Smoky Mountain Adventure and Nashville Honky Tonks

After picking up Andrea & Mike at the airport in Knoxville, we started our grand adventure in Tennessee's Smokey Mountains. We stayed in a great cabin at the Oak Haven Resort in Sevierville, just outside of the more well-known Gatlinburg, TN. We had a gorgeous spot up in the hills, overlooking the countryside with a huge wrap-around porch.

Since we were all tired from traveling, we spent our first night checking out the local wineries and having a barbeque at the cabin. Tennessee is definitely not France or Napa Valley, nor is it trying to be. They like their wine sweet and fruity. All four of us generally like dry wines, so this was a challenge. Our first stop was at the Hillside Winery, where they are generous with the pour and completely up front about the style of wine they have. It is sweet and strong and seems like the kind of thing you'd get in the backwoods of Tennessee. Which is fine, because that's where we were!

Next we went to the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge. We actually didn't have the wine there because the woman serving it was rude. But we did buy some apple turnovers for breakfast (and they were delicious).



The next day we got up early for some ziplining, which I blogged about before. But after that, we made a quick stop for lunch before heading off for some whitewater rafting with Smoky Mountain Outdoors. After the ziplining experience, I was a little nervous even though I'd been rafting a bunch before in high school. But our trusty guide, Big Steve, kept us afloat even over class 4 rapids. It was awesome, and again, smelled so delicious out in the fresh mountain air! That night we went into Gatlinburg for dinner.



The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast, then headed off for Nashville. We mad a pit stop for lunch and to visit this pink elephant.


Since none of us had been to Nashville before, we decided going on a group tour would be a good idea. So we hopped on the camouflage bus and had a Redneck Tour of Nashville. It's definitely not a family-oriented tour, but we had some laughs and got a feel for the city and its history. Here we are with our guides, Tater and Merlene.


This was also most of our first time in the south, and we were curious to see what the plantations looked like. We went to Andrew Jackson's home, "the Hermitage" and to Belle Meade Plantation, where they bred racehorses (all Kentucky Derby racehorses can be traced to one horse at this plantation!). Both plantations had lots of slaves, and while it's nice in the old homes, walking through the pretty grounds is a little creepy, knowing that people were enslaved there. We were able to take a peek inside slave quarters, but none were set up with period furniture so it was a little hard to get a sense of what life was really like inside. Now they just look like rustic cabins.


One of my favorite sites was the Cheekwood gardens, which was the home of the Cheek Family, who built their fortune off their ownership of the Maxwell House coffee brand. Today the grounds are open to the public (for a fee). The house, at 33,000 square feet, has been partially converted to an art museum. There's even a Japanese garden, and several water features.


This little Italian style grotto is up by the house


Finally, at night, we enjoyed the Honky Tonks of Broadway. We had two favorites: The Stage and Layla's Bluegrass Inn. Layla's had some crazy rockabilly/bluegrass music and was a lot of fun! We saw Brandon Giles there, who was absolutely a phenomenal performer - like a Jerry Lee Lewis reincarnation. For more popular country and rock music, we enjoyed The Stage (recommended by my childhood friend's little sister). The best part is that it is free to go to any of these shows! If you like the music, you can tip the band however much you want - they'll have someone come around with a big tip jar. It's really a great way to see live music!

Here we are at the Stage. I was kind of surprised at how many country songs I know the lyrics to!



I am so glad we got to do this trip all together. It was just what we needed for a little getaway. We are really blessed to have such great friends!

Asheville, NC

I'm finally getting around to blogging about our May trip to Asheville, NC and Tennessee. Our plan was to meet up with our friends, Andrea & Mike in Tennessee and check out the Smoky Mountains and Nashville over a week. I really wanted to see the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC while we were out that way, but it was just going to be too much to pack into our group trip. So, Paul and I drove down a couple days earlier so we could add that in.

It's a 12 hour drive to Asheville, so we didn't get there until late in the day. I'd been wanting to see the Biltmore Estate for as long as I can remember. I'd seen pictures of it and thought it would be a wonderful place to have a fairytale wedding. The house was built by George Vanderbilt, when we was in his mid-20s, in the late 1800s. Shortly after building it, he found a wife.

A bit about Asheville. It's a college town and feels to me a lot like a college town in western Massachusetts, maybe Northampton. But it's got a funny mix of foodie culture, mountain culture, elegant venues and backwoods BBQs. I saw their McDonalds featured on a TV show once, and just had to see it because they have a piano inside and it's all fancy like.



But we didn't eat there. Instead, we ate at Luella's Bar-B-Que. It was sooo good! Here we are on our way in.


The next morning, we got up, had breakfast and headed off for our Biltmore day.


