Day Five - June 25, 2009

Cough.

... Uhm, I'm pretty sure that next to no one reads this, and sorry I haven't updated it again as of late.

I've been rather overwhelmed the past few weeks, have a gimpy foot, and my uncle passed away recently, so...

And yet, I will try to update, regardless.

Hope that whoever reads this is well, and that someone actually noticed the lack. :P

---

"Goodbye, KoA and the river what lulled us to sleep!"

We ventured out from TN early and barely made it (seriously, minutes shy of breakfast ending-- do you see this pattern in our adventure?) to Dillard House. AHHH the food was amazing.

(Oh, the notes I'd written to myself in here, hahaha...

"I can't have what I want, and I don't want what I can have" ... And that's nothing compared to all the ramblings of my head).

Dillard House was absolutely wonderful. They said they were still serving breakfast (a miracle) and lo and behold, they set out our food before us. Anything and everything you could want in a breakfast (fresh apricots!) and if you needed more of anything, you only need ask.

Delicious~

I purchased 2 x Peanut Brittle and a jar of Hot Chow Chow (cut to me: "HOT CHOWCHOW!") for my parents. I hope they enjoy it :) I've seen them a lot since then but I'm not sure when they'll try it...

We stayed at a Filipino friend's house-- he's a member of the ATL FSA, and their family was nice enough to accommodate us.
I'm also convinced that wherever I live, I need a basement = not FL. XD

(Oh, more notes. Siiiigh).

Oh wow, there's a 12-hour gap in my writing... 2 PM then 2 AM, haha.

To sum up the short notes I made...

- I bought Flute Wafers from Super H-Mart, which is a large asian grocery store. @_@ We need one in Gainesville, most definitely. This is also where we learned of Michael Jackson's passing, via L.A.'s friend, Jar. :\ Rest in Peace, King of Pop.
- SunO = ATL version of Mochi. "They can't say 'snow'..." Basically, shaved ice with topping but tastes like bliss. :)
- Korean BBQ FTW! It was my first time-- you take the raw meat, vegetables, etc, cook them on the bbq right in front of you. Fabulous~ quite tasty :)
- Hanging out at Kate's after-- POLE DANCING "Whaaaat, she's so ~graceful~ ..." ( ... ... oh, this gimpy foot of mine).
- Laughing so hard like I hadn't in months. Aching sides, tears, and all.
- A rather odd situation but it's all good now.
- Repeatedly hoping I wouldn't do something stupid.

Huh. ^^;

I think that's good enough for now, so here are some pictures!



Food!



Dillard House!



!



:)



Smart kitty. :D



Allen lookin' spiffy





Why make a series out a movie?...



SunO



Nostalgia :)



Noms






Hopefully I won't take as long to post the remaining days. :)

Day Four - June 24, 2009

I spent some of my time that morning writing my journal entry while sitting on a bench by the river.
So romantic~ (except not)

I had met a woman named Judy in the bathroom the night before, and we'd spent quite a while talking.
Rather, she did most of the talking, though the lesson I got was that NETWORKING is very important.

Which it truly is.
(Funny, I really need to work on that).

She was a PE teacher from Illinois who grew up in Iowa (could be the other way around) and now teachers algebra to students with emotional and behavioral disorders. I actually ran into her that morning-- still got it, haha. (I always had a knack for running into people in the bathroom, go figure). I apparently need to camp at the KoA in South Dakota...


But ah, late night discussions.


It'd been in a while since any were had, in general.

So to lie there, in the tent, with the river rushing by was quite lovely.
I won't go into too much detail about what we all talked about-- otherwise what will the rest of you get to talk to me about?
Haha. :) But I will spare a few things.

I am a lot more open than any of you realize, I think.
It's funny, Lawrence had underestimated me as well.
Maybe if more people got to know me ... sigh.


One point I made was how I'd found myself in the middle ground more often than not as of late.
How I felt silly (not too often, but enough to make me think a bit, which... I suppose I do enough) about holding onto my morals when no one else does [...], when I have to hold onto my morals and have to be the responsible one.
(I know I don't have to be. But still.) And sometimes how I get weary of being "good" all the time and still getting fucked over. Of course, it may just be me. ... sigh.

(I'm just typing more or less of what I've written, it is the Fourth of July right now and I've a few other things to do, as I'm sure everyone else is doing... I just thought writing about Day Four on the Fourth would be amusing).



There were a lot of other things discussed, and I'm sure I was going to go into more detail, but if you really want to know,
just talk to me. Ask me. I may or may not just answer. :P We'll see.


We ate at Flapjack's for breakfast-- ♥!!!

