Rocks, claustrophobia, and near-death experiences

Well, I'm at it again! Off on a Buggy Road Trip, this time to Hiawassee, GA and then a quick stop home (ATL - for those that are new to the blog/don't know me - I consider Atlanta home, even though I only lived there 3 1/2 years from ages 6 to 9) before heading back to Memphis.

Since I'm so used to driving to ATL from Memphis, I didn't even think about the fact I wouldn't be going through Birmingham on this trip. Once OnStar started guiding me towards Nashville, I was like "Ohhh yeah, Chattanooga, then through the mountains of North Carolina/GA to Hiawassee."

Once I got on the other side of Nashville, and started seeing the See Rock City signs every half mile - for those that have never made this drive, this is an exaggeration... but not much of one - the wheels started cranking. I have this brand new camera to play with. Surely Rock City would give me opportunity to experiment.

Now, let me pause in our story to tell you a bit about my childhood. Even though we lived in Memphis (and ATL for those 3 1/2 years), I feel like I grew up in East TN. We spent summers on the lake, made trips to Gatlinburg and Chattanooga regularly, and I swear I have more memories at Nana's house in Rockwood than I do at ours in Memphis.

But I don't remember ever going to Rock City.

So I sent my older sister a text, as I knew she and the kids had just gone not too long ago, asking if it was worth it. Factoring in my DEATHLY fear of heights. She assured me it was, and that there were ways to avoid the lookouts on the trails. Cool. Decision made. 

Now, had I know what I was in for, I may have remembered to also ask her to factor in my slight claustrophobia as well. It's not horrible. It's just when I get into spaces something is touching both my front and back that I start to find it hard to breathe. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you "Fat Man Squeeze". The entrance is by far the widest part of the pathway. See the entrance below. See the child almost taking up the full space. I repeat, see the CHILD... you get the idea. Disclaimer: I stole this pic from Google images. I was panicking too much to snap pictures while entering.

Now, I will openly admit I had several small panic attacks while going through the park. That being said, overall I really enjoyed it. I think the fact I was focusing on what would make good pictures, it was a good distraction. Claustrophobia aside, I've always been fascinated with caves. I think it spawns from visiting the Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal, MO. If you've never visited there: HIGHLY recommend. So weaving through little rock passages was a lot of fun. By far my favorite was the rainbow passage. 

This also happens to be one of the best pictures I got, or at least in my opinion. Maybe because it spoke to me so much, I'm partial to the pictures as well.

The picture I am most proud of is at Lover's Leap. Not because it's a spectacular picture. It's ok. But I had to go out onto a lookout to get it. I was shaking so bad, I'm surprised it came out clear. I had to lean against the rail just to trust myself to lift the camera over my face. But I did it. For art.

If you'd like to flip through some of the other shots I got, visit the Photobucket album below.

Overall review - if you're not scared of heights or claustrophobic: GO NOW. Beautiful. If you are either or both with the heights/close quarters, still consider going. Just mentally prepare yourself first. You can avoid SOME of the heights. You cannot avoid the tight paths. Just keep that in mind before making plans.

Time to wrap up. What's that? You didn't understand the near-death part of my title? Oh, right. There's that.

I was leaving Rock City. Turned on the windy road that takes you back down Lookout Mountain. The very first curve: no trees, no guard rail, nothing in your line of sight other than*:

*this pic was taken while I was in the park, but is pretty accurate to the height I was at for this part of the story

So that's all I see that I'm going towards. I've heard of tunnel vision before, but never experienced it until today. All my brain/eyes saw was that descent. There was no road, other cars, etc. Just me heading towards my biggest fear. And that's when things got REALLY scary. 

I got really lightheaded (normal for me with heights), then my vision started going blurry/dark. 

In a moving vehicle. Towards a cliff.

I did the only thing I could think of. Stopped the car.

In the middle of a road. With multiple cars behind me.

