Home, "Dual"Home
The journey down to New Orleans was suitably adventuresome. Not a lot of drama, but some interesting stuff. We took a detour at the end of Wednesday's leg of the journey so I could see the Luray Caverns, which are a marvel of geology. Thursday we drove through Virginia and rain, and into Tennessee. We knew we wouldn't have the time + money to justify going to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN. We drove through that area, though, to see Gatlingburg, which is a theme-y, resort town in the Smokies. It was like being in a faux town in an amusement park, except it was real. We paid $10 to visit the Guinness Book of World Records Museum, which ended up being worthy of the time. There were other attractions there, such as the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, but we didn't have the time or energy.
Leaving Gatlinburg, it began to rain torrentially. It was scary driving down the mountains in sheets of water! We ended up being a little confused and went in the wrong direction. Though we determined this fairly early on, the length of the detour was inevitable. But we did see more of the real Tennessee... anais921 claims she saw mountain men living in shacks... and I guess technically they were men who lived in the mountains and did live in shack-esque dwellings.
The detour meant we didn't get to a hotel in Chattanooga until after 10pm. We ate at Applebees, rather sedately due to fatigue, and stayed at a Ramada limited, breaking with the Best Western tradition. We didn't want to be stuck without a room, and the Ramada advertised high speed internet in the rooms, so we went ahead and called ahead a reservation. It was also cost-effective. To be fair, the Best Western in Staunton, VA, was so far the best Best Western to date. Just nice and courteous and clean and an extraordinary "extended continental breakfast". (Definately not the "worst" Western of a previous trip, which wasn't really all that bad but inspired this dumb "Worst Western" running, inside-joke thing...)
Day three was uneventful. We ate at a Cracker Barrel. Arrived timely and my new roommate Lauren is just as cool and nice as I recalled. I was afraid maybe over the past couple years maybe she was body-snatched and replaced by someone terrible, as that would be my luck, but it was an unfounded fear! My stuff got carried up and is now sprawled about the floor of my room. Some old friends dropped by for a visit, and it was almost like I'd never been away from New Orleans, my "dual home" (because Connecticut will always be home, too, and I don't want to assign rank to them, as in "second home". That is unfair!)
Today is devoted to purchasing more necessities, such as a bed.
Next post will hopefully describe how wonderful my new digs are, as anais921 alluded to in her post.
Leaving Gatlinburg, it began to rain torrentially. It was scary driving down the mountains in sheets of water! We ended up being a little confused and went in the wrong direction. Though we determined this fairly early on, the length of the detour was inevitable. But we did see more of the real Tennessee... anais921 claims she saw mountain men living in shacks... and I guess technically they were men who lived in the mountains and did live in shack-esque dwellings.
The detour meant we didn't get to a hotel in Chattanooga until after 10pm. We ate at Applebees, rather sedately due to fatigue, and stayed at a Ramada limited, breaking with the Best Western tradition. We didn't want to be stuck without a room, and the Ramada advertised high speed internet in the rooms, so we went ahead and called ahead a reservation. It was also cost-effective. To be fair, the Best Western in Staunton, VA, was so far the best Best Western to date. Just nice and courteous and clean and an extraordinary "extended continental breakfast". (Definately not the "worst" Western of a previous trip, which wasn't really all that bad but inspired this dumb "Worst Western" running, inside-joke thing...)
Day three was uneventful. We ate at a Cracker Barrel. Arrived timely and my new roommate Lauren is just as cool and nice as I recalled. I was afraid maybe over the past couple years maybe she was body-snatched and replaced by someone terrible, as that would be my luck, but it was an unfounded fear! My stuff got carried up and is now sprawled about the floor of my room. Some old friends dropped by for a visit, and it was almost like I'd never been away from New Orleans, my "dual home" (because Connecticut will always be home, too, and I don't want to assign rank to them, as in "second home". That is unfair!)
Today is devoted to purchasing more necessities, such as a bed.
Next post will hopefully describe how wonderful my new digs are, as anais921 alluded to in her post.