What's in a Name?

My father did some geneaology research a few years back on his side of the family. Our family came from Germany and settled into southern Ohio before moving onto Indiana. I have never known anyone personally (other than my father's relatives) who had our last name. It is very unusual, usually misspelled and mispronounced by people unfamiliar with it. In his research, as I remember him telling, our last name loosely translated to "barnyard of God". My memory has never been any good, so if I am remembering this incorrectly, you can email me, family members. I guess if you are named after a barnyard, it is better to be named for God's barnyard. I imagine it's the best barnyard ever.

I was looking up the meaning of first names the other day on the internet. I looked up Kelly, which I find usually comes from the Irish Keldra, meaning "warrior maiden". On a few websites, they translated Kelly to mean just "war". I don't think of myself as war-like. In fact, I hate confrontation and raised voices. If forced into a confrontation, I am nauseous for days afterward. Am I a warrior? I don't feel like one.

They also said Kelly could come from the word for "brave". Am I brave? I don't consider myself brave. Just the opposite. Another site gave "bright-headed" as a translation. Does this mean smart or a glow-in-the-dark skull? Not really sure. Another meaning given: "defender". Oh I'm defensive, but a defender? Don't know.

On one particular site, they gave the normal "warrior", but had another possible translation. They stated that Kelly from Teutonic roots would mean "holy farmyard". I have never seen that one before. Hmmm.

My middle name is Anne, which translated into "merciful" in all the sites I looked at.

After looking at these sites, I realized that if you put my name, first, middle and last, together, it could translate into "holy farmyard merciful barnyard of God"? I have always had a soft spot for cows, so it fits me a little.

I am not sure what to make of my names' possible translations. Perhaps I should work toward being more brave, war-like, merciful, and rural next year.

Seen in Real Life

I was at the grocery store today.
They had a display of DVDs for sale.
The sign above the display said,
"For Mother's Day, get Mom her favorite movies!"
Among the titles they had available to purchase for your beloved mother?
Throw Momma From The Train
Really?

Blue Ridge Mountains vacay - Days 5-7

Day 5 - We decided to go horseback riding that day. Krista had called the day before to make reservations at Riverside Stables. It was a sunny and warm day. I had wanted to do the horse riding in the morning and take the boat tour of Lake Lure in the afternoon, because the weather had been predicted to be good that day. The boat tour never happened that day. I am not sure why, but I was right to try to schedule both events on day 5 with its good weather.

Our reservations were for the first one-hour ride of the day, 11:00 am. The stables had one hour rides and 2 hour rides. The 2 hour rides were only for 14 year olds and older, so we did not do that one. Darcy and I would have probably been happy to do a 2 hour ride, but I don't know about the rest of the group. Krista and Cara did not seem thrilled to go. Natalie, being under 7 years old, would have to ride with an adult, Krista. I put on some jeans and a teeshirt. Cara asked me what she should wear. I told her that I recommended jeans. She had a nice pair of jeans with her, so she put them on. Jeans are always going to be the preferred pant-wear for riding horses. Despite those James Bond movies or perfume commercials, any girl with half a brain would never ride a horse, especially with a saddle, in a bikini. I am sorry, but that would leave you so chafed that you would not let even a super smooth, super suave international spy could get anywhere between your legs.

We headed out of the resort down to Buffalo Creek road. We turned onto Bill's Creek road and looked for Freemans Road. It was a pretty short drive to the stable, despite my passing of a very slow tractor on the road that also caused us to miss our turn off. There were other people at the stables when we arrived. Two sets of mother and baby horses were eating in some pens by the parking lot. The mother horses did not look similar at all, but their foals looked like identical twins. They trotted, pranced, froliced and kicked around their pens. They were adorable.

We walked into the barn and immediately my nostrils were delighted at the smell. Darcy was standing next to me and I put my arm on her shoulder. I said, "I just love the smell of a horse barn." Darcy sighed, took in a deep breath, and replied, "Yeah me too." All along one side of the barn were horses tied in individual stalls. They were already saddled. I noticed a particularly big and tall horse in one of the stalls. That was the one I wanted.

The adults went into the tiny office and paid the fee and signed away our litigation rights. There were several employees in the office, all scrunched into one corner on a small couch and a stool. They were smoking. Really? Smoking in a barn? The lady in charge was an older heavy-set woman with a thick North Carolina accent. The few minutes I spent interacting with her caused me to slip into my own version of the Carolina accent.

Once back in the barn, two women approached our group and identified themselves as our guides. They asked if anyone had riding experience before. They gave us basic instructions, like "If you want to stop the horse, you pull back on both reins and say Whoa". They began to assign horses to people. They informed us that, once out on the trail, they would be referring to us by our horse's names, because it was too hard to remember the people's names. When they got to me, I told them I wanted the biggest and strongest horse they had. The guide said, "Well that would be Sugar Bear." She pointed to the big white and red mottled horse that I had spied when I first got there. Sugar Bear was tall enough and I was old and weak enough that I needed a step stool to climb up into the saddle. The stirrups were too long for me but the guide told me she could not adjust them any higher. I told her I would make do.

Picture of my noble steed Sugar Bear that I took from on top

The guide informed me that Sugar Bear was stubborn and had a bit of an attitude about other horses. This did not bother me in the least. I thought it would probably make the ride more interesting. Sugar Bear did not like other horses walking behind her. She also did not like to walk too close behind any horse in front of her. I was told I needed to keep her off the butt of the horse in front of me or she will try to bite them.

Because of Sugar Bear's temperament, she would walk at the very end of the line. One guide would go in front and a second guide would ride in the middle of the line. The rest of my group were all well ahead of me, so I did not get to talk to them or even see them very well. This was the only bad thing I found about the ride. Directly in front of me were two teenagers, one boy and one girl, who were also taking the ride with us. The teenage boy was right in front me on a horse named Romeo.

With everyone in the saddle, the line headed out. We circled the outside paddock on a trail that ran along a creek. We walked around 3 sides of the paddock. The trail then veered up into the hilly woods. Going uphill we were told to lean forward (I knew this already) and going downhill we were told to lean back (I knew this already). I kept having to pull Sugar Bear back a bit to keep her from getting too close to Romeo's butt.

