An Explosive Adventure on Assateague Island

My family & I just spent another wonderful week on Chincoteague Island & enjoyed the Assateague Island National Seashore. I love it here! Life moves at a slow pace & the native islanders embrace their wildlife with care. It’s truly amazing how much peace and serenity can be found on the Virginia side of Assateague.
Family and friends alike questioned us as to why we would make such a long drive just to come to a beach. The trip took us over 16hrs from east Tennessee. The most popular beach destination for most east Tennesseeans is Myrtle Beach (a 6hr drive). Here’s why we drive so far for so long:
1. Commercialization – there is very little on Chincoteague! There are no skyscraper hotels, condos, or timeshares on the beach. There is no boardwalk consisting of stores & restaurants repeating themselves for miles.
2. Chaos – there is none here!
3. The best hotel on the small island is the Best Western where they cook a mean breakfast each morning!
4. I’ve only seen 3 franchise establishments! Ledo’s, McDonald’s, and Sunsation. That’s it! Everything else is mom & pop
5. It’s clean
6. My husband has no cell phone service (which means he can’t work).
7. The wildlife is abundant & protected.
8. The whole town shuts down by 10pm. There’s no worries of loud noises late at night.
9. It’s peaceful
10. There’s no pressure or stress. There’s no crowded beach!
We did experience a tad of excitement two days while at the beach while the bomb squad detonated bombs that appeared on shore on the Maryland side of Assateague. My husband & I discussed what the large booms could be. Later in the evening, we discovered it wasn’t a sonic boom, but bombs!! You can read about it here
What can I say? Adventure tends to follow us

Virginia's Only Island Resort

This article was originally published on May 30, 2012 on my old blog


Our first family vacation was taken on Virginia's only Island Resort. It's a beautiful township where the citizens take pride in their community. This island is small, yet has something to offer everyone (especially adventures). I will break up the resort descriptions into a couple (or more) post, because let's face it...no one likes to read an article a mile long :-)

The name of my two favorite Islands are Chincoteague and Assateague Island. A connector bridge takes would be sun-seekers from one Island to the other
.
On the way to this serene escape, we traveled across Virginia. We entered and exited some of the other popular beach get-a ways: Norfolk, Chesapeake, Richmond, Virginia Beach, Hampton, etc. 

We traded them all for another hour or more of driving to come to Chincoteague Island...and it was so worth it!

Who Left Me By Myself?

Who Left Me By Myself
This article was originally published on April 25, 2012 on the 

Kids up - check
Coffee made - check
Commute - check
Kid 1 dropped off at school - check
Commute - check
Kid 2 dropped off at school - check
Commute to mountains - check

             Wait...huh?

How did I get on this Mountainside? The mountains call my name.  I've always had an "escape" from the kids dramatic lives, bosses that pride themselves on X# years with a company as they throw "underlining" under a bus, family, friends, neighbors... everyone!!

I had always found solitude in the Appalachian mountains, until we began staying on the other end of Knoxville. Now, I'm pulled toward the Smoky Mountains :-)






Welcome to my new hide-away :-)

Posted from WordPress for Android
 

Yesterday's Adventure - Beware

(This article was originally published on March 2, 2012 on the old blog )


Yesterday,  I was reminded of an OSHA saying:

Is better to lose one minute in life… than to lose life in a minute.

I can be pretty naive at times I suppose. Part of that can be attributed to my belief that there is good in every person somewhere. But, where good is, evil is also present.

I found a couple of parks that I had never been to before and decided on a destination for the day. The park I chose was highly recommended by hikers on several websites. Mountain bikers gave high marks and praised the upkeep, cleanliness, and safety. Fishermen posted on wildlife sites about the beauty & bounty of fish at the park online as well. The park was listed on several family recreation recommendation sites also. I just had to go see this hidden local gem :-)

I have been all over my town, city, county and several others by myself exploring. I never gave the safety of this particular park a second thought, especially after so many high regards listed on public sites by so many people!

Following GPS, I located the park. I parked & noticed how many cars were present. There were many. I left my car, locked it & went to a beautiful fishing dock :-) The water was low, but it was lovely :-) The surrounding trees, shrubs, and spring flowers were beginning to emerge. Life around the dock was thriving. It was absolutely beautiful!


As I walked along the first & only part of a trail I got to see, I soon realized I was surrounded by 5 men. They were coming toward me from all angles. They spoke one at a time to perhaps make me nervous. Nervous people do stupid things. I heard several of them all at once in my mind though as I quickly evaluated my predicament.

Hey Baby.
Take some good pictures?
Whatcha got there?

One whistled a cat call.

Where are you going sweet thang?
Come here, we just want to talk.

One unbuttoned his pants. I had a knife clipped to my blue jeans (as I usually do) but it was dull :-(  (I can't find my good knife that has made so many hikes with me.) I hadn't planned on taking a long hike so I didn't bring my regular gear with me.

I quickly evaluated my surroundings:

• I was surrounded by 5 angles.
• Wooded area.
• No large rocks, branches, random wrought iron, wire on the ground, or strong vines to use for defense. There was nothing to use as an element of surprise.
• No one else around. I realized how stupid I had been.

I have 12 phone numbers listed on speed dial. After the 5th one, I reached a friend. I began the most random conversation I have ever had (and that's saying a lot for me).

OH Hey Sweetie!! You are? I just found the coolest park. Yeah, it's off XXX highway. Really? you're coming this way anyway? Great!! I can't wait to see you sweetie!! You're just 2-3 minutes away, really? Oh man, I would LOVE to show it to you! I love you!

