FRIDAY - OCT 28, 2011
We made sure to hang out our CNC flag before departing for Jefferson City on Friday morning. The bookstore has different flags now but I still like ours best.
The campus was set for Homecoming when we arrived. The tents were all up, banners were flying and the lovely scent of freshly laid compost hung in the air. We decided to check out the Music Building first and found it just hopping with people! We had forgotten about Friday afternoon recitals. Doc was in and we spoke with him and met some new faculty. We even discovered that a bench had finally been installed at our favorite sitting spot - so we sat a while.
In the instrumental wing we found an entire bulletin board dedicated to Marching Band - likely because they have had to drop the program because of budget cuts. It was nice to pick out D in several photos and I uploaded this one to Facebook on a whim. All of the sudden my phone went crazy with notifications as people found it online and tagged others with it.
None of my professors were in Henderson Hall, in fact, I didn't recognize many of the names on the doors. So we headed over to the Bookstore to see what kind of goodies they had to offer. Even though we found some wearables, all-in-all, we were disappointed with the selection. Our favorite find came from the clearance bin - a $1.99 license plate cover which looks absolutely marvelous on Opie (it even matches the colors of our plate).
Later, I asked D to drive down to Lowery Loop in Newmarket, because in my student days I had photographed the sign but couldn't find the negative and wanted another snap of it. And he humored me, even though it meant driving towards the setting sun. In fact, the sun was so blinding that the camera couldn't read the street sign when we got there. Luckily, it's a loop, so we drove around it until we found a sign that was facing in the opposite direction!
The sun setting, we decided it was best to try and find the E's house before it got full dark. They had very graciously offered to put us up for the night. One of my favorite parts of the evening was meeting TEM's cat, Teddy. What a sweetheart. Just as GE said 'you're more than welcome to take him', I got a text from TEM saying 'have they tried to talk you into taking him home yet?'. It was beyond funny.
The E's took us out to their favorite place to eat. We had a lovely time at dinner. At one point we all four had our iPhones out, showing off different apps. I was trying to pick up pointers on how to best use the phone, still very much butterfingers with it!
We settled into their guest room full and warm and excited about what Saturday would bring.
SATURDAY - OCT 29, 2011
Due to our schedule, we set the alarm pretty early but GE beat us up and even had a mess of bacon and eggs ready to eat! We were truly blessed by his friendship. On our way out he gave us pointers about where to hike on Sunday and then we were off!
And it was foggy!
Our first stop was the Art Building, where I once had a workstudy and took several classes. Mr U. is still there and is now head of the department. The office I worked in has not changed a bit except that the student art on the walls has been rotated out. We also saw Mr. H. who is still seems as lively as ever. But the person we actually came to see was a fellow classmate, KH. Back in our student days we purchased a painting from her, actually her first sale, which still hangs in our house today.
It was good to catch up with her for a few minutes. She's moving out west to Oklahoma (I think) so it's likely I won't see her for a very long time. Her brand-new fiance was a little skittish so I didn't bother her for a photo, though now I wish I had.
Then we crossed over to FBC for the annual Music Sampler. We could not hold our heads up high if we were to miss the Sampler! It was fantastic, as always, and we had a primo seat in the balcony front and center. The Jazz Band brought the house down - they were really good. They are spending Thanksgiving week in Hawaii and even had special Aloha shirts made out for the trip. D was so jealous. He had fun taking video of each selection (except Acapella and Alums singing 'The Lord Bless You and Keep You', which I took).
After the Sampler we high-tailed it back to Henderson Hall for the Communications Dept reception. GE just happens to sing in a choir with Dr B and Dr B asked him to make sure I stopped by. There's a little more 'salt' in his hair, but Dr. B hasn't changed much at all - except now he is head of the department. I remarked on the 'big office' and he chuckled and said 'yes, two windows!' Dr B also relayed a story about Dr W in the English Dept, who when I was still an English major, told Dr B that I could not write. After I switched to a Communications major under Dr. B, I won a journalism award for The Orange & Blue... that was nice to laugh about. It was good to see him again.
