Christmas Time

Sorry blogposts have been few and far between for the past few weeks. We've been pretty busy with moving, unpacking, settling in, and Christmas celebrations. Here are a few pictures from Christmas activities from the past week or so.

(Steve and I spent last weekend at Purdue visiting with some friends from college. The guys crashed a friend's house to play video games, while the girls headed to another house and made Christmas cookies)

(After visiting with our friends at Purdue, we headed back to Russiaville to stay with my parents -- we also snuck in a niece dance recital during the weekend. On our way back, we visited the Rossville lights, a place my parents took my siblings and I as kids. One family decorates their front yard with dozens of lights. You drive through their looped driveway to see them all. At the entrance, Santa greets each car with candy canes for the passengers).

(3 years ago, Steve and I visited the lights -- Steve's first trip to the lights. After returning to my parent's house on that Christmas eve, he proposed. This was our first time returning to the lights after being married).

(After returning home from our weekend with friends, I made some more Christmas cookies -- Purdue Trains -- to give to my neighbors)

(Our Christmas tree -- notice new paint color on the wall, I'll post better pictures of our new living room when we get back)

(Steve and my yearly Gingerbread house. This year, we had a surprise guest during the decorating. Steve's sister showed up unexpectedy and got to witness the decorating -- Lindsey decorated and Steve ate candy)

(This year, Lindsey specifically purchased candy for Steve to eat. I learned the hard way the first time we did it 2 years ago. Steve kept eating the candy for the house, but now he gets his own candy to eat)

Steve and I spent the Friday before Christmas with my family and are now headed out East to Jersey to spend Christmas with his family.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Pictures, Neighbors, & Painting

I can't believe we have lived in our house for over 1.5 weeks! It has finally hit me that this is OUR house. I get to wake up in this house EVERYDAY. It's a really cool feeling to finally feel like we have a "home". This is different than how it felt in Jackson, because we just rented. I can do whatever I want (with Steve's approval) to the house and no one will care (again, other than Steve).

Moving into an empty house sounds pretty easy. However, I've soon discovered all the nooks and crannies of the house that have collected lots of dust over periods of time. For instance, there are glass chandeliers in 4 different rooms that were so caked in dust, the glass looked opaque. I spent about 2 hours cleaning the big chandelier (hangs over the stairs) one day last week. I counted over 729 glass beads and pendants (which I wiped each by hand):

(I didn't take a before picture, although I should have. You wouldn't believe the change in look a little cleaning did!)

I have been working pretty diligently at unpacking all the boxes. The kitchen was priority number one, closely followed by the master bedroom at number two. After I got those two rooms done, I put up some Christmas decorations (Christmas tree inside, nativities, stockings, nutcrackers, and lights outside). Then I set up our guest bedroom since Steve's sister will be staying with us a few days a week.

(Kitchen all unpacked. There's lots of cabinet space to hold my plethora of cooking items. The lay out is a little weird for me. The appliances are all on one side of the kitchen while the cabinets span the wall on the other side. There is talks of remodeling the kitchen, way into the future, so maybe I'll get to change the layout some).

Now that most of our items are unpacked (I haven't even touched the "office" or boxes in the living room) I have begun the painting. I decided to start with the living room since we need the wall painted before we mount our tv. The room was originally a dark navy color. So far I have primed the walls because it will be painted a lighter orange/neutral color.

(Before shot of the dark paint. Layout -- The big open window is behind the camera, sunroom to the left, fireplace to the right, and entrance to the foyer to the right).

(Another before shot with dark paint. Layout -- fireplace to the left, entrance from the foyer is behind the camera to the left, the Christmas tree and windows are to the right)

(Here is the scenery of the backyard as seen through the big open window in the living room.)

(Here is the fireplace in the living room after the walls have been primed. Color will go on next week!)

(Another shot of the living room after the walls have been primed. The living room already has a different personality now that the dark navy paint is covered.)

