Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Smoky Mountain Pictures


A little later than anticipated, but here are some pictures from our vacation.

Road Trip!


Shaking It.




Dig that vista.





Tom Branch Falls.






You call this hiking?






Indian Falls







The Davettes at Laurel Falls.



Let's go wading.


Ooh...cold.

Dancing in the water...and rockin' her D.B.T. onesie.




C'mon, get out of there already!









There ya go. Up next: Farm Aid, I watch The Watchmen and other stuff.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Birthday Blog

Just had a birthday this weekend. Yay! I love birthdays.

Many people, however, do not. I don't really get that. I mean, your birthday is the one day it really is all about you, yk'now, as opposed to the other 364 days of the year when you just think it is.

Most people who don't like birthdays tend to fall into one of two categories. The first one is people who just hate the fact that they're getting older. For some reason our society is youth focused, as opposed to the way many foreign cultures operate in which the elderly are actually looked up to for their wisdom and experience. Anyway, I think it's sad that people are so uncomfortable with their own lives that they can't deal with being a year older. As if it was a crime or an embarrassment of some kind. Age is not an embarrassment until you start crapping your pants. Of course, by then you're too old to care, so where's the problem?

Hey, I miss being able to do some of the things I did when I was younger, but I'm having a really good time right now. I've got a great wife and awesome child, I've got my band, a job, and it's all going well. I'm on the downside of my thirties now and I'm happy. I don't see that changing. But some people are so insecure that the idea of age terrifies them and they don't want anyone pointing it out by doing something so kind as to wish them a happy birthday or buy them a gift. Sad. They also don't want to be a part of your celebration either. Double sad.

The other group I just don't understand at all. That's the "birthdays are for kids" group. Apparently, after you turn 18, you only get birthdays at 21, 30 , 40, 50 and 65. The supposed "important" ones. Well, newsflash for ya sparky, they're all important, because the alternative to having birthdays is being dead. Pass the cake, please.

So anyway, my birthday was pretty cool. My birthday was on Saturday, and I went to see the Old 97's play at The Pageant (great show, really energetic and fun. Plus I got a birthday discount on a t-shirt.) Then on Sunday we had family over to the house to celebrate. Upon reflection, I should have okayed the singing. I decided it could be optional, and we opted not. Turns out I kinda missed it, so next year y'all best get to singin'. Thanks to everybody for showing up and for all the gifts. It's all much appreciated.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Our Smoky Mountains Vacation Part Three-Let's Wrap This Up

Our final two days in Gatlinburg were spent in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

On Tuesday we decided to drive to the North Carolina side of the park to visit the waterfall trails we'd discovered on our last trip. The park in that area is just outside of the Indian reservation town of Cherokee. There are a lot of exhibits of Native American history to visit, everything from an outdoor drama telling the Cherokee story to history museums. As of yet we haven't seen any of them, but I think it would be interesting to do someday.

Once we hit the park our first stop was the Juney Whank Falls trail. Unintentionally, we'd picked the steepest trail to begin our hikes. Good plan. You want a workout? Try pushing a baby in a stroller up a friggin' mountain. On the way up we encountered two people riding on horseback along the trail. Tessa's eyes got huge, you could just see her thinking, "That is the biggest doggie I have ever seen!" The falls themselves are fairly small, but beautiful and seen from a bridge that goes just in front of and over them. Great, but the others are more impressive, so...

Next we went to the trail that goes to both the Tom Branch Falls and Indian Falls. Tom Branch Falls are seen from across the river. It's a popular spot for sitting and relaxing on the many benches, photographs and splashing around in the river. This trip however was much different than our last as in March it's a nice peaceful spot. In the summer though, it's over run with inner tubes and the people who use them.

Okay, I expected the trails to be more crowded than last time, but I didn't expect about a hundred plus tubers glutting the trail wearing swimsuits designed for bodies they didn't have. Not only were they pervasive on the trail, but there were so many people on the river that they wound up getting into clusters of people uglying up the scenery. You see, the river that runs through this part of the park is a little on the small side and it's full of giant rocks. So naturally when one person gets stuck on a rock, about five or six others get stuck too, until somebody can get the first person unlodged. Is it just me, or does this not sound fun? I mean, on a patch of clear river with a few rapid spots I can see where tubing could be an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon but this just seemed like a waste of time.

Also, it kind of made me sad that most of these people are only concerned with the tubing part and not taking in the beautiful scenery around them. In fact, I heard more than a few people being annoyed with, and saying rude comments to the people who wanted to stop and take it in. "Daddy look at that waterfall." "I see it. Let's keep moving." Just sad.