I had wanted a big horse because I was worried about how much I weighed on the poor horse's back. Sugar Bear did nothing to ease my fears. She huffed and puffed her way up the trail. Once at the top, she felt the need to rest. I just kept patting her on the neck, saying, "good job, Sugar Bear!" She was very sure of herself on the trail, even when asked to step over fallen trees and find her footing around rocks. Every now and then, the guide in the middle would turn to me and the 2 teenagers and say something like, "Okay, now coming up there's gonna be some trees close to the trail. Don't let your horse get too close to them," or "The trail going down is very rocky. Your horse will want to take his time so don't rush him." Sometimes she would say, specifically to me, "Now Sugar Bear sometimes likes to veer off the path at this point. Keep her in line." I never had much trouble with her, other than keeping her a horse length from the next horse up.

Cara had more trouble with her horse Sambo. She was second in line behind the first guide. Sambo was constantly stopping to munch on vegetation, leaving the trail and just stopping for no reason. At one point Sambo stopped and then backed up into a bush and began to scratch his behind on it. I have never seen a horse scratch like this. It was like Sambo was doing the lambada. He was really "getting down" and Cara was hanging on for dear life. I spoke to the boy ahead of me. "That is my friend up there on that misbehaving white horse. She did not even want to go horseback riding. Oh Lord, I will never hear the end of this!" The boy turned back to me and said, "That's your friend? Oh my gosh".

Stopping to take pictures halfway thru the ride

About halfway through the ride, I began to feel a weird popping under the saddle. This popping seemed to coincide with the horse's steps. I thought to myself, "Oh my god, I have caused Sugar Bear to dislocate a shoulder or break a leg or pop a tendon. I have ruined this horse, oh no!" Maybe the popping feeling was coming from the saddle instead of the horse? I hoped so. I was not going to say anything because I was not interested in getting off and walking Sugar Bear back to the barn.

Once back at the barn, I did tell the guide about that popping and she assured me it was NOT an injury to the horse. We tipped our guides and went back out to the foals to let the girls feed and pet them.

I enjoyed the ride very much. Darcy and I both would have liked to be allowed to trot or canter on this trip though. I loved the way I smelled. I love the smell of horses and hay and saddle leather. I wanted to take my clothes home, put them in a plastic bag and never wash them again. I wanted to keep that smell around. Cara thought I was insane. Then I told her I wanted to go home and just wrap my jeans around my face and roll around in bed sniffing them. She was a little uncomfortable with that imagery... We drove back to the resort and Cara snapped a million pictures of the scenery on the way home.

Cara found that her jeans had been ruined and her leg scratched and bruised from Sambo's bad behavior. She was a trooper though and did not gripe about it too much, although I know she was pissed about the jeans.

DAY 6 & 7

Both days were rainy and cold. Day 6 was mostly spent indoors, playing Go Fish, Pictionary and Twister and watching TV. I did not take a lot of pictures inside our unit because my camera takes crappy flash pictures. Here are a few that I did take:

Darcy and Natalie made a special breakfast just for Kelly

Kelly is a egg-making maniac.

Natalie enjoys a gooey delicious s'more.

Darcy' most excellent drawing of the Pictionary clue

"bad hair day"!

Her team won this All Play with her drawing!

Day 7 we had called to make a reservation for the boat tour despite the forecast. The morning was chilly and drizzly and a thick blanket of fog covered the mountains. We got a call later that morning informing us that the boat tour had been canceled because of the rain, the cold and the generally bad visibility. We drove back to Chimney Rock village instead to do some strolling, have lunch and shop for souvenirs.

Flowering tree and fog in Chimney Rock Village.

Everyone had lunch at a deli, except for me. I wasn't hungry. I shopped for fudge and postcards instead. We went from shop to shop. At a jewelry shop, Darcy bought a silver and abalone bracelet. Madison bought some colorful slices of a geode. We went into several shops, including Bubbas General Store. I bought a Lake Lure teeshirt and some huckleberry jam and peach butter.

Chimney Rock Village scenery

On the way, I decided to make a quick trip to the only liquor store we had ever seen in the Lake Lure area. I felt the need for some spirits to warm me up after our chilly shopping trip. I ran into the store while the others waited in the van. This place was the cleanest brightest liquor store I have ever been in. The aisles were so spacious and the inventory was so tidy. There was even carpeting on the floor! I bought a pint of Jack Daniels and we went home. We spent the rest of the evening eating the food we had left over in the fridge, drinking, roasting marshmallows with our last Duraflame log and packing.


The next day we left for home around 9 am. I managed to mail my postcards as we were leaving the resort so they would have a North Carolina postmark. The trip home was pretty uneventful. It rained quite a bit and I drove for about 7 hours of the trip back. I really enjoyed this vacation, maybe even more than the kids did. It was nice to roam around in scenery so different than the tropical area I live in. And in addition to deer, I also got to see a possum with Darcy and several woodchucks. On the last night, I even had a very close encounter with a very large skunk that walked right past me on the road. Luckily this skunk did not seem to care about my presence and I did not have to subject the van's occupants to a bad smell on our trip home.

Blue Ridge Mountains vacay Day 4 - The Biltmore

In reading back over my previous vacation-related blog entries, I am finding myself a little bored. I can write better than that! It seems like I am trying to get the information about the trip out there, but perhaps not concentrating enough on making it more interesting. Of course, how interesting can it be to someone who wasn't there? Sort of like accepting an invitation to dinner and then finding that you have to sit through the slide show of their trip to Branson first. I will try to do better with day 4 which was a very good day.

Finally the weather had cleared and the temperature was expected to be in the low to mid 70s. We had talked about going into Asheville NC which is about an hour away. Asheville boasts the Biltmore Estate as its best tourist site. I have heard much about the estate. This was on my list of things I felt I must do while on this vacation. There was discussion over breakfast on whether today would be a good day to go. Krista felt that the Biltmore would not be very entertaining to her younger daughter Natalie. She decided to stay home and take Natalie swimming and go on a picnic instead. Her other daughter Brianna would go with Cara, Madison, Darcy and me.

Once again we went to the Wellness Center to get information, driving directions and buy tickets online which would save us $5.oo. It turned out that because it was so early in the season, all kids under 17 were free. Cara bought a ticket for me and herself and we picked up a couple of brochures on the Biltmore.

