The weather this last weekend in February was about as nice as it could be. The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect. It was around 65 degrees this past Sunday with a light breeze (great weather for a hike!)... We decided to hike to the Bays Mountain Fire Tower since it was a short drive away and we had never hiked to the top before. In order to get to the fire tower you must pay to get inside of Bays Mountain Park ($4) and park by the planetarium. We knew there was still open public access to hike to the top of the tower, unlike most. We had heard it was about a 30- 40 minute fairly easy hike, but I beg to differ. After parking we took the Lakeside Trail to the top, it was 4.2 miles round trip. The park also offers a map of the different hiking trails you can take throughout the park. The trail starts off fairly easy around the outskirts of the lake were we ran into some friendly deer who weren't at all afraid of humans. About 30 minutes into the hike we asked some people coming down if we were getting close to the tower. The let us know we were about half way there with the rest of the hike being straight up the mountain. We had to take a couple of breaks the last 30 minutes to the top, the other hikers weren't lying, the last leg is an uphill battle to say the least. Bring lots of water!! It ended up taking us a little over an hour to reach the top. Once we reached the top we were exhausted. There really isn't a good view from the top of the trail unless you plan on hiking to the top of the tower. My own personal opinion- I would not recommend this hiking trail UNLESS you fully plan to hike to the top of the tower. I am the type of person if I hike for a solid hour and the trail being somewhat strenuous, I better see a great view when I reach the top. This will not happen unless you reach the top of the fire tower. The 60' fire tower was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937. I almost didn't make it to the top because I began to get weak in the knees every step I took. It was definitely intimidating being so old and the steps were narrow and not fully enclosed. Once I reached the top I didn't take many pictures since my hands were still sweating from going up, I was ready to be back on solid ground. Dad, Kim, and I inside the fire tower View from the backside of the tower View from the front side of the tower Dad walking up to the top Friendly deer alongside of the lake Lakeside Trail
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A couple of years ago Bryan and I traveled on our honeymoon to St. Lucia. I constantly find myself daydreaming about the amazing vacation we shared in one of the most gorgeous places on Earth. I've had multiple people in the past ask me about our honeymoon in reference for possibly going there as well for their own honeymoon or vacation. I can not say enough about this place. Anytime anyone has asked me about our stay, I always highly recommend going to this beautiful Caribbean island. We stayed at Sandals St. Lucia Grande which is an all-inclusive resort on the island. Once you arrive at Sandals there is absolutely nothing you will have to do or worry about. Everything you could possibly need is on hand 24/7 including food and drinks. I am a picky eater so I was a bit worried about the food at the resort. The food was amazing! They have a few different restaurants that are included but if all else fails they always had a buffet open which consists of a little bit of everything. They had a French crepe shop that I fell in love with. There are three different Sandals Resorts located on the island but we chose Grande because of its fun, entertaining reputation. We were also able to visit the other two Sandals resorts (for free) while we were there. All three resorts were wonderful but I must say, Sandals Grande has much more to choose from when it comes to entertaining, restaurant choices, pools, and resort location. Bryan and I both would rather have fun new things to do each day than just laying out by the beach/ pool every day. Granted, anyone can relax and unwind while staying there, but you have much more to pick and choose from. On to the island.... Since vacationing in St. Lucia I compare any and every place I visit to this breath taking island. From the crystal clear water, gorgeous mountain views, natural waterfalls, volcanic mud baths, and tropical rain forest, this island has it all. When people like Oprah and Mcjagger have their vacation homes there, you know it must be great (we got to see their homes from the water while taking a tour of the island). The ocean water is refreshing and clear with the prettiest turquoise color. Sandals does provide some non-motored water activities(included during your stay) that we took advantage of. We went snorkeling one day and before we jumped off the boat our guide asked us how deep we thought the water was where we were at. We both guessed around 12-14 feet deep since we could see the bottom of the ocean and how perfectly clear it was. We were wrong, it was 60 feet deep. We also did an excursion one day with Benny's Boat Tours (if you do excursions outside of the resort it is much cheaper and will take you to the exact same places, you will go with a local instead of a Sandals employer). This is a great way to see St. Lucia from the water. We were able to ride along the coast where we stopped in front of the Piton Mountains and snorkeled. We took a mud bath in natural sulphur springs. The spring is extremely hot and I almost didn't attempt it but the tour guy forced me into trying it and I was so glad I did. The mud bath made your skin feel silky smooth and took away the sunburn pain (don't ask me how). They provided a great lunch with authentic Caribbean food that even I enjoyed after hiking to a natural waterfall in the rain forest. You never ran out of water or rum punch for that matter while spending the day on this fun excursion. If you enjoy horseback riding along the beach this is a must do while in St. Lucia. We rode along the shore, into the town, and into the water at the end to let the horses cool off. Bryan and I did this excursion alone outside of the resort, although it was more peaceful with just the two of us I would recommend going with a group of people to feel more comfortable. The weather in St. Lucia averages around 80 degrees per day and the water temperature is almost always around 78 degrees. It never rained the entire week we were there until the day we were leaving. We heard it almost never rains there, but when it does it only lasts a little while before the sun comes back out. The white sand and clear water will drive anyone back there. Maybe on our 10th anniversary we can go back to this beautiful island (hint hint Bryan)!!
