Dollywood

If you haven't been over to 1000 Places to read all about the rest of my vacation you should do that as well, but over the next few days I'll be summing up the non-List portion of my move to Texas - starting with Dollywood.  Yes, you heard correctly, Dollywood!  If ever you doubt the delightful-ness of a theme-amusement park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee then you should read THIS NPR-Monkey See Article by Mark Blankenship.

Pigeon Forge is a hop, skip and jump north of the Gatlinburg access to Great Smoky Mountain National Park which makes it a perfect combination of List and just plain fun vacation plans.  Pigeon Forge just might also be the mini-golf and slick-track capital of the world.  There were courses and tracks everywhere - as in several per block, it was ridiculously amusing.

I didn't haul my huge camera around with me in the park, but I do have some cell phone pics of the adventure - and now that I look some =  two.

The new Wild Eagle is America's first winged roller coaster which means just what you imagine.  The track runs  above the center of the seats with a wing on each side below the track.  This was not only the first winged coaster, but the first where I was suspended below the track.  

I have to say that it was a super-smooth ride with none of the head and neck torque (is that the right word, when your head bounces around because of directional changes) that most other high speed coasters have. I loved it.

We started the day riding the Smoky Mountain River Rampage and got soaked!  (I was glad we did that first, but steered clear of any other water based rides the rest of the day.)

They had a whole section that housed rides that felt like a local carnival, and lots and lots of stuff geared toward kids.

We rode the Smoky Mountain Express and got covered in, what?!  "Cinders and Ashes!"

Saw the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary, and took in the Wings Over America birds of prey show, rode the Tennessee Tornado, Cort did the Mystery Mine, and watched "Heartsong" ... (Play me a song Apple Jack, Apple Jack!)

Before leaving we stopped at the grist mill and bough cinnamon bread to take back to the hotel.  It was like a Cinnabon loaf only better.  It was the best bread I've ever eaten.  So delicious ... and also, messy.

We also had the good fortune to visit Dollywood during early May when local kids were still in school.  It was just the right amount of busy.  Not super crowded, no long waits at any of the rides, and not to hot that day either.  The park closes relatively early, but because it was so empty we had done everything we wanted to do by late afternoon.  There were a couple of things I could've done that we didn't, but left we no regrets and felt like we'd had a good, full day.

I also appreciated how every ride had a place to put your belongings while you rode, so stashing a purse or sunglasses was never an issue.  I also liked that the tram drivers "clear in the front; clear in the back" were funny and helpful and made a point of telling passengers that they offer basic assistance if your car won't start or you have a flat.  I'm glad Dollywood was a stop, and think y'all would love it too.  

Another Adventure

Well, I'm in Texas.  It's definitely the start of a new adventure, albeit one where I'm a whole lot more anxious than the last time I struck out across the country.

I'll be getting blog posts up soon both here and on 1000 Places as well as finding a (semi)permanent address, tackling my senior capstone course in HR, and  trying to remember and get done all the millions of things on the checklist that exists every time you move to a new state (note to self:  car registered and TX license).

The good news is I made it, in one piece, and the nubbins possibly more adorable than I remembered.  The food is excellent (Los Cucos is my new favorite restaurant), and I might just agree with T3 not to eat at chain restaurants for the duration of my residence (Chick-Fil-A and maybe Olive Garden exempted).    And now I'm so distracted by the thought of really good Mexican food that I'm fixin' to get some lunch.

Stay tuned...

2011 Year in Review – Part Four

October

October was all about the Occupy movement, and that movement was camped out in Dilworth Plaza all month.  Not just during October, but through November as well.  I can’t remember exactly when they were evicted, but I was definitely ready to see them go.  Not that I don’t agree with the basic tenets of their protest.  We do need to provide a better life, better security for the middle class of America.  It is not wrong, or greedy, or inappropriate, or LIBERAL for people to want, and be able to achieve the American Dream.  People should be able to make a decent living, buy a decent (not decadent, but decent) house, have access to education and healthcare that is not prohibitively expensive, send their kids to college, and hey, let’s go a little crazy and assume they should get a vacation once in a while, and maybe just maybe a retirement fund that will actually support them in their later years.  /rant.

That said how can you take these stinky, peeing in public, sleeping on concrete, playing their bongo drums seriously? 

The other main event was SNOWTOBER! We had a huge snowstorm at the end of October, and it threw everyone into a panic.  Instead of panicking, I drove to Newark to pick Nate up from the airport.  I ended up waiting in a 7-11 parking lot for 3 hours while Nate’s plane (which had landed approximately 4 hours earlier) waited to be able disembark.