I would do the driving. It takes about 30 minutes of twisty road to get back to the interstate. The van seemed to appreciate highway driving again after its efforts on the mountain roads. But soon the highway would be very hilly and the van would struggle to get up mountains and down valleys. I couldn't find a good lane to be in. On the way down, I would let the van get up to 80 mph. We would pass slower traffic but would be tailgated by semis. I wanted the van to build up some speed for the hill ahead. It helped but the van still struggled to maintain speed. About halfway up a hill, we would have slowed down to 60 mph and I would have to get over to the right or be rear-ended by a roaring semi behind us. The clouds were clearing out and the skies were crystal blue by the time we reached our exit to the Biltmore.

The Biltmore was easy to find. The entrance was a large stone gate. Once through the gate you drove along a small road for about a mile or so to get to the ticket office. The land all around the road was very well cared for, but still very natural. We passed a forest of bamboo on one side. There were big green open pastures. Then we would hit a wooded area. The landscape kept changing. I imagined myself a visitor to the original occupants of the estate, the George Vanderbilt family. I would be impressed, and was impressed on this day, by the estate. There was no sign of the house, just rolling meadows and woods. We followed the signs to the ticket office and Cara went in to pick up our tickets.

We decided first to visit the River Bend Farm. The road to the farm took us past the winery. Cara was very much interested in touring the winery and attending a wine-tasting. Just past the winery was the farm. There was a restored stable area that had shops in it and displays of ancient farming tools and machinery. The stables formed a square. In the center was a grassy area with games for children. These games were reproductions of early 2oth century games. There was a portable and very small bowling game. There were horseshoes to throw but these were oversized and brightly colored and make of plastic. Clearly not a true-to-life example of a game from the era. We also played a game where you held a simple wooden stick. You would put a wooden hoop on the stick and use the stick to throw the hoop to another person. That other person would try to catch the hoop on their stick. Simple but entertaining. Cara and I were, naturally, quite graceful and adept at this game. We toured the displays of farm equipment and saw the tail end of a blacksmithing demonstration.
We had not had lunch but we were hungry. We stopped at the creamery at the farm and had some ice cream. The ice cream lady encouraged us to have the vanilla. She said it was the original recipe of the Biltmore estate. I had a combo of strawberry and vanilla and Cara had all vanilla. The strawberry was just okay, but the vanilla was really heavenly.

We walked across the street to the animal barn. There seemed to be no one working there and there were no other visitors there either. We walked through the barn to the outside corrals. Immediately I saw two enormous horses standing in the large fenced-in area. To the right of them were 4 curly-haired goats. Soon the guide appeared. His name was Roger. He informed us that the goats were Angora goats. They are clipped twice a year. He told us that the goats were guarded by 2 donkeys who were lying down in a different area of the yard. He said that if a dog or other animal gets too close to the fence, the donkeys will walk over and stare down the intruder. We did not get to see an actual display of their guard-dog abilities however. The two horses were Belgian draft horses who were retired from pulling carriages on the estate. They were the same size as Clydesdales but a different color. He put some hay down by the fence to tempt them closer. Their names were Bert and Ernie. I took a picture of Darcy and Cara standing next to one of them and Darcy looked so tiny in comparison.
At this point, we wondered whether leaving Natalie at the resort was the best decision. She surely would've enjoyed the animals. We saw the chicken coop also. The nests lay above a chute and when they lay an egg, the egg rolls down the chute for easy picking. We left the farm and went back to the car. We would have to drive a bit to get to the next destination. The lady at the ticket office had told us that there were thunderstorms forecast for noon. It was already noon but the skies looked gorgeous, no signs of rain or storms. After some discussion, we decided to hit the gardens first, in case it did rain. Then if it started raining, we could go into the house and tour it.

The drive to the house took quite some time. These people must have really treasured their privacy. The house was situated in such a way that you would not see any sight of it until you were right in front of it. We traveled through more forests and made our way to the parking lot. We arrived just in time to take a shuttle bus to the house. We boarded the shuttle and drove down a hill and then along a winding road. We passed through a large iron gate and the lview opened up. To our right was the house. It looked surprisingly small to us. In front of the house was a large grassy lawn with a circular fountain. The shuttle took us right up to the front door. As we were leaving the shuttle, Cara remembered that the tickets were in the van. She stayed on the shuttle to go back to the parking lot. I and the girls got out and waited for her in front of the house.



To the right was an outdoor terrace, I guess you could call it. There was a trellis above it with thick twisty vines wrapped around it. In the summer, I could imagine the whole canopy flush with greenery, but now the vines were bare. Down the stairs from this terrace was a huge, I mean huge, esplanade (is that the right word?). I don't know what they used this for, but you could have had one helluva great outdoor party there. By walking down the steps, you could see the view from the back of the house. It was all uninterrupted lawn, woods and in the distance, mountains. This vista was truly spectacular! I took many pictures of it.

The views were great but we needed to go back to the front of the house to meet up with Cara. We went back to the front and Cara soon arrived. We went around the side of the house with the esplanade. The girls made a wish in a particularly diabolical-looking fountain. We headed down steps toward the gardens.




I think it was probably a little too early in the season to see the garden at it best but still there were plenty of blossoming trees, tulips, daffodils, pansies and other flowers. Cara and I went into the conservatory, which was quite hot and humid. We looked at some orchids but it was too hot to stay long. The estate had several gardens, Spring Garden, Azalea Garden, Italian Garden etc. We did not spend a long enough time there to see all of it. We missed walking to the Bass Pond too, which Cara wanted to see. We did see the Bass Pond on the way out of the estate and Cara got to snap some pictures from the passenger seat. Cara and I agreed that we should have arrived much earlier at the estate in order to take advantage of all the possibilities.

FORSYTHIA - THE FIRST SIGN OF SPRING!!!!

