Katy and I are getting ready to play tennis in Blowing Rock Park

As I mentioned before, Blowing Rock has a variety of shops, inns, and restaurants, that makes this town so enjoyable.  First, the restaurants.  The Speckled Trout Cafe is located at the entrance of the city on Main Street.  With the Highland area being such a trout fisherman’s delight, the Speckled Trout Cafe gives it’s patrons a variety of trout recipes that celebrate it’s namesake.  Another excellent place to go is Canyons.  Canyons is located on a ridge that has one of the best overlooks of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the state.  A tip here would be to go early, take your time, and sit on the porch to enjoy such wonderful scenery.  The food is more southwestern based, and they do a fair job with it.  Of the combination of scenery and food, the Canyons is a must go in my book.

The Green Park Inn was Blowing Rock's most famous hotel for over a century, but has recently closed. It is a beautiful facility, that is in need of some repair.

Outside of Blowing Rock you can spend a day or two exploring the area.  With Beech Mountain and several ski resort areas 30-45 minutes away, you can see more of the area and have a better understanding of the region’s beauty.  Other than natural scenery, Blowing Rock has a small outlet mall, an outdoor store (Footsloggers), and a variety of small shops that sell handbags, shoes, rugs, and clothing.  Another thing that is enjoyable in the town is to spend time in the park.  Located right off of Main Street, the park welcomes people of all ages.  You can rent basketballs or tennis gear for free, and the park is open until midnight daily.

The view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from Canyons Restaurant.

Finally, every mid-afternoon and throughout the evening, the Blowing Rock scene is at Kilwin’s Ice Cream shop.  The ice cream maker and fudgery has a consistent line out the door during the warmer days, but moves quickly.  It has a large variety of ice creams, fudges, and candies. Overall, the there entertainment value of Blowing Rock is what you make of it.  There is more than enough to do, or if you are looking to a more relaxing experience it can also offer plenty of places to sit and people watch.

Katy and I exploring at Sunset Tee's and Hattery a Blowing Rock shop.

One of Blowing Rock's many alleyways.

While I was growing up my parents seemed to enjoy taking two small trips, instead of one big one.  This one ideal can be completely understood by visiting Blowing Rock, North Carolina.  A quaint village in northwestern North Carolina, Blowing Rock has a population of around 1,500 people (according to the 2000 census).  With numerous shops, quiet streets, and wonderful scenery, it fully embraces and celebrates its Blue Ridge mountainous home.

Katy and I outside at the original Mast General Store.

Until recently, I had not been to Blowing Rock or Boone in about ten or so years.  I remembered it fondly, and still had a t-shirt from the Speckled Trout Cafe on Main Street (a great place to get high country trout).  My parents had decided that they were going to go back this summer, and my wife and I wanted to join.  As the weeks led up to our trip I told Katy of how great the scenery was, and that the region extinguishes any busy or fast-paced temperaments.  Sure enough, my memory did not disappoint.

Blowing Rock has numerous inns and motels that seem to be straight out of the 1950s.  Incredibly well-kept, the inns around the village are great places to stay, but prices are less than competitive.  With that in mind and the small size of the town, we try to vary our trip as much as possible.  Although we stay in Boone (eight miles from Blowing Rock), we still call Blowing Rock home base.  However, by staying in Boone, we are able to drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway; visit Beech, Sugar, and Grandfather Mountains; go to Valle Crucis, home of the Mast General Store; and be near the city of Boone, which also has a very unique downtown.

Downtown Blowing Rock

Over the next few posts I’ll try to venture into some of the small things that makes this region of the country so wonderful to visit, but before I post any more pictures we decided to bring a piece of our trip home in a very different way.

For over a year now, my wife and I have been wanting to get a dog.  Living in a condo, this can be challenging, but fortunately we had a little push in the right direction.  The Watagua County Humane Society was having a rummage sale that we ventured into, and it was there we met our dog.  About a year old, this Basset Mix, was friendly, calm, and incredibly endearing.  Although we were away from home, we wanted him and full of spontaneity, we took him home.  With the help of our travel partners (thanks mom and dad!) we got Boone back to Nashville and ready to live with us.

Our dog Boone

Boone making himself at home. Little did he know, he was making himself too at home.

Katy and I outside the Speckled Trout Cafe

The Valle Crucis Post Office inside the Mast General Store

The family enjoying Blowing Rock's Park

This past week my friend Nathan and I took a trip to his hometown of St. Louis to see his family and catch a couple of Cardinals games. It was a wonderfully hot weekend that was great to endure. Friday we moseyed up to St. Louis from Nashville and almost immediately went to Busch Stadium to see the Cardinals take on the Minnesota Twins. The game was good, close, but unfortunate for those of us wearing the Cardinal red.

