A couple of weeks ago my sisters and I took our annual Sister Trip to Gatlinburg Tennessee. I touched on some of this in a previous post if you missed it check it out here. We finally got to visit Anakeesta.
What is Anakeesta? Anakeesta is located in the heart of Gatlinburg Tennessee. It is a mountaintop adventure. How do you get to the top of the mountain to experience this adventure? Well let me explain:
First you must get to the top of the mountain. You can ride a chairlift, chondola, or ride a bus up a crazy winding mountain. The sisters and I chose to ride the little pods, the chondola. They felt somewhat safer or maybe I should say comfier than the chairs. Also if you did plummet down the mountain at least in the chondola you would be covered with a bit of metal.
You see why we preferred the pods.
Once you get to the top of the mountain you will find gift shops, restaurants, chairs where you can sit and enjoy the beautiful views, a treetop Skywalk with over 880 feet of connected bridges hanging 50-60 feet in the air. You may also want to zipline, ride the Rail Runner mountain coaster, or for an add on you can experience Astra Lumina. Astra Lumina is an illuminated encounter of lighting projection and sound. It will feel as if the stars are falling from the sky, regenerating and returning to the sky above. It is very beautiful. This is an add on to the normal priced ticket. I will have to say there is a lot of things for kids to do here but even if you are not taking children you will still enjoy it.
Lots of fall and Halloween decorations.
The views were spectacular
Look at this wild cabbage. It’s beautiful. I love all the colors.
Entrance to the Treetop Skywalk. The Skywalk is made up of 14 suspension bridges spanning 880 feet hanging from 50-60′ in the air.
This sign explains the mystery of why the mountains are called the Smoky Mountains. You may have to zoom in to read it. AnaVista Tower. The views are breathtaking. (Anakeesta Photo)
After getting back down the mountain we stopped at the Daiquiri Shack and had a nice Bahama Mama.
If you ever find yourself in Gatlinburg Tennessee don’t forget to check out beautiful Anakeesta in the Smoky Mountains. You should allow a few hours to experience this beautiful adventure. Check out the Anakeesta website here:
I am sure that everyone has insomnia from time to time. I know a lot of people have it worse than others. The old insomnia bug has bitten me in the last few days. It could be that traveling is catching up with me and I am in need of some down time. It could be just a lot on my mind from day to day living and life. That’s just the way it is sometimes and I am hoping that will take care of itself soon
I feel like I have been playing catch up after being gone so much the last few weeks. I had to repot one of my orchids and give the rest of the orchids their weekly watering. Simone is blooming again. I just love this color.
This is Simone.
My father in law passed away several years ago. He lived next door to us. We kept the house and my brother in law used it a couple of times. We finally decided to put it on the market. We had to clear everything out of it. We decided to buy a small storage building to put on our property to store what was left from his house and put some things from our house in it as well.
Mark and my nephew Tyler worked last Friday and Saturday getting everything cleared out of the house and moved to the storage building. I was able to help them on Saturday. Lots of memories came up while sorting through the house. Old pictures and letters and stuff. Lots of stuff.
All of this has to be taken to the dump. We also had things to take to Goodwill and some things we took to our house for safe keeping.
This is Allie Cat (Our mama cat). I call her camo cat this time of the year because her colors blend with the colors of the leaves.
We have a blink security system. Last week when I was in California I heard the alert one night around midnight. I saw this bobcat. We have seen bobcats before but it was a little unnerving seeing it so close to the house. I am so glad I bring my outside kitties in at night.
The picture is not the greatest but you can see it is a bobcat and close to the house.
My sister trip to Gatlinburg a few weeks ago wound up costing me more money than I had planned. I left my bite splint, which I sleep with every night because I grind my teeth, behind in one of the drawers in the bathroom. I immediately realized it the night I got home. The next day I called the condo association. They are just a call center and weren’t actually on site. I told them the room number and exactly where I had left it. They charged me $25.00 just to have someone look for it. They told me they would be in touch. After a week I called back and they said no one had found it. I am thinking it was probably thrown away. On Tuesday I had a dental cleaning and I was fitted for another bite splint. $525.00. OUCH!!!! So yes a much more costly trip than what I had planned. A lesson learned always double check everything before you check out. I usually do and I can’t believe I left it behind.