Other accomplishments from the week:

**Bought a leaf blower/vacuum (haven't gotten to use it yet due to wet weather)

**Christmas cards/letters completed and sent out

**Set up & leveled the washer & dryer (which is a tricky situation with homemade pedestals and an uneven tiled floor)

**Tried out a church but got the times wrong and missed most of the service

**Have gotten to know the neighbors more

We are sandwiched in between two delightful neighbors. Both sets have lived in their homes for 30+ years and know everything that goes on in the neighborhood. They have also showered us with warm welcomes from home made cookies and soup to a beautiful poinsettia plant. Steve and I are excited to get to know more of the neighbors and be involved in the neighborhood.

New House

Home Sweet Home

Steve and I have finally completed a year long journey to find a house. When we started the journey back in February, we thought we'd be purchasing a new house in Jackson, TN. God had a different plan in mind and moved us up to Lima, OH. Our patience payed off in the end and we are thoroughly enjoying our new home (hence the new post in a week).

We have been pretty busy since closing on the house on Monday (Dec 5). Steve has been working (he only got to take a half day on Monday for closing) and comes home pretty tired. After we eat dinner, we pretty much watch a little show/movie together and then collapse. While he's off training at the new job, I've been super busy with house projects. Over the last several days I have: cleaned carpets, swept/mopped, unpacked the entire kitchen, unpacked clothes, cleaned the basement, raked the whole front yard (It took 4.5 hours & 15 bags. We still have the side yard and back yard full of leaves.), set up our Christmas tree and lights outside, and some other random housework. This weekend we picked out some paint colors. The painting will begin this week.

Since we've been working outside a lot (Steve began raking the backyard today), we've gotten to meet a few of our neighbors. Everyone has said the same thing, "you couldn't have picked a nicer neighborhood." I have especially gotten to know our next door neighbors. I met the Mr. while raking leaves, and today the Mrs. brought over a plate of cookies and chatted with me for an hour. They are an elderly couple who graduated from Purdue years ago (the Mrs. even went on a date with Neil Armstrong while attending Purdue). They still follow Purdue sports religiously and get a kick out of Steve & my's connection to Purdue. While chatting, I got the low-down of the neighborhood. They've been here awhile and pretty much know everyone around. We look forward to hearing more of their stories and getting to know them in the future.

We also got to host our first guest this week! Steve's sister works a few days a week at the plant here in Lima. Starting next week, she'll start staying with us on those days that she works up this way. We look forward to getting to see her more often and providing her a little "home away from home". And for those of you who know how crazy and intense my family is, I would like to note that it is an Ackerman who was the first family member to see the home.

We don't have internet at the house, yet. In the evenings, we've been able to access internet on our laptops via our phones (thank goodness for unlimited data plans!). As of now, we will not be getting cable/satellite which is a HUGE deal for me. I've been a week without it and already want to pull my hair out. We'll see if it gets better when I have full day access to internet, Hulu, & Netflix. These next few weeks are going to be pretty busy with house projects and holiday plans, but I'll try to keep you posted on our shenanigans :).

Lima or Bust!

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity. Despite a winter advisory and a supposed 3" of snow (looked more like 1", but that could be due to the fact it was melting quickly), two movers showed up to our house bright and early. They quickly got to work wrapping the large items and taking inventory of all the items.

At first, the guys worked quietly and kept to themselves. While they were working, I was busy cleaning up bathrooms, kitchen, and floors (I'd do what I could around them, and vacuumed rooms as they were emptied). After a couple hours, the guys became a little more lively and I found out they were brothers. They were very helpful and I know my stuff left in good hands!

They closed up the semi and pulled out of the neighborhood just in time for our landlord's new handyman to show up. I knew that he was coming in order to see the condition of the house and to see what work needed to be done for the new tenant. However, I didn't know that the new tenant would be showing up as well! Lucky for me, I got to meet him on Sunday during the insane open-house our landlord had set up. Our old house is now in the hands of a car dealership and a public school teacher, I know we left it in good hands ;-).

After assessing the house (handyman declared it as good condition, of course!), keys were handed over to the new tenant and they all left, leaving me alone in an empty house. Steve showed up after work, we loaded up the car with what was left, and said goodbye to Wesley Drive & Jackson, TN. We headed off to our good friends' house along the route to Ohio. It was nice to be able to split the drive up, sleep in on Wednesday, and enjoy wonderful food and entertain brought on by our friends. Thanks guys!