However, the next day was quite an upgrade from the night before (in more ways than one). Saturday was the hottest day of the summer for St. Louis. A balmy ninety-eight degrees at game time, Nathan had gained two tickets to the Bank of America All-Star suite. Being able to get in and out of the heat, in style, was a welcoming treat.

The game was scheduled for a 12:15 start, and like any avid fan, we arrived at 10:15 to get the most out of our experience. While enjoying the plushness of the suite, we also enjoyed watching Albert Pujols, the best player in baseball, hit two home runs and power the Cardinals to a victory that circumvented a sweep by the Cardinals’ 1987 World Series foes.

After game we went back to his parents’ home and went out to dinner and Ted Drewe’s frozen custard. Although I had been to St. Louis many times before, it was my first time to Ted Drewe’s. Being such a hot day it was as packed as I had ever seen an eating establishment, but in successful restaurant fashion, the lines moved quickly and we were served an excellent product. Overall, a fun day that I will not soon forget.

Here are some pictures from our trip. Most of which were not sight-seeing, but fun family pictures.

Katy and I after graduation.

Jow, Andrew and Aunt Beth

Andrew trying to be intimidating

Mom, Nana, Aunt Beth, and Uncle Tim.

Katy was excited about Joseph and Andrew's hometown.

Joe, Andrew, Katy and I.

A few posts ago I mentioned that even though Mexico had its numerous political, health, and tourism problems, that my wife and I were bravely going to endure the hardships for the sake of travel. Well, that’s not quite what happened. First, I did write that post before the Swine Flu was at pandemic levels, and there was another event during that same time that my wife and I were really wanting to attend. Being the trip insurance buyers that we are, we exercised our policy and changed our trip to venture to Katy, Texas (just west of Houston) to see my cousin Joseph graduate from High School and watch him compete in the High School State Championships for pole vaulting.

The first thing that we did was only tell one person: my aunt Beth. Joseph, Andrew (both my cousins), and my parents (who were also making the trip) did not know that Katy and I would be there. Once we arrived, my aunt picked us up and we went to surprise both Andrew and Joseph. It was great to surprise people that you love and not to have something be about yourself. We were there for family, most importantly Joseph; or as we called it, “Joe Day ’09.”

Though most of the family was not to arrive until Friday, we went on a Wednesday to get a little more time with the Joseph, Andrew, and Beth, before the real craziness began. During those two days we were there to spend time with the boys. However, once Friday came, so did the family. My parents, my grandmother, and others flew into to Houston and all met at my great-aunt’s home for dinner. However, this is where we were able to give our biggest surprise to my mom and dad, to whom we had said good-bye to only days before due to the fact that we were “going to Cancun.”

Overall, it went incredibly well and we felt so blessed that we were able to spend time with our family, give them a fun surprise, and watch Joseph accomplish a big milestone in his life. I’ll post a part two later this week discussing some other parts of the trip.

My father always had an amazing knack for photography.  No matter the place of travel, my father carried his Pentax SLR camera body and lenses with him.  Often going through an array of backpacks, camerapacks, and fannypacks; he made sure that the camera made it on the trip.  My mom and I occasionally would try and take pictures with smaller film cameras and then digital cameras, but dad’s professional grade equipment always reigned supreme (and it always made for an interesting trip through security at airports!). Of course Dad upgraded to a Digital SLR over time, and it has been a wonderful travel edition for him as well for those of us in the pictures.

With my wife and I now being finished with another school year, we were scrutinizing over what to do and where to go throughout the summer. With our anniversary upcoming, we wanted to be wise in our discerning of summer plans.  My wife and I agreed that our first “big” summer check on the agenda should be a DSLR Camera, and we have already been so very pleased.  After going to London and then Prague with an acceptable camera, I cannot wait to take our new travel accessory on our summer adventures.  Having good pictures, whether capturing a memory or going for a more artistic and aesthetic appeal, can make a good trip great and the financial hit more of a financial pat.

The camera we purchased was a Nikon D40 kit.  It came with a camera body, a 18-55mm lens, a 55-200mm lens, a 2 gig memory card, case, and several instructional DVDs.  After spending a little over a week with the camera, and taking over five hundred pictures, we feel comfortable in using the camera and are incredibly pleased with its capturing capabilities. Hopefully, I will be able to add higher quality of photographs as the posts come along.

First, I apologize for the lack of writing the past few weeks.  As a school teacher, this is by far the busiest time of year and had to take a brief hiatus from many extracurriculars.  Nevertheless, this summer should induce me to more consistent writing.

In the latest issue of Conde-Nast Traveler, there is a brief one-page summary of the battle of the Smart Phones.  The magazine placed three reporters in the middle of Moscow to complete several tasks via their resources (i.e. smartphones).  One reporter was given the Blackberry Bold, another the Iphone, and the last no smartphone at all, just traditional guidebooks.  Throughout the few days they are there, the reporters are given various tasks, and recorded the time it took to complete it using their resources.  It is very interesting to see the results of where technology can both hinder and help.  Not having a smartphone myself, I was interested to see the results.

