I'M BACK!!!!
Yep, back from a long but fun trip. Where to begin.
On Thursday, we left the house at about 8 PM and headed up to Tennessee to see Grandma and Grandpa. Although we took a different route cause my dad thought it would be better (which it wasn't). This began the constant arguing between my mom and dad that is inevitable to the point where I really don't want to go on a trip with them together again. I don't want this crap to happen when I go on my trip to Ireland >.<
Friday, we stopped and ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel somewhere in north Georgia. I bought one of those U-shapped pillows I was talking about ^^. In Tennessee, we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's new house, which wasn't far from their old one, in what I personally like to call the Maggart Highlands. I love listening to Celtic music that fits the scenery so well. Anyways, when I got there, I was so tired that I fell asleep for like 4 hours or so. Their new house is much better than their older one. It's newer, isn't pest infested, and I got my own room! I slept on the bed I used to have before I got the queen size back in 9th grade. After that, I walked down some trails to explore the wonderful scenery (it so kills the scenery that much of Florida has to offer).
Saturday, we left early to go up north to Kentucky to visit Mammoth Caves. Now I've never heard of this place before I heard we were going to visit it. In fact, I originally thought it was going to be caves that had mammoth fossils engraved into the walls. Apparently, it's a major national park, and it's called Mammoth Caves because the caves are HUGE, and it's known to be the longest cave system in the world. There were all kinds of different tours. We went on the historic tour, which we saw where all the people such as slaves and whatnot worked in the caves and created a pipe system out of oak trunks. There are so many stories about the caves that I could go on and on, but I gotta get to bed soon. We found some markings on the cave walls from people dating back as early as 1810. It took two hours for us to get through this cave and there was like 120 people in the group. I want to do the Wild Cave Tour next year, which is pretty expensive, but it's only a 14 person group, 6 hours, and you do a lot of stuff like free climbing, crawling, etc. I don't think we'd have electricity to aid us either. After we got out of the cave, we went on the nature walks, which I will post pictures of later. Among them are the celtic trail and the River Styx (actual name!). We had to hurry because even though walking on the forest trail was nice with a little rain, it got really bad when it started pouring down heavy rain. We left back to Tennessee and stopped in Lebenon. That's where the first Cracker Barrel was built btw. Too bad we didn't stop in. It didn't look any different from other Cracker Barrels. I always thought the first CB was in some old shack on some back road. Anyways, we ate at this steakhouse place, which was nice. Then we went to Wal-Mart, and I bought TWO NEW CELTIC CDs! They go very well with the scenery. After that, we got back to grandma and grandpa's house and for the rest of the night I read Holder of Lightning, a book I so long neglected just like any book I try reading. I'm just so lazy in that aspect.
Sunday, we left for North Carolina and we arrived in the REAL highlands. I loved how my music fit so well. We stopped at the Cherokee Indian Reservation, which had a bunch of shops and whatnot. Not real interesting. I'm very surprised that even though the landscape is perfect, they had nothing celtic related anywhere on my whole trip, except the CDs at Wal-Mart, which I could have bought at any Wal-Mart. We then checked into a Ramada Inn, which had an indoor pool. Too bad I forgot my swimming shorts. There were some cute girls there ^^. We went to Shoneys (a place that doesn't exist in this part of the state anymore). The food was surprisingly decent. I expected it to suck, since it did suck last time I went to a Shoneys.
Monday, we got up real early and left for Asheville to visit the Biltmore Estate. I gotta post pictures of this place. It is out of this world! 150,000 acres privately owned, a house that is designed to look like a Gothic style French chateau, and plentiful gardens, shops, trails, etc. We were actually the first ones to enter the chateau that day and we did the audio tour, where we walked around with headsets and pushed a button on this thing that corresponded to the room number on the map. Over 300 rooms, this was a breathtaking experience. The chateau was built in the late 1800s or so, and it had electricity when it was first built, so when you walk around, you'll see all of these old electrical machines, including their very own elevator. There were all kinds of gardens and whatnot as well. They had a shop area, candy store, bake store, ice cream parlor, etc. that we all visited. We also saw an amish family! That was so awesome. We then went to the winery on the estate to try some wine samples from wine made and sold right on the estate. It sucks being 6 months shy of turning 21 when you are interested in the taste of fine wines. Luckly, my mom snuck me some and I got to try a variety of different wines, mainly red ones. Very strong stuff, but good. My mom bought two bottles, so I can sample it at home too! We visited a little shop where I bought a bottle of some specific soda brand just cause the bottle looked old, and we saw a petting zoo that had two horses, a cow, some sheep, and some wierd looking goats. I love horses. There was this one in his stable named Bert that kept kicking at the door cause he was ready to go out and work on the fields. What was cute was there was a plushee of the Seseme Street Bert hanging on the wall. After our grand tour of the estate, we left to go home, and that's where I am at this point.
