Day Six; bouldering, eagles falls, into to Loiusville

Day Six.

Wednesday morning was another early rise from the tent for Ashley and I. We packed up and decided to see if we could catch some morning fog around Cumberland Falls. Unfortunately, there was little to be had. We did find a way to climb down to the rocks below and did a little bouldering in the morning. My lanky body allows me the luxury of be amused at watching Ashley (barely 5 foot) try to climb over large rocks. She is a trooper and would get her revenge in a few days.

After climbing back to the parking area near the falls, we opted to try and find Eagle Falls. Eagle Falls was on the other side of the river (there was a bridge) and a little over a mile hike. We did not anticipate any issues for a couple of veterans like us. After about an hour in the woods, we realized that we were way past the location of the falls according to the map. It was not a huge disappointment since we were still enjoying the hike and we stumbled upon a great stream.

I have seen many stream, brooks, and rivers in my life and it is a rare occurrence to see running water make a 90 degree turn. This was one such spot and it was gorgeous to boot. The water was even shallow enough to wade into. We spend about another 45 minutes here relaxing and trying to figure out how we might have missed Eagle Falls.

As we figured out where we might have gone wrong, we began to backtrack. This may have been the biggest potato-head move of the trip. Apparently, there was a huge sign beside a turn off on the path indicating Eagle Falls. We both had walked right past it. Ashamed and laughing, we hiked down to the falls and it was well worth the extra effort.

Eagle Falls even had a little cave area behind it that we were able to climb into and enjoy the falls from behind the water. The falls were not the largest we had seen on the trip but they were very enjoyable and marked the last of the falls we would see on our vacation.

We hiked back out and drove into the Central time zone on our way to Louisville Kentucky. This is where Ashley's efforts for the vegan options shined.

Dinner was at a place called Zen Garden. We shared some potstickers. I had sesame tofu. Ashley had soft tofu in a black bean sauce. For desert, we split a slice of chocolate peanut butter pie. The potstickers were good and both entrees were decent. I wish mine had more sauce. The pie was extremely dense, almost like eating fudge.


Two buildings down, the Zen Garden has a tea house. We stopped in for a preview and walked out with some cupcakes with green frosting! They were awesome but only a precursor to a day and a half of amazing food in Louisville.

The coolest spot we found in Louisville was Cones and Coneyz, which we drove by because it was juts down the road from the Zen locations. It is an ice cream and hot dog spot, not your usually vegan spot. However, they had vegan dogs and vegan chili! We were so pumped that we got a dog on the spot despite just eating dinner. We had an All American Dog.

After being almost to full to share a single dog, we stopped at a bakery with a few vegan options called Sweet Surrender.  We snatched up an amazing Strawberry cupcake.   It made for a wonderful bedtime snack.

Day Five; kentucky gap falls -5 more states!

Day Five.

Tuesday started out with the abandonment of a stop in Breaks Interstate Park. This stop was mainly on the list as a whitewater rafting opportunity but as it turns out, they were not running this time of the year. At that point, Breaks lost its flare in our minds. Instead, we headed for Cumberland Gap National Historic Park which was about the same distance but closer to out next stop.


This day marked my first trip to Kentucky. Only 5 states left! After a heart 3 hour drive, we arrive in the park. It was not incredibly eventful but we did get a nice little hike in and went to Pinnacle Overlook which was nice. At the overlook, you park in Kentucky, walk into Virgina and look into Tennessee.
After a few hours in the Gap, Ashley and I headed about two hours away to Cumberland Falls State Park where we would stay the night. Cumberland Falls is a massive waterfall on the Cumberland River in south central Kentucky. The park is actually very nice and there were many trails to walk. Additionally, there were a few other falls worth seeing as well. We arrived in time to see the main falls before the sun went down.


A night walk through the park and an early bedtime at the campsite ended a relaxing day. We were at the midway point of our trip and this was a great place to be. We had a big day ahead.

Day Four; piggies, springs, snails, frogs.

Day Four.

Ashley and I got up extra early on Monday so that we could see the pigs eating. We were introduced to all the pigs and even got a brief story about many of them. After another quick walk around the property we headed back to the house for breakfast.

We were served grapefruit and pancakes with soy sausage. I have never been a grapefruit fan but it had been years since I had tried one. I took a breathe and dove it! Minutes later, it was gone. I really enjoyed it. The pancakes were light and fluffy with nice blueberries in them as well. The breakfast was one of the best meals of the trip and a great way to start the day.