This past weekend we traveled down to Georgia for a nice relaxing weekend with our parents. The weather in Georgia was much warmer than what it's been in Tennessee. On Sunday we must have brought the warm weather back with us because it was 63 and sunny outside. Bryan, Dad, and I loaded up in the Jeep and headed to Virginia to hike up to the Mendota Fire Tower. The Mendota Fire Tower sits atop of Clinch Mountain and has great views overlooking acres of farmland and the Holston River. After a 15 minute drive straight up the mountain we finally reached a place to park and began the hike to the top. It was a "straight up" hike and we also had to climb up a couple of rocks in order to continue on the trail path. I most definitely recommend hiking boots on this trail due to the rocks and moist ground, there are a lot of spots that are easy to slip on. After the drive and hike up it's hard to believe people use to sit atop of the fire tower many years ago and watch the mountains for a spread of smoke. How these people managed to be on the lookout for fires and get down the mountain to report them is beyond what I can imagine. We were a bit disappointed when we reached the top and saw that the steps leading up to the tower was disabled. It makes sense as to why they did this to ensure that people wouldn't climb to the top of an old, unregulated fire tower. Other than the disappointment of not being able to reach the top of the tower, we enjoyed our hike and the views from the top. Driving up and seeing the tower sit atop of the mountain Hiking up the trail Rock sitting on the top of the trial Go Vols from the top of a Virginia Trail Fire tower we were hoping to climb up
This past Sunday the weather was amazing considering it was two days after Christmas. The sun was shining and it was 74 degrees outside. It was clear it was another great day for a hike, so my dad, sister, and I decided to check out Linville Falls in North Carolina. We realized once we got there we weren't the only ones with an itch to go hiking on such a nice day. There was hardly any parking near the start of the trail and people and their dogs were everywhere. I guess when it's 74 outside in December people take advantage of it.
Linville Falls is located on the Blue Ridge Parkway near milepost 316.4. It is a fairly simple hike with a few different viewpoints you can check out. You can hike to both the upper and lower part of the falls; we did both, however the view is much better from the top. The weather this December has been right up my alley. The past couple weeks we've been sleeping with our window open, driving with the windows down, and enjoying the 70 degree weather outside during the days. I've always enjoyed hiking, living in this area there are plenty of different hiking spots all within a reasonable distance. We normally end our hiking sprees from November through March but with this weather we decided to venture out to a new spot.
We traveled to Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia on Saturday afternoon (located between Independence and Damascus on U.S. 58). We decided to bring Auggie to see how he would do since we knew it wasn't going to be a difficult/strenuous hike. Auggie absolutely loved it! We ran into a bunch of wild ponies along our hike and stopped for pictures. The view from where the ponies were all gathered was amazing. There are nine different hiking trails within the park. Next time we go I want to go find the 200+year old pioneer cabin that is somewhere along one of the trails. There is nothing more relaxing than setting out on a hike and reaching the top to take in a breathtaking view. On our way back from San Fran to LA we had planned to drive the Pacific Coast Highway. Little did I know how amazing this drive was going to be. I have to say it was one of the prettiest sights I have ever seen. I must add- if you plan to make this drive, do not be the driver, you need to be able to witness these views without worrying about driving off the road. I also have to admit when we first started the drive it was nothing but hills. Not the pretty kind of hills you see here in Tennessee, they were plain hills with no trees, and an ugly brown color since it hadn't rained in awhile. I actually fell asleep for awhile because I thought it was going to be a boring drive and then BOOM. Bryan woke me up and said "wake up you have to see this"... it was mountains on one side and the beautiful ocean on the other side. The ocean was right along the right side of the road. If you looked in the distance it looked like the ocean was hitting the edge of the mountains, but there was a tiny road in between. It was beautiful. I found this picture above off google because the crappy cell phone pictures I took of the sign and view came out blurry and did not do it justice. However, this picture captures the drive we witnessed perfectly. If you ever get the chance, this is a drive worth taking. I promise. We stopped half way through the drive in a little beach town called Pismo. Pismo beach is just like what you think of when a "small, quaint" California beach town comes to mind. There's really not much to do in this town besides ride horses, eat at a few good restaurants, watch the local surfers, and visit the best wine bar of all time, Vino Versato. This wine bar was a little hole in the wall place, with the most outgoing platinum blonde owner, and some of the best wines you could ask for made right near Pismo. I told Bryan I kind of wanted to be the older woman who owned this perfect tiny wine bar. She made everyone in her shop (which could only hold about 15-20 people) feel like they were at home drinking wine and eating desserts with their family, as she drank and ate with us. I want her job. We rode the horses along the beach and throughout the sand dunes while stopping in Pismo. If you enjoy horseback and beautiful views, this is a must do. The beach is private with some residential homes, there was actually no one on the beach besides us during our time there so it made the experience even better. We made our way down to the beach at our hotel but didn't get above our ankles in the water. One because the water was freezing and two because there are sharks and seals near the shore. No thanks. The views from our hotel were gorgeous. We made it a point to go watch the sunset that night and I was so glad we did.