We left their house in the late morning on Wednesday. We had about a 6 hour drive ahead of us, but luckily we found several holiday stations to listen to along the route (and when the holiday stations weren't supplying enough entertainment, we cued up our favorite podcast -- Car Talk). We crossed our new home state's border around 4. In just a few more hours, we would be in our new city!!

We got into Lima a little after 6. We decided to stop and get some groceries to live off of for the next few days. We knew if we went to the hotel first, we'd be too lazy to get back out. We had to to make 3 trips from the car to the room in order to get all the right stuff in the right places. Our car is packed with various chotsky, some was needed to finish cleaning up the house in Jackson, some stuff is for life in a hotel, and the rest of the stuff is for our couple days in an empty house. All in all, there is too much stuff in our car -- oh well.

Once we got everything in our hotel, I quickly went to work on making dinner -- barbecue pork chops, stuffing, and mixed vegetables. I set up our George Foreman to grill the pork chops, and utilized the coffee maker to make the hot water needed for the stuffing. I can officially say, this was my first "home-cooked" meal made in a hotel (without a kitchenette). We had a couple moments of concern over setting a fire alarm off; however, we were successful in completing dinner with no mishaps --whew!

Tomorrow is Steve's first day at his new job. I will be entertaining myself all day in the hotel (I'm actually really excited about laying around and not having anything to do!). But don't worry, I brought several different projects along with me to keep myself busy.

Moving Preparations

Sunday was my last full day to finish up packing items that I didn't want the movers to mess with. Even though our relocation involved the option for packers to pack up the entire house, I went ahead and did most of the work myself. I know I'm crazy. I just wanted to be able to group things in boxes according to how I will unpack, as well as know where everything is. Again, I know I'm crazy.

After church, I stopped at Walmart to buy some more packing tape and a couple totes to put our clothes in (I'm not a fan of clothes in just plain boxes, again, refer to the crazy). I got back home, threw a quick lunch in the oven, and began my packing fury. I had our closet, bathroom, pantry, and a few random items that needed to be packed away before the first round of movers coming Monday morning. I only got started with the closet when it was time for lunch. After lunch, we had to return our rental car from the night before.

While we were in Colorado, our landlord had contacted us asking when would be a good time to show the house to some inquiring people. We set an appointment at 4 o'clock on Sunday. When we got back from returning the car, I took a quick nap, and got back to work on packing. I had just started back into packing when the door bell rang at 4 o'clock. We started showing the couple around when there was another knock on the door. A family showed up saying they also had a 4 o'clock appointment. We finished with the couple and went back to the door when there was a large group of people waiting to see the house! Apparently, our landlord set up an open house from 4-5. Our house was a disaster site. Dishes were piled up, clothes strewn about (I was also doing laundry). It all worked out fine, we just weren't expecting all those people.

Monday morning, I had to wake up early so that I could take Steve to work (our other car we left in Indiana). It worked out best to wake up early and take him because then I was motivated to get straight to work. I had a few things I had to get done and moved around so that the packers could come in and finish up. There have been several people come in and out and I wasn't sure what all was going on at times.

First, a crate guy showed up to build crates for our glass items and washer/dryer. Then came a HUGE moving van loaded up with supplies to pack up our house. (Even though we explained most of it would be done by me, our coordinator was adamant about packers coming for the whole day). About 5 workers showed up, but they decided to leave 2 here to tackle the remaining items, while the other 3 moved on to another job site. The move is just over 24 hours away, and I don't think it's really set in yet. Although, it is becoming a little more realistic with all the echoing in the house, and the fact that there is no tv or dvds to be watched. I will just have to keep myself entertained with cleaning and my computer :).

Thanksgiving Travels

With our move happening right at the end of November, we were especially thankful for our Thanksgiving holiday spent with both families. Since Steve's last day of work in Jackson is the 29th & his first day of work in Lima on the 1st, his boss gave him the whole week of Thanksgiving off. We spent the first few days with my family in Indiana and the rest of the time with Steve's family in Colorado.

