dinah were both up and going, we were packed up, loaded up, and ready to check out of the Hidden Valley Motel by 9am. Our first task was to sequester breakfast. It wasn't hard, as we had eyeballed a Cracker Barrel in the heart of Boone the day previous to this.

A Blue Ridge Road Trip (Pt. 1)

The third weekend in July is always family reunion time on my mom's side of the family. Every third Sunday in July, the Patteson Clan gather for fun, food, and reminiscing at Glenwood Park in Princeton, WV. Seeing how Dinah was new to the family, and all my aunts absolutely love to see her we decided we would go to the reunion this year. As an added bonus, I thought it would be fun if on the way back home we spent a couple days driving down the Blue Ridge Parkway. The four of us (Tim, Robin, Ashby, and Dinah) as a family doing a mini version of the vacations Robin took as a kid with her family.

Once the reunion was over, or rather close to the time people were starting to leave, we loaded back up into our SUV and we were Blue Ridge bound. We had made arrangements to stay over night at the Allegheny Inn in Sparta, NC shortly after making it to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We got all checked in and hung out for a little bit before going out in search of food. The Allegheny Inn was a wonderful motel, located in the heart of the quaint downtown of Sparta, North Carolina and only 15 minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway, where we would begin our adventure on the next day. Unfortunately, our adventure wouldn't begin without some sort of hiccup.

Rhododendron Gardens in Full Bloom - Roan Mtn. State Park

Last weekend we took the time to ride up to the Rhododendron Gardens at the top of Roan Mountain outside of Elizabethton, TN. It's a pretty long haul for us and the weather was brutal, but with circumstances as they were we knew it was the only time we'd have to see the blooms this season and get Bug up there for her first visit. We also wanted to avoid the Rhododendron Festival which is being held this weekend - Sat. June 16 & Sun. 17, 2012 from 10am-5pm. I hear it's a wonderful event, but we wanted a little solitude on top of the mountain.

Happy Memorial Day (and the Winner Is....)

We hope that everyone has enjoyed their long Memorial Day weekend. We hope it has been fun and safe for you all. We've been having our fun that's for sure, starting with our two 7-inning vacations on Friday. We spent the day at the pool playing ladder ball on Saturday (of course this was after taking care of some yard work). We followed that up with some much needed shopping on Sunday (frankly we were all in need of some new duds so we spoiled ourselves a little). Today, we played tourist in our own back yard Pigeon Forge, spending the day at Dollywood's Splash Country. We play tourist in Pigeon Forge about twice a year (once around Christmas Time to look at the lights, and at least once visiting attractions like Dollywood's Splash Country or Dollywood).

We are definitely wore out after having been beat down by the sun all day. I don't know how much longer we will last before our beds claim us for the night only to rest up and start the rat race all over again in the morning. However, the bright side to this are that after having today off, it's only a 4-day work week (Woo-hoo).

So before our bodies decide to shut down on us for the evening, I know you've all been waiting to see who won the "Orion Sky" print giveaway. You've all shared your favorite constellations, liked us and Random Joy Fine Arts and Photography on Facebook, shared the post on your walls, Tweeted and even mentioned the giveaway on your blogs. For that we thank you all for your participation and support of Appalchia & Beyond. So without further ado, we give you the winner of the "Orion Sky" print by Random Joy Fine Arts and Photography. After plugging in the 26 comment numbers into the Random Number Generator at Random.org, we are pleased to announce that comment #7 - Jobiwan is our grand winner. Joe, send us an email at appalachiaandbeyond (at) gmail (dot) com with your mailing address and we will get the print out to you in the next couple of days. We hope you enjoy the print, after reading your first entry comment we are certain that you will.

That's all we have this evening. Our bodies are ready to shut down at any time now, so we'll bid y'all adieu and hope you have a wonderful week. Stay tuned as we will have more posts to follow in the coming days and there may even be another giveaway opportunity for you to jump on too.

Happy Trails,
Tim and Robin

One, Two, Three Strikes You're Out!

Tim and I spent Friday evening taking what we initially thought would be a 9-inning vacation. Turned out, Thursday's game was rained out and Friday turned into a 7-inning double header. So, we ended up with a 14-inning vacation and post-game fireworks to boot!

It's no secret that Tim and I both love baseball. I love the slowness of the game. I know a lot of people complain about that, but I love just relishing in moments and baseball is the perfect sport for me to do just that. Plus, I can never pass up a ballpark polish sausage. Yum!

We were pretty excited about going to begin with. I'd bought Tim tickets for his birthday. It's just not summer here without a Smokies game! Plus, with Tim being a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, it helps that the Tennessee Smokies are a Double-A Affiliate of the Cubs. So, he and I were even more excited to find out that Geovany Soto (Catcher for the Cubs) was going to be starting his rehab on the very evening we were there! Catcher is my favorite baseball position - and Tim, he just loves seeing anyone from the Cubs.

We were pretty disappointed, however. I'd just like to say: Mr. Geo - It's not conducive to a good first impression when you ignore six-year-old children just dying for your autograph. Quit spitting tobacco and sunflower seeds for five minutes and sign the kid's baseball. The article in the Knox News this morning does not fit the REAL character you portrayed whatsoever. You really should do better. Because you know what? Someone else is watching... and they might just BLOG ABOUT IT.  

Needless to say, I'm still a Michael Barrett fan (even if he doesn't play for the Cubs anymore)... and Get Well Soon, Mr. Barrett!

But - We had an INCREDIBLE time, nonetheless and would advise anyone vacationing to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg/Smoky Mtn area to drop buy and see the Tennessee Smokies play. It's great fun for the entire family - tickets are VERY affordable - and the food and fun is great. It's one of the cleanest stadiums I've ever been to, and the people don't get any friendlier (as long as your not looking for friendly from Mr. Soto, hehe).