Soon after breakfast we headed west. We stopped at a cafe in Lexington Virginia for lunch but I was in potato-head mode and forgot my camera in the car. Then we were off to try and find Falling Spring Falls.


Falling Spring Falls was another late addition to the trip plan. It is not in a state or national park. It is simply at on overlook off a rural route in the mountains of George Washington National Forest. This may have been the most impressive falls I have ever seen. It was amazing. Despite a rugged, ill conceived trail, we hiked to the bottom as well. Shelled snails littered the rocky travel to the bottom on the falls.


We spent several hours enjoying the beauty of the crashing water and the rolling water of the rocks below. We both climbed our way into the falls (which was freezing cold) and even saw a huge crawfish. There was so much mist coming off the falls that it looked like it was raining.
 



Serene would be a good word for this place. Sometimes pictures do not really do a wonder like this justice.When we finally decided to leave we were confronted with several hours of driving around very winding mountain roads all the way to Blacksburg Virginia. Ashley had found a few nice spots for vegan treats starting with a restaurant called Gillie's. This was a strange place. It was advertised on the sign outside as vegetarian but they had a lot of seafood on the menu.

It was a bit of a struggle to find the vegan options but our server was very nice and we believe he did his best with a difficult kitchen staff. Eventually, we got our vegan items. We shared some nachos with vegan cheese, Ashley got Seitan Gado-Gado with a caesar salad and I settled on a seitan and rice veggie burger. I was slightly grumpy since getting a veggie burger seemed like it was not memorable as I had wanted. Luckily, the nachos we fantastic! We tore them up. We also got a slice of their chocolate mouse pie to go, as a bedtime snack.

We rushed out of Gillie's in time to reach Chocolate Spike. They had many varieties of vegan chocolate. I got all sorts of weird shaped chocolates. Turtles, storks, cowboy hat, frog, etc.


We stayed in Blacksburg that night before taking the drive to south east Kentucky the following day. I took us a little while to find a place that we were comfortable with but we managed.

Day Three; falls, snakes, pandas, and pigs

Day Three.

The morning always seems to come earlier when I am in a tent. Maybe it is the inability to close the blinds or the early morning bird or even the anticipation of another day outside. It could even be that I am frugal, buy cheap tents and end up waking up with a thin layer of morning dew on my face. All I know is that it give me more daylight hours to be active and enjoy my precious time away from the day to day.

Ashley and I had made plans to leave Shenandoah that afternoon to follow through with some exciting Sunday night plans! We did a 2 hour hike right after we packed up the tent. It was a nice hike and we even got to see a cool dog on the trail. By the time we left the park we had seen 5 of 10 falls, 3 snakes, dozens of deer, and a skunk.

As it began to rain we exited the park with a few hours to spare, as we opted out of our final hike plan. We were informed that the waterfall was only a slight trickle and the water has mostly dried up.

On a whim, we drove to Richmond Virgina to have a late lunch at Panda Veg. It was a Chinese spot that had an alternate vegan menu. Here in Atlanta we have Chinese Buddha that does the same thing with the double menu. On this trip, I realized how common this is for a restaurant.

We split some insanely spicy noodle dish that neither of us could handle and we also split some vegan crab rangoon. That was not great either but to be honest, I have never had non-vegan crab rangoon before so maybe I just do not like it. Ashley had a spring roll and teriyaki mock chicken. I had some a very interesting dish with mock chicken, veggies and mango in a white sauce. I tried it because I love mango but have trouble being creative with the fruit. This dish gave me some fun ideas.

After out late lunch, we headed back west to complete our Sunday night plans. I think I may have found my dream life. The White Pig Bed and Breakfast. In very rural central Virgina, there is an amazing vegan spot of relaxation.

The White Pig is an all vegan bed and breakfast. It has fun little pig ornaments all around the property and the house is full of character and there were even some amazing and tasty cupcakes for us. There is about a mile of hiking trails on the property, 11 rescued pigs, a horse, a pony, a few dogs, and a number of cats. Ashley spend the first hour or so of our time here running around the house discovering new threats and goodies that had been left for us. It was so much much to see and brought a big smile to my face.