We left Jackson early Friday (18th) afternoon and headed to meet up with our good friends in KY. We were initially going to stay the night with them, but Steve decided to make the IN trip all in one night. After having dinner with our friends, we said goodbye and finished our trek north. We didn't get in to my parent's house until around 2 am. We woke up Saturday morning to the smell of Thanksgiving :). My mom was frantically finishing up some deserts and all the vegetable sides to be loaded up in the van and carted to my sister's house.

We enjoyed my family Thanksgiving meal around lunchtime at my sister's house. Complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, green beans, corn, stuffing, rolls, and even gravy. My family has a history of not making gravy. My grandma used to do it all the time, but since she passed away, no one really cares if there's gravy or not (except for Steve). Last year, I tried to scramble together gluten free gravy (half my family eats gluten free), but it didn't set up and had no taste. In order to avert another gravy catastrophe, both my mom and myself had jar gravy for Steve -- whew!

After the meal, all the females (not counting my 4 little nieces) headed to a movie (Twilight, yes, you read that correctly) while the men "babysat" and played computer games. (We later found out their babysitting consisted of 2 movies and a few Man vs. Wild episodes). Our family Thanksgiving continued into Sunday, only this time it was located at my parents' house.

On Monday, Steve and I helped my parents prep their house for Christmas. Steve worked with my dad out in the shed, pulling out all the various lawn chotsky and Christmas lights, while I worked inside with my mom putting up the Christmas tree. My mom and I decorated the tree and put out the nativity all while watching White Christmas (tradition) and Elf. After my dad conned Steve into helping cleaning out the garage as well, they played a couple more rounds of their computer game while my mom and I finished up. When all the various projects were accomplished, we loaded up the car with our stuff & my parents drove us to Indy to stay at a hotel with shuttle service to the airport, so that we could make our 6am flight to Colorado.

Tuesday through Saturday was spent at the Ackermans. Steve's grandparents, brother, sister and new brother-in-law also came in for the holidays. While in CO, we did various activities like see the Muppets, shopping at an Outlet Mall, and helping around the house. My jobs tended to involve things in the kitchen, like baking pumpkin pies and helping bake a surprise cookie cake for our new brother-in-law. Steve's jobs were a little more involved -- fixing a computer, changing a flat tire, and a dangerous expedition on the roof to find an animal opening. We especially enjoyed being able to sleep in, being fed, and just enjoying spending time with his family.

We left Colorado Saturday evening and flew into Nashville around 11 pm. (Side note> we drove one car up to my parents' house and left it there. We rented a car in Nashville and drove back to Jackson, arriving around 1:30am). We both had to be up early to help out at church (me in the nursery, and Steve working the camera in 1st service). I have helped out in our church's nursery for almost a year. It was tough saying goodbye to the little ones, but even harder saying goodbye to my fellow nursery workers.

We had such a great time visiting with both of our families. This holiday couldn't have come at a better time. Steve and I were able to really appreciate and be thankful for the many things God has blessed us with -- from family to provision in Steve's job situation. I'm especially thankful for the rest and relaxation because the next few days following our trip because the next few days are slated for our move to Ohio!

FYI -- post arrangement

For all you avid blog-stalkers, just thought I'd let you know I published a new post last night; however, it falls underneath the Moving Update.

I released the last post about the Biltmore Estate which concluded our Gatlinburg/Asheville vacation.

For easy use, here are our vacation posts in order:

** Vacation Getaway

** Hiking

** B&B

** Biltmore

Moving Update

Yesterday was supposed to be the closing date on the house; however, things have come up (surprise, surprise). Have I mentioned how tedious it is to buy a house and how I hate the process??

When we contacted the mortgage company, they claimed there wasn't enough time for them to close on the 16th (as set when we made the offer). So the mortgage company forced a closing delay until Dec 6th. The sellers agreed to the new closing date and have been working to meet the requests we made from the inspections (well, it is an assumption they are working on them, or have accomplished them. We haven't heard yet. Again, this process is awful).

