Week 35: Kentucky - Camping, Hiking, DSO, Painted Ponies, and Rednecks

August 27-29, 2010

Friday morning I got up and headed to Kentucky. I had never been to Kentucky before; this was an opportunity to check another state off of my list. Oh, and I saw Dark Star Orchestra. It took about 8 hours to get to Kentucky. Once you leave I-81 and travel up through Kentucky, there isn’t much around. The picture above screams “Welcome to Kentucky”. I arrived at the Natural Bridge State Resort Park around 5ish. I set up my tent, bought crappy firewood that didn’t’ burn, and settled in with a book. Thanks to a video from Wild West, I purchased some flowers for myself on the way there. It was a lovely touch to a relaxing evening.

I was up bright and early to go hiking. I wasn’t on the trail but 5 minutes when Ma called. Yes, I was still alive although my GPS tracker, Spot, was not transmitting. I hiked up the Balanced Rock trail. It was mostly steps and I feel a little out of shape. I made it to the top. The view was beautiful from the top of the Natural Bridge. I didn’t see a single person until I hit the top. Then I met Hiker Lady who is from Charlotte. We chatted at length about hiking and photography, and then exchanged information. I just may have a hiking buddy. I walked under the bridge and then down the Original Trail. At the bottom, I headed back up the Battleship Rock trail and through the Needle’s Eye. I walked out to Lover’s Leap for a scary drop off view. I bet this would be amazing in the fall! I walked across the ridge and there I got a fantastic view of the Natural Bridge at a distance. I flopped down on a rock in the shade, set up my tripod and waited. While I waited, I ate my lunch. Now just what was I waiting for? The perfect picture. And what was the perfect picture? The Natural Bridge with no people standing on it. I waited for roughly 20 minutes until the people cleared out.

I hiked back to the car, drove back to the campground, took a shower, and headed off to Lexington. I was going to Cosmic Charlie’s to see the Dark Star Orchestra. I was driving up there early to take a tour around the city. I pulled out my atlas and saw that Lexington has a park with horse statues. Well, no kidding…Kentucky know for horses? Who would have thought? I knew Kentucky was famous for horses but didn’t think about it much, I was thinking more along the lines of rednecks and inbreeding. When I arrived in Lexington, I stopped at Starbucks. I waited awhile for my chai, so I got it for free. My lucky day! I drove down Main Street, not really knowing where I was going. Lucky for me, Lexington is on a grid system. Thank goodness! It was easy to find my way around. As I drove around, I saw the first one – a painted horse statue. Just like the bears of New Bern and the groundhogs of Punxsutawney. I drove/walked around for quite a while taking pictures of all the horses. I’m not sure if I got them all; there was a lot! The funny thing was that I saw kids in the water fountains playing like it was a swimming pool. And not just in one fountain, but in several. All of which had "no swimming" signs. I laughed! After that I drove to the venue and walked down the street. Again, my lucky day. There was a street fair with music. I hung out there a bit and then headed to see DSO. I saw some weird people at the concert. I left early to beat all of the drunks and drove back to the park.

Alice in WonderlandA Stary NightA Kentucky map horse with a close up of where I stayed

Sunday, I got up, packed my stuff and went to explore the Red River Gorge area. I drove around the scenic byway and stopped on multi occasions to do some mini hikes. Then I headed home. About 3 hours into my trip, I stopped and napped for an hour in the Lowes parking lot. Then I got all mixed up with Route 58-Alt, 58-Bus, 58, 58-this, 58-that. By the time, I thought maybe I should take 58, I didn’t recognize the scenery. Thanks for showing me how to read a map dad. I pulled out the map and found a different way. Now I’m going to forewarn you that this will most likely never happen again. But after getting slightly lost and picking a new route, I made it home 15 minutes quicker than it took to get there. What are the chances of that? Slim to none. Just goes to show that sometimes getting lost pays off.