We went back to the stable area adjacent to the house. The building has been transformed into an outdoor eating area, an inside restaurant (way too pricey for picky children who don't finish their meals), a variety of shops and bathrooms, thank goodness! We ate some crappy (well I didn't think they were very good) soft pretzels and drinks in the outdoor area. Cara had a chili dog. It was hot that day and she was dressed in a black jogging suit kind of thing with long pants and long sleeves. She was carrying a large black backpack. To top it all off, the outdoor dining area contained several large free-standing heaters and some of them were on. One nearly scorched the stubble off my right leg while I ate. To see Cara eating this chili dog in all this heat with all those clothes made me think. Does she realize that there are no public bathrooms in the Biltmore house??? I thought I had an iron-clad stomach, but I wouldn't have attempted that. After a bathroom break and a trip to the ATM for me, we headed into the house.

We did not purchase the audio tour. There were several other tours that costs money and probably gave more information. We went the free route, using a brochure that gave you about 2 sentences of info on each room. There were guides stationed in several of the rooms and they provided more information and answered questions. The girls had a kiddie scavenger hunt of sorts. They had to check off a list of items that could be found in the rooms. For example, How many rabbits do you see on the ceiling of the library? or Can you find the samurai swords in the Third Floor Living Hall? They seemed to enjoy hunting for these items. No photography was allowed inside the house.

I really enjoyed our tour. We saw the bowling alley in the basement -2 lanes - which I believe they said was the oldest bowling alley still in existence in North America. The house had 43 bathrooms at a time when most houses in America did not have indoor bathrooms. These bathrooms were not just for the wealthy inhabitants or guests of the house. There were several bathrooms for the servants. I did not care much for the bedroom of the lady of the house. It was yellow. I like yellow. In fact, I love yellow, but the walls, wallpaper, drapes, bed linens, floor were this sickly kind of golden yellow. There was some purple trim in various fabrics. The whole room looked like a giant Easter egg.

The banquet hall on the main floor was way to macho for me. The walls were gray stone dotted by the stuffed heads of moose, buffalo and deer. There were crossed spears and shields everywhere. It looked a set for the next King Arthur movie. On one end was a very high loft with a gi-normous pipe organ. Did they play this during meals? Not very soothing. Upon hearing the first booming note from that organ during dinner, I think I might have blown wine through my nostrils in surprise. I am definitely not cut out to be rich. In the basement was an entire room devoted to this pipe organ's motor.

Other interesting rooms included the Architectural Model room, with the orginal scale model of the house which was used by the owner and his architect during the planning and construction. It was very impressive. I enjoyed seeing the various guest rooms and the servants bedrooms. These servant bedrooms were not bad at all. I don't know; maybe I was expecting something not much nicer than a prison cell. I would have been happy to stay in any of those rooms. There is more to say, of course, about the estate but my fingers are getting tired of typing. We did hit the gift shops afterward our tour. Some of bought candy from the Confectionary, the girls went into the toy shop and Christmas and we all left with purchases. Cara and I did a little wine tasting at the main gift shop and ended up buying 6 bottles of Biltmore wine.

I recommend you go and see it for yourself. Cara and I decided that it would be nice to come back, arrive earlier, leave children at home and go on a more extensive tour. Then we could visit the winery too. We also agreed that Natalie may not have been able to tolerate this 2 hr+ tour of the house. Leaving her at the resort was looking like the right decision now.

On our drive out of the estate, we did see the Bass Pond, as I mentioned earlier. We saw a waterfall also, and much more landscape and woods. All in all, I felt it was a good visit. We drove back to Lake Lure and relaxed for our next day: Horseback Riding!

Blue Ridge Mountains Vacay - Day 3

Day 3 would be spent at the resort. The weather was still chilly and overcast as it had been the day before. I woke up early and decided to go for a walk. I was trying to get all the exercise in that I could. It was 7:30 am and I headed out, still dirty from the day before. I walked out the front door, down the boardwalk to the parking area and then took a left onto the road. I have already talked about how twisty the roads were even in the resort itself. And as with all roadways in this area, one side of the road would dip down into a wooded gulley and the other side would be a steep hill. No one else appeared to be out at this time. I made my way around the first bend and headed toward an intersection where 6 roads came together, Fox Run, Gray Fox, Red Fox and other foxy street names. I looked down the hill toward the intersection which had a group of bushes and shrubs on a little island in the middle. My heart stopped for a minute. Just coming up out of wooded area was a deer. I have seen deer before but I was amazed by this sight nonetheless. When I looked up to the left side of the road, I could see another deer standing on the side of the road nibbling on a low shrub. I had brought my camera with me and I stopped to try to take a picture.

These deer pictures show a date of 4/2/08. After consulting the journal, it seems that this deer siting did not happen on 3/31/08. This was the morning Cara and I went to the Welcome Breakfast and we saw deer from the van. However, since I have already written and posted this, let's just pretend it happened on Day 3. It takes too long to fix it at this point....See cmkerwin.blogspot.com for more historically accurate information and to find out what happened at the Welcome Breakfast)

I had to do a 4x zoom to get the picture. I walked slowly forward, trying to make as little noise as possible. Then I noticed that there was a third deer also. It was strange to see deer just strolling down the street so casually.

I kept approaching them slowly hoping to get a better and closer picture. I heard a rumbling truck of some sort approaching. The 3 deer slowly left the street and headed down into a gulley. A large loud garbage truck came down the road and then disappeared over a hill. I walked to the edge of the gulley to see if the deer were still there. I could hear the crunch of dead leaves below me but I couldn't see them at first. Then I caught a glimpse of a white and black tail moving through the trees. They were moving slowly to the other side of the gulley. They walked easily up the hill and emerged on another street.

They nibbled on grass and then crossed the street to walk up another hill to a higher wooded area. I moved up another street hoping to encounter them on the other side.

They saw me on the other side of the wooded area. They were tentative about showing themselves. The first deer, the leader, was the bravest. He came through the brush and looked at me squarely, perhaps sizing up if I posed a danger to him. He was beautiful. He came walking slowly out onto the road in front of me, not more than 20 feet from where I stood. I got the best picture of this one.


The other two were more timid and they looked at me carefully before bounding out of the woods and running to catch up to the leader. I was breathless!

