Tennessee Road Trip

This weekend we went to Tennessee to visit Jenee's Aunt's new retirement home. The house is approximately 10 hours from where we live in Gainesville which means that the round trip was a little over 1200 mi / 2000 km, and we did most of that in 2 days!

I finally got to meet "Uncle Craig" who is a really tops bloke. We hit it off and had a great time putting together furniture, talking smack and playing cards. Momma and Dad 2 were there too of course, so there was no limit to the mischief that went on.



While we were there we visited Nashville, which is of course, the Mecca for country music. As a part of our pilgrimage we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry, two CM land marks. I have to admit, thought I may not be county musics #1 fan, I do enjoy alot of it and it makes for excellent road trip listening. I learnt a lot at the Hall of Fame, such as, did you know Ray Charles read a braille version of a certain "gentlemans" magazine and Dolly Parton also posed for said magazine. Other interesting facts included Elvis' car complete with gold plated everything and 14 coats of paint that contained crushed diamonds - The first "pearl" effect paint job in history. Check it all out in the slide show.

On the return trip we visited my cousin Bek and had the best pizza in the world at the Mellow Mushroom. Bek was awesome as always and we loved hanging with her. She lives in a beautiful town called Chattanooga and its one of the nicest towns I have seen in the US thus far.

Jenee even stayed awake for most of the driving! As did I. While it was her turn to drive, I had a little nap. 30 minutes later Jenee got bored and figured that if I woke up because she was talking on the phone, then she would have some company... she's such a stinker.

Finding a New Respect

Getting married is an interesting, life changing experience. One of the things that happens is you magically gain a few pounds or ten. Now, I was a little light-on before getting hitched, but now I am a little on the other side of the scale. Jenee's been feeling the same way, even though I think she looks great.

So we have decided to do the South Beach Diet together. I have to admit, not eating any carbohydrates at all is a tough ask. All I wanted to do is eat bread, Snickers bars and Pepsi. Two weeks after we started Phase 1 (South Beach Diet) we have both lost a good few pounds and are feeling mighty proud of ourselves. To celebrate we are having pizza.

Just have to control myself...

Nate vs. the Gator

Today, one of my mates here, Stephen, handed me a Hoya 72 mm polarizing filter (a cheapie)for my camera and said to try it out. Very excited about this, I proceeded to attach it to my lens and at 3:30 I grabbed my other mate, Greg, and went for a walk on campus to find a Gator or two.

Well, find one we did, about a 6 footer. (Campus will let them get to about 8ft before they remove them, and I have to say, an 8ft alligator is pretty huge!) Upon finding the gator, we happily proceeded to take pictures. After adjusting the polarizing filter and composing the next shot I heard a "PLOP" followed by some splashing as the Gator quickly moved over to see what I had dropped. You guessed it, Steve's filter dropped off the lens and fell into about 60cm of water. Boy, did I feel like an idiot.

You can see the filter above the Gator's head

I went back to the lab, got a magnet and some string in the vain hope that the filter was made of something remotely magnetic. No luck, as I had expected, the filter holder was made of brass.

Plan #2. My supervisor, who loves Gators, proclaimed that he would go in and get it. We walked out to see it, and while walking he asked me, "So how big is it?" I told him it's the 6 footer (there are 3 in our local stream at work, a 2ft, 6ft and an 8ft that I haven't seen for a long time). When we got there, there was quite a crowd of new and old students, staff and passers by looking at the Gator. On the way back, Kevin was giving me excuses like, "well, I don't want to make a spectical" and "I don't want to get my sneakers wet"... whatever.

The same Gator taking a snap at a Soft Shell Turtle - His jaws are open too!

Plan #3. I called Stephen telling him what had happened and he laughed telling me that the filter was a freebie, given to him long ago and not to worry about it. I wasn't about to give up though, I told him that I was going to come back at 7 when there were less people around and try again. I had a search around the testbed and found just the right thing. A sampling cup attached to a 10ft pole. 7pm came around and I met Steve back at work. Tooling up, we walked back to the Gator. With no one around, I put the cup into the water and started to maneuver the filter into the cup. Out of nowhere I caught a glimpse of something swimming towards us in the water - the Gator was back! He was so quick that he even got a chomp off at the cup! LOL! He was mad that we dare mess around in his territory. I tried in vain to get the filter a few more times, each time the gator would snap at the cup or hiss at us. Frustrated at the stupid thing, I gave him a little love tap on the head with the pole end of the sampling cup tool. Obviously this wasn't going to work, and it was decided that we needed a smarter approach. We figured that if Stephen kept the Gator occupied with a hoe that we had brought along at the other end of the pond, I would have a chance at the filter, and thats what we did.