PS. I didn’t proof read. Just not enough time.

Week 34: LoneRider Brewery

August 25, 2010

Tonight LC and I visited LoneRider Brewery. LoneRider has been open for a little under 2 years, but they make a killer brew. LC has been promoting LoneRider's beer call Shotgun Betty for months. She talks incessantly about it. LC will be know forever more as Betty. When I arrived, I didn't see stairs. There were 2 guys standing outside so I asked. The stairs were around the building. Being lazy or maybe difficult, I chose to climb up over the loading dock. The Brewer Guy was smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer. He informed me that LoneRider was not open to sit and drink a beer at the bar, but I could purchase a growler. I said ok, sat at the bar and taste tested, then waited for Betty.

While waiting for Betty, some people came in. We started to chat and I learned that they were from IBM and were there on an outing to tour the brewery. Once Betty arrived, we sweet talked the Brewer Guy to give us a beer. Then we did a little more sweet talking and were able to go on the tour of LoneRider brewery with the IBM folks. What luck! Betty was more of an expert on brewing beer than the Brewer Guy. She knew all the answers to all the questions. Now the Brewer Guy was drunk, but still Betty knows her stuff. She credits GC, since he has been making beer forever. We learned about hops and fermentation. Shotgun Betty has about 1/10th of the amount of hops that Peace Maker has. What a lucky night!

We grabbed a growler of Shotgun Betty and headed to Betty's place for some porch sippin'. Betty made a snack and we chatted the night away.

Week 33: Cheese and Chocolate in Switzerland

August 11 to 18, 2010

Last Wednesday I flew over the big blue ocean to my second “greatest adventure ever” – Switzerland. Ireland still takes first place. God has blessed me a million times this year and this is just one more amazing blessing. My job flew me to our headquarters for a few meetings. I arrived on Thursday in Zurich, after a long but comfortable flight across the big blue ocean where I had a whole row to myself. I rented a car and drove out of the airport. There was one major problem; I couldn’t read any of the signs! Thankfully I had a GPS to tell me where to go. My first destination was Rheinfall. I think along the way I might have driven through 3 kilometers of Germany but I’m not sure. When I arrived at Rheinfall, I smelled the cows. There are cows all over Switzerland, hence they are known for cheese. Rheinfall was beautiful – a wide waterfall with a castle on the shore and a rock island in the middle. I took a boat to the island and climbed the steep stairs to get an amazing look at the falls and castle. Fabulous!

After that, I started my trip to Uzwil and took the scenic route. There are farms everywhere. Many of them are growing fields of sunflowers. I passed through a very historic and magnificent town. I have no idea what the name was, but it looked just like the pictures of Switzerland. The houses were skillfully painted and were an integral part of the wall that protected the town. There were amazing arches on each side of the town. I stopped in a café to get a bite to eat. I chose what looked like yogurt. It was the most delicious treat – strawberry yogurt, with granola and fresh scrumptious fruit. It was amazingly fresh! The cemetary looked like a garden. I have never seen a more beautiful place to bury people. I want to be burried in a flower garden! I left there and drove up past the vineyards to a castle on top of the hill and took a tour. From the castle you could see the entire town. I decided to stop by the toilet. The signs didn't have pictures on them, just words. I pondered this and listened for people. I didn't hear anyone around so I picked one that made sense to me. The sign read damen; it's sounds close to dame. I didn't see any urinals so I'm guessing I was in the right toilet room. I drove from there into Germany. As I went to cross the boarder, I had no idea what to do. The guard just waved me on through and I drove around Germany for a bit. The small towns were marvelous! As I drove back into Switzerland, I saw many guards ahead. I didn’t know what to do again. I slowed down and they stared at me but didn’t say a word. I just crept on through and kept driving. I found out later that you can travel freely across the boarders in Europe.