I went back to the unit with my deer tale and everyone else was up. The girls really wanted to go swimming in the indoor pool at the Wellness Center. I did not want to to swimming. Cara and all the girls decided to head down to the pool after breakfast. Krista and I hung back in the unit. We would walk down to the Wellness Center later and meet up with them. I was still sleepy and after breakfast, I took a nap on the couch. After about an hour, I woke up and Krista was showered and ready to go. I took a shower, put on my trusty Rumbling Bald resort sweatshirt. We estimated it would take about 30 minutes to walk from the condo to the recreation area. Krista and I headed out. It was a lovely morning for a walk. The sky was bright and the view of the mountains was always so spectacular. We walked down the twisty roads toward the golf course.


The golf course was all brown except for the putting greens. I don't know if they were doing some renovating or if that was due to the weather in early spring. There was a narrow foot path made of wood on one side of the golf course that we walked on. A right turn took us to the sloping hill that led down to the Wellness center. There was a bridge on the road that took us over a small brook with lots of rocks in it.




We made our way down the road past the outdoor pool and tennis courts. We found Cara reading by the indoor pool watching the girls swimming. The indoor pool building was stifling in humidity and Cara was sitting there in long pants and long sleeves. I wondered how she had managed not to melt, or at least fall asleep. The girls were finishing up and heading into the locker room to shower and get dressed. After they were all dressed, they decided they wanted to play miniature golf. We got our balls and clubs and headed to the outdoor course. The wind was turning warmer and I changed out of the sweatshirt into a long sleeved teeshirt. The course was pretty simple. It was crowded with other families. Madison was score keeper. Brianna was clearly doing well on the holes, taking only 2 or 3 strokes on each one. There were several fountains with water that had been dyed bright blue for some reason. We put a couple of balls into the water. sometimes by accident and on one hole in particular, on purpose. Luckily they floated. Cara and Krista went over to the beach to sit on lounge chairs. Natalie played on the playground equipment nearby.
The miniature golf course looked out over the lake. The warmer temperatures prompted thoughts of possible swimming in the lake. The girls wanted to play another round but it was time to go home for lunch.


After lunch, we discussed the possibility of roasting marshmallows that evening. What we needed were sticks. I gathered up the girls to go on a stick hunt. Natalie came along with me and the older girls. We walked around our own unit, looking on the steep hill for the perfect stick to use for marshmallows. We also found some good walking sticks. We trudged through the small trees and dead leaves and then went out to some other nearby wooded areas. We walked down into one area and looked for wildlife. We saw an old spider nest in a fallen tree and all I could think of was that nest suddenly bursting open and millions of deadly but baby spiders pouring out and attacking us. Of course this did not happen, but you all know how scared I am of spiders. After finding some sticks, we went back to the unit.

That night we did roast marshmallows. I supervised the activity by the fireplace. Madison was definitely the champion marshmallow-roaster. She was patient and her marshmallows always came out perfectly soft and perfectly browned. We ate marshmallows and watched TV and played Go Fish. I loved having the fireplace!

Chimney Rock Day 2 Part 2

We had hit the top of Chimney Rock and now we had to find the entrance to the Hickory Nut Falls trail. The man in the elevator informed us that we can drive down the mountain a little to a lower smaller parking lot and the trail begins there. He also informed us that year round this elevator maintains the same temperature, I believe somewhere around 63 degrees. We drove down to the lower parking lot, parked the van and put the emergency brake on. The trail started as a boardwalk along side the parking lot. After crossing the windy road that leads up and down the mountain (girls, are you looking both ways? I ask), the trail continued. Soon the boardwalk was gone and the trail became dirt, rocks and clay. On one side (this must be true of every street, path, trail, road, sidewalk or boardwalk in this area), the land rose up toward the mountain top. The other side the land fell away and away and away. The trail was not that steep most of the time but then would have steeper parts. I was taken by the color of the soil, bright orange-red. I asked Cara, is this the red dirt of North Carolina? She replied it was indeed.

We were stopping every few feet it seems to take pictures. Enormous trees with their roots exposed seemed to be barely hanging onto the hill above us. Huge boulders and rock slides seemed to have stopped just short of hitting the trail and they sat in unstable-looking formations above our heads. I wanted to climb up on everything. I was conscious of the fact that I am supposed to be a good model for the kids, but still I wanted to sit on or scramble over everything. The moms were worried about the right side of the trail on our way up. This was the side that falls away. Once again no guardrails or protective fencing of any kind. I loved it like this. The moms didn't quite love it. Natalie was excited and running around and was always coming too close to the edge for Krista's comfort. Every now and then I peered over the edge and one of the girls would follow me. Soon we were holding hands with the girls to keep them on the safe side of the trail.

The trail was supposed to take about 45 minutes to climb. I had no idea how long we had been walking, but I just couldn't get enough. My old lady body was starting to feel it a little tiny bit in my quadriceps however. After a long while we turned a corner and those at the front suddenly heard a rush of water. This must be the waterfall that marked the end of the trail. We turned to the left and the trail suddenly got very steep. The last few minutes on the trail had me huffing and puffiing. At the top of the hill was an enormous wall of vertical rock with the waterfall coming down over the top. It was impressive to look at, even though the elevator man had told us that this time of year, there was not as much water coming down as there would be later in the year.

The girls were anxious to climb around on the rock formations that surrounded the wooden viewing platform for the waterfall. Up to the left of the waterfall was a natural staircase of rock that led up to a man-made rock platform. Madison, Brianna, Darcy and I decided to climb up. Cara, Krista and Natalie remained on the trail. Once a few pictures have been taken of us on this platform, we decided to climb higher. I heard no voices of caution from the moms, so we continued up. Brianna was taking the lead. There was some dripping water falling from the top of the rock wall. Most of it looked like water drops but every now and then we saw something that looked more like a snowflake drifting down. I don't think the temperature was cold enough for this to be snow, but Brianna wanted to investigate. We went higher and higher. Darcy was a little concerned but Brianna marched ahead bravely. Once we reached a point where we were very high above the trail, I told the girls that I thought we had gone high enough. We looked down at the trail and the others seemed tiny. Brianna wanted to go higher still but then we heard Krista shout out that we were high enough. My legs were shaky and now almost refusing to obey my brain's commands for movement. We sat for a moment and I took a picture.

We headed back down the trail and the girls and I were holding hands to keep us from tumbling down the trail. A few times the girls would be looking up or to the side and at each other, but not where they were going, and they would trip. Their mothers warned them to keep their eyes on the trail. I chimed in that they needed to watch where they were walking, since the trail down was going much faster than on the way up. Of course, not long after I warned them, I tripped on a rock because my eyes were somewhere else and I fell down onto one knee and yanked Darcy's arm down with me. Sorry Darc!

