Girl's Camping - Part 2: Rock City

Last Saturday, we took a day trip from the state park and our camping site to go to see Rock City. Little Ashley had been there before when she was 7 and remembered it being totally amazing and the rest of us were pretty psyched to see some cool rock formations and a good mountain view. The drive there was gorgeous but we feared for our lives at a couple of hairpin turns up the mountain.

I don't even know what to say about Rock City. It was totally amazing and totally bizarre. Definitely not what I expected. I suppose that I thought that it was a woodsy hiking trail like where we were camping with a lot of rock formations, but in reality it's this wierd, totally sanitized, theme park version of that...with a strange number of gnomes. It's probably the kitschiest place that I've been - possibly ever. I walked around in awe, stunned by the sounds of polka music piped through fake rock speakers sitting on top of real rocks. But by far the best part of the entire experience was heading into the Fairyland Cavern. You go underground and follow a dark trail leading past a number of vignettes on either side based on either fairy tales or totally random scenes of garden gnomes. Stranger still they are painted with neon paint and lit with black lights. But the dolls in the scenes are definitely not cute. In fact, they are downright creepy. I definitely saw a 4 year old little girl in front of us cry with fright and refuse to look at them.

I've included some pictures, but honestly they just can't do it justice. If you're ever within a drive of Chattanooga, TN make sure to check this place out and then drive away quickly and never go back.

Girl's Camping - Part 1: Cloudland Canyon

Last weekend we celebrated our first annual all-girl's camping trip to Cloudland Canyon State Park in northwest Georgia. A long drive, but totally worth it to get up into the mountains and get some fresh air. We definitely got lucky with the weather since rain was forecasted, but next year I think we'll have to go later in October to actually to get to feel some brisk fall air and see the colors changing.

The park was really beautiful with some pretty amazing hiking. The tent sites were really pretty private and the facilities were really clean. With the exception of the gypsy family that camped across the trail from us and played recordings of chickens squawking and smoked in the bathroom, we were left totally undisturbed. Highlights of the weekend included the people who came with me, s'mores, knitting around the fire, and Mad Libs.

Taken to Task

I've been held accountable for my poor blogging habits by Andrea. Fair enough. I can't even argue the point. I've been awful about it. Here's a quick synopsis of life for the past two months:

I visited Andrea in Tampa for a weekend. Work has gotten really busy because it's fall semester. I've been volunteering on archives projects at the historical society on Saturdays. Dorothy moved into Savannah. The cats had to go to the vet for check-ups. The car had a series of repairs. I'm preparing to deliver a paper at a conference next week. It was Ron's birthday. It was my birthday. I made a quilt. My mom and aunt came for a visit. And tomorrow I'm leaving for a camping trip!

I'd like to say that being busy is an excuse, but in reality they are all things that I could've blogged about. That said I've been tired! And now that I'm just getting older (fully into my 30s now) you know I just run out of steam sometimes.

I resolve to come back from this camping trip refreshed and with things to talk about and photos to post online.

p.s. Go see "Eastern Promises" because it's really really good and you get to see Viggo Mortenson naked and covered in tattoos.

Update : The Bet

I've had some great encouragement from folks about the weight-loss bet that Ron and I made, so I feel obligated to let you know that we've amended the bet and delayed the deadline to Christmas morning. The main reason for that was because assuming that one of us won, neither of us has the money to actually pay out for our birthdays in a month. Plus, in reality neither of us was going to make it - even though we have both been trying (just not as hard as we'd need to in order to win.)

Savannah history

A few months ago, I did some contract work with the Georgia Historical Society to help finish up processing a photograph collection that they had a grant to make available. It was a huge undertaking and I was only a part of the end of the project, but I did have a good time cataloging the prints. Just got the word of the local write-up for the Robert Heriot Collection by the Connect.

I'm glad to see my friend Lynette highlighted in the article. And to know that the collection is now available for researchers. There are some really fantastic photographs of local architecture - both the typical historical downtown buildings as well as documenting some of the mid-century suburban developments and street views. The photos of the riverfront development are really great as are the grisly car accident scenes. Plus you can inundate yourself in wedding pictures from the 1950s-1980s. The variety of hairstyles and bridesmaid dresses alone are worth a look.

And of course, Potter conclusion

I forgot to post about Harry Potter. After all of my excitement and expectations, we got the book on Saturday morning at about 1am after standing in line at Barnes and Noble. Let me just explain what we had to endure in order to get the book so early...we showed up around 10:30 with our friend Nora thinking that we'd get to walk around a little bit and check out the "party" before having to get in line. No luck, the lines were already formed and we were definitely nowhere near the front. And we were surrounded by teenagers on all fronts. In front of us, a couple that reminded us of that painful period of angst when you feel desperately deep and misunderstood. Occasionally popping pills from a prescription bottle that they handed around to each other and sprawling out on the floor, these kids definitely bought most of their outfits from Hot Topic and were attempting to relive Robert Smith's heyday.

Directly behind us were two people standing in line independent of any friends - one girl who shrank into the smallest corner possible and was almost unnoticeable and a boy who was incredibly disturbing. Lurking around, this guy was using a straw as a wand and was cursing people as they passed by. As if muttering "cursio" and "ava kedavra" under his breath while flicking the straw wasn't wierd enough for a 16 year-old, he was also detected reading "Mein Kampf". At a certain point, his aggravation levels were heightened so that he gave up cursing and resorted to miming a shot gun. Behind him, was a group of about 10 girls all giggling and shrieking periodically.

In the end, though, it was well worth that hell to get the book and start reading in book when we got home. Ron finished on Sunday at about 5am and I finished later that Sunday afternoon. The book met all of my expectations. It is by far the best of the series and pulled everything together really well. I teared up, I cheered and I couldn't put it down. Nough said.

8 weeks to go

So in April Ron and I made created a challenge for ourselves to lose 50lbs each by our birthdays in September. Whichever of us beats the challenge can name the birthday gift that the other person has to buy for them up to $400. The idea was that hopefully we'll both win and so just get to blow a lot of money on each other and feel happy. If just one of us wins, that would really suck because then one person gets a really fancy bday gift and the other gets something very small and inexpensive.

Needless to say, I realized yesterday that I only have 8 more weeks to go and still have 18lbs left to lose. That averages to 2.25lbs a week which is a lot. I'm a little nervous - especially because the gym is closed next week. I think that I'll probably have to work out every day to make this happen because god knows, I'm not going to stop eating.