We got the gator to go for a stick thrashing in the water, while I pushed the filter into the silt and scooped it with the cup. Mission successful! To celebrate I gave the Gator another love tap on the head and we went on our merry way.

Nate:2
Gator:1

The things I do to keep you entertained...

New Kitty Playland!

You may have seen in the photos of our apartment a large black box that we use as a scratching post, kitty play land and focal point in the apartment. Ok, I was joking about the focal point thing, the box was originally meant to be a PA loud speaker but was salvaged by my friend Jacqui as a scratching post for her cats, one of whom is now mine (Sable). Well, I have to admit its not an overly pretty piece of furniture but for $300 that the pet shop is asking for a larger scratching post/play-land, the ugly little box has done us just fine.

Well, its done me just fine, but Jenee can hardly stand it, so, to make things a little more appealing, Jenee and Krista did some husband bartering and some how Brandon and I ended up being commissioned to build two kitty play-lands, one for them, one for us.

Now there is no such thing as small and subtle in our collective vocabularies. Therefore we designed and built a 3-tier 4 foot high mega-playland. See below for the fruits of Brandon and my labor.

Marble (top) and Sable enjoying the "Condo"

As you can see its more like a kitty condo with integrated scratching posts, plush pile carpets (thanks to the Hammersma's for their donation) and even an upper deck viewing platform.

Needless to say, Marble was rather afraid of it for a couple of days but I think they are pretty happy with it now. We came home today to find both of them playing with toys, scratching on posts and play fighting. I thing Sable has a little way to go on her dexterity skills though, she has fallen off it twice...

Places We Have Been

So here is something cool I have always wanted to do. Have a map of all the places we have visited together in the states. The States we have been to are in red.



As you can see we have a few to go. Note, this doesn't include states that we have driven through. If that were the case then...

Hot Hot Hot!

We are currently in a heat wave down here in Florida, and according to weather.com we are on a high temperature alert. Take the jump to Brandon and Krista's blog, where Brandon describes what the surface of the sun feels like more eloquently.

The view of Museum Drive from my desk O.o

This explains why our air conditioner at home is continually running and part of why I cant sleep. Of course, today of all days is the days that I decide to ride my bike to work to burn some extra energy... idiot...

There's a New Baby in the Family!

Congratulations to my cousin Kelly, and her husband Derek! Last night thier first born, Noah, was delivered into this world at 10:57 pm. He is 8 lbs 10 oz, 20.5 in long. For those of us who live in the metric world, thats 3.9 kg and 52.1 cm long. Praise the Lord!

Homeward Bound

Well, we left St. Elmo on Sunday morning with wonderful memories and new friends, but a little sad at the same time. Jenee had promised to take my to Pike Peak on the cog railway, so it wasn't too hard to leave. Jenee even managed to keep awake for much of the way.

St Elmo is behind the large Mt. on the left.

I couldn't begin to tell you all about the trip up the mountain. Our conductor was so knowledgeable and had the entire train in a trance waiting on his every word. No man died building the railway, but its amazing how much manual labor was involved, everything was done the hard way, no modern bulldozers and cranes. At one point there was a beautiful hotel for workers and climbing pilgrims to stay in halfway up the mountain.



It takes 3 hours and some for the round trip. There is a public road that takes you to the summit too. It takes the average tourist close to an hour and a half and it took the current 2007 winner of the Pikes Peak hill climb less than 15 minutes. There was one corner, shown in the slide show, that the winning driver took at 70+ mph / 115 kph, tourists take it at 15 / 20.

After Pikes, we went to Royal Gorge to see the highest suspension bridge in the world. We got ripped off $23 each to walk over a bridge. If you ever go, take a look from the carpark and leave, save your money for something else.

After the Gorge we were both done for the day so we got back in the car and headed back to Denver to stay with Chris and Soha one last night. We love Chris and Soha. Monday we spent the day in Denver Zoo, which I didn't want to like, but I have to admit I loved and it's on par if not better than Adelaide and Sydney Zoo's.