We had asked for a quick closing date (11/16) because this is a quick move! Here is our moving timeline:

**11/28 -- Movers come pack up items (I have pretty much packed up everything, I have a few items I want them to handle. It is the company's policy to set aside a whole day to pack items. Plus, I don't think they believed Steve when he explained I'd have everything packed)

**11/29 -- Movers load up our stuff at take it away. This is also Steve's last day @ Pringles.

**11/30 -- We say goodbye to Jackson and hello to Lima. We will be living temporarily in a hotel until closing is finalized.

**12/1 -- Steve's first day at Lima.

** 12/6 -- Closing Date

**12/7-12/14 -- Item Delivery Window: The moving company set this window guaranteeing when are stuff would arrive in Lima. This window was set prior to the change in closing date, so it just happens to work out great for us (even though living in a hotel for a week was not on my to-do-list). Closer to the window, they should have an exact date when our items will arrive.

Biltmore

We inadvertently saved the best part of our trip for last. On our last day in North Carolina, we headed to Asheville to visit the famous George Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate. It took 6 years to build as was completed in 1895. It was constructed with steel frames that were encased in Limestone from Bedford, Indiana. The estate is home to more than 250 rooms, modern amenities (like an elevator and electricity) original to the house, as well as an indoor swimming pool. It is not known how much money it took to built the estate; however, it is estimated to have cost around $10 million.

During the depression in the 1930s, Cornelia and her husband opened to the home to the public. Cornelia had 2 sons. Upon her death, her oldest son chose to take the house while the younger son chose to take the dairy farm and grounds of the estate. Today, all the admission into the house is invested back into the house, whether it be for refurbishment, decorations, etc.

It cost an arm and a leg to visit the estate; however, I think it is worth it one time. Admission is $50, audio tour $10 (definitely worth it!), and special tours offered around $17. We opted for both the audio tour and the Architecture tour. The Architecture tour involved seeing a couple rooms closed off to the public as well as going out on the roof & some balconies. One of the rooms was a "model" room. In it, was a to-scale model of the Biltmore as well as blue prints and news articles dating back to the late 1890s.

(Carved Limestone Pillar)

(Top of Winter Garden)

The first balcony we went out on let us see the top of the "Winter Garden" (which is like a sun room nestled in the center of the foyer upon entering the mansion). While we were up there, our tour guide pointed out some of the "creatures" (gargoyles) that surround the mansion. The Biltmore was created from several different French chateaux. On its French counterparts, the gargoyles protruding off the sides of a chateaux generally work as rain spouts. However, the Biltmore has more modern amenities like real downpours, leaving the gargoyles just for show. We also got to see the family crest that was inlaid above most windows.

(Family Crest above the window)

(A few of the many gargoyles and creatures surrounding the house)

Since we opted for the architect tour, we got to hear a lot about how the house was built and designed. For instance, we learned that all the decorative limestone was carved after all the limestone was placed. It's hard to not only imagine the workers carving such intricate details, but also that they did it that high off the ground from scaffolding. We also discovered that the "green" tiles around the entire top of the house is actually George Vanderbilt's initials -- G V. The tiles were carved with the initials, painted with 24 kt gold, and covered with copper. The copper has, of course, turned to the green color from the patina process. When we got to walk out on the roof (above the observatory, closed to public), we could see the tiles more closely and could see the gold poking through in areas.

One of our favorite highlights of the Architect tour was about the roof. Again, we got a closer look at the roof while we were standing above the observatory. We discovered (we already had the suspicion) that the Biltmore has a slate tile roof (just like the house we are in process of buying!). The Biltmore's slate roof is graded at a 98% (meaning 98% of the tiles are original from 1895). We were amazed at the condition of the tile and the fact that most of them have never been touched since they were placed over 115 years ago! Steve has been doing research on how to replace slate tile (you know, just in case he has to do it at our new house. . . ), and has discovered that the hard part is just reaching the roof without damaging nearby tiles. The Bilmore's roof is super steep in some areas (almost 90 degrees at the top). I guess it's a good thing they haven't had to redo many tiles!

