Yearly Archives: 2009

Hiking Trip

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Thursday, June 11, 2009 Farrah and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. To celibate, we decided to go hiking/camping up around Cades Cove.

We had fun, but things didn’t go quite as planned. That same weekend was the 75th anniversary of the Smoky Mountains National Park, and a big event was being held in the area. Despite having permits, and talked to the rangers, we were denied access to our route. :( So, a last minute change of plans, we found another campsite close by.

It was hot and humid, and good lord was I out of shape. But we made it three miles up the mountain to the campsite.. and that was about all I could do. Sad, I know. But we had fun. Me, the wife, and her friends. Hopefully there will be many more trips. :)
Packed and ready

Where the heck am I?

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A few weekends ago was Farrah’s 2nd hiking adventure in the Smoky Mountain’s National Park. She may have been hiking/camping with a friend, but she wasn’t the only one that got to go on an adventure. I dropped the two women off at Clingman’s Dome on Saturday morning… that was an easy trip, and one I’d made many times before. Knoxville to Maryville, then through Wears Valley and eventually up to the Gap and finally the Dome. The plan was for the women to hike down Forney Ridge spend the night at a camp site and hike back up Forney Creek where I would pick them back up on Sunday. Well, plans changed.

Rather than hiking back up the trail due to injury they ended up continuing down the mountain following Forney Creek to Whiteoak Branch to Lakeshore Trail eventually coming out at the Tunnel at the end of “The Road to Nowhere”. Yes, there really is a road to nowhere. The road is actually called “New Fontana Road” but some maps have it listed as “Lakeview Drive”, which caused a bit of confusion and panic but that’s a story for another day. ;)

The Road to Nowhere is located in Bryson City, a town that until Sunday I had never been to before. Thankfully I had a navigator that new where to go, and had hiked most (if not all) of the trails in the park. To the rescue we went through towns I had never heard of, on roads I had never traveled, and through some very nice scenery. Just a rough list of places I was Sunday:

  • Maryville
  • Highway 129 aka “The Dragon”
  • The Tunnel at the end of The Road to Nowhere
  • Cherohala Skyway
  • Tellico Plains
  • Madisonville
  • Sweetwater

It was quite a trip. I’m not even sure how long I was in the Explorer driving around, it was at least six or seven hours worth of driving.

Space, the final frontier… again.

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Yesterday before working in the yard (which was looooong over due BTW) and visiting the MIL for mother’s day, the wife and I went to see the 2009 reboot of Star Trek. I really enjoyed the movie, so I won’t ruin it for anyone by posting spoilers… besides, there are enough of those around the web for you to read if you really want to.

The movie offered enough to bring new people to the series, while keeping some of the old to please the trekkies. Famous lines like “I’m a doctor, not a …” and “I’m giving it all she’s got captain” find they way into the movie. I wasn’t too sure about the entire cast line up going into the movie, but after seeing it I feel like everyone filled their rolls very well. I’m looking forward to seeing more Star Trek movies with this crew.

I’m my no means a trekkie… I watched TOS and TNG but hated DS9, Voyager and Enterprise. Heck, I still have yet to see Star Trek: Nemesis which came out in 2002. Doh!

Vacation was good

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Hello, remember me? You know, that guy that uses the odd handle “d3bruts1d”? The owner of the site that you are looking at right now? Still not ring a bell? Can’t say that I blame you, updates here have been few and far between over the last several months. I’m not going to make any promises, but hopefully that’ll change. :D

I’m back from a long over due vacation. The wife and I headed over to North Myrtle Beach for the first part of the month. Sand, sun, and food… lots, and lots of food. I’ll try and get some pictures posted over the next few days of everything.

Even though I’ve been to Myrtle several times now, this is the first time we ended up at Broadway at the Beach. That place has a lot of cool shops and restaurants. Two of my favorite places there included Key West Grill and the KISS Coffeehouse (better than Starbucks!). Farrah enjoyed Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville (I like Cheeseburger in Paradise better!) and It’s Sugar a wall to wall candy store. Of course we also visited the outlet mall and Barefoot Landing.

Aside from Myrtle, we also drove north to Wilmington, NC and toured the U.S.S. North Carolina Battleship. I enjoyed the self tour, and seeing everything on the ship. I’ll let Farrah describe her experiences’ on her own blog. ;) I took some photo’s with my iPhone, and I’ll upload them to Facebook or Picasa over the next few days. I think she has already posted several on her Facebook page.

I’m home now and back to work… and all I want to do is get away again already! :D

Goodbye Gridiron Burgers; Hello Red Robin

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I was deeply saddened to learn over the weekend that Gridiron Burgers has closed it’s last remaining location. The restaurant, which had been in business for about two years in Knoxville immediately became my favorite place for burger.

I noticed the first location, on Clinton Highway, had closed around the first of the year. A simple note was taped to the door that read “thanks for a wonderful two years, but we’ve closed this location.” A similar note is taped to the door of the now closed Turkey Creek location.

It’s a real shame to see the place go, everyone I knew loved their burgers. Every time I’d visit, the place would be packed. Which leads me to believe the closing is more akin to extremely poor management than anything else.

It isn’t all bad news. Over the last couple of weeks, a new eatery has opened in Turkey Creek called Red Robin. I visited the place for the first time yesterday at lunch with a co-worker, and I was quite impressed. So much, that despite being overly stuffed, I took the wife there a few hours later for dinner.

At about $10 a pop for a burger, Red Robin isn’t the cheapest place to eat, but you do get your money’s worth. The burgers, sandwiches, and wraps come with “bottomless fries”. Basically all you can eat, seasoned, steak fries. I’ve yet to be able to eat more than my initial order… and I like to eat.