But that's all I could think of to do to save me going over the edge. Literally. I looked down at the floor of the car, my vision came back, and I took that turn at 10 mph. There was a pulloff to the right so slow traffic can let other cars pass. I pulled in there, and just sat for what seemed like 5 minutes, but likely was more like 1-2 at most. Once I couldn't see any cars coming, I pulled back out, and the rest of the drive down the view out was guarded by trees, so I managed to somewhat pull it back together and drive over 20 mph. 

I know parts of Lookout (Rock City) are in GA and parts are in Chattanooga, so I don't know if this near-death occurrence was in GA or TN. If it was in TN... it must be an East TN thing. It was a full-on mud & sticks moment. Only family/close friends will get that reference, but basically I almost drowned in the lake when I was like 2. Regardless, I'm still here and kicking - and have more adventures tomorrow to look forward to!

Buggy's Road Trip, Day 2 & 3!

And onward we go! Thankfully not over any major bridges after this one leaving Evansville.

Day 2! And the longest drive of the trip. Anyone close to me knows I am not really phased by road trip driving, so anything up to about 10 hours seems easy to tackle. After 10 hours, I'll still do it - but I'll put a LOT more planning into it. Maybe scoping out a hotel or two just in case I get too tired to do the full drive in one sitting. This drive, however, was pretty standard at 6 hours.

The plan was to head to the hotel first, so I could get checked in, drop my stuff off, etc. and then go hit the town for the rest of the day. Alas, I did not plan on being stuck trying to get through Pigeon Forge for over an hour. It's a 4-mile stretch. So frustrating. I just wanted to pick up the cars and go. I understand there's a traffic light every .25 mile but here's the thing. If you actually pay attention to the lights changing, and don't block the intersections so crossing cars can't get through, and don't slow down to look at everything you pass... magical things will happen, and we'll all make it through in a matter of minutes, not hours!

Sorry... I may have been slipping into a bit of PTRR (post-traumatic road rage) there...

So, by the time I got to the hotel and got settled it was almost 6:00. I knew I was going to have to drop a bunch of my planned stops from the list. However, the two things that could NOT be missed were the aquarium, and Hillbilly Golf. It had been YEARS since I'd visited Gatlinburg, but I feel like I grew up there we went so much as kids, so planning my route of attack was easy. The aquarium was next door to my hotel, so it was stop #1. 

Speaking of my hotel, the view from my balcony was not too shabby!

Maybe I'm a bit biased, being that the Georgia Aquarium is my favorite (doesn't hurt that it's in ATL), but when I saw a billboard that this aquarium had been voted #1 in the country by visitors on TripAdvisor, or some site like that, I was like WAIT, WHAT?! It's a nice aquarium, but given what I know about Georgia Aquarium, this kind of shocked me. So I thought, "Maybe they've added on to it since the last time I was here." Paid for my ticket, and in I went!

After spending a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time, and a loooooooooooooot of pictures in the Shark Lagoon (sharks are pretty special to me & my family), I made my way through the rest of the aquarium, and found myself at the gift shop. I was like "Wait... did I miss something?" I swear it seemed bigger years ago. I circled back to make sure I didn't miss a hallway somewhere and sure enough, that was it. Not saying it wasn't fun, it just shocked me I got through it so fast. I'm still convinced I missed a turn somewhere. But anyway - I wandered around the gift shop for a while, picked out my obligatory souvenirs, and proceeded to stop #2: SHOPPING.

Sidenote: Georgia Aquarium, still the best. Not up for debate.

Here are some of my pictures from the aquarium (seriously, if I had uploaded all of the shark pictures I took, you'd spend the rest of your day clicking through... or maybe just delete me from your life). 

So, to the shops I went! 

Found some good laughs along the way (click to make larger)

How I ever rode this, even with Daddy holding my hand, I have no idea...

And of COURSE, had to get an airbrushed shirt!

