Several days in the Smokies

Yes, we took another trip. It is summer after all. Went to visit my mom in the Smokies. We took one day to visit Jonesborough(oldest town in Tennessee) and Chuckey(a town my ancestor started up, Henry Earnest-his log home fort and burial place). One day at Dollywood(and saw the awesome Kratt Brothers in a show(and I took nearly 200 pix of them, yes, MOSTLY of Chris, sigh...). Rode the new awesome Mystery Mine-loved it. And the Tornado and Thunderhead-both awesome. Had fun until the end when it began raining and we got trapped in the parking lot for an hour because traffic going out simply did not move an inch. No idea on that one, sucked rocks though.

Next day we saw the Exotic Deer Park and Petting Zoo. It was fun, though they could really use some place to wash your hands along the way-those animals slobber and walking around with your hands like that is GROSS!

Last day was putt putt golf(which would have been funner if the morons ahead of us would have been a bit faster, spent too much time waiting, and waiting). And then Cades Cove. No bears this time, but some nice shots of deer. And a nice drive.

And now I have almost 800 photos to go through and figure out what to do with. Maybe add some here.

Oh, and since we got back and before we left, we've been playing A LOT of World of Warcraft. The expansion is in Beta testing now and between pouring over every website I can find and reading everything about it and playing our characters and wanting to get everything ready for when the expansion comes out, well we've been busy. Of course, being summer, I've been playing quite a bit alongside my kid's characters. I am hoping to get back to working on the website more when she gets back to school. Fingers crossed!

Trip to Kentucky

Long trip to Kentucky last Saturday, made even longer by unforeseen circumstances.

First stop: Wigwam hotel in Cave City. Just wanted a few pix of this classic roadside site. Lots of the folks staying there were sitting out in their jammies and whatnot and I felt odd taking photos of them, so I only took a few from the car and we left.

Second stop: Stonehenge replica in Munfordville. Yep, it's right there in someone's side yard. Not a complete reproduction, but close enough and at least half full sized! Pretty cool.

Third stop: Hubby spotted a sign in Munfordville that said "Civil War site 2 miles" so we went to check it out. (there is a website but it doesn't seem well put together) "Battle for the Bridge" site consisted of a home that the skirmish was fought near and a few signs. I think there was a monument, but the sign at the home said it was on private property so we didn't even go looking for it. We saw lots of Amish in this town too.

Fourth stop: Abraham Lincoln's birthplace, 'symbolic' home. Maybe it's the same logs from the actual home, maybe it isn't. Nobody knows. Still interesting to visit.

Fifth stop: Lincoln's boyhood home. He lived in a log cabin like this from 1811-1816. This one belonged to a neighbor. When I came here in 1996ish, it was only the little home that you could walk inside and all. Now they have built a visitor center(though it didn't appear open yet) and the home is closed off because it needs major repairs. And only about 25 miles down the road from where my 3x-great grandfather was living at the time. Interesting.

Sixth stop: Lutheran Church Cemetery, Bardstown. My great-great-great grandparents, Samuel and Elizabeth Hefley are buried here. Shame that the little historic cemetery(no church any more) has seen such vandalism, almost made me cry. Luckily I took lots of other photos of the graves around them, Elizabeth's father, Conrad Mathes, was there-and possibly a Revolutionary War soldier! There are no military markers or anything to note this or the fact that Samuel was a sharpshooter at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814. Shame.

Seventh stop: Frankfort Cemetery, grave of Daniel Boone. Very interesting. Great view of the Capitol building across the river. Would love to spend more time there. Took lots of photos of the Kentucky War Memorial as well. The man who wrote "Bivouac of the Dead", Theodore O'Hara, is buried here. Incredible.

Eighth stop: the Castle of Versailles, just outside Lexington. It burned down a few years ago, but it is being rebuilt to look similar but bigger and better! Pretty cool place.

Ninth stop: Disappointedly driving by the farm where Affirmed, Triple Crown winning racehorse, is buried. But alas, there doesn't seem to be public access to the grave. Big fancy gates, some big event was going on. At least I got close. I loved Affirmed.

Then came the ride home. It was about 3pm and we ate lunch in Lexington at an Arby's. Then caught I-75 south to Knoxville and then I-40 west to home. Because "going back the way we came would be boring". Wish I hadn't said that. Not far past Knoxville, but PAST the 40/75 split, and a few miles past the Clinch River we hit traffic. Not just traffic but actual STOPPED traffic. It was right at 7pm. After an hour and we hadn't moved much, I called mom(who lives near Knoxville). It wasn't until 9pm(yes two hours) and we hadn't moved but a mile or so that mom called back to tell us what the local news told on the problem. A truck had crashed with a few other cars. A tanker carrying Titanium tetrachloride. And the interstate was shut down for 10 miles, the accident being at mm331. We would be rerouted off at exit 338. Onto a two lane backroad of Highway 70. It took us another two hours to get to the other end of 70 and back on to the interstate at exit 229. FOUR HOURS. The accident happened at TWO PM!! There could easily have been a sign before the 40/75 split in the FIVE hours after it happened and we could have gone south on 75 to Chattanooga and gotten home sooner! But noooooooooooo! As it was, we sat on the interstate and inched down a hilly backroad for FOUR hours and got home close to 1AM! Yes, thank God that nobody was injured seriously in the accident. And the tanker never blew up though they eventually closed Hwy 70 because it runs right next to and under the interstate right where the wreck was and rain was coming and water mixed with this stuff creates Hydrochloric Acid! Great, good to know we were that close to DANGER!

I think THP could have done a much better job rerouting way earlier than they did. They would have known right off the bat what was in this tanker. And that rain was COMING(hello? supposedly they hydroplaned in the RAIN and caused the wreck in the first place!). Guess I just chalk it up to a very interesting experience. And I got some interesting night photos of the traffic with my camera, playing with the settings until I got them just right. Had plenty of time to do so.

This past week

It's been a busy week. With the Fourth of July and the weekend, here is what I have been up to:

Fourth of July:
We grilled out, and watched "1776", a classic and a must for watching that day. And we played a LOT of Warcraft. All weekend.

Saturday:
We drove out to Wilson County to visit a cemetery that hubby had come across. And what luck, a Revolutionary War Soldier buried there!

John Williamson, Green's North Carolina Regiment. I will be adding more info about this cemetery to the website soon, I hope.

Sunday:
We went down to Manchester to visit the Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park. It was a very nice mile and a 1/4 hike with a few waterfalls to stop and photograph. Got to play around with my tripod and using slower shutter speeds to get those cool blurry water shots. Not extremely thrilled with how most of the photos came out, but I am still learning, it was my first try doing that. The site was very interesting, completely not what I had expected before visiting. But I love to learn and it was fascinating. I want to make a resolution to visit every park listed in the book "Hikes of Middle Tennessee". I should post about that tomorrow maybe, list the ones I have already visited, list the ones I want to visit the most. Man I love to travel.