Please bear in mind that my friend could not hear me well. Signal was not strong and he could only understand a few words that I was saying. Thank God he didn't hang up on me!!

Fishing? YES, there's a dock here and we can fish sometime. Oh, did I tell you that I heard back from the doctor? I HAVE CRABS. So, you'll be here in a few seconds? Great!!

While on the line with him, I had twisted off the trail, into the thicket and toward the lake. Two men didn't follow. One man behind me from another direction proclaimed,

She crazy! She going into that snake water. Forget that man.

With only two men left following me, I swiftly waded through the water with the phone plastered to my face. I'd rather take a snake bite than face what they may have done to me! I dared not to repeat myself and give away  the fact that my reception was not the best. I kept saying to my friend at different times in different ways,

Stay with me. Stay with me.

When I reached my escape trail, I glanced behind me. I had lost the other two men back on the other side of the lake. Their fear of the snakes was enough to deter them. I got in my car and sped out of there! I took a valuable lesson with me: Is better to lose one minute in life… than to lose life in a minute. 

Thank you OSHA :-)

Exploring Indy - Part 1

This post was originally published on January 4, 2012 on the old blog

Indiana!

Funky Bridge

Exploring Indianapolis Indiana was another Adventure :-) It was also #106 on my bucket list: Visit a metropolis.

I was blessed again to have a small opportunity to travel away from home the day after Christmas instead of shopping. My friend asked me if I would like to take a small 2 day trip to Indiana. I jumped on the opportunity.

I had never been to a big city and Indianapolis is gigantic compared to Knoxville, TN. At home, we have mountains and valleys, but not a big city. I used to think it was large because...well, it was all that I knew. Downtown Knoxville is actually rather small in my mind now. I used to think that the hour drive I made to work each morning equated to living in a large county...until I was in one! Knoxville, TN has its draw and special characteristics, so don't take me wrong. I still very much love the Knoxville Valley from whence I came :-) I just love being able to explore other areas, cultures, ways of life, and thought processes of people from other areas.

I was told recently that I can be stubborn and need to be more open-minded. I kept my mind wide open on this trip...and my eyes :-)

:-) I took the boys to stay with one of their sisters for this first time trip. I wasn't sure what city life may be like and thought I should see it first to decide if they'd be shell-shocked in it or not. So, off my friend and I went! We traveled through Kentucky to areas I had never seen before.
I saw Louisville, KY from the Interstate and the Ohio River :-)

When we drove by Louisville, KY I thought to myself, "Wow, this is Awesome." When we got to Indiana, my Awesome turned into Fantastic enthusiasm! Here's what I saw along the way that caught my eye:

1st pit stop at a McDonald's for a Hazelnut Latte.

Louisville:

Louisville as seen from the interstate

Entering Indiana:

The Bridge to Indy!!

Hello Indianapolis:

Coming up to the city

Home of the Hoosiers

Downtown Indy

Downtown Indy

Downtown Indy

The buildings are absolutely beautiful

Stay tuned for part 2....

Exploring Indy - Part 2

This article was originally published on Jan 5, 2012 on the old blog

Replica of the Washington Monument?

This post Exploring Indie part 2 is the continuation of the earlier post titled "Exploring Indie part 1 – Another Adventure :-)".

Driving all the way up the Cumberland Gap Parkway was a nice and scenic trip as opposed to traveling Interstate 75 the entire trip from Tennessee to Indianapolis, Indiana. We drove around and up the mountains in Kentucky and when we entered into Indiana, there were still a few hills there as well. At first, I thought perhaps Indiana wasn't flat after all, until we drove about 15 more minutes into Indiana.

The hills seemingly disappeared. Out of nowhere, corn popped up and the land flattened out! I saw corn, Irrigation piping, and more corn :-)  This was pretty awesome. The corn fields I saw from the highway were not like the corn fields in Tennessee. These fields went on for what appeared to be miles and miles. (Without my glasses I couldn't really tell, but there was no end to the fields visually.)

In Tennessee, many farmers plant corn and hay to mix and feed their cattle or they plant tobacco. Not many people still plant tobacco anymore now though :-( Anyway, the corn fields and hay fields are planted on hills and they wave at the viewer from the roadside as the fields roll. Some are planted on the flattest land owned, which is still a hill or a swerving plot of land. The cattle even learn to graze while standing on a constant tilt. That's why all the cattle produced in East Tennessee is lopsided laying on your plate at dinner time!

Back to the trip, we drove closer to the city of Indianapolis and the land became more flat. The city buildings could be seen for what seemed to be many miles before entering it. I loved the old and new buildings in the city. Here are a few more snap shots of the awesome experiences and sights I saw:

Beautiful architecture

Church

Local Merchants

Local Merchants

Local Merchants

City life buzzing

Local Merchants

Downtown Indy

I loved this!

The city was so Colorful!

Capitol Building

Beautiful

Victory Field

Downtown Indianapolis

Lucas Oil Stadium

Home of the Indianapolis Colts

Lucas Oil Stadium Entrance

Indianapolis Court House

Downtown Indianapolis

Downtown Indianapolis

Gorgeous lamp-post (I wanted to grab hold of it and swing round while singing)

monument in Downtown Indianapolis

A graceful fountain in Downtown Indianapolis

War Memorial

This Building looks like a Castle

a marriage of two buildings

Downtown Indy

Magnificent Buildings in Downtown Indianapolis

Downtown Highrise Apartments

City Sidewalk

Is it a castle?