The last part of our tour took us out on the main balcony in the back of the house -- which also happened to be George Vanderbilt's favorite spot. Not only was this balcony conveniently located close to his bedroom, but it also had a view of many mountains, especially his favorite -- Mt. Pisgah. The Biltmore now rests on 8,000 acres. Originally, Vanderbilt owned 125,000 acres; however, after his death, his wife completed the sale of a large portion of the acreage to be created into National Parks along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We chose to go to the estate during this time of year so that we could see it decked out in Christmas decorations. In the great room, they had a real 35 foot Christmas tree. The entire great room smelled of fresh pine. They also had the pipe organ playing Christmas music, which created a nice atmosphere in the room. We also love to go hiking and chose to visit the area in general because of the fall colors. Because we chose to go to the Biltmore during this time of year, we didn't get to see the gardens in full bloom. Instead, the gardens were a little dry and, well, dead. They still had everything manicured and kept in good condition despite the time of year and the state of the plants.

(Garden Areas)

(Italian Garden)

It's amazing to think that when George built the home, he was a bachelor. He had this huge mansion all to himself until he married in 1898. In 1900, they had their only child Cornelia. He died when Cornelia was only 14 years old. He was able to enjoy his mansion for only 20 years. Again, 250 rooms, for a family of 3, just ridiculous.

B&B

As I mentioned earlier in the overview post about our trip. We stayed in 4 different hotels in 6 nights. The first night was a Jameson Inn in Knoxville. We chose it for it's location and cheap price. I don't know what it is, but I have an aversion to Jameson Inn's. I'm really not sure why, other than just each one has had it's own issues, but that's a story for another day.

Once we got to the Gatlinburg area, we stayed at the Inn on the River in Pigeon Forge. Last year, we stayed at the Inn at Christmas Place. In order to save some money we picked the Inn on the River. It had a great location in Pigeon Forge (right across for the Inn at Christmas Place) and a decent breakfast selection (biscuits, gravy, eggs, waffles. . . ).

After our first day in the Blue Ridge Parkway area in North Carolina, we stayed the night at a Hampton Inn in Hendersonville. Ahhh, now this is more like it ;), it blew Jameson Inn out of the water. We somehow ended up with a handicap room, meaning extra space in the room and bathroom. (Side note, that night, Steve found a "hipster" pizza place in downtown Hendersonville that was very enjoyable -- West First Wood-Fired).

For the remainder of the trip, we stayed at our first bed & breakfast -- Bent Creek Lodge. It had 10 different rooms and we stayed in the "bird room". We had a fun time counting all the birds. Each day we'd find a new one in the room. I think our count ended at 33, but I digress. . .

I was shocked upon entering our room for the first time -- there was no TV!! For those of you who don't know me, I can't function without a tv running in the background. Surprisingly, I made it 2 nights without a tv and would stay there again in a heartbeat! The b&b had a "cabin" feel and was nestled in the woods away from any other buildings and roads.

Each room had access to a balcony. You could enter your room either from the outside balcony access or through the main entrance to the lodge. When we first got to our room, we went outside on the balcony to take in all the colors of the trees and survey the area.

While we were looking outside, Steve pointed out one of my "favorite" animals -- a deer. We saw several deer on this trip. Thankfully, none of them were seen careening into our car. We saw a few on our driving trails as well as a posse grazing alongside the highway on our way home.

The best part about staying at this bed & breakfast was the breakfast!! After later research of the lodge, we discovered that one of the owners was a culinary chef. However, she wasn't the one who did the cooking. Her skills had obviously warn off on her husband, who did all the cooking. The served amazing breakfasts that had huge portions.

On the first morning, we had:

-Whole Wheat pancakes

-Bacon

-Fried Apples

-Yogurt & Granola

On the second morning we had:

-Spinach cakes w/tomato gravy (sounds gross but tasted amazing)

-Eggs to order

-Hash browns

-Fresh Pineapple

You could tell that the lodge owners truly enjoyed being hosts. They would bake fresh cookies and desserts and would lay them out on the counter to be enjoyed by the guests. They also had complementary soda and snacks (pretzels, peanuts, granola bars. . . ) at all times, too. We were really impressed by their generosity in the food department.

