During the Spring Break most students at the UM would go home, go on ASB (alternative spring break), sit at home aka dorm or go to Cancun - but the adventurous ones like us go on a roadtrip. Four zesty girls decided to explore America from a different perspective - rent a car and stop at places along the way, soaking in new experiences as they come. After extensive planning sessions and meetings (which took longer to find a common time to meet) we decided to go to Nashville in Tennessee, the music city with stops at Smoky mountains and Mammoth caves.
The drive to Smoky mountains (SM) was long but peppered with frequent stops at gas stations, detours in small towns (which were usually deserted). We reached Pigeon Forge at 4PM but went further down to Gatlinberg, the town closer to the Smoky Mountains. Pigeon forge was like a part of the strip in Vegas. Numerous amusement parks on either side of the roads, multiple pizza places, chain restaurants with loads of mini resort type lodges advertising rates for rooms and queer looking building structures. After an early breakfast in the morning we started off on the first of 3 hikes on SM. Laurel Falls was the first warm up trail slightly less than a mile. The waterfalls were simply gorgeous, swirling waters formed mini pools of frozen ice, with frozen drapes along the sides of the waterfall. We then proceeded to the second trail which was covered with snow and took about 3 hours going over the banks of a winding river, tree bridges, narrow steps and pebbled paths. We saw trees - some barren, some green and some having fresh leaves, saw shrubs and the gurgling river. The third trail was over the Appalachian mountains and was supposed to be the most scenic of all the trails. We started off at 1PM in the afternoon and soon realised this would not be as easy as the rest. Thoughts of being stranded with no cell reception and modes of communication made us realise that there were very few people who would actually come to rescue us! Not a pleasant thought but it did not stop us from trekking about 2 miles (might have been less) over an icy trail sprinkled with fresh snow. there were multiple skid marks followed by roars of laughter, followed by more falls. Finally realism dawned and we decided that seeing the sunset from the mountain top was not worth treacherous return 'ride' down. This was one of the most difficult treks for all in the group - we could not ignore the back pain the next morning and in my case I realised that I had these muscles in my calves that are used in steadying oneself from skidding when going downhill. Oh my, I had never felt such pain in my calves before! But all this trekking did not stop us from dining out in a lovely Italian restaurant. That night we all slept like logs.
Next morning we were on our way to Nashville, where we saw the Parthenon; the only place in the world that has the exact replica of the original Greek structure, complete with the 42 feet statue of goddess Athena holding a 6 feet tall goddess Nike. We then dined, walked down the streets, explored the stores, bought a pair of Cowboy boots and decided on a place to dine at the Listening Room. Since Nashville in the capital of country music, there were all these places where we could hang out and listen to artists perform while we dined. Apparently this songwriter who performed for us was nominated for the Grammys and this other one had written songs for one of the American Idol contestants.
The next morning after an early Ash Wednesday service we drove down to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. We got there just in time for the tours, thanks to confusion due to the difference in time zones. Mammoth caves are longest caves in the world, with some of the most beautiful natural sights. There were bottomless pits in the depths of the caves, massive cathedral like domes, flat ceilings, tiny alcoves where one could easily lose ones way and sheer amazement as you wonder how the water managed to form such a structure. The tour guide made us experience darkness - complete blackout, there was not a single ray of light and no sound whatsoever, felt trapped, helpless and scared. At one point we saw the 'frozen Niagra' - deposition of white calcium salts, crystallized into a waterfall stretching several meters.
We then drove drown to Louisville, which was supposedly a small town but that these tall sky scrapper like buildings with hardly anyone on the streets. We had dinner and continued to drive down back to Ann Arbor. Stopped for the night in some place near Cincinnati and finally arrived in warm weather to Ann Arbor.
This was by far the most adventurous trip I've had in a long time. Its was nice to hang out with friends for continuous periods of time - you get to know them better - learn a little more about tastes in music, food, opinions on 'important matters' in life, their sleeping habits and see different shades beyond the Blue and Yellow.
my last hoorah to on-the-side wedding gown projects!
11 years ago