Oh, yeah, I also went to East Hampton for the weekend and got to stand on JACKSON POLLACK’S actual studio floor.  IT WAS AWESOME!

November

For my birthday I took another trip.  I knew I was running out of time before moving to another part of the country, and I decided to visit upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.  More stuff off MY LIST!

Then over Thanksgiving I went to Fallingwater!  (and Cleveland, boo!).  I don’t think I need to remind you guys how awesome I think Fallingwater is do I?  DO I?  Apparently, I do.

December

December mostly was swallowed up in the reappearance of medical scariness.  Turns out that kidney infection was not a kidney infection, but we don’t really find all that out until 2012. 

I did manage to hitch a ride with T3 to visit NYC.  It is good to have seen the Rockefeller Center tree, but I have no need to ever go back there on gridlock weekend again.

So, that is my year in a nutshell.  Overall I think it was a really good year.  I visited a lot of places, saw a lot of things, and had a great time with visiting family.  I also got to spend a lot of time with T3 and I was so appreciative to have them around.  This year has given me a lot of ideas and focus about what I want to do with my life, and who I want to be.  That’s gonna take a lot of work, but I think I can make it happen.  I already know that 2012 will be challenging.  I’ve already had surgery this year, am planning another cross-country move, and planning to graduate with a Human Resource Management degree in August.  I know that for at least part of the year I’ll be unemployed and I hope to use that to its best advantage.   Here’s to another great and challenging year!

2011 Year in Review – Part Three

July/August/September

Because my position had been eliminated (but I still had a notice period, where I was considered a FTE, but didn’t have to work) I had June and the first half of July off work.  I totally took advantage of this by taking the aforementioned vacation in June.  The first two weeks of July I went all out crossing Chesapeake Bay and Cape May off MY LIST before Independence Day, and then hitting everything on The List in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island the week after the 4^th.  After all that adventure I landed a temporary assignment with my employer that has been quite a blessing.  It prolongs my benefits and will carry me through until I move later this year.  The rest of my summer was spent settling in to the new job and just hanging in there with normal life.

2011 Year in Review – Part Two

April

A lot went on in April, actually.  I crossed off another item from MY LIST, The Barnes Foundation.  They have some amazing paintings, and a fabulous all around, though confusing, collection.  They are also moving from their current locations on Latches Lane to Center City.  Given that The List specifies the current location, and that the Foundation was going to shut down the current Foundation in May to prepare for the move I figure if I was gonna go see it then the time was now.

It was a rainy spring day, but that actually worked out well because by the time I got to the garden the rain had stopped, but everything was still dewy and gorgeous.

April was also a source of a lot of change and turmoil at work.  The retail conversion was completed in Pennsylvania, and my line of business was completely overhauled and reorganized.  This also meant that I was told at the end of the month that my position was being eliminated.  Oddly enough, I wasn’t too upset by this news.  Although I had moved across the country for this job, it certainly wasn’t a dream job, I was getting a generous severance package, and I had a lot of opportunities that were perfect for the next year or so of my life. 

May

In May I ended up in the emergency room with what was diagnosed as a kidney infection.  This seemingly small event would have big complications for the end of 2011/beginning of 2012.

June

In June the Calls and Cortney came to visit.  We went everywhere and had a super fantastic time that is waaaay to super fantastic to recount here.  Suffice it to say that we hit like 9 states and crossed a ton of stuff off The List.  Oh, also, I live here…

You can’t miss it, it’s the last one on the left, with the gate…

2011 Year in Review – Part One

Yeah, so I’m a little late in getting year in review done, but you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.  Kita has told me that several times. 

January/February

I was living through my first Philadelphia winter, and I was amazed by how different it is back east.  First of all, we had basically no snow until the day after Christmas and then we had a small storm about once a week all through January.  Now during this time we did have at least one whopper of a storm that dropped a couple of feet, but mostly they were little 1 – 3 inch storms.  No big deal, right?  Wrong!

In Philly any snowflake is cause for the “end of the world” mentality to grip the population.  Cars lining up into the streets at gas stations, grocery stores shelves stripped bare, and the weirdest part (to a girl who never had a single snow day in her life) everything shuts down.  For every, single snow flake work would either be started late, let off early, or closed completely. 