We started out in the 125,000 acre gardens before it got too hot out. They were designed by the famous landscape architect, Fredrick Law Olmsted. The land had been used as farmland, and they actually planted all the trees you see there (yes, millions of them). There are beautiful formal gardens (including a French style garden that they call the Italian garden) and some wooded areas with windy paths (something Olmsted was all about - straight lines are for barbarians or something). But WOW were they awesome gardens - and what a VIEW!




Oh how I'd love if this was my back yard! (as long as someone else took care of it, of course)


After seeing the house (no pictures allowed inside, of course, because they want to sell you pictures they take of you), we went to the winery for a wine tasting. Apparently when one of the Vanderbilts passed away, the estate was divided among different heirs, and one got the house and the other got the dairy - which was soon converted to a winery.

There's also an inn on the grounds where you can stay in luxury. While the inn wasn't in our budget, we did squeeze in afternoon tea at the Library in the inn. We have a view of the mansion (in the right window, in the background) and the grounds, and of course, super delicious tea and accompaniments.


The next morning we drove off to pick up Andrea & Mike in Knoxville, TN. On our way to the airport, we took a detour through the Blue Ridge Parkway.


One thing I have to say about the area is just how good the air smelled! It was like breathing in piney-freshness. I was happy to just stand there and sniff!

Saltine toffee - YUM!

Today we have plans for a concert and picnic in Bryan Park with some friends of ours, and I decided to make a small dessert to bring along - Saltine toffee.

Back in winter of 2009, I went to a Christmas cookie exchange at a neighbor's house, and we all exchanged cookies and recipes so that we could make each other's tasty treats. Well, I finally got around to making one of them and it was SOO good and SOO easy that I figured I should share it here. I have no idea who gave me the recipe (there's no name on it) so the credit cannot be given. But man, are they tasty! You're basically making your own heath bars with this one.




Here's the recipe for Saltine toffee:

1-2 sleeves Saltine crackers
1 c Brown sugar
1 c Butter (2 sticks)
12 oz Chocolate Chips
3/4 c nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 10x15 cookie sheet (with sides) with parchment paper. Cover with one layer of crackers. Melt butter and brown sugar over medium heat until boiling, stirring constantly, and full boil for 3 minutes (mixture will be the color of peanut butter and pull away from sides of pot). Quickly pour mixture over crackers and spread evenly (be careful...very hot!). Bake in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and turn off oven.

Sprinkle chocolate chips over heated crackers and caramel mixture. Let sit for 5 minutes (you can put it back in the oven to melt the chocolate faster). Spread the melted chips with a spatula. Sprinkle nuts and press down lightly. Freeze for 30 minutes. Break into pieces and store either in fridge or at room temperature.


I will also add this is a great way to use up chocolate chips that you bought at a store, then left in the car on a hot summer day while you went to another store, and then found they were all melted when you got home. Not that I'd know from personal experience or anything.

Tennessee Ziplining

At the end of May, we went with our friends Andrea & Mike to Tennessee. I will post more later, but here is a video of me ziplining for the first time in Sevierville, Tennessee, in the Smoky Mountains. You can see my fearful smile at the camera before being pushed off the platform.



You won't see me in line for one of these things again, but after 6 zipline runs of varying lengths/heights, at least I can say I've done it!

Yet Another Master's Degree

On the advice of an unnamed professor, I decided to participate in the graduate student graduation program this spring since I finished all of the requirements for the Master's Degree in Sociology this winter - supposedly "everyone" would be there. Well, I was the only one from my department who showed up for the Master's portion, but it was still interesting despite coughing up $75 for the gown rental.

Most memorable was what I observed during the PhD "hoodings", where each PhD graduate has their name read, then their advisor places a velvet/satin sash thing (for some reason called a hood) over their heads. My outfit actually had a "hood" too, but at the MA level you put it on yourself before the ceremony. Weird stuff. Anyway, the really interesting thing was the way advisors and graduates interacted immediately after the hooding. There was a very clear gender difference. If it was a female student, the advisor would hug her just after putting on the hood. If it was a female advisor, she would hug the graduate (whether male or female). BUT, if it was a male student with a male advisor, they would shake hands like adults who respected each other professionally. So you can guess which one I will insist on!

Here's me and Paul right after the ceremony.

29 with cheese and wine

Here's me (and Binsey) with the spread we had for my wine & cheese birthday party a few weeks ago. It was delicious, and we had sooo much good cheese! I finally got to use the cheese dome my friend Holly gave us for our wedding, which was very useful since we got some real stinky cheeses. I also realized we need to have more parties!

Spring is here!

So apparently Spring in Bloomington means TONS of rain, and rain that comes all at once. Here's what our back yard looked like just a couple days after we put down grass seed


But, on the plus side, the bulbs we planted last Fall seem to be coming up! And the phlox (the ground cover stuff) has really expanded in our little front garden!