Hiking

Our vacation getaway was full of hiking. We hiked different trails In both the Smokeys and Blue Ridge Mountains except Monday (the day we were at the Biltmore, hiking around the house & grounds).

On Thursday morning, we started our day with a drive on a road trail in the Smokeys. We had already done this drive last year when we went to Gatlinburg. In fact, last year when we did the trail, we had stopped at the visitor center and spent a whole $2 on trail guide books that of course got left behind on this trip. We went ahead and did it again (without the $2 book, but with a shortened free version) to see the different fall colors. After the drive, we stopped at Grotto Fails to hike our first trail.

(Yay we made it!)

The hike to the falls wasn't a difficult one. In fact, the worse part was getting from our car to the actual trail head. We had to park our car quite a bit away from it (the parking lot was full and we had to snake down the road until we found an open spot on the side of the road). Walking up the road to the trail was pretty steep, but the trail itself wasn't steep at all. For each hike we went on, we were always overdressed with too many layers. However, the climate would often change within one hike (which required constant breaks to put hoodies back on/off as needed).

(Grotto Falls)

On Friday, we did our most intense hike (I think we still haven't fully recovered from it)-- Chimney Tops trail in the Smokeys. The hike was 4 miles round trip, and very steep (87 % of the trail involved steep incline). The trail has an elevation change of 1432 ft. There were several times along the trail we stopped to evaluate if it was worth it. Having completed the trail, it wasn't worth it-- ha! But it had to do with the day we did it. The night before we went on the hike, it poured down rain -- resulting in lots of fog in the Smokeys the next day. When we started the Chimney Tops trail, it was misting, cold, and foggy.

(Beginning of the trail, not aware of the trek we were about to embark)

(This was the "easy" part of the trail, which was at the beginning. From here on out, the trail got steeper & slicker)

After reaching the first mile mark, I had to constantly remind myself "I'm halfway there". However, the last half seemed to require much more strength and stamina (which was fading quickly by that point). The higher we climbed, the fog had lifted and the sun had popped out. We also reached some areas of snow.

(Snow on the trail)

(Yay sunshine!! However, this wasn't at the end of the trail. When we got to the end, it was foggy and misting again)

The last part of the trail involved slick rocks and monkeying around trees. Once we finally reached the chimney tops, we found a sign saying "Area beyond this sign is closed. You can scale the rocks at your own risk." There was another family ahead of us attempting to scale the rock. Steve didn't want to wait around or attempt it while they were there, and there was no way I was going to attempt it. So we called the trail done and headed back down. Going down went much faster and was easier. However, we still had to rest a couple times to flex our calves (my shins were killing me from pointing my toes down so much!).

(So happy we made it back!! I was rewarded with dinner at my favorite place in Pigeon Forge -- Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant. We went there last year on our trip. You get a 5 course homemade meal for 2 for $30. Yes, you read that correctly!).

Because Friday was such an intense hike, we took it easier on Saturday. We started the morning with a drive up to Clingman's Dome (we hiked it last year, and opted to just drive to the lookout this year). After visiting the highest mountain in the Smokeys, we said goodbye to Gatlinburg and headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville North Carolina.

We did a simple 1 mile hike (paved) up to the Devil's Courthouse. It's named that for it's "sinister look" and supposed connection with Indians; however, I didn't see the "sinister look".

(Devil's Courthouse)

(Steve reading one of the many plaques pointing out the mountains around us; however, we couldn't figure out which mountain was which according to the plaques).

(It did have quite the view!)

We had 2 hikes planned for Sunday. We were only able to do one of them because the other was blocked. Part of the Parkway was shut down due to "snow" (which as I stated in the previous post was a bunch of malarkey, as we saw no snow anywhere else in this area). Our last hike was Graveyard Fields trail (named for upturned trees resembling grave stones; however, a fire destroyed all the stumps and soil, leaving the area desert-like). This trail wasn't hard at all. In the beginning it kind of felt pointless. It felt like we were walking through a "waste-land", but eventually the terrain changed (got to cross some streams) and we made it to the upper falls.

