Opryland Hotel, Nashville

If you live in the area or you are going to be in the area for some time, you should definitely check out the Opryland Hotel. It is particularly nice in the winter, because you can walk around "outside" without a coat. The Hotel is a small city unto itself. The interior has multiple courtyards with a sky high roof of glass scaffolding above. These are not your normal courtyards. Each one is a jungle, with winding paths leading behind waterfalls and over them, around fountains and gazebos, and beside small streams. Wider lanes lead along the river, and through the small New Orleans styled street. You can board a boat on a track, and take a little tour of the area, or Head to the mansion on the hill for dinner. All of this is "inside" the walls of the hotel, under a vast steel and glass roof. There are even fountain shows, and a rotating bar. Along the more traditional interior areas, there is an old world charm. You will come uppon huge lounge rooms with piano and fire place, ball rooms with floor to ceiling murals, and quite corners. There are also several restaurants, bars, and shops inside.

The Opryland is a first class hotel, though the rooms aren't worth the 250 per night they cost, stay somewhere else, but check it out. The restaurants inside are good too, especially the one which looks like a mansion on the hill. I have yet to see a hotel complex as large or interesting anywhere else, of course, I've not yet been to vegas either.

Winter is a great time to visit because it is tropical weather inside the glass to keep all the palm trees alive. It's also a wonderful time to visit, because the hotel puts on an impressive display of lights and decorations, as well as having activities such as the Ice! event (see an earlier blog) and the Rockettes.

This place is an A

Kentucky Down Under

Kentucky Down Under is double well name because it has an Australian theme and a cave. My Husband and I went to Kentucky Down Under thinking it was just a cave, not really knowing about the other things it had to offer, so we was a little surprised at the cost, which was almost $20 per person. However, the woman at the gate gave us a map of the park, which has times for shows and the cave tours listed on it. From this, we were able to tell that there was a lot more to the place, and decided to go ahead. The first thing we did was head to the wool shed for a sheep show. On the way, we saw a dingo in his pen, and we passed through the bird garden, a series of large cages with kookaburras and cockateels. When we arrived at the shed we were treated to a show of many different species of sheep, which they brought out onto the stage. It was somewhat funny, and definitely educational. Then we went outside for a sheep herding demonstration by the speakers' dog, which went far out in the field, and herded the sheep to the fence by us. Then we went back inside for the real fun. They small kids from the audience were given large bottles to feed the babies. Every little child gets a bottle, and then they unleash the baby sheep. It is a stampede of minor proportions, as the small children are assaulted by the babies. It was fun to watch, but probably even more fun to do.

After the show we headed over to feed some lorikeets at the aviary. Along the way, I was able to get some very good pictures of a peacock with its tail fanned. Feeding the lorikeets is a lot of fun. You get to go into a large enclosure with a cup of nectar, and the birds land on you, on you hand, shoulder, or even head, to eat the nectar from the cup.

After the lorikeets, we went to the Kangaroo pen. This was my favorite part of the park. A park employee leads you on a tour along a sidewalk through an enclosed area with kangaroos, wallabies, and ostriches. We were allowed to pet the kangaroos and an ostrich. They are all very relaxed. At the time we were there a woman at the park had a joey in a special made pouch on her front, to simulate the Kangaroo pouch. She was mothering it, and kept it with her at all times. She let us pet him; he was very soft, like a rabbit. He was almost ready to come out, and doesn't fit into the pouch all the way anymore.

Once we had seen the kangaroos, we made a stop at the more traditional petting zoo, where they have miniature ponies and goats, which we brushed and petted. Finally, we were ready for the cave tour, which was a nice, basic cave, common in the area. The tour guide was king enough to take everyone's picture inside.

The only activity we missed was a visit to the reptile house, because we didn't get to it in time for a show, but I believe it is hands on as well. Kentucky is a lot of fun because it is so hands on. The staff all seem to like there jobs, and are very knowledgeable. I'll give this place an A. I will not give it a + because, in my opinion, it could have been a little cheaper. Still, it is a fun way to spend the day.

Neuschwanstein a Mad Man's Fairytale

Neuschwanstein was built by mad King Ludwig II on a mountaintop beside his parents home, Hohenschwagau. Hohenschwangau was built upon the ruins of the original swan castle, so Ludwig decided to name his new swan castle.

The castle, built in the mid 1800's, is probably the most famous building in the entire country. It is located near the southern border of Germany, in beautiful Bavaria.