Rocky stream called Broad River in Chimney Rock village.

We got in the car and descended down the mountain road to Chimney Rock village. We decided to stop to find a restroom and maybe look at some shops. Instead of shopping, we ended up climbing all over huge boulders and rocks in the stream that ran behind the shops and under the bridge up to Chimney Rock park. Madison and Brianna decided to cross the stream using a few small rocks and jumping from one to the other to get to a large rock on the other side. They both rock-hopped quite easily to the big rock.

Darcy and I had been watching. They had made it look easy. Of course they were about 32 years younger than me. But did that stop me from attempting it? Nah. I was willing to get my shoes a little wet, the water was not that deep and the rocks were fairly close together. I thought there was a chance I could do it too. I started out on the first rock. Tentatively I made it to the second rock. Madison and Brianna were coaching me from the big rock about which path to use. "Just put your left foot on that rock....no that rock right there!" "Now just jump forward and you will be there!" Oh yeah. Halfway across I began to doubt the wisdom of my attempt. That big rock seemed really far away and I ain't no gazelle to be leaping onto it. I took my time, managed to keep my balance (miracle!) and finally made it. Hurray!

Now Darcy wanted to try it. I think she was even more scared than I was. I yelled out directions for her, pointing her to the rocks I had used. Halfway across, she contemplated going back. I would tell her to put a foot on a particular rock and she would look at me like I was crazy. I told her she was younger and stronger than me and she could make it. She said, Your legs are longer though! Finally I reached out a hand and helped her on the last step. Hurray Darcy!

Madison and Brianna had moved on to more rock climbing adventures. Darcy and I attempted to follow them. Crossing between two huge boulders, we had to walk on some wood that was wedged against a rock and then step onto a smaller rock. From the smaller rock, you stepped onto a slippery larger rock and then quickly onto the big rock. Darcy went first and had no trouble. I made it onto the wood and the next rock. In attempting to get quickly from the second rock onto the big rock, my foot slipped and that leg plunged straight down into the stream. I was in water above my knee. When I slipped, my other leg fell forward against the big rock and I hit my knee on it. It didn't really hurt but I could tell it was scraped up. Darcy and I rested on the big rock, as Cara and Krista chuckled at my plunge from the other side.

All I wanted at this point was to find an easy way back, not the way I had come the first time. Darcy was tired and wanted to take her shoes off and walk back through the stream. I decided to do it. I took my shoes off and rolled one dry pant leg up and then the soaking wet pant leg up. I found an area that was pretty level and had few rocks. I stepped into the stream to see if the bottom was firm or squishy. Thank goodness it was firm. I walked back to the rock and put Darcy on my back. She held my shoes and backpack while I carried her into the stream. The water was cold but not frigid and rather refreshing. Darcy looked over my shoulder down at the stream and watched my feet stepping on soil and small rocks. She said, "Ooh, that looks like it hurts but thank you Kelly for saving my life!"

After everyone came back to shore, the girls went to a gem mining place and panned for stones. They all came away with a pretty good bags of gemstones. No rubies, sapphires or emeralds which we were told was possible, but they did get stones like sodalite and jasper. Everyone was exhausted and some of us were wet so I was looking forward to getting back to the condo to sit by the fire with some nice wine.

Blue Ridge vacay Day 2 - Chimney Rock

Sunday morning we awoke and had breakfast. We drove to the Wellness Center which is the center for the resort's recreational activities. It is a sloping curving drive down to the Wellness Center. This was the first time we saw the lakefront of the resort below us. The lakefront had a beach with boat slips. There were pontoon boats and paddle boats for rental to guests. A wooden boardwalk circled around the lake's edge. Behind the beach was a playground and picnic area with tables and grills. Next to that area was a miniature golf course and an outdoor pool called the Trout Stream Pool. This outdoor pool was closed until later in the year because the weather was not warm enough. On this day, the weather was chilly and overcast. In my hasty packing, I had forgotten to pack a sweatshirt and I certainly needed one that day.

On the hills rising up next to the Wellness Center were private homes built right into the hillside. Some of them seemed to barely cling to the mountain. Everywhere you looked there were blossoming cherry and plum trees and forsythia, a yellow blossomed bush that I remembered from my childhood. I remember my dad on family car trips in the spring pointing out these yellow bushes and always tellling us that those were forsythia, the first sign of spring. I told the Cara and Krista and the kids this. I love the yellow flowers because yellow is my favorite color.

We went into the Wellness Center to get more information about activities in the area. Cara talked to the lady at the counter, who would end up being very helpful during this trip. The center also had an area that sold shirts, jackets and yes sweatshirts with the Rumbling Bald name on them. I bought a nice hoodie sweatshirt that I would practically live in in the week to come. The center has a business center with computers, a spa, an indoor pool, a sauna and a hot tub. While I shopped for a sweatshirt, the rest of the girls took a tour of the center. We picked up brochures and maps for places to visit in the surrounding area. After talking to the staff, we decided to visit Chimney Rock Park that day. I had read a little about Chimney Rock on the internet before leaving Florida and this was a place I really wanted to visit. I spoke to a man at the center who gave me a map of Chimney Rock and suggested a trail that would be family-friendly.

Chimney Rock NC is about a 25 minute drive from the resort. Once again it was a beautiful and scenic drive through the mountains to Chimney Rock. Twisting roads took us along Lake Lure and through the town of Lake Lure. Flowering trees and bushes and quaint homes dot the hillside and roadside. I drove. Cara was still a little too nervous to drive the curving roads herself and even a little nervous with my driving. Chimney Rock is a small village at the base of a mountain with shops and restaurants. The park features several hiking trails, a waterfall and Chimney Rock itself. Chimney Rock is a tower of rock with one large boulder on top. You can climb to the top or take an elevator up. (frankly that picture of Chimney Rock above looks a little like something else...)

