A Week in Chattanooga

Last week I had to be in Chattanooga for a Caves Association meeting. I love getting together with my cave buddies from around the U.S. but of course I hate being away from home. I left on Saturday and didn’t get back home until the following Friday. That’s a long time for me to be away from home.

Chattanooga is only about two hours from my house but I had meetings during the day and events at night so I stayed in Chattanooga the whole week. It would have just been too hard to drive back and forth.

I got into Chattanooga on Saturday evening. Our group stayed at The Chattanoogan.
The Chattanoogan is nice and centrally located. It is very close to downtown with lots of restaurants and shopping.

I had a board meeting on Sunday morning at 8:00 AM so I wanted to be there on time without having to leave my house at 6:00 AM.

So meetings all day on Sunday. Our official Convention started on Tuesday with an opening event on Monday night. On Sunday a friend of mine from Pennsylvania arrived at the hotel and we had an opportunity to get together for dinner and catch up with each other. We ate dinner at Tueplo Honey which I love. Southern cuisine and the best fried chicken and biscuits. I did not order the chicken I had a barbecue burger and potato fritters. It was great.

We also went to Warehouse Row, which is a nice shopping area with some upscale shops, but it closed early on Sunday so we didn’t get there in time.

On Monday morning I was awakened at 4:00 AM by a fire alarm at the hotel. I jumped out of bed and couldn’t even think where my clothes were. I grabbed my bra because I am not going out without my bra, fire or no fire. I also grabbed a light sweater I had on the back of a chair. I grabbed my phone and out the door I ran. I was on the fifth floor and of course everyone was running for the stairs. Once I got outside I realized that most people had taken time to put their clothes on. Luckily I had my good pajamas on HA HA. It was a false alarm and after about twenty minutes we were allowed back in the building. It was pretty exciting. I ran out without my room card and of course I didn’t have my ID so I had to go to the front desk and get another room card. By the time I got back to my room it was 5:00 AM and I couldn’t get back to sleep.

Monday was a free day until our opening event so my friend Ann and I decided to drive down to the river front in Chattanooga and check out some of the shops there. There is also a free electric shuttle, CARTA, that will take you all over the city. A lot of the shops were closed on Monday. A big disappointment but we knew we would be back within the next day or two to visit the other shops. We ate lunch at a great little place called the River Street Deli. The deli is small with a limited menu but the sandwiches, Stromboli, salads and soup were more than enough to make anyone happy.

We visited the In Town Art Gallery while we were near the riverfront. This gallery has a little bit of everything. I bought a piece for a friend I can’t wait to give it to her. The piece is called Wild Woman. Wild Woman, Be One, Friend One, Love one. I love this piece. This is the artist in the picture below. Charlie Yowell so much talent in this gallery be sure to visit when you are in Chattanooga. Charlie came out and talked with us for a long time and showed us several of his art pieces. You can see the Wild Woman piece below with her hair blowing in the wind.

Later that night we visited Songbirds Guitar Museum. Songbirds is a world class vintage guitar museum. There is actually a vaulted room that houses 12,000,000 worth of vintage guitars. In case of fire the vault automatically closes and becomes fire proof.

This is the vaulted room. Very impressive.

This guitar had my sister’s name on it so I had to get a picture of it.

After visiting the museum and having a great Barbecue dinner we went downstairs where the band Rubiks Groove was performing. This band is an 80’s and 90’s tribute band and they are awesome!!!!! We danced the night away!!!!!!

The next day after a morning full of sessions we headed to Lookout Mountain to Ruby Falls. If you haven’t been to Ruby Falls you have to check it out. There is a beautiful story of Leo Lambert, who discovered the falls in 1928, and his wife Ruby, you see the connection now, and how he discovered the falls after crawling through small passages for about seventeen hours. Now that is determinationn.He then went back and got Ruby and they made the journey back to the falls together. You have to see it Take a peek here. Your tour starts with an elevator ride down down down into the caverns, at the bottom of the cave you are about 1200 feet underground. Your guide will show you a brief video about Leo Lambert and his bride Ruby. You will then start your trek through the caverns to get to the falls. Along the way you will see some of the most beautiful cave formations you have ever seen. Ruby Falls is the nation’s tallest and deepest underground waterfall open to the public.