The weather here has been great!! Cooler temps. We do need some rain. It would help the leaf colors change quicker. Right now the leaves are so dry they are falling off of the trees before changing colors. Some rain is expected here this weekend so maybe that will bring some color changes.
The Goldenrod is everywhere. I think it’s beautiful even though it is a source of a lot of allergies.
You can see some color starting here but not much at all for this time of the year.
A lot going on right now. This was the first week I have worked five consecutive days in a while. I am happy to see the weekend. I am trying not to be overwhelmed by things. I always think I have to fix things and make everything right and do and be for everyone and make everyone happy and do all of this without making it seem tough. WOW!!! Sometimes that is just not possible. I have to remind myself of that daily. Sometimes it’s easier than others.
I am glad to be taking a breather this weekend with not a lot to do. What wonderful things do you have planned for the weekend?
I am so glad to be home after a week in Northern California. I got home late Friday night. Again another long day of travel. I left Redding California at 6:00 AM and then had a long layover in San Francisco. I like the San Francisco airport there is a lot to see and do there. However I barely made my flight leaving Chicago, O’Hare with just minutes to spare.
It was so good to be home and snuggle the babies. I think they were all glad to see me too.
I love the week I spend with other cave people. These are people who own or manage show caves across the US. We get to visit other caves and learn about their area. We also share ideas and experiences that are working or not working for us. This is a great networking time.
This year our host cave was Lake Shasta Caverns in Lakehead California near Redding. Such a beautiful area but man I was unprepared for the heat. Most of the days the temps were mid 90’s F. I thought the temps were going to be more like home so I didn’t bring enough cool clothes. It was hot!!!!
Some of our highlights: Sundial Bridge
We also took a walk on Sundial Bridge it was beautiful and a beautiful night for it.
This boat ramp is sooo steep. The water in the lake is down about 200 feet. It’s hard to believe but it was down even more in the spring and early summer. The sky and water is an unbelievably blue color.
We had a nice boat ride on Lake Shasta.
My best cave girlfriend Ann. She is from Pennsylvania and I only get to see her a couple of times a year.
When Shasta Lake is full, it is 517 feet deep at the dam 90% of the lake’s water comes from the rainfall. Currently it is about 200 feet lower than it should be.
Shasta Dam.
Shasta Dam was built between 1938 and 1945. It is 602 feet high, 3,460 feet long, and 883 feet thick at its base. There are 15 million tons of concrete in the dam in the form of concrete blocks that are 50 feet square and five feet high. Shasta Dam was the 17th dam built by civil engineer Frank Crowe, who designed a system of towers that were used to get concrete to each of the 16,900 block forms.
Shasta Dam from the back.
Front side of the dam. We were able to walk almost all the way across it. It was so hot.
We had dinner at a restaurant called Huff’s at the beautiful Bridge Bay Marina
We had several speakers throughout the week.
Lake Shasta Caverns is one of the most beautiful caves I have ever visited. But it’s not easy to get to. Actually getting to the cave though is half of the fun. You take a boat across the lake from the opposite side of their ticket office. You then take a scary bus ride up a steep mountain road for 1.5 miles. Then you are at the entrance to the cave. There is 300 steps getting into the cave and then 300 steps back out. But it is totally worth it and the Lake Shasta Caverns crew have it all down to a science. They handle it all with ease. They also offer dinner cruises on the lake you can check it all out on their website here
We visited Lake Shasta Caverns
At the top of the hill just before going into the cave. This was an amazing view.
The inside of a stalactite. This one had been damaged and broken. But you can see the detail and beautiful design within it.
These two boys are called The Fiddlin’ Brothers. They are 14 and 12 years old. They have only been playing for a few years and they are amazing.
After the cave tour we had dinner at the caverns and some entertainment. Such talented dancers.
On Friday morning I had to leave the hotel at 4:30 AM to catch my flight to San Francisco and then to Chicago and then into Knoxville. It was a long day and I didn’t get back to the house 10:30 PM. What a week.
6:00 AM flight to San Francisco
A beautiful sunrise in San Francisco
A lot of airport time. I had a 3 hour layover in San Francisco. I have to give my new bag a 10 out of 10. It was on wheels and didn’t wear my arms out and it was small enough to fit under my seat. I splurged on a couple of books. For some reason I can’t resist books at the airport.
And of course you know I took knitting.
So I am home and so glad to be here for a while with no travel plans for a few weeks. How are you? What exciting things have you been up to.
Southern Patches 