So, having the first falls somewhat spoiled I was kinda down about the day and only going up to the next set of falls out of obligation. Much to my relief we passed a sign that read "No tubing beyond this point" and were rewarded with the last part of our hike to Indian Falls in relative solitude. Best of all, when we got to the falls we were all alone to take in the beauty. If you blink you'll miss the entrance to Indian Falls, but it's worth looking for. I was able to take Tessa to the far side of the falls and let her enjoy playing in the pond a little. I must admit it was worth all the other stuff to get to that place of tranquility and family togetherness.

Wednesday we decided to start the day with a hike to Laurel Falls (we love us some waterfalls in the Brink household!). Sometime on Tuesday I caught a bit of a stomach bug, which hadn't been too big of a problem so far, but that morning I was feeling pretty sick. I didn't want to spoil the trip so I went ahead with the hike. Although the trail wasn't quite as steep as the previous day, it was a little too much for me to push Tessa up the mountain in that state, so Valerie and I pushed her in shifts. They say that waterfalls release negative ions into the air which causes a reaction in people and makes them feel happier. The temperature also drops at a waterfall, which will definitely help a sweaty hiker feel better! Even though it decided to rain on us about halfway up, the Falls were quite enjoyable. Once again, we were all able to play in the water a little, and we even got to bring Tessa right up to the falls and let her touch the cascading water. Pretty cool. And after leaving the falls-I felt fine the rest of the day. Yay ions!

After lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, The Old Mill (where we discovered Tessa likes lemons), we got all spontaneous and decided to head back into the park for the Sugarland Valley Nature Trail. It's a small looping trail, paved, flat and it follows the little pigeon river for the first half. Here's where Tessa had the most fun. We went off the trail to the river banks and let her play for almost half an hour. She loved wading in the water, splashing it on her face, and throwing river rocks. Once again, here we were mostly on our own. This one little off the cuff trip wound up producing the best family moment. We got to enjoy the majesty and beauty of God and his nature as a family-you can't get better than that.

Thursday was back to Nashville for a night, but we left via a detour through the GSM park via the Little River Road. It follows the Little River (duh) and is a slightly winding road, with lots of great scenery and if you roll down the windows, the sound of the rolling river is about as peaceful as it gets.

Did you know wild turkeys can fly? Yep, it's true. We saw three different turkeys on our trip, but as we left the park one flew across the road from one tree to another, like about ten feet in the air. Apparently the farm raised turkeys are too heavy to fly as they're being fattened up for Thanksgiving, but wild ones actually sleep in trees and fly. I googled it. So we didn't see any bears, but a flying turkey is still pretty cool. And less dangerous.

Sorry for writing a novel here, but i wanted to get everything covered. I've kinda been busy the last two days, what with our three year anniversary (thanks Valerie for 3 wonderful years) and watching Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog (thanks Elizabeth for loaning me the DVD). I'll try to get some pictures up here soon of the vacation.

Peace out.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Our Smoky Mountain Vacation Part Two

On Monday it was supposed to rain in Gatlinburg. Therefore, we decided that this would be the best day to visit the Craft Loop. For those who said "what's that?", it's an eight mile loop just a few miles off the main strip full of mountain crafts; quilts, carvings, paintings, knick-knacks etc.
Pretty much anything hand made one could want while on vacation. Clearly, this is one of Valerie's favorite parts of Gatlinburg.

Our first stop was the Brush and Pen gallery. It's an art store run by Mr. Bobby and Mrs. Bobbi Moose, he does sketches of scenes around the area and his wife does wildlife paintings. Valerie has already bought two paintings in the "Bear Pause" series (yep, a painting of a bear by a Moose), which features bears in scenes from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Because we'd bought before they had one reserved for us. Unfortunately, the painting was available but not matted or framed. So, the painting is purchased, the frame on order, and we should be seeing it in a few weeks. Oddly, I haven't seen any paintings of Moose in the shop, but then they're not exactly native to the area, But still, you'd think there'd be one...

Next we visited the King Daddy of all shops in Gatlinburg-Alewine Pottery. If you've ever been to Gatlinburg you know this shop, and you know who Robert Alewine is.

In short, he's the man in Gatlinburg. When you turn on television and tune in to channel 20, you will see the logo of the Gatlinburg Arts and Craft channel, which is Robert Alewine making pottery. The channel only shows old documentaries about early mountain life and commercials for Alewine Pottery. The dude owns the channel!!! These commercials not only show the shop, but often the pottery being made, all interspersed with nature scenes and old-tyme music from the house band. That's right, the store has a house band. I told you, he's the man.

By including his family in the commercials, you kind of get the feeling you know them before you even go. Then when you do make the trek (which you will) because you've watched this channel for, like, hours (which you will), everyone there treats you so well you feel as though you do know them. You can watch the pottery being made right in front of you on one side of the store, and then walk through the rest to see literally hundreds of pieces-and no two are alike. The feeling of the shop is exactly what you want it to be and they do quite a brisk business.