Last week Bryan and I traveled down to California for a few days. We flew into San Francisco and were only going to be able to spend one full day there before driving down the Pacific Coast Highway and on to Southern California. Since we had never been to San Fran before we knew we had to pack all the things we wanted to do all in one day. The first thing on our list was Alcatraz. This was on Bryan's Bucket List and the main reason we choose to fly in and visit San Fran. Three days before we left for California I checked the calendar at Alcatraz and it said they were completely sold out of all tickets until sometime in October. I panicked since we only had one day to do this and I had always heard it was super easy to get tickets (WRONG!). I called everywhere looking for tickets and they were nowhere to be found. Finally thanks to TripAdvisor I saw where a lot of other tourist ran into the same problem and they said Alcatraz can not advertise this "secret rule" but they must be able to sell 100 tickets per day to the public. Even though they claim they are out of tickets, if you get to the ticket office early enough you WILL be able to visit for that day. I read on TripAdvisor that people would get in line at 3:00 or 4:00am just to assure they would get a ticket when the ticket office opened at 7:30. Thanks to this secret tip I felt a little bit better. We set our alarm for 5:00am, got ready super quick, and were in line by 5:45 that morning (since September is considered their off season we figured it wasn't necessary to get there by 3am). I was the 47th person in line and security told us people started arriving around 4:00am that day. Reminder: if you know anyone who missed out getting an Alcatraz ticket ahead of time, send them to the ticket office early that day before they open and you are good to go. I am telling yall, it was definitely worth the wait. Alcatraz is super neat (and a bit eerie too). It is crazy to think that years ago some of the worlds most famous criminals lived there--Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, Birdman Robert Stroud, just to name a few. If your a history/mafia buff like Bryan- this is a really cool experience. If you have ever seen the movie Escape From Alcatraz you probably know about the true story based on three prison inmates who tried escaping from Alcatraz. They used spoons and other utensils they found around the prison to dig out the vent area in their cell and escape. They made fake heads out of magazines and clay to make it seem like they were still sleeping in their cell while the guards walked by at night. I partially wondered in my head if all this would still be there like it was portrayed out in the movie and it was! It is a crazy sight when you see all of this in real life and think back that this event actually happened where you are at today many years ago. This prison island had the BEST views of the city of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. The guards families all lived on the island so I can only imagine the views they woke up to every morning. We also spoke to one of the inmates who spent a few years in Alcatraz. It was funny, when he introduced himself he said, "I spent a few years of my life here at Alcatraz, once it closed I spent another 50 years in a different prison ..now I come here every day to sell my book and take pictures with a bunch of girls, I know the warden must be rolling around in his grave every time this happens." To find out the story behind this inmate click here Since Bryan checked off Alcatraz from his bucket list, it was my turn to go where I wanted. Since I was a little girl (and still today) I've always been a huge fan of the show Full House. I grew up watching the Tanners and still watch the show on Nick at Nite before bed. I knew I had to go by the ole Tanner household while being in town. Granted the house doesn't look the same as it did in the 90's, it was still awesome. After this, we took our time and toured the rest of the city. The hills in San Fran are NO JOKE. Do not attempt to walk around unless you are in tip top shape. I recommend taking one of the classic cable cars around town. The down town area has the BEST shopping..just prepare to window shop unless you can spare some major pocket change. Bryan had to go into the whiskey shop down town to try some famous old whiskey. The bartender serving us happened to recognize our accents and asked us where we were from. He was a former Knoxville resident himself who just recently moved to San Fran for work (he told us he was coming back in town for the UT vs Georgia game so we had to invite him to our tailgate!) We had to end our day visiting the Golden Gate Bridge and the famous San Francisco crooked road at the end of Lombard Street. This famous street was insane! Since it was dark by this point I didn't get the best picture, but definitely a place to see if you are ever out that way.
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