The entrance to the park featured two huge rock towers that formed a gate and then a wooden bridge over a very rocky stream below. We had to drive about a mile up the mountain road to get to the ticket gate. Once again, no guardrails and the road didn't even seem wide enough for two-way traffic. The van heaved and huffed and made its way up the steep drive. Once through the ticket gate, there was a climbing tower for children but it was not open. We continued up and the road got more and more curvy. The forest around the road was pretty thick but because the trees were not in full leaf (is that a term?), we got views of the valley that made it clear how high up we were. We reached the top parking lot where we could get an elevator ride up to the cafe, gift shop and the stairway up to Chimney Rock. The curving roads had made Cara and Darcy car sick and they both looked pretty green once they got out of the car. Cara bent over and put her hands on her knees. I thought she might throw up right there in the parking lot. Darcy looked a little pale. Madison, Brianna and Natalie seemed fine and raced over to the edge of the parking lot to look at the view. The parking lot was surrounded by a very short rock wall, only about 2 feet high. The moms yelled for the kids to get away from the edge of the wall. Over this tiny wall, the ground simply fell away. I had put the parking brake on the van. It would have been a shame to come back from our hike and find the van in a dark maroon purple ball of steel at the bottom of the gorge.

To get to the elevator, you had to walk into a tunnel that had lights and signs talking about the tunnelling project and different facts about the mountain and the rocks. The elevator took you up 37 stories in 30 seconds. The elevator operator gave us a few facts about Chimney Rock and its trails and then warned us that the elevator would let us off in the most dangerous part of the park.........the gift shop. He was right about that. We ended up spending a lot of time in the gift shop that day.

Several of us were hungry so we decided to eat at the Skyline Cafe at the top next to the gift shop. This cafe was no more exciting than a sandwich and hotdog stand you might find at the beach or in a little league ball park. The sandwich I got was pretty good though. You could sit in barstools along a wall of windows that looked out on the mountains. The kids all sat there but Cara was still a little queasy and sat away from the wall. She has a fear of heights and I wondered to myself why a resort in the mountains would appeal to her. I was chomping at the bit to hit our chosen trail, the Hickory Nut Falls trail, but first there was the Chimney Rock itself. Brianna and I went outside to the bridge that you walked over to get to the rock. The bridge traversed a deep narrow gorge of rock. We looked through a viewfinder that costs a quarter. We couldn't get it to focus so we abandoned it. I went back inside to find out what was taking everyone so long. Most of them were in the gift shop. Come on, I urged them. Krista, Natalie, Brianna and I crossed the bridge and came to a wooden staircase. The staircase had railings on either side and I am sure it was fastened well to the rock but it looked precarious. Excellent! We climbed up and were soon joined by Darcy and Madison. The top of the rock is just that. It is literally a big boulder. Around the perimeter of the boulder in a metal fence that is embedded into the boulder. You could stand at the top of the rock and the top of the fence seemed very short below you. I am assuming that if you got a running start and then leapt very forcefully, you could possibly clear the top of the fence. Then it would be nothing but air below you and a long long fall. Natalie was running all over the place and Krista was getting nervous. Perhaps she had the same thought about the heighth of the fence that I had had. We took lots of pictures. The views were great in all directions, despite the overcast skies. It was very windy and very cold on top of the rock. I thanked goodness for my new sweatshirt purchase. It was a lifesaver.

Brianna and I climbed down the wooden staircase and I noticed something on the way down. If you looked over the railing, you could see another staircase that was descending down between two rock walls. The walkway disappeared behind one of the rock walls and then reappeared on the other side. Then the walkway just ended. About 20 feet further on the cliffside, the walkway started up again. The part of the rock without a walkway looked absolutely unpassable. From our vantage point, there appeared to be no level surface to walk on, just vertical cliff. I wondered how anyone would navigate that part to get to the other side. I thought to myself, that is very dangerous, shouldn't they have this staircase going down roped off? Someone might fall. Then I decided I had to go take a look since they had not closed off that walkway. Brianna and I went down to take a look. Krista and Natalie stayed on the staircase going up to Chimney Rock, so they could take a picture of us. We walked down the very steep stairs and through the narrow opening between the two rock walls. Once down there we could see that the path without a walkway was actually quite wide and level and walkable. It just looked scary from above. We met a couple down there with their golden retriever who had hiked up the walkway from the other side. It was very cool.

We went back to the gift shop to gather everyone back together and start on the hiking trail. Everyone was shopping. Cara's feet were cold and she bought a pair of thick socks. Everyone bought a friendship bracelet which was supposed to bring good luck. Would we need it? You can never be too lucky, I guess. Natalie bought a mug for her teacher. After a bathroom stop, we headed down the elevator to find the beginning of the Hickory Nut Falls trail. This trail was stated to be good for families, even those with small children. The trail would take 45 minutes to an hour to hike and would end up at the bottom of the Hickory Nuts Falls waterfall. I couldn't wait to get started.

Blue Ridge Mountains Vacation Day 1

I took a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains with my friend Cara and her kids and another friend Krista and her kids. We were staying at a resort where Cara's mother has points. I don't really understand the whole time share thing. The resort was about an hour outside of Asheville NC in a town called Lake Lure. Lake Lure is a man-made lake surrounded by mountains.

We left on a Saturday morning very very early, around 4:45 am. Cara picked me up in her Caravan. There was some concern before the trip about whether the old girl (the van, not Cara) would make the trip. But it did pretty well, considering the strains we put on it. The resort is about 670 miles from Largo and would take about 10 hours, according to Yahoo. If you have ever used driving directions from Yahoo, you know how inaccurate they can be. Their directions tend to be a little off or tend to take you the long way around to your destination, instead of the most direct route. We would later find that this was true in our case.

After picking me up, we were off to Krista's house. It had been impressed upon us to not overpack. After all, the place we were staying would have a washing machine and dryer. Besides that, there would be 3 adults and 4 children in the van, along with a cooler, so we needed to keep our supplies to a minimum. I packed three pairs of pants and 5 tops. The weather was predicted to be unpredictable with temperatures ranging from a high of 57 one day to a high of 75 another day. It would be rainy on some days and sunny on others. It was difficult to know what to pack and I tend to overpack normally. When I put my 1 suitcase with my one small bag for stuff needed during the drive, I was surprised to see how well Cara had packed. One large bag for her and her two girls, Madison and Darcy. Krista's bag had been packed the night before into the van. Wow, I thought, everyone did a good job packing. We got to Krista's house and there were more things to pack. Food into the cooler, DVD players, all kinds of chargers and plugs, which Darcy and Madison also had, backpacks, pillows, blankets....did we want to bring laundry detergent with us? The van was still fairly uncluttered though, even with the addition of these items and 3 more people, Krista and her daughters Brianna and Natalie. By around 5:20 am, we were on the road.