Now, I'll admit that when we first saw the commercial a few years ago for "gen-u-ine Alewine" pottery we made fun of it like everyone else. But once you get into the whole relaxed vibe of it all, the Alewine family will win you over.

So, as we were shopping the lady behind the check out counter (whose name I don't remember) was complimenting and talking to Tessa. She liked the pigtail in Tessa's hair, and when you mention the word hair Tessa reaches up and touches the top of her head to show you where her hair is. Well, the lady thought that was just precious (which seems to be what most Southerners say about her), and called Mr. Alewine himself over to compliment the girl's hair.

Now, at this point Valerie was all smiles, thinking it was so cool that Robert friggin' Alewine was talking to her daughter. I could tell that she wanted to speak up, but she kept her cool. I was trying to make sure Tessa performed on cue for a local celebrity. Tessa couldn't have given less of a crap. However, with a little coaxing, she did her cute hair thing and got the appropriate response, and we purchased a few items. But Tessa wasn't done yet.

The aforementioned band have a makeshift stage outside the shop (next to the free freshly popped popcorn) and we stopped for a while to listen. Tessa was given a shaker to play along , which she did with total abandon and lack of rhythm just as she should have. She danced around for a while and was the center of attention. I gave her a dollar to put in the tip hat and we went on our way.

Dinner that night was at the Bear Creek Grill, a fairly new restaurant by the same folks who run Howard's, my favorite steak house in the area. The creek side dining was nice, and Valerie enjoyed her chicken Parmesan dinner, though my grilled trout was a little dry. Tessa's favorite part was the bear shaped salt and pepper shakers and the swing out front which she sat on with daddy. After dinner, we went back to the condo and hit the swimming pool (even me and I haven't been swimming since my teens!) which Tessa loved and I must admit was quite refreshing.

All in all, quite a pleasant day. And it didn't rain a drop.

Next time: Adventures in the park.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Our Smoky Mountain Vacation Part One

Sunday Jul. 5th.

We started the day by going to mass at the Mother House for the Dominican Order of nuns in Nashville. The house itself is beautiful...and huge. Apparently the entire house exists because of donations-the order don't run any fundraisers. The oldest section of the house predates the Civil War-in fact the residents were able to watch some of the battles right from the balcony. The rest of the house was built up over the years and it is now the size of a boarding school. Which is good, since the nuns live there most of the time, but they are a teaching order so many sisters are sent out to other cities for the school year.

The grounds were also beautiful, lots of flower arrangements, gardens, a volleyball court and a big statue of Jesus, which only makes sense. Tessa and I walked the grounds quite a bit during the mass. She was a little noisy and restless so I took her out just before it started. We were going to go back inside once mass began, but as soon as I opened the door she screamed "Hi!" at the top of her lungs and I went back outside, not out of embarrassment so much but because I was laughing too hard. So while we were walking around I took her to look at the Jesus statue which is a very good one by the way. Sometimes artists can really use their medium to bring life to their subject and whomever the artist was really did so. I told Tessa who we were looking at, and she said "Jechut." Close enough. She ran back to him before we went inside for a second look, and told him bye which I thought was just too cute.

When we finally went back inside, mostly because I was sweating severely due to the humidity from the previous night's storms, the homily was just about over, Valerie took Tessa with her for communion, so Tessa could look around and see everything and she seemed to enjoy it. The choir of nuns sounded really good but I did find it difficult to find my note and sing along with the hymns.

After mass we were able to visit for a while with Valerie's friend Karen, and she told us all about the house and her life as a teaching nun. We also snapped a picture of the girls together at Valerie's mother's request. Sister said it was okay as long as it didn't turn up anywhere weird on the Internet, so I'm not sure if this blog counts or not.

Anyway, after that it was back to the hotel to pack up and move on to Gatlinburg. The drive went pretty well, except for more rain. Tessa did fairly well, and once again enjoyed playing with the beach ball at our rest area stop.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Club Vacation resort, which was called Crown Park Resort when we made our reservations. We had stayed there before and were impressed by the layout, particularly enjoying the mountain cabin look of the resort and condos. My fear was that Holiday Inn upon buying out the resort would gut it and make it look bland and predictable like every other hotel in the country. Fortunately this has not happened, at least not yet.

Upon our arrival we checked in and decided to get dinner. We chose a Texas Roadhouse right down the street from our condo because we knew what we would order and it seemed easier. However, we didn't really consider that by this time Tessa would be about ready for bed. As you can imagine , getting the child to sit and eat proved quite the task. eventually we gave up and just got our food in to go boxes to eat at the condo. Did I mention that it was raining heavily in Gatlinburg this whole time? Oh, and one of our umbrellas broke between the parking lot and the restaurant. Not exactly a great start, but we were there, fed and ready for the rest of the week.