After nabbing a few finds here and there, I passed one of those aqua massage places, and decided to stop and try it. After a night of dancing, my legs were definitely making me aware that I am not as young as I used to be. Plus, I've been having a lot of migraines/tension headaches from stress, so I thought this might help. Overall opinion: good for minor aches/pains/soreness, not very effective for major tension (like I have in my neck/shoulders). But my legs felt great when I got done. I hit a few more shops, then decided I was ready for dinner. My review of the restaurant I ended up at (Loco Burro on the Parkway): I asked for a to-go box and my check when my meal FINALLY came out. I could rant and rave, but that sums it up pretty accurately. A couple next to me ended up leaving, having never even been asked what they wanted to drink after sitting there for about 15-20 minutes. So I'd highly recommend you go elsewhere to eat if you're ever in town. The only good part was my jackass stool, which you'll see in the Gatlinburg gallery below. I decided to head back to my room (it was after 10:00 at this point), and try and salvage my evening by relaxing, and then getting a decent night's sleep.

Day 3! The main mission of the day was Hillbilly Golf. Easily my favorite memory of Gatlinburg, going there as kids, and even as an adult years later. SO much fun. Mini golf in general is usually very enjoyable, but Hillbilly Golf is a whole 'nother level. You ride a tram up the hill, then play your way back down. Through farm equipment obstacles, nonetheless. I was notoriously the worst at this (not just Hillbilly Golf, any course we played) growing up, so I prepared myself for a horrible scorecard. Made it through the first 6 or so holes with a decent score (I think I was 1 over par), and caught up to a family of 6 that was nice enough to let me play through. They said "Ok, show us how it's done!" I joked with them that I was not their source for play techniques, lined my ball up, hit it... and HOLE IN ONE!!! Hahaha, apparently I perform well under pressure. Got cocky, bragged about it on social media, and two holes later... got a 4 on a par 2. It's a long way to fall from the top, people. Final score: 1 under par. I'm framing my scorecard.

Up next was the Hollywood Wax Museum. Most of the story is in the pictures in the gallery below, but I will tell you this - if you've got the time, go! Many of the figures don't look like the celebrity, but there a lot of good ones in there. And even though I was by myself, I felt like I was there with a big group, because everyone was laughing at people's silly poses for pictures and taking pictures for other people, etc. A lot of fun. Now for the funny-to-everyone-but- me part. I paid the extra $9 for the All-Access pass. This gave you access to the other attractions associated with the museum, plus access to the third floor with observatory deck. That's exactly how it was described to me. The outside of the building is the Empire State Building, with King Kong on the side of it. So on the deck, you're right up next to his face. 

Now, maybe I should preface the next part of this story by telling (or reminding) you that I am absolutely terrified of heights. I get weak in the knees & dizzy. So I'm thinking "the third floor with observatory deck" might have a few more statues, plus the deck. I get on the elevator, punch my access code in, the doors open, and: BOOM, YOU ARE OUTSIDE IN OPEN AIR WITH AN OPEN RAILING TO THE FALL TO YOUR DEATH DOWN BELOW. There was a crowd of people waiting to go back downstairs, so I stepped out and let them on to the elevator, the doors shut behind me, and I glued myself to the wall, punching the crap out of the elevator button to call it back. To try and distract myself while I waited, I snapped a couple pictures out at the mountain (sometimes it helps me to look out, instead of down). That didn't help. I started sweating. WHAT WAS TAKING SO LONG?! I was desperately trying to grip the walls with my fingers. Alas, they would not sink in. Just as I thought I might have a panic attack, or faint, the doors finally opened and I ran in to safety. In actuality, this probably all only took maybe a minute or two, but it felt like half an hour. I paid $9 to scare the living crap out of myself. 

Needless to say, that was enough excitement for me, and after a brief stint in the gift shop (WIZARD OF OZ!!!!), I headed to lunch, and then on to my next stop. 

Here are the pictures from all of those adventures!

Leg two, done!