TDetroit’s ramblings and nonsense

I took the kids to the haunted forest at the county park.  yup the county park.  not one of those place where they advertise that you will be scared until you need new underwear, the county park. 

so we wait all day until dusk - so it’s dark - then we get in the car and we pick up one of my son’s friends, and off we go.  at the park, we have to wait in line for few minutes, so we bought the candy bars (which were surprisinly low priced) and waited.

when it was time to go, they told us we had to hold onto a rope and no letting go.  as we are going along, the guide is telling us "ooh, I heard there was a werewolf around here"  and then there wasn’t one.  it was like the people who were supposed to be there to scare us weren’t there.  it was funny.

one of my sons kept saying "boring" whenever something did happen.  and my other son’s friend kept taking the end of the rope and going forward so we weren’t in single file.  all in all, not scary but a good time was had.

at the parking lot, i put the kids in the car, and then a couple of women my age approached me.  )I like the sound of that)  they asked if it was scary, I said no, it was kid friendly.  but I did invite them to my house because I have a chain saw.  they laughed. 

on the way home, the boys were seeing who could scream loudest.  I announced a contest to see who could scream most like a girl.  thankfully, my son’s friend son that (instead of my son - not that screaming like a girl is a bad thing - lol)

that was my trip

Trillium Gap is one of the appalachian trails coming out of Gatlinburg.  It can be accessed from one of 2 trail heads.  the first is Rainbow Falls trailhead.  Just at the beginning of that trail is a left turn that leads to Grotto falls and then to the gap.  the second trail head is the Grotto Falls trailhead.

Obviously, it would be easier to simply start at the Grotto Falls head.  we did not do that.  we got confused on the way there and ended up turning back and parking at the Rainbow Falls head.  It looked suspicious to me, but we did it anyway.  so instead of hiking 3 miles up the mountian, we hiked 5 miles up the mountain.

We were already beat by the time we got to the merge at Grotto Falls head.  it was still 1.7 miles to the falls, and we were going passed that by another 1.5 miles.  as you travel these trails, it’s mostly quad work.  lift legs to the next step and push.  sometimes, you have to step up to a step, mostly it’s just the incline.

At the falls, we took some pictures and had lunch.  Then we went up. 

Trillium Gap is a lesser used trail.  Most people only go as far as the falls because even though it is somewhat steep, it is short.  Even kids and pregnant women make the trip.  But Trillium is different.

The first thing you notice about Trillium Gap is that it is steep.  You seem to be looking straight upward.  Your step are high.  After the walk that we just had - all the way from the Rainbow head - we were beat.  the quads had very little to give.  so at this point, it was all support muscles.  \

The feet were pushing on every step.  to get lift, it was hip pulling the legs straight.  the calves and shins were doing their part and the hammies got some action too.  I got to the point where a high step up was a good thing - because you could use the little juice left in the legs and give the support muscles a 1/2 second break.

It’s a never ending trail too.  every corner meant turning and seeing another long straight upward trail ahead of us. 

It’s at an elevation too.  Gatlinburg is 2500 feet.  the drive to the head is another 700-800 and the walk has to be another 800.  the O2 is thinning (i swear it)  the heart starts racing, and you sweat like a hockey player (Joe Dumars said he respects those guys more than basketball players, it’s humid on the ice).  We were conscious of water use at the lower levels, but up there, we were sucking it down like there was no tomorrow.

The whole way, from the bottom at the Rainbow head to the top and expecially the Grotto Falls, the water levels were elevated because of hurricane Fay.  Every creek crossing our path actually barred our path and we had to find a way across.  By the time we got to the top, our feet were pretty much wet.  Grotto Falls was throwing water heavy, and it was spraying across the grotto.  2 years ago, it was  a trickle, with no spray. 

We didn’t even know where the top was.  We just kept going.  We came to a "falls".  more of a creek running across our path.  but with the elevated water levels, the creeks was over flowed and crossing was difficult.  We took some pics of that.  It was wide.   The white water was everywhere and there were a few splits in the creek.  Just passed that, I saw a person coming toward us. 

An oldeer woman.  yeah, in her 60’s.  sweating as much as us, but overweight.  I said, "a person?"  she laughed and asked where we were going.  I told her we were looking for the gap.  she said this is it, just ahead is a clearing with 4 paths going out.  she and her friend (another 60’s woman) spent the night at Laconte.  there are cabins up there.  she told us, that unless we were going further, there was nothing else to see up that way.  the best news ever, finally we could turn around.

On the way down, no it’s a run.  it’s too steep to walk down.  we stopped at grotto and I took off my socks and shoes to get in and take pics. then we headed down, eating the next meal while walking.