We arrive in the little town at the base of the two castles late in the afternoon. Though the castle was already closed for the day, we made the hike up the hillside to see it anyway. The main front doors were closed, and we had the place to ourselves, in that golden light before sunset. What impressed me most about the castle was sheer size. The main tower is about 260 feet tall, and the rest of the building is not too much shorter than that. The exterior is smooth white limestone, with red brick around the gate. Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland was inspired by this massive structure. We returned to the town for dinner, and went to bed anticipating a visit to both castles in the morning.

Unfortunately, it was on this night that I became seriously ill. It would seem my husband hadn't been nervous on our wedding day, but legitimately sick, and contagious. I could barely walk 30 feet, much less make the climb to the castle, and keep up during the tour. So we left for our next destination, there was nothing else we could do. Fortunately, over the next day, we were able to compress some of our activities, and we made the hard decision to forgo a half day trip to Austria. 24 hours found a much recovered me, and Jake returning to Neuschwanstein

This time we would not be denied, and soon found ourselves standing within the now crowded area of the gate house. Our tour guide here, and at Hohenschwangau, had the most horrific accents. I do not even believe they were German, but Slavik. They were next to impossible to understand, but we managed. Unfortunately, due to Ludwig's being declared insane, and his mysterious death, much of the rooms were never finished. What is completed is incredible. There are 3 rooms of highlight. First is the music hall with a stage, surrounded by carved benches, with the background of the stage being an elaborate forest scene. Second is Ludwig's bedroom, with an ornately hand carved canopy bed, which if memory serves took a team of carpenter's years to complete. Finally is the throne room. It has a huge vaulted ceiling, a wonderful mosaic floor, and a chandalier shaped like a crown. The one thing this room is missing is a throne, which was never completed.

I loved this place. Don't miss Hohenschwangau either, it has less spectacular rooms, but a little more history than this castle, which was barely occupied. A+

Cypress Grove

The Cypress Grove Nature Park just south of Jackson, Tennessee is a nice way to spend an afternoon. We visited there for two reasons. The first reason being it was rainy and cloudy at home, and we had reason to believe that west TN would be nice and sunny, which we were right about. The second reason was because we thought cypress were evergreens, and so would be nice and green year round, which we were wrong about. Still, we had a good time. The park provides a nice walk along a boardwalk, which winds through the trees. There is a rookery with injured birds, near to the start of the trail. When we visited we saw a Bald Eagle, a Red Tailed Hawk, a Golden Eagle, and an Great Horned Owl. They had all been recently fed white rats, but unfortunately, no one was eating while we were there. We walked the boardwalks, and even though there was no foliage, we were still able to enjoy the wildlife. We saw a squirrel, which sat quite close to us while it ate a nut, a woodpecker, and also a rabbit. Some of the trees, which were not cypress, had produced buds, probably because of all the warm weather we had been having at the time. After we had walked the paths, we headed back home to the Nashville area.

Along the way home, we stopped at the Opry Mills mall, intending to eat at the Macaroni Grill, but it was very busy, so we ate at Banditos instead. Banditos was good and very filling, though of course, even though we only got two burritos, a coke, and a water, it still cost $20. That is just one of many things I hate about Opry Mills.

Overall, I would have to say that the Cypress grove is worth seeing if you live close by, or if, like us, you just need to get away. B+

Fall Creek Falls

Tennessee, thanks to it's soft limestone, Mountains in the east, and many creeks and streams, has quite a few waterfalls. Some of the falls are small, some are large, but there are few places in the state as nice as Fall Creek Falls State park.

This park has several falls. The main one is Fall Creek Falls, for which the park is named. It is created by a stream falling 250 feet into a boulder strewn bowl. There is a view point overlooking the falls, and a trail leads off to the left and winds down to the base of the falls. From the base of the falls, you can follow the creek to it's connection with a larger stream, and following this upstream, you will eventually reach Piney Falls. from there, you can climb out with the aid of a steel cable (the cable trail) and you will find yourself at the Nature Center parking lot, and Piney falls overlook. The Visitors Center is quaint, but not spectacular. There are restrooms here as well. Piney Falls is not as high as fall creek falls, and is a good deal wider. It falls into a large deep pool which some people swim in, and the water stays very very cold year round.

Behind the visitors center, you can choose to go down to the Cascade falls, or use a suspension bridge to cross above the top of the falls. The cascades are usually a great place to swim. The nature of the falls creates several natural slides, deep pools and shelves. If water is especially high swimming could be dangerous, as it is only a short distance to the drop of Piney Falls. If you choose to cross the suspension bridge, you can continue to follow the trail that ultimately leads around, crossing fall creek above the falls, and returns you to the fall creek overlook. In this manner, you can hike and see the best parts of the the park, but both areas are accessible by car as well. There are other trails in the park, but this route is by far my favorite.