Beautiful Formations

This is called Leo’s Passage. You can get an idea of what Leo Lambert had to crawl through when discovering Ruby Falls.

When you arrive at the falls you wait for a moment in darkness and you can hear the water falling and falling. Then the waterfall is lit with some of the most beautiful colored lights. It is just so awesome to see something that far underground. Wow!!! what else may be underground that we do not even know about!!!

Ruby Falls is 145 feet high and spectacular!!!!

The next day was mostly meetings and tying us general business with the Caves Association. A great speaker from he National Speleological Society and some time to share ideas with other caves within the association.

The next morning I was ready to head for home. I had been gone for almost a week and I missed everyone so much!!!! It was great seeing my cave buddies and I look forward to it every year. But it is sooooooo good getting back home. Now to start all that laundry.

There’s lots and lots of things in Chattanooga I didn’t mention, Rock City Gardens, Incline Railway, Tennessee Aquarium. So if you get a chance go visit this amazing city that has invested so much in their commitment to sustainability. Spend some time and have some fun. www.chattanoogafun.com

And always remember
Love your day your way!!!

A wake up Call

Tuesday I had an appointment with my doctor for my annual physical. A week ago I went to the office for lab work for my upcoming Appointment. I have the blood work about a week before so my doctor can go over the results with me during my visit.

I was concerned about my weight. I knew I had gained weight during the last few years. And as it is with many things as you get older losing weight has become really hard. It seemed like when I was twenty I could lose ten pounds in two weeks. Wow those days are no more. I guess I have just been comfortable in my own skin and really still am to a great extent. I don’t like the extra weight when it comes to fitting into clothes or liking the way I look in a particular outfit sometimes. But I guess it hasn’t bothered me enough to really do something about it. I feel like I have had a lot of other things in my life to deal with.

UNTIL, I noticed that my knees were starting to bother me more, I wasn’t working out like I should.I am getting older I noticed I am stiffer when I get out of bed in the mornings or after I sit for a long time. Not moving makes that worse. Just a few years ago I was training for a half marathon. What happened? Well at that time I injured my knee, stopped working out, didn’t do the marathon, and basically just gave myself a freebie not to work out for awhile. Unfortunately the “while” turned into a long while. And the extra pounds started piling up.

Now don’t get me wrong. For most of my life I have been plus sized, chubby, big boned, whatever you want to call it I have always been above my normal weight range, whatever in the hell that might be. You know most people are only in that weight range when they are in kindergarten. I probably wasn’t then either. That is me. I was never picked for sports or cheerleading but I was just as comfortable, more so really, sitting in the library reading a book. Do I like myself thinner? Well yes I do but as I said I guess I have reached an age where I am comfortable with me. Until it starts causing me joint issues and not feeling like myself and not wanting to do things like I used to. Or until I realize I am not taking control of my weight and it could really get out of hand and cause blood pressure and cholesterol and diabetes issues.

I have been on a diet most of my life. I have lost hundreds if not thousands of pounds throughout my lifetime. Thousands is probably more like it. Every time I have an event a few months away I think to myself well that gives me plenty of time to lose about 20 pounds and wear that outfit in the back of my closet. But you know that doesn’t usually happen.

I realize I could have a lot of health issues that could be worse than having to lose some weight. No blood pressure problems, no cholesterol problems. Everything is within range. But I do know that carrying extra weight, not exercising and eating the wrong foods could change all of that as I get older. Older than I am now.