Late in the evening, after settling into the Olive Room, Ashley and I walked around the property and saw a huge black snake slither up a tree, the forth large snake of the trip. One of the owners of the house told us how he was happy to see that snake since it keeps the copperheads away. It gave us little comfort as we had had our fill of the snakes.

As the sun fell, the bats came out and the pond frogs began to chirp. We sat in the hot tub in the backyard relaxing our muscles from the strenuousness of the rugged Shenandoah, while sipping home made lemon-aid. Then we settled in for what would easily the most calm we would find on the entire trip.

I have never been to a bed and breakfast before The White Pig. It was amazing, something I will never forget. I want this is be my life. For years, I have wanted to live in a very rural area on acres of land with distant neighbors. However, I could never give up my desire to cook for people. This could be the long term solution.

The White Pig is fantastic. I can not say enough good things about this place and its residence.

Day Two; hiking falls meadow

Day Two.

We were in Shenandoah National Park by 10am. We were pumped.

Ashley was in charge of making the camp site reservation for this Saturday night. She choose to stay in the campsite called "The Meadow". Shenandoah is heavily forested and high in the mountains but this site happens to be right in the middle of an awesome meadow that was teeming with wildlife. People were literally dodging deer to put their tents up. It was amazing.


We jumped on the first hike before we got to the campsite. Sadly, this resulted in an uneventful waterfall. The hike was nice but the falls overlook was overgrown and the waterfall was difficult to see. There was no way to climb down to the bottom. Wild raspberries were all over the trails and I am not going to lie, several ended up in my mouth. The highlight of this nearly 3 hour hike was at the overlook but it was not the falls. It was the first spot of wildlife. There were three snakes coiled up on the ledge, two of them copperheads and the other was a rat snake. Menacing.


We got to see several outstanding waterfalls throughout the day. From my experience, most National Parks are very tourist friendly, meaning very light hikes and many of the attractions have parking lots and were easy to drive to. Shenandoah did not work quite like that. Many of the hikes were no joke and several miles long. It very nice to be outside in the wooded mountains for so long but it put us in a position that we needed to pick and choose what we would make time for.

One of the best waterfalls of the trip was Dark Hollow Falls. The fall was in three sections and we were even able to climb to the top! It was one of the best waterfalls I have ever seen and as Ashley and I were driving back to Atlanta this fall kept popping into my mind as one of the best parts of the trip.

After several more waterfall hikes including an outstanding 4 hour hike around Rose River Falls we decided to call it a night. Rose River Falls was a nice waterfall but what was more impressive was the several miles of hiking along the river bank.

As the sun began to set, we took our first walk through the meadow. It was awesome. The deer and wild flowers were all around us as the sun set on the mountains. Gorgeous. This is where I got some of the best pictures of the trip.

A good nights sleep under the stars after a long day in the woods set the tone for what we knew was going to be a great adventure.

Dark Hollow Falls

Rose River Falls
Sunset in the Meadow

Day One; cupcakes and sandwiches

I made a huge blog post when Jamie and I returned from vacation last summer and although it was one of my favorite posts, it did not do the trip justice. While driving back to Atlanta today, I decided that this time, I would post about the trip a little different. Each day I am going to post about what Ashley and I did on vacation until I have covered it all. That way, there will be more pictures and more detail, something I wish I had done last year.


Day One.

Just to set the record straight, Ashley is not vegan but would not let me look for any food options as we planned the vacation. She was excited about the idea of surprising me with tasty vegan options through the week. It worked out very well and we had some great food. I am not sure where she found such awesome vegan options in such rural areas but it was an outstanding part of the trip.

The anticipation for Friday, day one, was high but the day was expected to be uneventful since we were going to spend over 8 hours driving from Atlanta to Charlottesville Virginia. The driving was an experience since the car rental place did not have the car I reserved and we ended up driving a huge boat of a car, a Grand Marquis. We were rolling hard!



We did get to stop for lunch in Charlotte North Carolina. The first stop was at The Blushing Bake Shop, where I was surprised with some vegan cupcakes. We had a few chocolate peanut butter cupcakes and some red velvet. This was a very cute little place and they had some awesome looking treats. The cupcakes were a great first stop on the trip. They were unexpected and fantastic, not to mention, we got six and I had a bedtime snack!