Best pancakes I've had in a while, the syrup balanced everything perfectly, and I even got chocolate milk. :3
(Yet again, another place we'd seen several times and knew we had to go to, haha).

Allen had ordered this thing called the Stacker, where it went like this: pancake, fruit, pancake, fruit, pancake, whipped cream, chocolate syrup. And he finished the whole thing. @__@

I'd surprisingly received a voicemail-- it's so funny when anyone calls or leaves a VM, I just get so excited. I know, it's ridiculous. ._.

Ah, Life. Very intriguing, yet very maddening.

OH. And I also finally bought a black bear from there. :D They're practically ubiquitous in Tennessee, so... Hooray!

His name his Jack. :D

(Yes, TN = Brainwashing).

Afterwards, we went to Harrah's, which is a Cherokee casino and hotel sort of deal.
You had to sign up for your free membership-- of course I got the clerk from the Philippines. :P

I started off just with $5, didn't win much, if at all, when L.A. found this Green Dragons II slot machine that was basically nickel slots. And he somehow got a buttload of money. @__@ I tried, didn't really get anywhere, and then Allen tried on another of the same machine, and he won a lot of money. .__. Cut to Charamy fuming and trying another $5.

I played 9 lines, bet 1 per line, and BAM. First thing, got a Bonus, eight free spins, and ta daaaa, $32.55, thank you very much.
XDDD Tripled what I put in, I can't complain. :P I mean, I actually won money at a casino! Who knew...


But then, of course, the ~dark side~ of gambling peers out... Both Allen and I could tell why people could develop gambling addictions. T__T; (What with my personality, I'd be consumed...).

I sort of felt bad for the elderly people... Wondered if they had anything better to do with their money. ._.
Like donate to charity, I don't really know... Uhm...


Anywho, we went back to the campsite because Allen was tired, and then he passed out for a while, leaving L.A. and I to our own devices... Ooo. Not. :P Come on now.

We foraged for dinner at the local Texaco (so fancy ;) and so our meal consisted of tuna + crackers, cheese on cheese crackers ("My, you must all be having a fun time in there"), and Combos. WIN. YES.

And you know, it's somewhat funny. I forgot to add this up there, but eh...
Kuya had hit the nail on the head. He remarked about how I'd had about three different haircuts,
and how every time, "It's like three different Charamy's!"

Exactly.


It's sad because not many people realize it, I think.
Too bad for 'em, then.


And ah, we indulged in a humorous vice, talked some more, and then spent the rest of the evening charging batteries by the restrooms, playing the DS, and gritting our teeth at stupid Shao Khan. :P

Okay, picture time! XD



Flapjack's!



This has to be a must-stop whenever I come back.



Oh hai Jack :)



He thinks he's so cool.



Home?



Not such a great machine, I didn't quite understand. :\ It was a one-cent machine...
NOTHING compared to GREEN DRAGONS II.
(Oh, yeah. Nothing like all of us winning on the ASIAN machines. ... Riiiight. -- I still insist I'm Pacific Islander. I swear. :P)



Cha-ching! XD


'kay, well... Hope you all have a wonderful Independence Day, and be safe!
I'll let my pyromaniac self have a ball. :3

Comments? Questions? Concerns? Hugs?

Day Three - June 23, 2009

I'd fallen asleep to the firelight flickering against the tent wall, the rush of the river either lulling me to sleep or providing white noise. As always, I was last to fall asleep-- in a group situation, this always seems to be the case. I slept flat on my back for the most part-- I hadn't thought it would leave me feeling so well in the morning, but I turned out all right. I usually sleep on my side, but as evidenced by one of the evenings, this would only leave on arm in pain for the most part...

Thoughts ran through my head, as always. And yet there were entertaining dreams nonetheless... I was rather disappointed when Kuya woke me up that morning. And even more amused when he pointed something out and couldn't see it. Picking up my glasses and putting them on, I saw a rather large spider. XD I drew it and even took a picture, just to share with all of you wonderful people. :)


I can't remember what time we woke up that day, all I knew was that we were going to go...

(READY?)

...

...

Whitewater Rafting!

!!!

This was a big deal for me, because I remember when I was much younger, and we were in North Carolina, and I absolutely refused.

... Oh, my God.

iT WAS SO MUCH FUN.


I was dressed in black, "Aeropostale 87" plastered across my butt, a bikini top, and a halter. Woo, go me.
I was worried because I was wearing my contacts-- I didn't want to lose them, I only have one pair...
(I have a custom pair because my eyes are that bad. Yes, really).
And we all wore water shoes, because otherwise flip-flops'd just fly out...