I had a lot of fun on this vacation, and I hope to have a fun vacation next summer ^^
On Thursday, we left the house at about 8 PM and headed up to Tennessee to see Grandma and Grandpa. Although we took a different route cause my dad thought it would be better (which it wasn't). This began the constant arguing between my mom and dad that is inevitable to the point where I really don't want to go on a trip with them together again. I don't want this crap to happen when I go on my trip to Ireland >.<
Friday, we stopped and ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel somewhere in north Georgia. I bought one of those U-shapped pillows I was talking about ^^. In Tennessee, we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's new house, which wasn't far from their old one, in what I personally like to call the Maggart Highlands. I love listening to Celtic music that fits the scenery so well. Anyways, when I got there, I was so tired that I fell asleep for like 4 hours or so. Their new house is much better than their older one. It's newer, isn't pest infested, and I got my own room! I slept on the bed I used to have before I got the queen size back in 9th grade. After that, I walked down some trails to explore the wonderful scenery (it so kills the scenery that much of Florida has to offer).
Saturday, we left early to go up north to Kentucky to visit Mammoth Caves. Now I've never heard of this place before I heard we were going to visit it. In fact, I originally thought it was going to be caves that had mammoth fossils engraved into the walls. Apparently, it's a major national park, and it's called Mammoth Caves because the caves are HUGE, and it's known to be the longest cave system in the world. There were all kinds of different tours. We went on the historic tour, which we saw where all the people such as slaves and whatnot worked in the caves and created a pipe system out of oak trunks. There are so many stories about the caves that I could go on and on, but I gotta get to bed soon. We found some markings on the cave walls from people dating back as early as 1810. It took two hours for us to get through this cave and there was like 120 people in the group. I want to do the Wild Cave Tour next year, which is pretty expensive, but it's only a 14 person group, 6 hours, and you do a lot of stuff like free climbing, crawling, etc. I don't think we'd have electricity to aid us either. After we got out of the cave, we went on the nature walks, which I will post pictures of later. Among them are the celtic trail and the River Styx (actual name!). We had to hurry because even though walking on the forest trail was nice with a little rain, it got really bad when it started pouring down heavy rain. We left back to Tennessee and stopped in Lebenon. That's where the first Cracker Barrel was built btw. Too bad we didn't stop in. It didn't look any different from other Cracker Barrels. I always thought the first CB was in some old shack on some back road. Anyways, we ate at this steakhouse place, which was nice. Then we went to Wal-Mart, and I bought TWO NEW CELTIC CDs! They go very well with the scenery. After that, we got back to grandma and grandpa's house and for the rest of the night I read Holder of Lightning, a book I so long neglected just like any book I try reading. I'm just so lazy in that aspect.
Sunday, we left for North Carolina and we arrived in the REAL highlands. I loved how my music fit so well. We stopped at the Cherokee Indian Reservation, which had a bunch of shops and whatnot. Not real interesting. I'm very surprised that even though the landscape is perfect, they had nothing celtic related anywhere on my whole trip, except the CDs at Wal-Mart, which I could have bought at any Wal-Mart. We then checked into a Ramada Inn, which had an indoor pool. Too bad I forgot my swimming shorts. There were some cute girls there ^^. We went to Shoneys (a place that doesn't exist in this part of the state anymore). The food was surprisingly decent. I expected it to suck, since it did suck last time I went to a Shoneys.
Monday, we got up real early and left for Asheville to visit the Biltmore Estate. I gotta post pictures of this place. It is out of this world! 150,000 acres privately owned, a house that is designed to look like a Gothic style French chateau, and plentiful gardens, shops, trails, etc. We were actually the first ones to enter the chateau that day and we did the audio tour, where we walked around with headsets and pushed a button on this thing that corresponded to the room number on the map. Over 300 rooms, this was a breathtaking experience. The chateau was built in the late 1800s or so, and it had electricity when it was first built, so when you walk around, you'll see all of these old electrical machines, including their very own elevator. There were all kinds of gardens and whatnot as well. They had a shop area, candy store, bake store, ice cream parlor, etc. that we all visited. We also saw an amish family! That was so awesome. We then went to the winery on the estate to try some wine samples from wine made and sold right on the estate. It sucks being 6 months shy of turning 21 when you are interested in the taste of fine wines. Luckly, my mom snuck me some and I got to try a variety of different wines, mainly red ones. Very strong stuff, but good. My mom bought two bottles, so I can sample it at home too! We visited a little shop where I bought a bottle of some specific soda brand just cause the bottle looked old, and we saw a petting zoo that had two horses, a cow, some sheep, and some wierd looking goats. I love horses. There was this one in his stable named Bert that kept kicking at the door cause he was ready to go out and work on the fields. What was cute was there was a plushee of the Seseme Street Bert hanging on the wall. After our grand tour of the estate, we left to go home, and that's where I am at this point.
I had a lot of fun on this vacation, and I hope to have a fun vacation next summer ^^