I could blame my weight on a crazy work schedule with lots of travel, being a care giver and not having a lot of extra time of my own, depression, anxiety, stress, any of these things or all of them can cause someone to eat mindlessly and just have the need to fill a void within themselves.

The first picture was when I was about three and the second one was when I was about ten. I will never forget being at the dentist when I was young and the assistant ask my mom if my cheeks were always that puffy or if they were swollen? My mom said “no they are always like that”. That memory has always stuck with me and made me self conscious of my chubby cheeks. I still have them.

So on Tuesday I went to the doctor’s office, I felt pretty good about myself. I wasn’t even dreading the weigh in as bad as I usually do. I hadn’t weighed myself at home in weeks if not months. I thought maybe I had even lost a little weight. My body did feel different my clothes were still fitting o.k.

The nurse called my name, of course the first thing they do is lead you to the scales. I didn’t even ask to remove my shoes. I bravely stepped onto the scale and after she adjusted the weight thingies I almost passed out. I literally stepped back and almost fell off the scale. And then she said my weight in a loud voice like I hadn’t seen it on the medieval torture device scale. I cringed and quickly looked around to see who else had heard her. Dear Lord!!!!! It was terrible. I couldn’t get that number out of my head. I guess the fact that I thought maybe I had lost some weight only to find out that was not true but I had actually gained!!! It was too much.

Through the years my weight has fluctuated. If you could look through my medical records you would see probably a 35-40 pound range over the past 20 years. My closet has everything from a size 6 to a size 16. I just shove them around as needed.

The doctor came in and went over my blood work with me. Everything looked great. We discussed my weight, which was not great. I had only gained five or ten pounds since the year before but I could see myself adding on year after year.

So we came up with a plan. My doctor doesn’t want me to try anything ridiculous and try to lose 10 pounds in a week, not that that would happen with me, he wants me to set a goal of a ten pound weight loss by the end of the year and add 150 minutes of exercise per week. That may sound like a lot but it is only 30 minutes a day for 5 days, or less if you spread it out over 7 days. I think that is doable until I get back in the swing of exercise and build up some muscle and endurance. After the first three months we will look at the next goal. Having a goal in sight helps me to stay focused.

Now please don’t get me wrong when you read this post. I have seen many men and women with excess weight who are happy and comfortable in their skin. I love them and think you go, good for you. But I can only be comfortable with myself to a certain point and then I do have some self esteem issues. Add in the joint pain and stiffness and that is just not the me I want to be. I feel that I should try to be the best me a I can be and that is what I want to do. But you are you and you be the best YOU, you can be.

I will keep you posted on the progress.

Always remember to Love your day your way!!!!

A Quick Trip to Cherokee and Bryson City North Carolina-

Hello friends how are you? Last week no sooner had I gotten back from my trip to Nashville, well I did have one day at home, I was off again for another few days to North Carolina. Another tourism meeting and lots of fun this time getting to see some fun attractions. We stayed at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. It was a central location for both Cherokee and Bryson City. This hotel is very nice but I am too cheap to be much of a gambler. The hotel has lots of nice restaurants and shops. First stop Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

Located in the heart of Bryson City North Carolina the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad is a favorite beautiful ride through western North Carolina. The views are amazing. We rode The Michigan one of the newer cars and it was fantastic.

Look at the Conductor isn’t he adorable

We were able to step outside between the cars and get some great photos.

I love the gentle rocking of the train and being able to see the beautiful scenery. We had great weather for the entire trip.

We rode the train down to The Nanatahala Outdoor Center. At NOC you can raft, hike, zip line, eat, shop and stay in some amazing cabins. It is the perfect place to chill out. We went back the next day for a longer visit. We had the chance to raft or zip line or just hang out by the water. I decided to sit by the river and chill out with a glass of wine or two. It was so relaxing. I even dipped my toes in the water and it was ice cold!!!!