I love what I've written here:
"The sunlight filtered through the trees. I wish I had a thesaurus so I wouldn't keep using "beautiful" but that's just how it all is." And then, "MOUNTAINS."

We had arrived early to our rafting post, and decided we'd eat somewhere afterwards. The restrooms were awkward because the doors were literally like saloon doors, with no locks... Uhm. Anyway, we were debriefed about safety, had to run back in to sign the waivers since we'd forgotten, than ran back and all got assigned to groups. We put on our gear, piled into a bus, and took a nice little trip where they amused us with jokes, "Stoptions," and "THAT'S NOT MY CHICKEN!"

I was both nervous and excited. I was really more concerned about falling out and getting hurt or something, I being me...
But I didn't know when I'd get another opportunity, so what the hell, why not.
(By the way, for those of you wondering, I'd like to skydive before I die. Seriously. I may not like rollercoasters, but somehow I think I can handle skydiving... Go figure. :P)

I really liked our rafting guide, her name was Meghan. She was from NY, very experienced, and reminded me of one of my cohort members, actually. She was awesome. XD We were with a family that was also from Florida-- a dad and his three daughters. The boys weren't too pleased with this, because one of the daughters was probably seven or eight and was terrified, so we had to take the not-so-dangerous parts of the rapids. :\ However I just figured it'd be an opportunity to put my early childhood education degree into use or something... XD

Kuya L.A. was in the front, I was in the middle, and Allen was next to me I believe. We had to make sure to pay attention to the guide's instruction, and sometimes had to relay said instructions to those up front. I kept trying to help the little one hold on to her T-Grip-- that was the most important part of rafting, aside from making it out alive. :P

"T-GRIP!"

We were basically on a Class 4 river-- I think the highest levels are Class 5 or 6.
And honestly, I'd love to it all again. I love the challenge.


IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!


I love how afterwards, all I thought was that I'm so totally taking my family (like, when I actually have a family of my own, though I'd love to do this with my parents some time, because I know they'd enjoy it, and I can just picture my mom), and just tell my children, "BE BRAVE! I'm not taking no for an answer! AHAHA!" :P

The little girl was actually really brave for being in the boat with us, though for the most part she clung to our guide's leg. ^^;
MY CHILDREN WILL BE BRAVE. OHOHOHOU~ (... I love how I always picture how my children will be just so epic. XD).

When we came back to the rafting site, there were these Campus Life people singing, "Do you know the muffin man," and dancing... They scared me. They were much to ... ... comfy-cozy-home-y for me... ... .___.;


We all changed into dry clothes in the changing rooms-- which were just open rooms for everyone to change in, no curtains, no stalls, no nothin'. Like P.E. all over again, only with absolute strangers. XD YAAAY. You do whatcha gotta do.


We drove back to Gatilinburg to have some eats, make a few phone calls while we could. We ate at Smoky's Bar and Grill-- I enjoyed it. :) I think I had a BBQ sandwich, it hit the spot. And oh, those posters... eheh.

Afterwards, we went to hike a trail-- Grotto Falls, which would only be 1.4 mi, but it wasn't so bad as Clingman's Dome. ^^;
I tried to take in as much as possible-- there was so much green! We managed to keep up for the most part, though part of me kept thinking, "And we'll be going back the same way... Huh." Luckily, going downhill is always easier. We crossed several little rivers (probably just part of the falls) and once we got to Grotto Falls itself, it was just mesmerizing. :) I also heard my mom's voice in my head, "I'd like to swim in there!" Hahaha. Which, actually, she could.

Allen dunked his head into the water, Kuya and I took pictures, I watched all the families. It was nice to have a bit of a respite and to feel the mist on my face. I also took pictures with my cellphone and sent them to my parents. :) (Once again, another moment where I wished I used Twitpic). As we walked back downhill, we sang Disney songs, joked around, and ran around like ninjas. REPLACEMENT TECHNIQUE!

A quote, "Two paths diverged in the Great Smoky Mountains Forest, and I took the third one and almost busted my ass."

:P

On the car ride to the tourist area of Gatlinburg, I reflected on how we'd seen something that not everyone gets to see.
Even the Great Smoky Mountains themselves! It just makes you think. :)


We spent the rest of the day in Gatlinburg, shopping, looking for weaponry (no lie), pondering about fudge, GETTING DELICIOUS TAFFY, seeing bluegrass bands, SMOKED CHEESE, Herbie, Bumblebee, whee. :D

We ate at a restaurant called Blaine's-- I ordered a chicken salad, attempting to be healthy, and ate more than I thought I would, so. :\ What, we were eating fast food all the time andandand... T_T;;

Kuya L.A. got kunai and throwing spikes, and Allen got a sword from Final Fantasy XIII. ... Yes, you read right. XIII.
"Wait, what? That's not even released here... You better hope it's in the game." :P


My mind drifted a lot on that trip. Mm. How life works out, indeed.