Then we were off to ZiZi's Take Out to grab some sandwiches. They only offered take out which was disappointing since we did not really have a place to eat. Eventually we had to pull over on the side of the road and eat in the grass because the sandwiches were messy. They were decent but nothing to sing home about. I got a chicken parm-less, Ashley got a Bufallo chicken sandwich and we shared chicken nuggets. It was a tasty but I was mildly disappointed that the same nuggets that we had as an appetizer, were in my chicken parm-less sandwich. I understand the economical aspect of this for a business but it is still nice to be able to mix it up. It still resulted in a solid vegan lunch spot and a nice opportunity to stretch the legs.



The real highlight of the day came in the form of a reservation that we made for Sunday night. I have some great stories from that day but they will have to wait.

Charlottesville was a bust. The vegan options were mainly limited to a massive chain natural foods store. Oh well, you can not win them all and in all honesty, this may have been the only bust on the entire trip. They night was spent in Charlottesville in preparation for Shenandoah National Park the following day.

Vacationing, sort of..

My first day of vacation saw a lot of work. In fact, I worked all day. After finishing a busy day getting ready for my first closing tomorrow morning, I decided to add some color to my den.

Interestingly, this a room that I only use when I have company and we sit in the muppet-hide chairs and look out the window. However, everyone loves this room, mainly for the fireplace and the wood beams in the ceiling. Up until this week, the walls were just raw sheet rock. As of Monday, they had been primed. As of today, they have color.

Jamie has been my decorating guru. She is amazing at it. Almost everyone that has been in my house has complimented the paint colors. I give her full credit. Anyone who knows me is aware that I would be completely fine with all my walls being bare drywall. Now that it is up, the color is great and it will help me sell it in a few years.

The den is now a very light lavender color. It is really pretty. It is by far the best color I have painted so far. I am a sucker for purple, all the way back to when I was a kid playing basketball in the dirt driveway in deep purple sweatpants. I was a bad ass. Even to this day, my bed sheets are purple and so are my favorite pair of boxers.

With the den painted and a closing completed, I will feel much better about not accomplishing much on my vacation. I leave Friday morning so there will not be any posts for a bit.

Now that I am actually on vacation, I get to eat a bedtime snack. I think I earned it! Yummy ice cream. I cheated and did not make it myself.

Primed!

I realized the other day that my choice to leave town on my vacation is mildly irresponsible. Do not get me wrong, I am excited to go and can not wait to leave. However, I have so much to do around the house that I could use a week or so off. In order to feel like I was getting at least something done, I primed my den today. It was a lot of work but it needed to be done. I hope to get some color on the walls before I leave. We shall see.

There has really been no food in the works. Sadly, I wish I had more people in my life to cook for and more time to cook. Oh well. I have just been eating simple, pre-packaged one player foods.


Only 2 more days until I can eat a bedtime snack! I have not cheated once. I have to admit that after these long hours at work, I have been temped to have a snack to relax when I get home. I feel good about it though and am glad I did it.

V action in 2 days! I will be in the Shenandoah in just 4 days! I am excited! White water rafting, hiking, photography, caving, it will be great!

Fried Okra with Corn and Cumin Seeds

It has been a monstrous few days. I have been working about 12 hour days between my jobby job and the real estate business. It has kept me just under what I require for sleep and it has caught up to me. I have been eating mainly quick foods that require little to no preparation.

The good news, I had a day off today. I did some relaxing, planning, and a little cooking with Ashley. She has never had riblets so we made those and some nice county potato salad with a mango smoothie. I also made a nice okra dish.


Fried Okra with Corn and Cumin Seeds

2/3 pound of okra
1/3 cup of corn
2 tablespoons of oil
1 tablespoon of onion (sliced)
1 tablespoon of cumin seeds
1 tablespoon of cilantro (chopped)
1/2 tablespoon of garlic (chopped)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of jalapeno pepper (chopped)
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric

In a saute pan, bring the oil to low heat. Add the garlic, jalapeno, cumin seeds, and onion and allow to fry for 4-5 minutes. The onion should still be firm. Add the okra (i used whole okras but you can chop them) and cook until the okra is soft (about 10 minutes). Once the okra is soft, add the corn, salt, turmeric, and cilantro. Allow another 4-5 minutes of fry for the flavors to meld.


This came out really nice. It was actually kind of refreshing despite the heaviness. The corn gave it a great sweet flavor and cut the earthiness from the okra.

The great news, my vacation from the jobby job starts in 4 days! Ashley and I leave for Shenandoah National Park in 7 days! I am excited for this trip. It should be a lot of fun.