San Antonio

San Antonio was an interesting place.  I was excited to go to Texas, mainly to see my little brother, but also because I had never been to that state.  Lee and I only had to pay $10 for our flights because we used some of our miles from our credit card.  It's pretty fun earning free flights for everyday purchases.  

We flew straight in to San Antonio and got on a shuttle to our car rental. We rented a minivan to hold all the family and headed to our hotel - the Historic St. Anthony Hotel. The hotel lobby was beautiful. Several times there was live music in the lobby. 

 Our rooms, on the other hand, were quite different.  They were decent, but clearly very old.  We expected as much from a historic hotel, so we weren't disappointed.  It smelled a little musty, but everything looked clean.  With the old wooden beds and other furniture, it was a pretty fun place to stay.  Also, it didn't hurt that we got it super cheap on Hotwire.  We spent most of our time with my little brother, but we visited a few places while we were there.  

San Antonio was a strange city.  I've been a lot of places, some sketchier than others, but this city didn't feel welcoming at all. The two main places to visit (really the only places) to visit in San Antonio are the Alamo and the Riverwalk.  The Alamo was right in the middle of town. 

 We passed it several times when walking or driving around.  It had a constant flow of people both day and night.  We visited one day.  It wasn't all that exciting.  There were a few exhibits on the inside and another building that was a big gift store.  There was also a nice treed area in the back, but it was a pretty quick trip.  The guards weren't very friendly.  They just gave dirty stares as they walked by, but it didn't bother me any. 

 I just kept taking pictures (outside only).  It's cool to say I've visited the Alamo, but it's not really anything great in person.  We visited the Riverwalk quite frequently while we were in town.  It was only 3 blocks from our hotel, so we ate there a few times. 

 The Riverwalk is a place where the river runs through the town.  It has sidewalks on each side and restaurants as well.  The places we tried were all very good.  It was a nice area.  They had all the tress wrapped in lights that stayed on during the night.  They also gave boat tours down the river.  We didn't take one.  One of the last places we went was the Tower of the Americas.  It's a 750 foot tall tower that has three levels at the top.  


Two were restaurant/bar, the top was an observation deck.  Lee and I went up in the evening and took pictures in the daylight, sunset, and night.  It was a good time to visit the tower because we were only out there for an hour.  The rest of our trip was filled with family time (games, walking around, eating, etc.).  It was nice to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law before they moved away.  Overall, it was a pretty good trip.

Great Smoky Mountains

Lee bought a tent earlier this year for Christmas and we hadn't had a chance to try it out together until this weekend.  A month ago, we decided to go camping in the Smoky Mountains during the fall so we could relax, enjoy the colors, and take plenty of pictures.  As we don't have many vacation days, we decided to make it a weekend trip.    After work Friday, we got everything ready for the trip (the cooler, the coleman, the tent, chairs, sleeping bag, etc.).  I forget how much stuff you have to take when camping. 

On our way to Clingman's Dome

Our plan was to leave early, early Saturday morning to miss as much Pigeon Forge traffic as possible.  I got up at 2:30am and showered and started packing the final items (electronics, chargers, etc.).  Lee did the same.  We moved a little slowly because it was so early, but we finally got to the car around 3:45.  We packed our final things, got buckled in, and tried to start the car.   Nothing happened.  Awesome.  We had a dead battery. 

 I knew it was low because Walmart told me at my last oil change, but I figured I'd wait until my next oil change to replace it.  After all, it was just on the low side, not dead.  Apparently it was a little lower than I thought.  We pulled our other vehicle around and tried to jump the car for a while, but it was to no avail.  That battery was gone.  Our only hope was to replace the battery, take the other vehicle, or just stay home. 

 We headed to Walmart around 4:45.  It was freezing out, but there was a surprising amount of people at Walmart.  We got the new battery, got home, and Lee replaced it.  We got back in the car and it started up just fine.  So with a bit of a late start, we were nervous that traffic would be insane going into Gatlinburg.  A few hours later, when we got to Pigeon Forge, the traffic was surprisingly (and pleasantly) light.  We made our way through, checking out everything that had been changed or added since our last time through. 

"Riverfront" Campsite

Once we were through Gatlinburg, we headed to Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.  This was a 6-mile loop that's just for sight-seers.  The only problem with this loop was that half of the people wouldn't pull over at the viewpoints to take pictures, they would just stop in the middle of the road.  

The second half of the loop was nice with the creek and fall colors, but it took a while with everyone stopping.  Once we left the Roaring Fork, we headed up to Clingman's Dome.  Clingman's Dome is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains.  Unfortunately, it was snowing and foggy, so we couldn't see 20 feet in front of us.  It was pretty fun seeing snow though.  It made me ready for winter!