Now I'm looking at what I wrote for the next day... It seems to include a few more details about what happened. I think I was too tired to write a lot since we'd gotten back so late. But now I have to decide if I want to include it here, or for the next post... Hmm.

Maybe for tomorrow, then. Because we didn't actually do a lot on Day Four. XD


And I think you'd all like to be interested to know about how open of a person I really am.





Ohh.



"Good morning!"



Rrrready





Hiking, hiking, hiking fairy princess~







(Ehhh).



Don't go chasing waterfalls...



Grotto Falls





Reminiscent of my Kakashi manip... Ohou.



That's my Kuya. :P



Bleach sword and a gunblade... Ah-yup.



... Yes, really.



Fun.


... XD

[Note: I have also enabled comments on here so that anyone can comment, sorry about that.]

Day Two - June 22, 2009

Did I mention we crammed nine people into a hotel room?
I didn't think that we would, but we did, and we managed. :D

It makes me think of how fun it would've been to do that at a con; ... drinking included. >D
(Yeah. None of us would've thought that before. But shows that people are capable of change, yes?)


So we got up around seven (I'm constantly glancing at what I wrote while listening to a mixtape, so forgive me if things sound a little all over the place) rather than six-- some of the girls had to make it back before noon or so because they had class or tests, and though only four of us were registered for the room, we somehow managed to smuggle in breakast for the "refugees." XD

I really enjoyed hanging out with all of them, and only wondered what the next days would hold.
Me, two boys, and camping. Hooo boy.

That, and a lot of driving.

But I knew that somehow we'd all make it out alive, and that was part of the excitement and enjoyment of the trip.


We stopped in Columbia, SC to eat at a Subway-- definitely should have eaten at "Lizard's Thicket." >D

Who knows, maybe somehow we'll mysteriously find that exit again... Snerk.


Ah. So it seems here is where I started writing about how I can be ridiculous in a traditional sense.

Sigh.

(In the back of my mind floats this ridiculous thing about,
"Oh, you belong with a traditionalist..." -_-).


... Anyway.

I'm going to quote what I'd written, then explain further.

"So. I may be old-fashioned. A traditionalist. Doesn't mean I have to be with one ... There would need be variance, after all. We're allegedly interested in the qualities of others that we may not have. So..."

Yes. You'll be seeing a lot of introspection in this trip. It's only necessary.

But here, one of my little quirks, and I know where it comes from.

Basically, I think that if you're on a vacation, you shouldn't be constantly online or something. I know, it's ridiculous.
That belief is there because of my family, and though I know I don't have to agree with it, I know where they're coming from.
You see, if you were just online during a vacation, then what was the point of ever leaving your house?

And of course, I expect arguments to this and they're all very valid, and hell, I would probably agree with some of those points.

However, it's also nice to not have to be entirely connected all the time and just savor what you have, right there, at the present moment.

I'm not saying that having the technology to be connected at all times is a bad thing. If anything, it's an improvement in some ways for society. Say, during emergencies, or keeping up with current news, people, friends, family, what have you.

However, as you've all seen with my rants on LJ, sometimes I think that technology can help us be more connected yet also disconnected at the same time. I won't go further, if only because I'm not sure if anyone else would understand, and I'm not sure how to put it in words. I'm trying, though.

(That and if it weren't for technology that we'd encounter along the way, I wouldn't have been able to see what was going on with the Iran Election on CNN at that Subway, nor would L.A. have received a text about MJ later... Etc.).

And oh, not to mention, that without technology, we wouldn't have gotten anywhere. T___T;
Hooray with Allen and his G1 phone...

Okay, so I think I just defeated my own argument. Sigh. This is why I never start. @__@


So back to what on earth happened that day, because that's the point of all this... Sorry about that...

So more and more driving, and at one point I got to ride shotgun so that Allen could get some sleep. L.A. was driving, and I got to finagle that Google Phone thing for once.

"Woah."
"What?"
"Mountains."

Indeed, mountains started to emerge, and I took far too many photos. As we continued our drive, the cabin (...) pressure continued to fluctuate, and it was pretty much like that for me for the rest of the trip. Continuing to swallow and even it all out (that's what she said).

And oh... "ANAL PROBE." Hahaha, you'll understand later...