Up next , shopping on Monday and Tessa's encounter with The Man himself.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Checking In

Hey, cool, there's a computer in the lobby. I am currently at the Best Western Suites Opryland/Nashville. Nowhere near where that McNair guy got shot, by the way.

Anyhoo, we left at 10am and got here at like 6. It rained buckets for the first few hours of the trip, slowing us down considerably. We stopped in Mt. Vernon for lunch at Arby's where Tessa ran around making new friends and playing bongos on empty seats. At that point we thought the rain had stopped, but it caught up with us again shortly after we left. It kept up until we were well past the Rend Lake area.

Next stop, rain free, was at a rest area just outside of Paducha, KY. We let Tessa run around for about 30 minutes or so, chasing a ball and whatnot. This nice little diversion let her spend some energy and helped make the car ride more bearable for her. She did fairly well in the car today, a little fussy from time to time but well behaved all things considered.

By the way, does anybody else find it funny that Kentucky still uses the abbreviation on all their signs? I mean, KY Lake? C'mon.

Once we'd checked in, it was decided to go get dinner at the Cracker Barrel just down the way. A full meal and fairly inexpensive, always a good idea on a road trip. Literally 3 seconds after we got under the awning guess what happened? Torrential downpour. Hopefully this is not an indicator of the rest of our trip. It's been raining on and off all night.

Tomorrow, we're going to go visit Valerie's friend Karen the nun (also known as Sister Marie Terese), attend a mass at the nun house (that's the term, right?) and have a short visit. Then we check out and it's on to Gatlinburg. I'm not sure whether there'll be a computer at our condo or not (we didn't bring our own as we didn't want the hassle). If so, I'll keep checking in. If not, you can read about it next weekend.

Okay, gotta go. Tessa's still a little restless, and I've been in the lobby a little too long. see you all soon.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Traveling Music

In a few days we leave for another vacation in the Smoky Mountains. As per usual, I am in charge of the music for our trip. This year I'm not bringing many CDs with me as I've decided to just use the ipod. I know, I've complained about the ipod ruining the music industry (which may or may not be a bad thing depending on how you look at it) for years, and I still maintain the sound quality is sub-par. However, my ipod is loaded from CDs I already own, and I only bought it to use on road trips because it's much easier and neater than bringing 30 compact discs with me.

Anyway, in preparation for this trip I cleared the ipod and started fresh by downloading a crapload of stuff into my itunes, making lots of playlists and downloading the playlists into my ipod. That process was harder than just loading up a bunch of songs and letting it go, but it did make me be a little more selective about the songs. I had to keep in mind that it's not just for me this time (hence the absence of most of my punk and metal collection) and so I put on some things specifically for Valerie. Don't get me wrong, I had to approve all choices of artist and I got to pick which songs were used, but I still compromised quite a bit for someone who's such a music Nazi.

So for those interested, here's a list of all the artists that will be keeping us company on our road trip(in alphabetical order as listed on the ipod). I had intended on publishing the playlists themselves, but this project has taken much longer than anticipated, so this will have to do.

Alice Cooper, Alice In Chains, American Hi-Fi, Audioslave, The Band, The Beatles, Billy Joel, Billy Squier, Bruce Springsteen, Buddy Holly, The Buzzcocks, The Cars, Charlie Daniels Band, Cheap Trick, Chely Wright, Chickenfoot, The Clash, Corinne Bailey Rae, Cracker, Creedence Clearwater Revival, David Bowie, The Derailers, The Drams, Drive-By Truckers, The Eagles, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Costello, Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Faith Hill, Foo Fighters, Frank Sinatra, The Fratellis, The Gaslight Anthem, Genesis, George Harrison, George Jones, Gin Blossoms, The Go-Gos. The Goo Goo Dolls, Hacienda Brothers, Hank Williams, Hank Williams III, Hayes Carll, Huey Lewis and The News (go ahead, lie and tell me you don't love it), INXS, The Jayhawks, Jerry Lee Lewis, Joe Cocker, John Lennon, Johnny Cash, Julianne Hough, Kaiser Chiefs, Kings Of Leon, The Kinks, KT Tunstall, Lee Ann Womack, Live, Merle Haggard, Mr. Big, Old 97's, Pat Benatar, Pearl Jam, Pixies, Queen, R.E.M., The Ramones, Reverend Horton Heat, The Rolling Stones, Rush, Sara Evans, Sheryl Crow, Shooter Jennings, The Smithereens, Soul Asylum, Soundgarden, Squeeze, Steely Dan, Stone Temple Pilots, Stray Cats, Superdrag, Supersuckers, T. Rex, Tift Merritt, Tinted Windows, The Toadies, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Traveling Wilburys, U2, Van Halen, Waylon Jennings, The Who, and Willie Nelson.

Once again, the alphabetical listings are as they appear on the ipod. Wow. You'd think the geniuses over at Apple would have at least sixth grade English skills. Oh well.

Now go make your own mix.