The park offers the best of what Tennessee parks have to offer. Limestone cliffs deciduous forests, beautiful streams, waterfalls, groves of mountain laurel, quiet, and wildlife viewing opportunities. It is rare for a visitor to not see a few deer, turkeys, and red tailed hawks while at the park. There is also a lake and bike trails in the park. This is one of the natural highlights of the state, and it is well known and loved by the hiking locals. I give this location an A.

There was Snow in June

In June of 2004, my husband and I took a trip to New Mexico and Colorado. I, being from the Southeast, did not expect snow to be anywhere trees can grow in June. So imagine my surprise at the amount of snow that can be found when we reached Rocky Mountain National Park. The park was our last major stop of the trip. We entered through Estes Park and had a nice drive through a beautiful deep and narrow canyon. We then proceeded to a parking lot where we could board buses which would take us to Bear Lake. Here were my first signs that things were different here. I attributed the patches of snow around the lake to the deep shade of the trees. From Bear Lake we walked a short distance to Nymph Lake, which is really no larger than a pond, but it is beautiful all the same. There are several more lakes along this route, but it was at this point that I officially wimped out. Having hiked into the Black Canyon only two days before, I really wasn’t up to walking, especially at such an elevation. I live at an elevation of about 500ft, and the park is around 10,000 ft, which is a pretty significant different. It doesn't help that I was in pretty poor shape at the time.

We returned via bus to the car, which fortunately hadn’t been broken into by any wandering bears, and we drove to the portion of the park that is labeled Moraine on the map. Here there is a museum, but we only had one day in the park, and we were much more interested in the parts that were outside. The Moraine is a beautiful valley, with an abruptly flat bottom, through which small streams lazily wind. The field is alive with prairie dogs, and we were delighted to see several elk laying in the grass as well.

After this we headed for trail ridge road, which crosses the alpine region of the park. As we turned onto the road, we passed a snow plow. For some reason, I failed to question this. As we drove along we noticed very long narrow wooden poles, such as could be used for pole-vaulting, standing upright along either side of the road. Eventually, we cam upon the reason the poles were there. There was snow, and it was deep. I would say 3-5 feet along some portions of the road. My speculation is that the poles were there so the plow, and possibly cross country skiers, would know where the road was. Yet still, my feeble brain didn’t really consider just how very cold it must be, especially as we were now in the "Alpine" region. We stopped at an overlook; I believe it was the forest canyon overlook. The view was awesome, but the marmots on the rocks a few feet below the railing were stealing the show by playing and “talking” too each other. After they all retired to their burrows, we got back in the car and continued on, finally arriving at the alpine visitor’s center, which was absolutely covered in snow. Inside we found a souvenir Christmas ornament, a real aspen leaf, eaten away so it was only the webbing, and dipped in silver. This began a tradition of leaf ornaments. We continued along the road, finally descending at the other side of the range.

We made a stop at the site of the old Never Summer Ranch. In a field to the right were dozens of elk, possibly a few hundred, though I have no basis for that number at all. They were a good distance away though, so we felt fine following a trail back into the woods. Along the way a red wing blackbird caught my attention. It flew into a stand of brushy young trees growing in some standing water. Among these trees were three moose. They were what looked like a bull and two cows. Though we were pretty close to them, they never looked our way, allowing us to comfortably watch them for some time. Back in the car, we continued down the road just a short distance when we noticed several cars pulled over, so we did likewise. The attraction was two male elks with large racks, which were relatively close to the road. A man there told us he had heard that there was a baby moose down the road somewhere, but he hadn’t seen it. Excited, we got back in the car and continued on our way, but we saw nothing either. We pulled in to turn around at the coyote valley trail head. There was the baby. Just 15 feet of the parking lot, in a small hollow full of bright new green grass was an awkward little moose calf! It was trying very hard to rub its head on a stick on the ground. It would lift one end of the stick until it was vertical, and then try to scratch its head on it, knocking the stick over. Mama was just a few feet away in the edge of the trees. She was eating, not the lush green grass, but the twigs off of the small trees. Because we were so close, we stayed in our car leaving it in drive. After we had our fill of watching the baby and getting some wonderful video footage, we returned the way we came, to head across Kansas on our way home. This park was just spectacular. My only regret is that we should have come a little later, because there was still one road in the park, a one-way rustic road to the alpine visitor’s center, that was still closed at our time of visit. I had a great time here, the views are terrific, and there is so much wildlife everywhere. I highly recommend it. A+