What a holiday. It was just non-stop all the time. I was definitely more tired than when I left but I had a great time, and if I could I would leave tomorrow and do it all again.

Flag Pole Mountain

I don't know the history behind it, but long ago, someone put a flag on top of one of the peaks visible from St. Elmo. According to my topographic map, its 12351 ft high. One of the days there, Carl told us that we needed to climb the mountain, so we did. With Carl as our guide, we 4-wheelered our way as close to the top as possible, several hundered feet short of the summit. Now, I should mention that behind the Flag is Christolite Mountain aka Mt Doom at 12822 ft. As Jenee and I were climbing the clouds rolled in and the sky started to rumble quietly. Climbing is no easy task. Jenee and I needed to take regular breathers because the air is starting to get pretty thin. We implemented a 30 steps policy. You take 30 steps up, stop for 30 seconds and then repeat.


Once at the top you are rewarded with yet another stunning view of the surrounding area. In the picture above you can see St. Elmo in the valley to the right. As soon as we got there, the thunder started and the look on Jenee's face said it all. We took the short way down to the 4-wheelers. We were still out of breath when we got there and the thunder was getting louder and the lightning more brilliant. Of course I couldn't get Jenee's bike started and when I did it stalled. Eventually everything came together and we bolted down the mountain. Think my favorite moment was when a huge bolt flashed directly above and when I turned to check on Jenee her face was one of pure terror. Poor thing. We got home safely. Wet but safe and once again and (warning: camera plug) my Naneu Pro bag kept my camera safe and dry. I have to admit, my new Nikkor 18-200 VR lens paid it's self off too. All the pictures you see were taken with it bar a few of the humming bird pictures, it was definitely a good investment and saved me from carrying alot of extra lenses and even my tripod in most cases.

Now who wants to climb a mountain once when they can do it twice? Yep, the very next day I went through it all to take Eddie and Shellee, their boys and Hoppy and his two kids up to the top. On the way I witnessed one of the most amazing displays of fatherhood/manliness/strength, where Hoppy gave each of his kids a ride for a few minutes or so up the mountain so that they could catch their breath. I was in awe. We all made it to the top safely, took some pictures and once again it started raining and we had to flee down the mountain getting soaked to the bone yet again. So much fun.



Of couse why would we stop there, that afternoon, The Carters, Hoppers and Stevens' got geared up again and drove up Tincup Pass to another point of the Continental Divide. This time we left in the rain and it was cold and hard work. I had Garrett riding with me on his fathers Polaris Sportsman 700 (sweet), and his brother riding his smaller 4-Wheeler. Dillon got so cold that he had to get into the Jeep. We were treated to more amazing vistas once we got there (12154 ft) but we were all so cold that we turned around and went home. As you would expect, it stopped raining and warmed up a little half way down...

Off-Roading, Picnic's and a Marmot

One thing you learn about Lisa Cravens is that there is a schedule for everything. Long before we even arrived in St Elmo, every day was planned in advanced including adventures and meals times, love it.

One of our days was planned to drive up to Hancock pass for a picnic. Carl and Eddie Drove their families in their 4WD's, and Jenee and I led the way on 4-Wheelers. We had a blast, the mountain road varied from easy, smooth dirt tracks to rock infested single track that you had to climb oh-so slowly. The view from 12000 ft was quite spectacular.

Jenee and I thrashed the others to the top so we took some time and looked around. Lunch was hotdogs. One of the three food groups of the Cravens girls, (Hotdogs, Mac and Cheese and Ketchup). After lunch, it was time to head home but Jenee and I pressed on just a little further to make it to Hancock Pass. Once there we could see the continental divide in all its dividing glory. We also saw somthing quite unusual, Marmets. They are large beaver looking critters that whistle too. We were most amused at them and managed to get really close.



We took a picture to prove we had been there and then started back down the mountain. Now the others had been heading down the mountain for 20 minutes already, but it only took us 15 minutes to catch them. After 40 minutes we were home and we were exhausted. Going down is probably more tiring as you have to use your body a lot more to keep balance.

In the evening we had a big BBQ with both the Familys at the Cravens. The great thing about being outdoors is that the only entertainment available is what you make for yourself. One of the favorite pastimes here is to play "Washers". The idea is you have to throw a 5cm / 2” washer into one of three holes on a board about 5 meters away. I have to admit, I love it, its such a fun game to play, and we played long into the night.