I made it to Uzwil and crashed by 5PM. I worked on Friday and met many wonderful people at the company there. On Saturday, I took off with a colleague and went to Luzern. It was a charming town and they were having a farmers market and flea market. They had a stand full of cow bells, humungous cow bells and tiny cow bells. There were fresh produce stands and my favorite – cheese stands. You could smell the cheese from 20 feet away. It was amazing! There is a river that runs through town and there are wooden bridges across the river that add so much to the scenery. There was also a man on the corner playing music with a harmonica/accordian thing. From Luzern we drove to Zurich for the 19th annual Street Parade. A street parade is a big techno party. They have stages with techno music all about. Then there is a parade of 18-wheelers carrying techno DJs and dancers. The parade lasted for hours. It was also an excuse for people to dress crazy. We saw many crazy people and had a great time. Back at the hotel, we dropped into the bar for a beer. The people were staring at me. As we left, I asked my colleague if I look different, if you could tell I wasn’t a local. The answer was yes. Apparently you can spot a non-European a kilometer away.

Sunday I got up and drove to Sankt Moritz. On the way I saw a rainbow, it's gotta be a sign of good luck. It rained most of the way down. I drove through the mountains and through tunnels and saw beautiful scenery. I stopped to take pictures of the cows with bells on their necks. Some had big bells – these are the older cows. Some had small bells – these are the young cows. The bells serve two purposes in the Alps. One is that the cows follow each other by the pitch of their bells. The younger ones learn to follow the older ones and thus they stay together in the Alps so no cow gets lost. And the other reason is so the farmers can hear the cows and find them. As I crested the final pass before Sankt Moritz I saw a breathe-taking view. Turquoise blue lakes as the base of snow capped mountains. You couldn’t have a more beautiful picture. It was amazing! I drove around Sankt Moritz and then parked near one of the lakes. I hiked around the lake and up to a waterfall. The view from the top of the waterfall was once again spectacular. I sat at the top and breathed in the view and refreshed my soul. Nothing refreshes a person like the beauty that God has created. I walked around through a ski resort town and the chalets were picturesque. As I drove back, I actually drove through some snow! Snow in August…isn’t it wonderful?!

I dropped the car off and took the train back to Uzwil. I worked on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday evening another colleague Marco took me to a local chocolate shop. I bought $70 worth of chocolate. Wild West I got some for you. WTG next time we do some porch sippin’ there will be some Swiss chocolate. Later that evening, we went to Wil. Wil was a cute little town. My 2 bosses and I walked around a bit and ate some dinner. Big Boss Man had a little trouble figuring out how to turn the faucet on in the bathroom. I had a little trouble myself but I figured it out in about 1 minute. Big Boss Man had to make a return visit to the bathroom to wash his hands after I commented on the interesting on-button. We laughed much about this.

Top 5 from Switzerland:

5. Cheese vendors at the market.

4. Cows with bells.

3. Crazy street parade people

2. Chocolate!

1. Snow capped mountains!

Week 32: Soapstone Wine Tasting Tour #2

August 7, 2010

The Soapstoners are back for round 2 of wine tasting North Carolina style. This time we rented a van to haul all of us out to Yappa Valley to visit and indulge in more wine. We were leaving at 8AM and I struggled to make it on time. To my joy, I was not the last to arrive and even had time to hit up the MAC for some cash before GC and LC (aka Betty) arrived. Too much Shotgun Betty for them last night, made getting there on time a little rough for GC and Betty. As we took off down the highway, GC turned on his “W” GPS. The voice on the GPS is George W. Bush. Along the way I made a very important phone call to Ma and Pa to find out what the purple boxes hanging in the trees in PA were. They are to see where the Emerald Ash Borers are. As we reach the first winery, W told us that we had reached our destification. No, that is not a typo. You have now reached your destification, Shelton Vineyard and Winery.