After our day riding the train and visiting NOC we went back into the town of Bryson City. A charming town that I fell in love with. We had a little time for shopping. If you go you have to check out some of the small boutiques a couple of my favorites were: Humanite and Pursenality. For dinner we went to a great place to eat Everett’s Bistro. Everett’s is also a hotel with guest rooms. Believe it or not it used to be a bank. The owners have done a spectacular job with this Hotel and Bistro. We were able to tour some of the guest rooms. I can’t wait to go back and stay for a few days. We also had dessert on the rooftop. It was a great day with so much to see and do. I was so glad to get back to the hotel that night.

The next morning we met a local guide for a trip to The Road to Nowhere. When I mentioned to my niece that I was going to Bryson City the first thing she said was, Oh!!! are you going to see the Road to Nowhere? To be honest I had heard of it but really wasn’t sure what it was about. We traveled about six miles in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For the abbreviated version of this story click here.
It is a sad story. The local people can share with you many of their own stories of having to take boats out to visit their ancestors’ gravesites. Basically this was a road that was started, many families were displaced and then funding ran out and the road development just stopped. So it really is a road to nowhere.

Lot of graffiti on the walls of the tunnel. The middle of the tunnel can get quite dark. I can only imagine what it would be like at night.

We continued on with our local guide, Wendy, who was just a wealth of information. We went for a two mile hike through Deep Creek. What beautiful scenery with several waterfalls along our hike. Check out even more on the link below.

https://www.greatsmokies.com › deepcreek-waterfalls

Fontana Lake. I made our driver stop so I could get this picture.

Later that evening we had a tour of the Museum of The Cherokee Indian in downtown Cherokee. This is a wonderful museum full of history and culture. It has so much character and love put into it. This is a must see if you visit Cherokee. Another thing to check out while in Cherokee is Unto These Hills and The Cherokee Historical Association. We didn’t do those on this trip but I have been before.

And then later that night we had dinner prepared for us by some wonderful Cherokee women. We also participated I some of the traditional Cherokee Indian dances and heard some amazing stories while sitting around a bonfire. A great ending to a great day.

I always think a fire is magical

The next day we had meetings most of the morning and just like that I was back at home by late evening. I had a really good time on my short journey. It makes me realize just how much we have to see in this U.S.A. I want to see it all!!!!

So if you are looking for something to do in Western North Carolina I highly suggest you check out these adventures. You will love them!!!!

And always remember to Love Your Day Your Way!!!!

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Let Me Take You to Nashville

Hello Friends happy Sunday,

I spent most of last week in Nashville. It was a quick trip but I did have time to take in some things I had never done before. I always love that. I got home late Friday night and now I am headed to Bryson City, NC. and Cherokee NC for most of the upcoming week. Another tourism meeting and a lot of sight seeing. I have barely had time to get home, do laundry love on the fur babies, and my hubs too of course, get groceries and pack up again. More on the North Carolina trip later but for now Nashville.

First of all let me say that Nashville is an amazing city. Until you actually go downtown and visit the historic buildings, art centers, and see the building art murals,The Gulch, and the bars, you haven’t seen Nashville. It seems like I see something different every time I am there.

Mark and I come to Nashville three times a year for a check on the kidney but we are usually in too big of a hurry just to get here and back to spend any time doing anything. I think we may have to rethink that next time.

Every year The Governor’s Conference on Tourism is held in a different city in Tennessee. I usually attend and if I am not able to another of my co-workers, Annie, attends for me. This year we were both able to attend and that makes it even better because we split up the educational seminars and get twice as much done. But we also wanted to take advantage of this wonderful city and do some fun things with the little bit of free time that we had.

Nashville is about about 180 miles from my small town. You can usually drive it in a little over three hours. Also it is in the central time zone and you gain an hour going there. Of course you lose it back when you go back home. We started out early Wednesday morning and it was a beautiful day but hotter than H&ll The high temp on Wednesday was about 96 degrees.