So then! We reached Smoky Mountains, TN. Rather, we stopped at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where it had started to rain. Luckily, the rain let up and we were able to drive a bit through Pigeon Forge and have a glimpse of Gatlinburg. Allen advised us to look for places we might be interested in eating at for the next day, etc.

The mountains were just so beautiful. Majestic. Yet frightening all at once.
We went up, down, over, and around them. Through them, even.

Luckily I was riding behind the driver's seat so I didn't have an over-the-edge view that Lawrence did (YES I CALLED YOU BY YOUR NAME) but it's funny because we're both scared of heights/scared of falling. T_T

I tried looking once and it was so eerie. I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt like we would just somehow careen over the edge. Thankfully, Allen has driven these roads many, many times, and so I trusted him.

We drove with the windows down a lot-- I didn't really care that it was messing with my hair. It felt nice, actually.
I have always enjoyed driving with the windows down-- I feel more in touch with the world, rather than being cooped up in a shell. Bleh.

Oh. I apparently also have written in here, "I'm definitely coming back here with my husband one day."

... Hahahahahahahaha. ... :\

I was also charging my camera battery with an external battery pack thing that Kuya had brought-- thank goodness.

There was a lot of that, actually. Leeching of power from random places, whenever possible.
I guess I'm lucky that no one calls me, because I had my phone off for most of the time, unless we were in an area that had signal. Sigh. ._.


So we stayed at a KoA-- basically, Kampground of America, and it was actually my first time at one of those, surprisingly.
I've gone camping a lot in my life (a lot more than any of you would know or expect, I'm sure) and the last time I'd gone camping was in high school and I said it'd be my last time. Oddly enough I don't think any of us have gone camping since then.

Our lot was a really nice one-- I felt bad because it was only three of us and we wouldn't even be using the campsite to its full potential. We had a lovely view, with the river constantly rushing quite near us. I miss it a lot, actually.

(I wanted to make s'mores...).

Ah. I love this next thing that I wrote.

"If I had a boyfriend and we went camping, we'd be in such trouble. XD Won't lie."

Seriously.

... Seriously.


Ahem. Anyway.

Even though we'd just arrived, Allen had already planned for us to go hiking somewhere, and we were ready to do so.

We stopped by the border of NC and TN, took some photos, it was a nice little rest stop. More pictures...

I also managed to call my family at some point, it seems...

Afterwards, we visited Clingman's Dome.

... Oh, wow.

First of all, Kuya and I are in terrible shape. Allen was ahead of us like it was nothing, whereas we were like "huff, puff, wheeeze...."

You see, it was more of an incline than we expected, and at that height... Well.


But we managed, and it was funny, I tried to text but already the walking and lack of oxygen (in a way, in that climber's way) were already affecting me. It also made me sad once again that somehow at this height I had signal yet no one had called.
(Kuya was somehow yammering at Don, I found it funny).


But yes, CLINGMAN'S DOME.


6,643 ft. in the air. Hahaha.

[ ~an interlude due to some random unnecessary drama. Then to my cat licking my face XD ~ ]

Okay, so somehow it's almost 4:30... Where were we.

So we climbed to what is basically the highest point in Tennessee, and while up there, we were joking about being in the City of the Clouds, seeing Lando Calrissian, all that good stuff. :)

It was so high up you could see anything from the top, because of all the mist and fog. I tried to take a video, it's amusing.
At least Kuya's goggles came in handy then. :P

Once again we stopped by the border between states, to take a few more pictures, maybe watch the sun go down.

For dinner, we gave in to BOJANGLE'S... XD

You see, we grew very ... what, vulnerable, to the ads in the place. Clearly, their advertising techniques worked well on us.
Hahaha... You'll see this come into effect later on.

Anyway, I'll go upload some more pictures, my apologies for this not being too much of a day, but the next day is full of more fun-filled adventures. :P




Bridge!



This! IS! SPARTAAAAAAAnburg.



... s'truth.



Mountains!



Anal Probe. XD



Twists and turns...



... We found him!



(I like this one. :) My hand doesn't look scary this way...).



View from the border, I believe.



The trio. :D



Border!



Home. :P



Ze river. Little River, I think...



One of my favorite pictures, actually.







Driving, driving, driving, driving!



View prior to hiking up to Clingman's Dome



Getting there!





From way high up!







Express yourself.



... Wish we'd read this beforehand. :P





Oh, Bojangle's. XD


All right, hopefully I'll have Day 3 up tomorrow, we'll see. :)

(I'm trying to recover, it's quite a hike in and of itself, I just didn't know I'd be inadvertently tripped up... Ah, life. It's interrelated, in a way, almost... Barely).

Feel free to comment here or there. :)