The other east coast winter weather phenomenon I was unprepared for is the ice storm.  This happened twice over the course of the season and the first time I walked outside and was instantly hit with, “This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen!”  Every single thing was encased in a thin layer of ice.  Every branch, every leaf, the ENTIRE car.  Once the ice cracked on the car it would come crashing down in big sheets.  I was really grateful for the snow day when we had ice.  It would be like driving on the ice at the E (or whatever it’s called these days) Center.

But by February, no more snow fell.  None.  Nada. Zip.  We did have giant mountains of snow (like 10 feet tall) lining all the roads because the streets here are just too narrow and lacking in proper shoulders for it to go anywhere but up.  This was all accompanied by significant whining by the natives about what a terrible winter we were having.  Ha!

March

In March I was able to cross another item of MY LIST (aka The List).  I attended the Philadelphia Flower Show. The theme was Paris and it was incredible.  It’s going on right now and the theme this year is Hawaii.  I almost went, but my friends and co-workers are all saying it isn’t very good this year so I’m passing.  Last year however, there was a mock Eiffel Tower, carousel animals made of topiary, and so many different flowers.

Fallingwater - Guest House and Grounds

So you go out this door, and up these stairs




And then you see this...




And finally, you see:


So the guest house and the employee quarters and offices (now the foundation offices) are all up at the top of the hill.  The guest house was finished a couple of years after the main house, but the entire property was used by the Kaufmann family until 1963-ish, when Junior donated it to the Conservancy.  Because it was donated directly from an original family member it holds the distinction of being the only FLW designed house open to the public with all its furnishing, artwork, and setting intact.  Exactly his vision.


Stairs to the staff quarters/offices


Tiffany glass in the guest house.



Looking out the guest house windows, down to the main house.  There are bedrooms in the guest house, but the living area as very wide couches that can double as a beds depending on how many guests are hanging around.

This is also the location of the FLW designed dining room chair.


I tried to take a picture of the coolest thing in the house, but I didn't get any that actually did it justice. There is a long hallway with a doorway with a transom about halfway down the hall.  The close side and the far side of the cabinets are set up as mirror images, with the cabinet door fixtures on opposite sides of the door. The transom over the door looks like a mirror making you ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that the door is solid, and you are looking at a reflection.  And then you see someone walk through the door and it blows your mind.


Why yes, there is a guest pool.  The wall around it makes it look like it's only four or so feet deep, but it is actually more like six or seven feet deep.  Another little optical illusion for you.  The guest pool is actually spring-fed, making it freezing cold.  They drain and clean the pool throughout the season, but I visited over Thanksgiving, the end of the season, and they were letting it go until spring.






This cute little blonde lady was our guide, and she was fabulous.  If you book a tour and she shows up, you're in for a treat.

The branches are actually wisteria and our guide told us that it blooms in May and is beautiful.  Some of you who know my love of the Huntington will also know of my love for purple wisteria.

Here is a shot of the guest house from Mr. Kaufmann's terrace.



The drive way actually goes over the bridge below, around the "back" of Fallingwater (where the front door is), and then up and around the hill to here.

These were originally designed as carriage/car ports because FLW hated garages.  He hated places that were destined to be places for clutter.  They were closed in by Junior and now house a movie theater.  Above were the original staff quarters/offices.  They are still used as offices for the conservancy.

After seeing a quick movie about Fallingwater we were on our own to explore the grounds. I decided to walk back down to the house (there was a terrace that was accessible to the public, but we didn't go out on it) so I could explore a little more before heading the iconic photo site.

Walking back down the trail.


These stairs are by the front door and lead to another first floor terrace.  It has doors that open off of the main living space, but isn't the terrace you see on the tour.  It interior doors are opposite the desk/library on the first floor, and next to the weird little doors that lead to the river stairs.


Terrace outside of guest room.



So, obviously these are the stair that lead to the river, but you can only access them (probably smart or you'd have a lot of tourists going over the waterfall) from inside the living room.


The stairs to the little wading pool (on the right of the picture above).  Although theoretically you can access these from the terrace, they were blocked off.  Otherwise I would've been tempted to walk down there.  Although nothing would've gotten me in that water.  It was a COLD day!



The grounds




The iconic view of the house:
















Why yes, I did take a LOT of pictures from this spot, and I love them all, and no, this is not all of them.

Let me just sum up:  I loved going here; I had a fabulous time; I would recommend it to everyone.  Especially those already in Pennsylvania, and I would very much recommend that you spring for the first of the day behind the scenes tour.  I would love to go back, and if I ever do, I'll stay at one of the FLW designed places nearby.

Should be one of the 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.