Mini Vacation

After work on Thursday, it was off to Asheville, NC to visit Sandi and Jason for a mini vacation. We didn't get there until Thursday night, so we had dinner with them, and then went to sleep cause we had a full day planned for Friday.

On Friday morning we decided to drive up to Mt. Mitchell for some scenic pictures. It's the highest peak in the eastern U.S.

We were perhaps a bit under-dressed for this trip as the temp at the top of the mountain was in the low 40s with a brisk wind. (Despite the fact that I am prone to clutziness, and Holly's best attempt to twist me around, I did not trip and fall in the picture below).

We only had fleece jackets (Jason remembered his hat....good call). Holly also smiled for the camera.

They have a new stone overlook they just built at the top of the mountain to give you the perfect 360˚ view.

After Mt. Mitchell it was off to the Navitat ZipLine. We've done several ziplines before, but none through a forest of trees that are at the peak of their color change.


This is a much longer zipline than our previous zipline a month ago, and it has MUCH better views!

Several of the zips were several hundred feet into the air, and while you wanted to look down, you couldnt help but also try to look around you at all the other scenery because you zip so fast you might miss it!

It take about 3 hours to complete the entire course, but it is well worth it. We had a lot of fun, and while Sandi and Jason couldn't join us Friday, they decided to go on Sunday to try it out.

On Saturday it was off to Clemson, SC to watch the Tigers play Georgia Tech. Since we cannot go to many OSU games, we have recently become GA Tech fans so that we can go to games and get our college football fix (although we will always be dedicated distant Buckeye fans). The Ramblin' Wreck car was there, and so was a huge balloon size Buzz. We HAD to get our pictures taken with both!




This was our first time to a game at Memorial Stadium. It's hard to tell from these pictures but the stadium is actually below ground level. If you look closely to the picture below you can see the road to the left of the stadium, and it is level with the middle section of seats, so the whole stadium is not underground, just part of it. Lake Hartwell is to the right of the stadium in the second picture.


Sandi and Jason, of course, came with us to have a great time. Can you guess who was rooting for Clemson and who was rooting for GA Tech?


After the game is was time to drive home and relax from our intense mini vacation.

Busy Weekend

We finally both had a Saturday off, so we decided to fill our Friday and Saturday with lots of action and adventure.

Friday was a great start to the weekend. As soon as MB got off work we headed to Chipotle for lunch, and then it was off to the lake! Normally Lake Allatoona is not crowded on a Friday afternoon, so it's a nice time to go out there, and then leave just after rush hour, when all the weekenders start piling into the lake.


Saturday morning we ran the Doug Kessler Lightning 5k. TG had her best time ever at 29:15. Perhaps it was due to her brand new running shoes, which she claims makes her a "running beast".


After the race was over we had to quickly drive home to shower and get ready for our first Georgia Tech game with our old neighbors Chuck and Marynka.


Stadium is awesome because you can see downtown from the upper stands. It was around 90° the whole game, and we prayed for a few clouds to give us some shade. We had 2 clouds the whole game and about 5 total minutes of shade. Sunscreen was a must. Thanks to 7 coke zero's and 2 ice cream's we were able to make it through the game.

We looked awesome in our blue GA Tech shirts....really authentic....until we realized it was white-out day. Didn't get that memo. Oh well.


After the game, it was back home for a much needed second shower, and then off to MB's co-worker's birthday party. Quite fun, but after a couple beer's and margaritas, we were ready to go to sleep.


We had plans to go kayaking Sunday morning, but that got canceled when we woke up to a downpour. Maybe next time.

Zipline!!!

Today we went to the Chattanooga Zipline. Its a new exhibit they have near Ruby Falls. There are 2 courses, and normally it takes about 45 minutes, but we got stuck behind a group of women doing an "encouragement field trip". Good for them, bad for us. Most of them were not good with heights, and were very slow. Note to self....if you go there again, turn around if you see 50 women in bright red shirts.


Anyways....It is set up like an obstacle course. You gradually climb in height through a series of rope bridges, horizontal ladders, wooden planks. Then you get to 2 separate long ziplines, where you basically just sit back and enjoy the ride through the trees. At first, you don't really need to hold on to your harness as you move down the course. The beginning is quite easy.


Then it gets a little bit harder, as the obstacles require more balance and holding on to your harness (I think both of us double checked a couple times just to make sure we were latched in tight).



But its all worth it in the end. Because the end is the fun part. Most of the course is just about 2-3 stories above ground.


It was a ton of fun and we worked up a bit of a sweat! Good times!

Day at the lake

We both got a rare Friday off, so we decided to head east to Lake Oconee, about 90 miles outside of Atlanta. We had never been there before and were pretty excited.

The lake is big and shallow with a ton of homes on the water. Any boat with sleeping quarters and houseboats are prohibited. They created too much wake and could flood yards that sit low near the lake's edge.

The water is remarkably calm. We could do 55mph without getting tossed around on the jet ski. The water is also remarkably warm. It was an uncomfortable 93 degrees when we were there. The air temperature was around 100! It was a tough day to stay cool.

We had a great time on the water. There were very few other boaters, so we kind of had the lake to ourselves. The views are amazing and the homes are stunning! Some of them look like hotels. Speaking of hotels, There is a Ritz Carlton (http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/ReynoldsPlantation/Default.htm) on the water with a beach and infinity pool. Wow!

We nearly got whiplash looking at all of the beautiful homes. There were a lot for sale. We wanted them all. Here are a few of our favorites.

Yes this is a house, not a hotel!