St Elmo, Colorado

Another early rise and by 10am we were on the road again. This time we were heading back to Colorado Springs, then continuing up Highway 24 to Buena Vista. As we drove up the mountain we were able to get some stunning vistas of Pikes Peak. Just incredible, Pikes' is surrounded by a few 13000 ft peaks and there are trails all around them. FYI the tallest peak in Australia is of course Mt Kosciusko, and its 7310 ft high. Mt Hotham is 6105 ft and Mt Buller is 5921 ft and the tallest peak near Adelaide is Mt Lofty at a grand 2329 ft. Jenee managed to make it up to Woodland Park and then she passed into the land of dreams. Later on the return trip she said, " I don't remember this part?" to which my reply was, "Thats because you were asleep." Mum, she would make you proud, although she can make it out of the driveway before she nods off.

We met up with the Cravens (Carl, Lisa, Mary Nelle, Edie and Coleman) in Buena Vista and then followed them to St Elmo. St Elmo is an old mining town that was abruptly abandoned in the 1920’s. Apparently Colorado is famous for its "Ghost Towns" which buzzed during the gold rush and were abandoned when the gold ran out. Years after they were abandoned, a few fortunate people bought up some of the old town structures in St Elmo somewhere in the mid to late 30’s. Carl’s grand father was one of these people and he bought two beautiful log cabins and some land. Over the years they lovingly restored these homes and have been serving the Cravens family as year round vacation homes. Carl showed us around our cabin and I was amazed. The original owners of these homes left everything behind: Silverware, cookware, beds, stoves, letters, share certificates, photographs and more. It was really interesting to go through some of the folders and read them.

Once we had settled in Carl wanted to show us around town. We climbed into an original Willy's Jeep and drove to "downtown". There is a crystal clear river running through town, the old general store is still a general store but under newer management, and a pile of old wooden planks that is now called the "Chipmunk Pile". After looking around, we drove up to Ed and Shellee's new cabin. Carl has known Ed and Shellee since high school and they have 2 boys, Garrett and Dillon, and one daughter, Trinity. It was apparent that these were boys boys and we were going to get along just fine.

After meeting the Carters we went back to the Cravens, picked up Lisa and the kids and went down to the Chipmunk pile. I have never experienced anything like this. There were chipmunks all over us trying to get their share of sunflower seeds. To add to this, there were also prairie dogs, squirrel/chipmunk mixes and black squirrels. It was a blast, there were critters going everywhere, kids sqealing with delight and plenty of laughs.

Later we went back to Ed and Shellee's for a BBQ. I went to hang out with the boys. They were shooting cans with their slingshots. I finally got a turn (after much begging - j/k) and managed to hit one of the cans first try. Dillon looked up at me and informed me that what I did wasn't fair. I looked down at him and told him that it was fair and he needed to tough it up, hahaha. That impressed them so, and we were buds from then on. I made them a deal, if they could hit 2 cans, I would buy them a chocolate bar and 5 cans them a soft drink too. It took a few days but they eventually did it.

What a great day, we couldn't wait for tomorrow to see what St Elmo has to offer.

A Grand Day in Colorado Springs

After a much needed nights rest, Jenee and I woke up on Florid Schedule at 7 am Colorado time. The morning at Soha and Chris’s was nice. Outside was beautiful, just like an Adelaide summer's day. We, being Jenee and I, Chris and Soha, and Majedah and her son Zade, sat around swapping storey and drinking coffee. Our connection with Chris and Soha is that Soha is Majedah's best friend, and Majedah is Jenee's cousin.

After an easy morning, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to Colorado Springs with everyone, including Iman and Mona, some of Chris and Soha's friends. Our first look at Colorado was incredible. You can see the mountains everywhere, and everything is clean and tidy. We headed to the Garden of God. Now officially its called the Garden of the Gods, but I believe that the Earth was created by the personal, loving God of the Bible in just six literal days and on the seventh, he rested. At the Garden, we met up with Bekah, my cousin, and together we drove around and were awed by Gods amazing creative power. Have a look at the slide show to see what I mean.

