Budget Minded Modernist
The new August 1st start date for school ended our summer a little early this year. When we got back from Maine, we hit the ground running, and I feel like I’m finally starting to get a handle on things as we settle into the school year. Here are a ton of snaps from the end of the summer..mostly the magic that is Maine, and a few back home taking Otto to his first concert…Woofstock.
There’s so much, yet nothing really to share these days.
We took a trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park to camp…you know how much I love the mountains, and these are no exception. We took a few back roads through some small towns for fun…and to avoid driving through Pigeon Forge.
I love the architecture of the observation tower at the top of Clingman’s Dome. Designed by Hubert Bebb and built in 1960, it is still a wonderful way to enjoy the views above the treeline.
As the highest point on the Appalachian trail, the 360° vista, if you’re lucky enough to get it without full cloud cover, is absolutely breathtaking. We had a cloud roll in and envelop us completely at one point, but the winds were strong enough to move it through so the show continued.
It may be a bit shabby, but I hope they continue to preserve such a well thought out and functional gem. I worry it will be torn down and replaced by something…else.
I woke up to see Thing Two had rolled off his air mattress in the night….
Campfire time = glow bracelet fun.
The CC taped a bunch of bracelets to a hiking stick to create the glow staff of cool……
The weather was perfect, not too hot with evenings cool enough to sit by the fire. On the last day, the Things hit up a roadside ice cream stand and the next 5 days at home were, well..pretty awful. Both of them down with food poisoning. Everyone is fine now, but it was rough for awhile. In the middle of all this, Otto decided to throw up some of those hickory nuts he seems so fond of… in our bedroom. I may have briefly considered running out of the house screaming.
Upside: A fawn was born in our absence, as we spotted a newborn in our compost pile the day after we returned! Baby owls are out and screeching pathetically.
I am a bit down though, because of this.
I guess it’s time to pack up the outdoor cushions until October. Summer is over already and we’ll be stuck inside with heat advisories the rest of the time school is out down here. Luckily we plan to visit somewhere cooler before school starts again, but I’ll miss our time outside in Nashville.
Seeing as we’re a bit partial to treehouses, we were really excited to go and see the Treehouse exhibit at Cheekwood Botanic Gardens Thursday night. There was a competition held among local designers and architects, and the best seven submissions were chosen to be built. Each treehouse is designed to represent one great work of literature.
All of them are extremely well done, and they are a joy to visit. I had three that I gravitated to more than the others. I’m betting you can guess which ones.
There is a full explanation of each work represented by each treehouse here.
First up is The Giver
Walden Treehouse
Conch House
The Rainbow Fish
The Jolly Roger
Up and Down Again, A Hobbit’s Tale
Ocean of Notions
If you are a local, or coming to the area…check it out. They will remain on the property until September 3rd 2012.
Sorry I’ve been out of touch…Instagram followers know why.
Photo by Thing One
We spent a week in Colorado teaching the kids that it is indeed possible to ski on a sheet of ice with slush on top, but you just might fall more.
Due to the Spring slope conditions, we made sure we got up early to be the first to hit the slopes….
…because by the afternoon, things were melting fast.
There was also a day for tubing!
We decided to spend Friday geocaching in Vail, but we didn’t ski there…just milled about among all the fancy folk. Breckenridge is more our kind of place, with little to no gold lamé and bedazzled ski suits. Aspen and Vail can have all that and I won’t mind, I promise.
No groovy 70’s conversation pit this time, instead we went with log cabin rustic.
Photo by Thing Two
One the way back to the airport, we stopped at Red Rocks….
So that we could feel completely worthless watching all the superfit locals running up and down the amphitheater when we were gasping for air just to get up to the stage. Ah, altitude.
We also passed one of my favorite I-70 sightings, the “Sleeper House”. I’ve always wanted to go inside.
Those are terrible blurry photos taken while driving, but there’s more info on this little gem here.
Photo by Patrick Young
I may be spotty for awhile longer as I have family in town for a week, and Thing Two’s birthday slumber party with 9 (gasp) boys. Mayhem will be the norm around here for a bit.
Have a great weekend!
We’re back and busting it big time to get prepped for Saturday’s Haunted Forest. I will try to do better with photos this year..seriously, I’ll try my best. Quick recap of some of the highlights of our trip.
Our excursion to Chichen Itza was as amazing and beautiful as I’d heard it would be. It was also exhausting, not from the steamy mix of heat and rain and endless hours walking around the ruins, but from having Tracy Flick in my tour group of only six people. BTW, Tracy was a burly Canadian. He knows more than you..about EVERYTHING.
Our group was comprised of 3 couples, Tracy and his long suffering wife, us, and a nice Australian couple. The drive out to the ruins (and back) is a couple of hours, so there’s plenty of time to get to know each other. We knew we were in trouble about 10 minutes in…7:45 am. When we pulled into the hotel at 9:00 that evening, we were quite relieved we made it through the day without causing any bodily harm. You’d be proud that I lasted until almost noon before I politely asked him to please let our guide answer my question, since I’d like to hear what the native expert has to say on the subject of Mayan customs. I was quietly thanked later by the grateful Aussies.
So we felt secure about our passports and such with a safe in the room….
…but it’s not the most reassuring amenity of the room.
We went to an outdoor market to pick up something fun for the Things…..
…and we found Mexican wrestling masks. Well, we had to try them on to make sure they were suitable quality..no? Watch out Rey Mysterio….
Cancun is not our scene…AT ALL. But we enjoyed exploring the Yucatan and getting the hell out of the hotel zone.
OK, time to get back to work, I have more bats to glue….
The CC and I stole away from the Things for a little alone time, and a belated milestone anniversary celebration. The CC loves the beach and really wanted to go to one…but in October? Not the best time to go beaching on a budget. After much research and Shatnerizing our best price, we decided on a hurricane special in the Yucatan. It’s raining now, so it’s living up to the hype, but it’s all good.
I always love a good foreign mag when traveling, and this Marie Claire México y América Latina did not disappoint. I don’t speak Spanish…I Spanglish, er Manglish my through the markets with the accidental French word thrown in just to make sure no one knows what the hell I’m on about. I hope that if they get too annoyed with me they’ll lower the price enough just to get rid of me. That said…I can tell you everything about what’s news in Marie Claire land.
My expert translation of the sensacional article in here to you is – Latin American Males between the ages of 20 and 30 may, or may not be impotent, and may, or may not be having affairs. They are also having too much sex, or not enough…
Estoy perdida, my friends…and stay thirsty.