Cara drove first. It was dark and I was still sleepy. I had not been able to get to sleep the night before until midnight and I woke up at 3:30 am to finish packing. The older girls took the third row for themselves and immediately began working their DVD players and Nintendo DS. Krista and her youngest daughter, Natalie, took the second row and I was riding shotgun. Cara drove the first 4 or 5 hours. Then I drove for about 3 hours. Cara finished off the drive. What was supposed to take 10 or so hours, ended up taking more like 12 or 13. With many stops for gas and potty breaks and the insane traffic jams we encountered in Georgia and South Carolina, we were tired and irritated by the time we got off Interstate 26 at the Tryon NC exit, as directed by the Yahoo directions. This exit contained not one, but two roundabouts, and it was confusing. We thought we were going the right direction on Hwy 108 but we wanted to make sure.

We stopped at a Texaco station and Krista and I got out to ask directions. The man at the counter was slowly eating a burrito. I asked him if we were going the right direction on 108 to get to Lake Lure. He said yeah, just keep going until you see a flashing yellow light. There will be sign for Lake Lure and it is very well marked. Turn left he said and you will be on Hwy 9. Hwy 9 was part of our internet directions. Krista, having noticed a Food Lion grocery store next to the Texaco, asked if we should get groceries now at the Food Lion. She asked if there would another grocery store or if we would be in the boonies. He told us that it would be very "country" where we were going and we should probably get groceries now. I don't know if he was offended by the term boonies, but if he was, it did not interrupt his interest in finishing that burrito. After some discussion about whether to shop or not, where I pushed my opinion that we should get to the damn resort first and worry about food later, we decided to press on and find the resort. I feel it was the right decision. The resort would prove to well hidden and would require quite a bit of patience to actually find.

We continued on 108 to the well-marked flashing yellow light and turned left onto to 9 toward Lake Lure. It was still a bit light outside and we could see some landscape. Hwy 108's scenery had not been particularly impressive. Rising up on both sides of the road at times were rundown trailer homes and shacks embedded into steep hillsides. I warned the girls to look out the window and let these homes be a motivation to them to go to college, get a good education and a good job. You don't want to end up living in a house like those, I said, after being knocked up by your high school sweetheart and looking after two screaming babies and a flea-bitten coonhound. It won't be pretty. Hey, I am just looking out for you girls, I said. Cara thanked me for my wise counsel, but she may not have been entirely sincere.

Now on the two lane Hwy 9, the area was less populated and the scenery was prettier. The houses we saw were in better condition but the road was much twistier and hillier. Finally we passed a large Ingles grocery store/pharmacy/gas station. We were relieved to know we had a place to get supplies that was at least a little closer to our resort. Just past the store, we hit our turn off onto Hwy64/74. Right at the turn off is one tip of Lake Lure. The mountains rose up on either side of the lake. Dotting the lake's edge were cute little houses with boat slips. The houses looked very small but were several stories tall, not spread out like a ranch house. The houses were painted barn red, mint green, white, some were not painted but exposed wood. This view of the lake would become one of many of our favorite vistas.

Once onto 64/74, the road became even more twisty. Most of the time, there was no guardrail on the side of the road that dropped off into a valley or a stream. This make Cara a little nervous. I thought it made for exciting driving. The other side of the road was a wall of rock or forest with many fallen trees that looked as though they could tumble onto the roadside at any time. We drove very slowly. From 64/74, we turned off on Bill's Creek Road. I was never certain that we were going the right way. We were looking for something with the Fairfield name on it but everything seemed to have that name on it. We were not sure which Fairfield sign we should follow. On the corner of Bill's Creek Road and 64/74 was Dalton's General Store that also sold gas. It was a tiny white clapboard building. I was not sure what kind of goods they would have but it was good to know that we might have another source of last minute supplies.

From Bill's Creek Road, it was a left turn onto Buffalo Creek Road. Off this road, we found the registration office, which was not for Fairfield Mountains. It was for Vacation Rentals International. The office was located on top of small hill. We parked at the top and Cara went in to register. We were allowed only 6 people in the unit, but we had 7, so I jokingly told Natalie to hide so we wouldn't get caught. She disagreed with me and wouldn't hide. The kids had all been very good during the long trip but were now hyper and ready to get out of the van. We got our directions to the resort we were actually staying at. It was called Rumbling Bald Resort. Just finding the resort entrance would not be enough. It was a long and winding road to find our unit once inside the resort. Krista and I would dedicate our unofficial anthem of this trip as The Long and 'Winding Road. We would sing it often during the week ahead. After the entrance to Rumbling Bald, it is another complicated set of directions to get to unit 77. Eventually it would become ingrained in my memory, as I ended up doing almost all of the driving while we were there, but the route really required practice.

The view of the mountains, especially Bald Mountain, was spectacular. Our unit was located on a hillside that dropped off steeply, inspiring the parents to make rule #1. No kids on the back balcony without an adult present. It wasn't that the drop from the balcony to the ground was so far (about 20 ft), it was that once you hit the ground, your fall would not be over. You would surely tumble down another 200 ft through thick forest, brush, tree stumps and rocks before landing in the road below. That was the truth of almost every place we went. One slip and it was a long tumble down.

The unit had two bedrooms, one on the first floor with a bathroom, one on the lower floor down a half-staircase. The living room, dining area and kitchen were up a half-staircase. We had a fireplace, which I was very excited about. We were only allowed to burn Duraflame logs, no real wood, but I was still happy to have it. We quickly unpacked our suitecases and got back in the car to go get groceries. We spent almost $300 on that first trip. By the time we got back, we were completely exhausted, but looking forward to tomorrow, our first full day in the mountains.
(for more details, you can go to cmkerwin.blogspot.com. we kept a journal of our days and it is in Cara's possession, so she probably has more to say. this blog is based on my memory and my family and friends know how iffy that can be!)