We stayed at The Sheraton Grand Nashville. This hotel is across the street from the Capitol Building and is a little pricey. We did get a special rate through the conference but for a few nights stay without a group rate it would be pricey. I have stayed just outside of the city and used Uber and it is also convenient and a lot less costly, even with the Uber cost. The Sheraton has a free shuttle service that is very convenient and will take you within a certain radius of the hotel.

One of the things I wanted to do was eat at the Loveless Cafe. It is a little bit out of Nashville. So you actually drive through Nashville and then continue on about another 25 minutes. It is located just off of exit 192 on Hwy 100. The history behind the Loveless Cafe is very interesting. In 1951 Lon and Annie Loveless opened Loveless Cafe serving homemade southern dishes. They also built a 14-room motel next to the restaurant. I guess you could say their biscuits are what put them on the map. And I can testify that THEY ARE AMAZING!!!!!!! More than a half million visitors a year eat at the cafe. There have also been many famous people who have eaten at the cafe. There are autographed pictures throughout the restaurant. You can even buy the biscuit mix and jams and jellies to take home with you and make your own delicious biscuits.

The small motel now has quaint shops to visit. The Loveless Cafe is open 7 days a week and if you plan to eat there at lunch or dinner time you might want to make a reservation which you can easily do online. Check out more on the Loveless Cafe here.

I hope you are not too hungry when you look at these photos. I had the pulled pork barbecue. We shared a banana pudding for dessert. We went at lunch time and made reservations in case it was super busy. The portions are huge and had we known we probably would have split something since taking a to-go box wasn’t an option.

Another thing I have wanted to do for a long time is visit The Gulch in Nashville. The Gulch is a LEED certified community in the heart of Nashville it is just off of Interstate 40, Interstate 26, and Interstate 65. There are so many trendy restaurants and bars in The Gulch. We stopped at Bar Louie for a drink and appetizers. They were delicious. One thing The Gulch is famous for is all the murals on the buildings. I wanted to see the Angel Wings by Kelsey Montague. After we left Louie’s it was starting to get dark and we were trying to find the wings. We had almost given up and started back when we turned around and there they were!!! Of course we had to get some pics. The mural is actually called, What Lifts You and It is beautiful!!! The mural is 20 feet high. The wings are located at 302 11th Ave S in The Gulch but for much more information about The Gulch please visit http://www.explorethegulch.com.

You know I had to get my picture here. Usually there is a line of people waiting but only about five other people were there before us.

As I said we didn’t have a lot of time outside of the conference but we did have some time to do a few other things. We went to The Johnny Cash Museum. I have always been a huge Johnny Cash fan. The Museum is located at 119 3rd Ave S. visit the website at http://www.johnnycashmuseum.com.

Another thing you must do when you are in Nashville is go Honky Tonkin. This involves putting your boots on and going to your favorite bars on the strip. Nashville is alive with country music. Many musicians have found stardom by playing in the small bars along the strip in Nashville. Anyone you see could be the next big name in country. We were able to take in several bars while we were there and we listened to some fabulous bands. One of my favorites was Tequila Cowboy. This bar features live music, a dance floor and some fabulous food and drink. We saw Josh Keas perform and he was amazing I am sure he will be the next big name in country music. http://www.tequilacowboy.com

The Nashville nightlife is crazy fun!!

Nashville is such a beautiful city and with only a little free time in a couple of days I think we got to see a lot of new things. I do want to return and add to my list so I will keep you posted on that. A few things that were on my list to see and experience were:
The Legendairy Milkshake Bar Just try not to drool when you look at these pictures.
Draper James. This shop, founded by Reese Witherspoon, is true southern charm.
Ryman Auditorium There is so much history here. I have been but would love to go back.
Frist Art Museum. Another place I have been but the exhibits change frequently and there is always something new to see.

So now I am off to North Carolina. I will share that with you very soon. But in the meantime remember to:

Love your day your way