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BBHQ Boomer Essays: |
| Our Boomer-In-Charge here at BBHQ, Hershel Chicowitz, writes frequently about current events... from a boomer perspective. He is sometimes funny, sometimes provocative, sometimes a little of each. We hope you get a kick out of our Boomer Essays. |
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For our annual fall vacation, we did some "old" things and some new things. On October 15 we drove to Atlanta and climbed Kennesaw Mountain again. This time, the sky was clear; we could see downtown Atlanta and across to Stone Mountain:
Nope; pictures do not do it justice.
The last few steps to the top seemed a bit more of a challenge this year. Here is a comparison between 2005 and 2006:
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Then we made a short return trip to Gatlinburg, at the foot of the Smoky Mountains. How were we to know that the night we got there, Gatlinburg would get one of the strongest wind storms in its history?
The next day, most of the roads over and around the mountains were closed. But we managed to have a good time and get some good pics, nonetheless. I took this on the bypass road, which goes around (and in back of) the little, over-crowded main drag of Gatlinburg):
I climbed down a steep grade to get this picture:
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Actually, climbing down was easy. Climbing back up presented a
challenge.
 Somebody please tell me again about the population crisis in America.
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Forty years ago (yes, that long ago), my mother and I saw a new motel in the heart of Gatlinburg that had a 3-story observation tower. I climbed up to the top and took a picture:
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I think that's my mother's Comet Caliente parked on the right side of the street.
Well, time has not treated the observation tower well. This time I could go only as high as the second level; the third level was considered unsafe. Anyway, this is what it looks like in 2006:
At Paul Harvey says, "All that they call progress... isn't."
Well, I think my mother would have appreciated my continued interest in the old town.
I stopped by the annual crafts show at the convention center, and chatted with an Indian warrior who, I think, may be a relative... a distant connection to the Chicowasofski family.
I guess I should be grateful that the eagle took a hankering to him and not me, huh?
Oh, when you go to Gatlinburg, a "must-stop" is the Park Grill, just before you get to the entrance to the national park.
The food, the service, the atmosphere... just terrific!
Then it was over to Asheville. That's where we began to see real colors in the leaves. I took this pic from the back porch at the Groveland Inn:
I spent a day at the uber-oppulent home that George Vanderbilt had built in 1895. George was the grandson of the shipping and railroad tycoon, Cornelius Vanderbilt. (Go ahead.... just try to map that family tree!) His little abode has 43 bathrooms. (No, I did not use any of them.) At 175,000 sq. ft., it is the largest single-family home in the country. This is a picture I took from the spacious front yard:
No, that is not a swimming pool. The swimming pool is inside.
The real excitement of the trip came as I parked on the side of the narrow route 64, about 6 miles outside of Franklin, to get this picture:
Nope; no trick photography or editing; that is exactly how it looked. Just stunning!
I was on my way to Highlands, North Carolina, for a secret rendezvous with a member of the "family." That is all I am at liberty to say about the matter. But this is representative of the view in their back yard, as far to each side as one can see:
This is the view out the front window:
From there, I drove to a campground on Lake Lanier, just northeast of Atlanta, where we had camped before. This time we had a much larger tent, though it is far less than 175,000 sq. feet, and had no bathrooms):
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And that was the problem. The weather turned very cold in Atlanta. While
our heater kept us warm inside the tent, the trip to the bathhouse was
very uncomfortable. So we bailed out after two nights and camped at a Red
Roof Inn. Princess is very adaptable.
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We toured the Atlanta area, the town I proudly called home in the 70s. I visited the new Georgia Aquarium. The place is really spectacular! I have tons of photos. This is the view of the aquarium and its surroundings from atop the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, right on Peachtree Street:
This is my favorite taken at the aquarium, mingling with the penguins:
I was just noting... I think I dated her... back in the 70s!
Though it was not all that touchy-feely friendly. I had a close encounter with a shark:
And my own Steve Irwin-like, sting-ray incident:
Though, of course, I lived to tell about it.
And yeah; the jellyfish were cool too:
So, that's my story (or as much of it as I am willing to reveal here), and I'm sticking to it. We had a wonderful time. Thanks for letting me share the memories.
I'll put this essay in the collection of the "Travels with Princess" stories. You can read them all, using the links below.
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If you like what we're doing here at BBHQ, please help us by buying stuff through our link to Amazon.com:
| The BBHQ Album of the Month is "Old Friends Live on Stage (Deluxe Edition) (2 CD/1 DVD)," by Simon & Garfunkel. If you were fortunate enough to see them in concert last year, I do not have to sell you. The concert was terrific! This album collection includes 55 songs, plus their new recording, "Citizen of the Planet," and one of the songs sung by the Everly Brothers during the concert. The DVD was recorded during their concert in Madison Square Garden in 2003. For any S&G fan, this is a must have! But then, you knew that already, didn't you? |
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The BBHQ Book of the Month is
"Vinyl Highway," by
Dee Dee Phelps. You remember her as Dee Dee, of Dick and Dee Dee.
Together, they took a decade long ride on the rock and roll roller
coaster. It was a heck of a ride! Dick Clark, Quincy Jones, the Beach
Boys, Glenn Campbell, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vinton... Dick and Dee Dee
rubbed shoulders with all of them. This is her "behind the scenes" story.
It's pretty cool.
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