Monday Ground Up: History Comes Alive At Ripley's In Gatlinburg

Robert Ripley was an eccentric man and an avid traveler. He took the world by storm visiting far off lands and unblemished territories and cultures. Places like India and the Orient were unconventional areas for the American traveler during the 19th century, however Ripley's obsession drove him to these areas to study the local customs and speak with people in the area.

His favorite location to visit was China, and considering the amount of oddities from that particular country in the museums, it surely shows his passion for the country. Over the years, Robert Ripley collected an amazing collection of oddities and stories that serve to entertain the public even today.

“I have traveled in 201 countries and the strangest thing I saw was man”
— Robert Ripley

Smokey Mountain Sleet and Sliding: Day 2

After coming off a rough day and a horrible ice storm, we woke up to the sound of crackling branches and fog as thick as the eyes could see. Even so, I put on my new coat, ski cap, and gloves, and sat down on a chair over looking the Smokies with my coffee in hand. At this time I was thinking, I need to check my emails and maybe blog a bit. After all, I can't very well go anywhere with the drive frozen over. It was in the process of melting, but I didn't want to take any chances.

I opened up my laptop and searched for a connection. Awwww, NO WIFI! You have got to be kidding. Now I know I'm in trouble. I live for the internet and my websites, so this just won't do. I had to think of something.

I located a Starbucks 6.7 miles away in Pigeon Forge and figured, I'll head there later after the snow melts.

While I was patiently awaiting my time to leave, Kelly went outside to the truck. I was thinking he was going to start it up and let t run for a while. I went outside, and before I knew it, he was turning the truck around to face forward. Why? I have no idea. By the time he made it forward, the truck's back tires hit an ice patch and the truck went sliding down the mountain. At this point I'm thinking, "you're in God's hands now, or gods".

The truck did a 360 and bounced back and forth between the trees. Let me just remind you, the cabin was at 1992 feet and the drop is close to a 75 degree angle. I was yelling every profanity in the book. I had to trek down the slope in my Columbia hiking shoes as fast as I could. I never fell so these shoes were a great investment(not a review, just the truth).

By the time I got to the bottom, Kelly was laughing and still in the driver's seat. Well, at least he made it easy for me to leave *smile*.

A few hours later I left to check my emails at Starbucks. I had about one hour before I had to go back. Making it up the mountain was nearly impossible after dark and in the snow, so I had to rush and basically chug my Caffe Latte.



I made it home by 5:30 sharp, while I was exhausted and ready to sit down, the rest of the cabin company insisted I make my famous chile. I could have settled for a jello cup, but no, let's make the person that paid for the vacation cook our meals. I'm bitter, that's the sleepiness kicking in.



After dinner, I practically locked myself in the bedroom and uploaded my shots for the day. I was in bed by 8:00pm. 

Back From the Smokey Mountains of Gatlinburg Tennessee: Day 1

If you haven't noticed, ok I'm sure you have, the posts died down a bit. I didn't want to leave you with a post that stated I wouldn't be posting this week due to the fact I'd be the Smokey Mountains in Gatlinburg Tennessee freezing my tail off. Yes, this Florida girl bundled up in three layers to brave the harsh weather of the mountains.

To be truthful, I miss it now that I'm gone. We were at an elevation of 1992 feet overlooking some of the most spectacular mountains and cabins I've ever seen. I needed a view after the time we had actually getting there. You know the saying "Everything that could go wrong did go wrong"? It was worse than that!!!!

Kelly and I purchased a Garmin GPS at Target before we left so I was thinking, we can't get lost that bad. For this price this thing has got to work!! So, we didn't get lost, but the smug lady on the GPS took us down some back-roads I didn't want to go down in the snow. I even programmed the GPS to not go off roading. She must have been ticked at me for some reason because we got stuck in a neighborhood, after sliding backwards on a hill "in our Dodge RAM mind you" (trading it in as we speak lol).

Kelly being  Kelly got out in his socks and sandals (yes, I said sandals) and bit it on the drive, hitting his head and back. I told him to lose the sandals, but no, men are just too proud and too stinkin stubborn. Ok, not of all you, but Kelly was the entire trip.

By the time we got to the neighborhood we were supposed to be in, the roads were covered with sleet and snow. I haven't driven in this stuff in years so I was super apprehensive. We followed the directions to the cabin and of course got lost at about 1500 feet. We were sitting at the bottom of this road, Deerfoot I think, and Kelly got out of truck again to walk to the top to see if this was our cabin. By this time I'm thinking he has changed his shoes and was prepared to trek up the hill.


Here we go again! The sandals may have gotten him to the top of the mountain where our cabin  wasn't located, but they slipped on the ice and down goes the stubborn man on the hard drive. Again! This time he lost his wallet in the snow and almost started to cry (He's going to kill me if he finds out I'm telling you this). He was in Army though. Aren't you guys supposed to be tougher than this?

By the time he slide down the drive on his butt, I was in the driver's seat. I took that big RAM truck and barrelled up 500 feet to our cabin, sliding and fishtailing every which way with the radio blasting Usher's new song "Dance, dance like it's the last last night of your life". That's not the title, but I got up the mountain dancing in my car and sliding the whole way. I almost yelled Ya Hoo!

As I got out of the truck and made my way to the front door, I could smell the cedar on the cabin. I unlocked the door and looked straight out our wrap around glass windows to see, wow, an entire panorama of peaks. This is the closest to the heavens as you can get!