After rushing around all morning long, we now had a few hours to kill before the afternoon festivities started so we decided to see about lunch. We thought about leaving campus but didn't want to lose our awesome parking spot, so we chowed down at our old haunt, The Eagles Nest. It has changed quite a bit from when D and I worked there! We split a Philly Cheesesteak and looked out at the new stadium which we were soon to 'experience' for the first time.
Then it was time for the Homecoming parade. Without a marching band to provide a heartbeat, the parade itself kind of limped along. There was the Homecoming court, of course, and then a few student organizations. The theme seemed to be the 'marriage' between Carson and Newman. The most interesting float to us was the Henderson float. Its sign stated that the fire was in 1971 but according to family history, it was 1974. I asked LRL about it and he questioned how many times Henderson had burned... guess it will remain one of those deep mysteries of life.
Then we were off to the game! The new stadium is very swank, but somehow knowing that the college is in tremendous debt because of it kind of puts some grime on the shine.
We purposefully chose to sit in the student section next to the Pep Band. D and I were singing along with all the stand-tunes, reliving our band glory days. In truth, that was the best part of the game because the team played absolutely rotten. I don't know what is going on with their program but they're ruining our reputation! Nevertheless, we stayed 'til the bitter end.
And then we said Goodbye to Jeff City and got back on the road. It was time to see how Opie handled the Great Smokey Mountains. Of course, not only was it leaf-peeper season in Pigeon Forge, it was also dinner time and so we inch-wormed our way into Gatlinburg.
D booked us a room at the beautiful Sydney James Mountain Lodge and I'm so ashamed I didn't take any pictures because it was really nice. I wouldn't have minded staying a week there! We had a jacuzzi, a fireplace and a balcony over a little stream. I couldn't find a photo on their site of our exact room, but something like this.
By the time we got our room settled it was dark and chilly and we decided to hunt down some dinner. Gatlinburg has so many places to choose from. We decided to walk a little and check out the candidates, the streets were really crowded and we knew we would have to wait anywhere we went. We passed by Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen and we picked up the required Caramel Apple - this is the only place I ever eat them from. They're the best!
But we didn't eat the apple right away because we saw a sign. Literally.
Mellow had come to Gatlinburg! I was a happy, happy girl.
Gloriously full of Cosmic Karma we walked around for a little while but it was getting late and chilly and all the excitement of the day had caught up to me. I was exhausted.
SUNDAY - OCT 30, 2011
Unlike the fog the previous morning, Sunday was bright and chilly. Just the most beautiful Autumn weather you can imagine and perfect for our day. First though, breakfast. Because even though we did have pizza late the night before, we've learned not to hike without fuel. The first pancake house we stopped at had a line running the entire length of the building, so we moved on. We found ourselves at a Flapjacks where there was a minimal wait time. This reminded us of the infamous Rainbow Falls hike, where we also ate at Flapjacks. I did get two pancakes, because carbs are quick energy, but I also had a veggie omelet for some nice protein. D had sausages wrapped in crepes. They were supposed to be pancakes but they were crepes... we know a crepe when we see one!
The traffic for the Park was already a nightmare so we decided to take GE's advice and do Grotto Falls which is on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. The drive through the mountains was unspeakably gorgeous. It had to have been peak week for color. It reminded me of Tiffany's Autumn window.
There were so many people at Grotto Falls that we had to park nearly a mile away and then hike back to the trail. So there was the hike and then the hike! I didn't mind too much, I figured the more people, the less bear. A win-win in my book. I was glad to see that Grotto Falls was in the opposite direction of Rainbow Falls. It's going to be awhile before we return to that trail!
We saw numerous small falls along the way and each time we asked each other, 'is that it'? They weren't but they were still pretty! We also crossed several small streams and could hear running water for much of the hike.
This is not mud. It's wet rock and it was a little difficult to trod on but we had no mishaps, thankfully. It was a nice hike, my knees didn't bother me too much.
And finally we made it to THE Grotto Falls...
I saw a couple taking photos of each other individually and, hoping they would reciprocate, I offered to take a photo of them together. And they did, so we got a photo to remember the day by.
On the way back we were discussing what to have for dinner when D reminded me of our Graveyard Fields hike when we ate at a little place called Bogarts that had good burgers. So, we Googled their location and typed it into the GPS. It was just as delicious as last time but sadly, vacation was over. That was okay though, I needed to get back home to the treadmill!
