Happy 2011!

Ok So I took my own little vacation after the holidays. My apologies…

There now that the BS is out of the way Happy 2011, not oh11 (or 011) as the car dealership commercials around here say, and it drives me crazy and makes me scream at the announcer on the radio in my car while other drivers give me that straight up WTF look…

I spent the new year down in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge Tennessee like normal, and had a great time, again like normal. I actually got to try out a few new places along with stopping at my favorites

Of course, the wineries were our first stop on New Years Eve. to stock up on 4 bottles each, yum. And randomly running into a family from back home home who’s kids I used to babysit for… I hate my tiny world sometimes lol. Then to drop some people off at the hotel while some of us went to The Incredible Christmas Place (it’s actual name) and this place is huge and awesome and has a halloween village set up in one corner of its mini Christmas villages!! <3

Fra...gi...le...

 

But it was a short trip as our hotel fails majorly, and didn’t have our rooms ready at 5PM and then somehow screwed the lock up on the other room so that the key wouldn’t go in and yeah… This place failed hard. I think we’re going to go back to driving through town to stay in a cabin next year. But we finally got all issues resolved, had a “fashion show” amongst us girls to figure out what to wear, and then headed across the parking lot for the gala

The gangs all here and lookin hot!

Ricochet opened up the night. And yes those are marching drums and a trombone and trumpet being simultaneously played with said drums

Me, Ingy and the Boy are all a little 4sq obsessed, so we were rockin the NYE badges

Then it was time for Little Texas! yay!

And then Midnight fell upon the crowd... as long as tons of balloons!

Yeah... we're all pretty awesome

And it was a wonderful event full of food and drinks, and more food, and more drinks, and then drinks, and… well you get the idea

pretty amethyst

 

 

The next day we decided to hit up the sites a little bit. We went to the mine your own gem stone places, as I’ve never gone, and again kinda fun. Me and Cardinal even got rings made from stones we found!

 

Then it was off to score us some deals at the outlet mall down the street. Always crazy, but got some good deals woot! And we wrapped up the evening with a trip into Gatlinburg.

We actually walked pretty much the whole darned strip this time. Of course having to make a stop in the Village area. Then it was off to find what crap shoot tourist trap we wanted to do, that is after stopping outside of or in almost every candy store…. We finally settled on Ripley’s Mirror Maze. And I can honestly say it wasn’t too bad! We were pretty much stuck in there for a good while actually slightly lost. Kudos Ripley’s… something decent out of you.  But… boo on you State of Tenneesse for not allowing the moonshine distillery to sell their moonshine on New Years Day. Someone explain that rule to me? I mean I kinda get the whole not on Sundays thing, but this was Saturday! Fie on you.. Fie…

It was surprisingly not horrible!!

Annual tree at the Visitors Center

Later that night when it wasn’t quite time to go to bed, yet kinda late to go out, we decided to head out to Lazerport for some black light mini golf. Thanks to the lady also at the counter giving us a coupon for a free round for the whole group. Umm.. hell yes!

I'm watching Ry fail at golf O:) btw I kicked everyones butt

But after we left, we decided to check out the 12 Days of Christmas (in Christmas Lights) that Pigeon Forge puts in their median every year. At the end I realized only maybe one of my pics actually came out, and we should have shot a video, so we shot it going backwards (or is it actually forwards?)

The next day was followed by me and the boys trip up the mountain to see snow (like I need that being from Ohio… lol) But it’s entertaining to see kids from Florida and the such freak out over snow. That and the view is still awesome!

I’ll get some new years $h!* My Friends say up later this week. I promise. I’ll do it even sooner if I get some more subscribers That’s my new years goal. I mean half of you are reading it from facebook anyways.. soooo… why not just get it from your email <3

Urbanism

I had posted this picture to my facebook a few months ago, but i’m pretty sure that I saw the now older baby just nonchalantly walk in front of my car on the way to work today, while I’m assuming momma just chilled in the ditch on Ridge Ave today in Amberly Village.

Seriously these urban deer get ballsier and ballsier… I mean don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that I can see these in the city and feel like I’m home. But comeon! At least the ones in my neck of the woods will run away from you. These think they’re all high and mighty, and one of these days someones gonna come over a hill and take those antlers off right along with their head…

Ok enough of that. Just annoyed when deer of all things is my reason for being late to work.. In the city. Ugh. On a brighter note, i got to see the streetcar up close and personal last night

Have mentioned how excited I am for this?! Just being able to see what it is we’re talking about has turned quite a bit of the skeptics around who thought it was more of a Trolley than what it actually is. i think this is going to be an awesome addition!

