Whirlwind of Adventure Pt2

Wow, it has been a little while since I have taken the time to write. Last I left off I was leaving DC on my way back to Michigan. In a way it will always be one of my homes, I have several of them. There is the "Home is where you hang your hat." which has been in many places for me. My personal favorite is "Home is where the heart is." which is currently far away from me. But I will probably always consider Kalamazoo a home of mine. Now, I was not born there, I didn't even grow up there, but I have a lot of friends and great memories there. Last there is my parents house which will always feel like home because I am so welcomed whenever I make it there.

Anyway, I am going to try to keep this a little brief since I have quite a bit to go over. Also, because it was a while ago now and I don't remember the details all that well. Right, Home, Michigan. Saw my parents and some other family. Being around them reminds me all the time that I am lucky, I have a great family, They are just really good people and help me remember to be a good person too. I stopped by Kalamazoo and got to see a few friends for a night. On my way out of town I had breakfast with two of my best friends (whenever possible make sure to see your best friends, it will always be fulfilling) and on our way we went. My wonderful girlfriend and I were finding out if we were right about being great road trip partners. Yes, yes we are.

We head south, our destination, Mammoth Cave National Park. After many hours of driving, we arrive well into the night, we get right to business. She starts the fire while I setup the tent and get the sleeping quarters arranged. We open some wine and relax while prepping dinner by headlamp. I don't remember everything but I know we had some great steaks and cheese stuffed peppers. It was a great night, but then the cold began setting in. I often think about what the weather will be like and many times I will research it. This time I made a slight error in judgment, I figured we were in the south so therefore it will be warm. Well..... I was wrong, I don't know where the thermometer bottomed out but i believe it was somewhere around 15-20 degrees. Being the gentleman I am I gave my girlfriend the 0 degree sleeping bag and I took the lighter one, I am also much better at staying warm, so it was just logical. Obviously I survived and in the morning we made a great breakfast of eggs and bacon over a campfire again, it is my favorite way to have them. We had to get back to Atlanta by the
end of the night so we did not have a whole lot of time for investigating the park. We drove thru and did a lot of looking around. I also had my first experience being in a car on a ferry, it was neat. On this day they were doing the basic Mammoth Cave tour for free and we arrived at a perfect time so we jumped right in. It was a really nice cave, and yes it was mammoth, but the guides were also very nice and quite informative. Afterward we were hungry again so we stopped by the cafe and had a meal, it was good but nothing amazing. We went on a short walk after, then decided we were both a little tired from crazy amounts of traveling and we wanted to be back home. So off we went... I do have to say that I hope to find time to return some day because there is a lot there to explore and it seemed like it would be a lot of fun.

Less than a week later we were off again. This time to upstate Georgia. A while ago we found a great deal on a resort. It was about 1/3 of its usual rate and sounded like a great place to get away and relax. It was nice, but I think it was really worth closer to what we paid than its usual going rate. Upsides; great food at the restaurant, its right next to a nice lake which I'm told is very pretty when the sun rises over it, there is a fun country bar just around the side of the lake, they set out
smores and have campfires in the evening, and everything is pretty clean. Downsides; almost the entire staff needs to go to charm school and be trained to do their job with the exception of one waiter, it seems rural but is right next to a moderately busy road, and it seems we were not the only ones to find this deal because the place was pretty packed and the grounds aren't really big enough for the amount of people they can occupy. We had a very nice time and went off one of the days and found a nice little Georgia Winery, had a tour and then took a bottle of wine on a nice walk of the grounds. We found a nice little spot on the far side of the pond to sit and relax and a couple local puppy dogs came by to keep us company. All told, It was a great little getaway. Then it was home again, home again.

Next time I will tell stories of New Orleans and a couple parts of South Carolina. But, that's for Whirlwind of Adventure Pt 3...

"Experience is the teacher of all things."
~Julius Caesar