I tought my son several cuss words - these were aimed at him, because I wanted to take the road from Grotto head to Rainbow head, and he made me walk.  Never say "No" to a constructin worker, we know a lot of cuss words.  he laugher it off.

Now I sit here in pain from the hike of death.  legs are like jelly.  If you ever get a chance, do you leg day on a mountain.

The trouble with planning a vacation is that you will be away from home, with nothing to do when the weather doesn’t cooperate.

We drove all the way to Gatlinburg.  Now we are here, and so is hurricane Fay.  She is quite a pleasant storm, with lots of water and cold temperatures.  Still, I’d like to tell her to tell it walkin’. 

I see now why they are called the Smokey Mountains.  That part makes sense to me.  The part I don’t get is why there is a hurricane this far from the sea - and at the top of a mountain.  I came to Tennessee specifically because there is no ocean.  Instead, the ocean went on a vacation at the same time as me to the same place as me. 

Now I am not racist toward oceans - ok, yes I am - and I don’t like her kind.  I don’t believe oceans should be allowed to stay at the same resorts as people.  Next thing you know there will be mermaids all over Rocky Top.  Someone should tell this ocean to go stay at an ocean resort, where they don’t smell up the place.  I hear the Carolinas are quite pleasant this time of year.  Why does the ocean have to be here.

I may bite the bullett and tolerate the ocean tomorrow and go hiking up the mountain anyway.  Of course, if the ocean get’s to close to me, I’ll probably not be able to resist saying something ornery, I’ll probably get into trouble, and next thing you know it’ll be raining on me.  But I don’t care.  I can take on all them there oceans at once if I have to.

 See you at the top.

I hit the gym hard because I knew it would be a lazy weekend.

We are here at Lake Michigan again, and the doing nothing has already begun.  I took a 3:30 nap, and I am contemplating a 7 pm nap, to be followed by bedtime at 9:30.  

I did bring the perfect pushups.  Let’s take bets on whether those get some use…

Expecting to take at least 4 naps tomorrow.

I am going to the Genesis concert.  Get to sit in the corporate box.  Whoo hoo!

That doesn’t happen often.

I wrapped up my foot, and I am ready to go.

skipped the work out today.

Oh, and my game.

Well, I expect it will be a daunting task for the next few weeks.  As it stands, I am currently at 18, and going to a concert.  Lot’s of hard work ahead of me.

The weather in Missouri.  That must be why they call it Misery! We don’t have this kind of weather in MI.

It’s like standing in the doorway of a blast furnace.

Looking for a place to go hiking in the Ozarks.  No one here seems to know what I am talking about.  It’s like explaining space travel to a cave man (no offense to the cave-people out there, it’s just that… come on… you really are not all that bright…. you know with the forehead and all).  Anway, \i am prepared to go hiking and see some vistas, we’ll see what actually happens.

I’ll be going to New York City on Thursday morning.  First floght out of Flint is at 8:25 am, to Detroit.  Then Detroit to New York arriving at noon.   On the Return, I fly out of LaGuardia at 5:25 pm, finally arriving at Flint at 11 pm.

So I need to pack travel food.  Looking for low fat, high protein, don’t care about carbs.

I have already cooked 3 frozen tilapias, I plan to cook some chicken, I’ll pack some carrots, and some frosted mini wheats.  Hopefully I can fit an apple or 2 in the bag.  I also have a 4 pack of RTD shakes.  Almost forgot the eggs, I have a supply of boiled eggs to bring as well.  The question is how to get it all in my lunch bag, and suit case.

I assume the folks at Legg Mason will feed us regularly, but I don’t expect it to be a lot of the food we talk about here.  That’s why I am bringing some of my own.  Plus the plane rides whould be particularly difficult to manage.  I hope the people around me don’t harass me over having better food than them.  That’s OK, I am probably stronger than those hamsters anyway.

Ideas appreciated.

We went to Lake Michigan this weekend.  Had fun on the sand dunes at silver Lake, and spent some time on the beach.  My in-laws were trying out a new beach house for our annual vacation.  It’s a nice house, a few problems, but they all have compromises.

 I brought some DBs with me and was avle to get some small amount of work out.

I’ll be in Silver Lake, MI for the weekend.  I won’t be online if you are looking for me.

 On Monday, I will be in a golf outing, so I’ll be out all day that day too.  Maybe I’ll blog in the morning before I leave.  Not much of a golfer, but in a scramble everyone is useful.

I’ll be bringing some DBs with me this weekend so I can do some work, but it’s only 30lbs, so it won’t be a big workout.

 See ya Tuesday,

T