(First part of the trail)

(The terrain changed and the last part of the trail involved climbing over rocks. Luckily, the uphill rock part wasn't too long!)

(We made it to the Upper Falls)

(Upper Falls)

After going back through our pictures and remembering the hikes we went on, I'd have to say that Chimney Tops was probably my favorite. It wasn't because of the view (which we didn't see), but because of the encouragement that flowed from Steve during that hike. Hiking (well any physical activity) is not "my thing". I have learned to enjoy hiking because of how much Steve enjoys it, but this trail was really more advanced than I cared to climb. However, I promised Steve I'd do it for him (he wanted to do the trail last year, but it was towards the end of the trip when I was getting sick). Steve was very encouraging along the hike and we truly just got to be there for each other. This experience is by far one of my top 10 favorite moments with Steve. But that list is for another day ;-).

Vacation Getaway

We just got back from a 6 day vacation in Gatlinburg (TN), Pigeon Forge (TN), & Asheville (NC). Steve was the brains behind the operation. He had been researching and preparing for this trip for the past few months. I on the other hand have been living in the moment and was just along for the ride. Our trip was filled with mountains, hiking, driving, eating, and relaxing. We had a great time and really enjoyed being away from the craziness of moving (and work for Steve).

(Smokey Mountains Overlook)

We left Wednesday night and drove 4 hours to Knoxville, TN where we stayed in hotel #1 (of 4). I am not a fan of hotel hopping because you have to lug your stuff in and out with you every night; however, this tripped called for the hotel hopping for a couple reasons. First, it saves money (we need to save all we can since we're purchasing a house right now). Second, we city (and/or state) hopped on this trip. We stayed in 4 different cities -- Knoxville, Pigeon Forge, Hendersonville, & Asheville. Third, there is no third -ha ha. Steve always gets on me for listing off things (using first, second, blah blah) and I never have more than 2 reasons.

But back to the hotels -- because we hopped around and saved money, we splurged a little on the last 2 nights by staying in a bed & breakfast. It was our first experience at a true b&b, I was shocked that there was no tv in our bedroom, but we honestly weren't in the room that much! We did, however, get to enjoy 2 absolutely delicious home cooked breakfasts!

(Bent Creek Lodge)

Thursday and Friday were spent hiking and driving through the Smokey Mountain National Park. We also walked through Gatlinburg and visited the Ole Smokey Tennessee Moonshine distillery. There, we got free samples of different moonshine. First, we had the straight up clear tasteless/odorless moonshine (White Lightning). We opted to not to drink the "original" corn (has a distinct taste and we could barely handle the burn and no taste of the White Lightning). We also opted to not eat the moonshine soaked cherries. We did taste the different flavor options -- peach, hunch punch (hooch), and apple pie. Our favorite was apple pie (we even bought a jar!).

Saturday we headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. We hiked that afternoon as well as the next day. We had a total of 3 hikes picked out, but only achieved 2 of them. Part of the Parkway was closed due to "snow" (which Steve and I believe is total malarkey as there was no snow anywhere else on the parkway) and our third hike was blocked off, of course.

(One of the many tunnels we got the joy of going through. And yes, we did hold our breaths through each one)

We saved the "best" for last. On Monday, we headed to the Biltmore Estate. We spent in the entire day touring the house and grounds. The Biltmore is known for its elaborate architecture, 250 rooms, and modern amenities (like an elevator and electricity original to the house in 1895). We even took a specialty Architecture tour. While on the tour, we got to go out on the roof in a couple different locations and a balcony in the back of the house (George Vanderbilt's favorite!). We especially enjoyed being out on the roof because it was a slate roof! We found out that the Biltmore still has 98% of it's original roof. (Steve and I are falling more and more in love with our soon-to-be slate roof home).

I have tons of pictures and many more stories. Over the next few days, I'll be adding more in-depth blog posts. Stay tuned :)