On our way down we stopped at Newfound Gap.  Newfound Gap is the lowest drivable pass through the Smokies. It's a nice photo-op.  Just about everywhere we stopped had trails, but we didn't take the time for any of them.  Once we left the gap, we took our time heading to our campsite.  We stopped at a few places to take pictures.  Once we checked in at our campground, we made our way to our spot.  We reserved it online the night before.  Our spot was right by the three-spot parking lot and was about 30 feet from a small river.

We actually paid an extra $4 for our riverfront campsite.  It was completely worth the $4.  We were a good distance from the people next to us, close to our car, and had the river right by us.  The river was loud enough for us to play our radio where we could hear it, but our camp neighbors couldn't.  We had to bring the radio to listen to the UT game.  Luckily, we got a really good signal.  We listened to music while we set up camp.  Well, we listened to it while Lee set up camp.  I helped where I could.  

Once the tent was set up, we got everything else together.  We brought the Coleman grill and made boiled hot dogs for dinner.  Also, we made hot chocolate.  It felt wonderful in the 30 degree weather.  

We started layering up to prepare for the cold.  The hot chocolate helped with that.  Once we got tired, we went to bed.  I stuffed my layers with hot hands and tried to get comfortable in my sleeping bag.  I felt like the kid on A Christmas Story - I could barely put my arms down.  The good news is the only part of me that got cold that night was my nose.  I just pulled my turtleneck up to cover it.  We slept as we listened to the nearby river.  We woke up in the morning and started breakfast - eggs, toast, bacon, and more hot chocolate. 

We took our time packing up and then checked out.  Our next stop was Cades Cove.  Lee and I had never been there, but we knew it was pretty popular, so we checked it out.  It was pretty cool, with a nice view, but we should have taken the first exit out.  Instead, we took the longer scenic route and ended up looking at the same thing for an hour.  There was bumper to bumper traffic and the view never changed.

I would definitely recommend seeing it, but I'd take the short route next time.  After that, our last stop was Look Rock.  There was a short uphill hike to the top of Look Rock, but the view was awesome.  You could see all around - the mountains on one side, the city of Maryville and others on the other side.  While at the top, we met a couple from Maryville.  The man was an air traffic controller.  Apparently he was friends with the guy who fell asleep this year.  He had some interesting stories about the guy and his personal life.  After we finished having a nice conversation with them (we even ventured into politics), we said goodbye and took our pictures.  That was the last stop on our trip, so we headed home.  We made it home around 8pm.  For a two day trip, we had a ton of fun and got to take some amazing pictures.  I'm sure we'll visit in the fall again sometime.

Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbeque

Some friends from college live in Tullahoma, so they invited us down for the Jack Daniel's barbeque competition.  They invited a big group down to go to Jack Daniel's then to their house to watch a football game.  

We carpooled with some friends of ours.  When we arrived in Lynchberg, we got to park pretty close at our friends' church.  They were working the parking lot, so we headed down the hill to explore the competition. 

 There were several booths set up selling homemade crafts and food.  There was also a live band.  Well, there were several bands rotating throughout the day.  We took our time wandering around the town square. 

We even tried some fried Oreos!  I was afraid that it would be disgusting because I'm not a huge fan of Oreos, but it was actually pretty amazing.  We went down towards the barbeque and went from booth to booth looking at each competitor's food. 

 Not all competitors are allowed to sell their barbeque to the public, only a few.  We bought some sandwiches from one stand and found some grass to sit down on and eat.  It was pretty good, but it wasn't mind-blowing. 

We walked back to where all the competitors were cooking and it smelled amazing - much better than the general smell of sour mash that the town has.  Some looked more professional than others.  I didn't realize there was also a competition on desserts.

We walked back at the best time because everyone was running to turn in their food on time.  Teams were running by in their matching outfits or costumes making noise with anything they had to get people to move out of the way.

 I saw air horns, pots and pans, and many other items being used to get people out of the way as the one person carrying the food powerwalked so not to disturb the food.  

We crowded in the barn and saw several tables with judges.  Johnny Majors was one of the guest judges.  Lee was pretty excited, but I had to ask who he was. 

We stayed in there for a few minutes, but could tell it was going to take some time, so we walked out the back.  They had a small petting zoo set up, so we ventured in there to see the cows, goats, chickens, etc. 

 We took some pictures and wandered around some more.  Once we got in touch with our friends, we headed back to the car to go watch football. 

We had a lots of fun with our friends.  I don't know that I'd want to go back to the competition every year, but it was definitely fun enough to make another trip sometime.