The grounds were beautiful at Shelton with roses at the ends of each row of grape. There is a reason for the roses. Do you know what that is? There was a pond with Weeping Willows (my favorite) and bridges and flowers. What a stunning view! We decided to take the winery tour. We are doing all this tasting but don’t know that much about the process. We start by voting on our favorite wine barrel. These barrels were painted by local artists. They are exquisite! We learn about the brothers that own the winery and head outside to see the start of the process. Pick, de-stem, press, ferment, barrel, taste, taste a little more, and maybe 12 more times, bottle, INDULGE. We finish with a tasting of some nice wines. Wild West and I ran through the many “S’s” of tasting and discussed Swiss chocolate. They had a great Riesling there.

Moving on to my favorite winery of the day as far as wine goes. (This was not my favorite stop of the day…more to come on that in a bit). The Round Peak Winery was amazing! Our tasting was outside, sitting on a patio, overlooking the vineyard with mountains in the back drop. Could there be a better place to taste wine? Perhaps, but we haven’t found it yet. Round Peak also makes a serious of wines under the Skull Camp. Both of the names come from the mountains that surround the winery. Kari was our wine server and owner of the winery. Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention when we were given our tasting options. After the rest of the group had tasted all of the Round Peak wines and I had tasted all of the Skull Camp wines, the rest of the group started tasting the Skull Camp. Much to my embarrassment, I then apologized for not knowing I could taste them all. Kari had to double pour everything due to my…er...ADHD. The Skull Camp wines had excellent names: Anticipation, Euphoria, Infatuation, Confusion, and Indulgence. Upon leaving, DY and Betty had to jump on the Opie bus (we were close to Mayberry) and get their picture taken. Getting back in the van, we noticed that JM had wine on her white pants yet again. But, I hear she is an expert in getting wine stains out.

Back in the van, GC turned W on again. This time W told us to “bare right. I’m not sure if that’s a grizzly bear or a black bear.” We went to the Old North State winery and ate lunch, but did not taste any wine. We gave PF her birthday card and a wine glass with fill-lines for how bad her day has been. PF is celebration the anniversary of her 29th birthday. We moved on to the Stoney Knoll winery, where the wine wasn’t very good and GC commented that “it’s all about the alcohol.”

The last winery and the best stop of the day, Stonefield Cellars. It may not have been every ones favorite, but they had some delicious wine. More importantly, there was some delicious eye candy that walked in to taste wine not long after we arrived. As soon as the guy walked in, CS was elbowing me in the side saying “look at him, did you see those eyes.” To which I respond, “does your son ever tell you you’re annoying?” I don’t mean this in a bad way, just that my cheeks look like tomatoes by this point. This is when the embarrassment started. All the Soapstoners were talking about this guy, telling me to go talk to him, offer him chocolate, etc. I was trying to quiet them because by this point in the day they have all had much to drink and are talking VERY LOUDLY! Even though they thought they were whispering. Finally PF tells me to trade places because she want to talk to CS. I do. This gets me away from listening to their match-making tactics and lands me right beside Blue Eyes. Turns out that Blue Eyes is from Sweden (that explains the blue eyes) and is here on business. CS continues to elbow me in the side as I talk to the guy. His English is excellent and he is beautiful as only a foreigner can be. Sorry guys, but they don’t make men like that in America. As we leave our wine tasting, Blue Eyes takes a group picture for us and we are on our merry way.

The ride home is crazy. Six people attacking me at once and running on and on about Blue Eyes. After all, PF says they are older and more experienced when it comes to matchmaking. They say they will find him on Facebook. I have no doubt they will try. Ahhh…the Soapstoners…couldn’t ask for a better church family. All families embarrass you at some point or another. That’s what families are for and you still love ‘em anyway. Salute!

Week 31: Habitat for Humanity

I'm lazy...So you just get pictures.

Our painting lesson, because some people just don't know how to paint.

We painted the porches of 4 houses.

PVC pipe with duct tape ends, one of the millions of uses for duct tape.