The tasks they had to complete were the following:
- Find a hotel with no assistance for less than $300 a night
- Find dinner at an affordable restaurant that is a local favorite
- Visit the Diamond Vaults at the Kremlin
- Take the subway to the Izmailovsky Bazaar and buy a handicraft.
- Find the best pelmeni (a type of dumpling) in town.
- See a live performance.
- Find a pharmacy at midnight and buy aspirin.
- Visit the home of a notable dead Russian.
- Find a good bar and try a new Vodka.

The final results were the Blackberry Bold – 2; Iphone – 2; Tech Free – 5.

Overall, I found this very intriguing.  I had a Blackberry, own a mac, and never have used a phone for travel needs, but it was very reassuring that some of these traditional practices surpass the tech trends.  After reading the report it seems that it was often much quicker to ask someone at a hotel where something was than to spend time looking something up online.  The winner credited her success to the kindness of strangers. Pretty cool, considering that twenty years ago they would have been the bitterest of rivals.

Back in March I found this article on in-flight entertainment systems, and found it rather interesting.  It seems that these days entertainment is part of the enjoyment (and frustration) of flight.  Throughout high school and college it seemed the most flights only allowed you to watch what everyone on the plane was watching.  Even as late as 2006, I did not have the privilege of choosing my own entertainment when I flew from Istanbul to New York.

However, times have quickly changed.  With every kid from age seven and up carrying an Ipod that has music, picture, video, and gaming capabilities. Now most major airlines boast of their own unique inflight entertainment systems as part of the airline’s experience. The advertise new release movies, satellite radio, and even free games that are spin offs of the classics (i.e. Pacman and Dr. Mario).  Although I absolutely love having the options of these luxuries, I wondered how it worked for the airlines.  Not the mechanical workings, but the capability of continued success in individual programming for so many.

In January I wrote a review of Air Canada where I briefly mention the failures of it’s system, but this USA Today article also gives new insight into some of the problems airlines have also experienced.

Here is our group on the field at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.

One of the most enjoyable weeks at my school is our annual Week Without Walls.  This is a week that gives students the ability to study a non-traditional academic (usually a favorite subject of a teacher) for a full week.  The lessons and activities are geared towards taking students outside of the classroom and allowing them to learn through hands-on activities and meeting a variety of people in the field of study.  Most of all, it allows kids to travel and explore outside of Franklin, Tennessee.

I am sitting on Mike Shannon's (interesting) seat where he calls the games. Shannon is the Cardinals' longtime broadcaster and former player. He sits on the red ball due to a back problem.

This past week my group studied the sports industry.  We met with administrators of the St. Louis Cardinals, Tennessee Titans, Nashville Predators, and Vanderbilt Commodores.  Throughout the week students took note of facilities, advertisements, marketing strategies, and organizational history.  During each meeting our students were allowed time for questioning that were either academic or curious.

Personally this week was amazing!  Our group had a private tour of the Sommet Center (where the Nashville Predators play), LP Field (Titans), Busch Stadium (Cardinals), and the Vanderbilt Athletic facilities.  However, the highlight of the week was a two night trip to St. Louis.  The trip encompassed two baseball games and meetings with St. Louis Cardinals administration.  With both private and paid tours of the stadium,  we were able to go on the field, into the dugouts, and explore the beautiful red brick stadium.  We also saw two Cardinals’ victories and the week ended as a big success for student and teacher alike.

Most of our group in the top of the Arch, 630 feet above ground.

While in St. Louis we stayed at the Millenium Hotel.  The hotel’s location is phenomenal, but the quality of the rooms was more than lacking.  If this hotel did some minor upgrades it could be the best deal in the city, but next time I will more than likely stay at one of its geographical competitors and pay a little more for cleanliness.  I was also able to take the group to Union Station.  Architecturally beautiful, the old building now encompasses a Marriot hotel, and a small shopping facility.  It is a tourist hub, a neat place to visit, and has the best Cardinals paraphernalia around.

Here are a few pictures from our time:

Here is the group in the Cardinals' dugout.

Busch Stadium just before batting practice.

Although alone, it was nice to have this picture to myself.

Too bad there are not more signs like this...

One of my biggest goals when I travel is not to be noticed.  I do not mind if some can see that I am an American, or that they think I do not look local.  Either way you can avoid so many frustrations and dangers by understanding your the culture that you are visiting and being prepared for your place.  Remember that the less you are noticed by the locals, the less you are noticed by the pickpockets and other con-artists.  With this in mind, here is a good article on some of the world’s worst cultural mistakes.

Yahoo Travel