Ronny Salerno (of Queen City Disco) tries his hand at Vice Citying the cop cars Photo by: Tom Allen

I didn’t get the joy of actually being able to go in it (sad face) but a few of my friends from Queen City Disco(very) got to!

Haunted Cave

Holy freaking Satan, Batman! The Batcave has been infiltrated!

Forget anything about haunted houses you know! Heck, forget any haunted house you’ve ever been to for that matter! I can attest to Lewisburg Haunted Cave being Ohio’s number 1 haunt according to Ohio Valley. This place almost doesn’t have words to describe it! But I’m going to try anyways.

You start off descending 100 ft into the cave with the lights flickering and shorting out on you while you wait your turn to climb down into the depths of Hell itself.

Rickety bridges guide you over underground lakes as demented souls pop in and out of nowhere and everywhere. You walk through forests and graveyards and walk between moving walls to ultimately make a sacrifice to be able to proceed on your journey… if you’re lucky…

And then the demented come out to play as you attempt to make your way through 3 caverns of chain-link and strobe maze… never knowing if your coming or going or if you’ve seen the same people 17 different times. Warning: this is the first of 2 places where you’ll most likely spend the majority of your time.

When you finally (if you do) make it out, you are bombard by your own senses. You hear drums and cars echoing off of near pitch blackness as you try not to stray off the path and get lost in the 50+ miles of tunnels-even though at this point you’re pretty sure that’s already happened.

And you finally come to Satan himself in his throne of fire and gives you multiple choices on where to wander to next. This would be part 2 of your time consumption. Once you find the path that doesn’t lead you back to the devil, his trickery leads you to even more choices!! I will at least give you a small hint: to always check out a room entirely when you enter it before deciding which way to proceed next.

The demons come out in all the glory and deamonness as you try to make your way out. Some of which are truly an amazing site. And just when you think you will never see the light of day again, along with experiencing mass amounts of deja vu, you realize there really is a light at the end of the tunnel!

I am a person that absolutely  loves haunted house, even though most don’t scare me thanks to years working in a haunt, but this one truly got to me. This isn’t as much a Boo scary as it is a total mind freak scary. All of your senses are tested here and its just crazy! But definitely at the top of my list, as it should be yours!

They also have a historical mine ride done by the historical society with proceeds going directly to the society. This is not a scary wagon ride. They tell you about the history of the mine. It is kinda neat to do… but the pull for this attraction? *shudders* the bats. Here you get up close and personal with the sleeping/hibernating bats hanging literally a foot or 2 above your head or on the walls across from you. Neat but freaky!

I totally 115% recommend you be thee shortly before it opens at 7, or you will be waiting in line. This place gets packed, and for good reason!

Oliver Winery

So a few weekends ago, I was on my way to Holiday World, driving on a back road through Indiana when I spotted signs for Oliver Winery. If you’ve never tried it I suggest going down to Wal-Mart and picking up a bottle for around $7. It’s no surprise to most ppl but I’m a total wino and will admit it. So off it was to make a pit stop.

They have a beautiful Butterfly Garden when you first pull up. Full of Stonehenge like rock formations, and tons of different flowers and plants. And of course butterflies all over! there’s also little stone paths that go throughout it off the sidewalk and you can wander in and around the little gardens and rocks. It’s really just gorgeous!

As we walked up to the building we noticed the sign said they weren’t open until noon (boo-it was only 11:30) we didn’t think we’d kill a half hour there (bummer) so we just walked down this lightly wooded path off to the side of the back patio (buku seating area btw). We wandered by what I could only place as a senior picture photo shoot goingon (btw would be amazing for that and engagement pics as well!!)The pond was also full of huge Koi fish! Sorry my phone camera wasn’t the greatest at getting them fast enough

Now inside they had a huge bar set up for tasting, and it was pretty packed but man the wines they had were numerous and yummy. They also had local merchant areas for different arts, and foods to be sold there. This place is absolutely amazing! And definitely worth checking out if you happen that way. You can also buy a bottle of wine and walk around the property or pack a picnic lunch and enjoy the wine. This place is gorgeous!

Read more about it on Yelp!