I think what amused me the most was the area we had lunch in was signed as a Bear Activity Area. LOL. Apparently, if you are confronted by a bear, you are meant to pick up large obects and throw them at the bear, and try to scare it away. I'd rather not be so close to have to try that but if I ever had to defend my family from a bear it would make one incredible legend for my kids and grandkids one day...

We wanted to go fly fishing but it was getting late so we decided to go visit Manitou Springs which is home to the Cog Railway that goes all the way to Pikes Peak. We walked around this very pretty town until the sun was low on the horizon, then headed back into Colorado springs for dinner.

Back in Denver, Jenee's bag was finally delivered which made her very happy. We were all so exhausted that we went straight to bed. Tomorrow we were bound for St. Elmo!

Travelling to Colorado

We both woke up early to get ready for our holiday. I had to go to work to clean up the previous afternoons hard work and Jenee’s goal was to finish off her last assignment for her class. Jenee and I have been working 50 – 60 hours a week each for the last two weeks so that we could come on this trip.

After I arrived home, our internet for no apparent reason, had died and Jenee was upset because she couldn’t finish off her assignment. I rang the cable company and managed to get it fixed right before we left the apartment, so all we could do was print off directions to a few places in Colorado.

The drive to Jacksonville was fairly uneventful and we got through airport security in plenty of time. Once on the plane we remembered why we really don’t like flying American Airlines. First, there is ZERO legroom, second, they don't aways remember the little details like turning on ventilation while we sit on the tarmac in the Florida heat and humidity. Not happy Jan. After what seems like 40 minutes, the cabin door is re-opened and an AA-Associate comes on board and takes the nice (mid-50's) couple siting in front of us off the plane. There is no explanation given, and with that, we power up and taxi to the runway, leaving those poor people behind. As we were climbing to 16000 ft. the Captain comes on intercom: Good afternoon, blah blah blah, there are storms in our path, we’ll try and avoid them and get you to Miami fast and safe.

The flight is going fine until, 20 minutes from Miami, we are informed that we are going into a holding pattern because of the storms in Miami. Round and round we went, for 30 minutes when we finally get the all clear to land, however we don’t have enough fuel, so we have to side track to Ft Myers. We land in Ft Myers, praise the Lord we are turned around with fuel in the plane and 20 minutes later we touch down in Miami however our connecting flight was scheduled to have already left. Praying for a miracle, we get off the plane and race to the gate. We get there to find that the plane to Denver has been delayed and with that good news, we decided it was time to get something to eat.

Waiting for the Plane in Miami

We get delayed by another hour, argh! Finally we board our plane to Denver when the Captain's voice crackles over the intercom, "Sorry folks we have just found out that the Lavatory's aren’t flushing, someone is on the way to have a look at them." 30 minutes later the loo’s can flush again and we take off. The flight was actually very pleasant but I was getting stir crazy, the plane was too warm and, as always on AA, there was NO LEG ROOM. However all of this was forgiven because I was so entertained by the in flight movie, "Blades of Glory.”

Birds Eye View of Floridian Thunderstorms

We were both very happy to touch down in Denver and Denver International Airport is the cleanest most user friendly airport I have seen in a very long time. All we needed was our baggage and we could get our rental car and head to Chris and Soha's for some food and a warm bed. Waiting. Waiting. Still Waiting. After 15 minuntes the last bag flops onto the carousel and its mine, Jenee's is nowhere to be seen. Its in Miami. Once again, AA has managed to be the jewek of the toilet and lose Jenee's bags, which is about an 80% success for Jenee's bag to be lost from past flying experience.

Soha and Chris had dinner ready for us and were so welcoming to us. It was really nice to have some good food and a bed to sleep in. Why does everything happen to us? I will never be able to say that my life is boring.

Updates Galore on the Way, I Promise!

Jenee and I have been back from Colorado for 3 days now and we have been flat out. I am sorry for the lack of updating. As a teaser, there are more stories and more photo's than you can poke a stick at on the way. Just for a tease, here are some of the posts on the way:

More of "Why AA is a sucky airline"
The 'Garden of the Gods'
Feeding Chipmunks
Riding to the Continental Divide #1 & #2
Climbing to the flag on Mt Doom #1 & #2
Shooting slingshots & "The Deal"
Pikes Peak and the Cod Rail way, and other tales.
The Denver Zoo (Shibby)

Hang in tight. Posting will start soon!