Annica was a bit put out by the whole "homecoming" scene, so I flew out to Georgia to be with her, hang at the homcoming game Friday night, then we decided to take a trip north to the Great Smokey Mountains. Well, it turns out this week was the "premier" week for the Smokey Mountains, as this was the prime fall colors week for the entire year. Nearly every place was sold out, I found a place in Maggie Valley, which was a very nice place, not as crowded or touristy as Cherokee. Homecoming parade was fun
, Annica and her senior friends had "Japan" as their theme, they had a pickup truck with a large jaw and teeth to represent godzilla, and they dressed up in Japanese outfits, Annica a samari chef (we watched John Beluchi clips from Samari Chef for research), Emily was a box with Japanese writing on it (um not sure what that was), there was a sumo wrestler guy, and a few others. I think they came in last. The Freshmen won the parade float thing. Milton won, that was good, even though we left early.
, Annica and her senior friends had "Japan" as their theme, they had a pickup truck with a large jaw and teeth to represent godzilla, and they dressed up in Japanese outfits, Annica a samari chef (we watched John Beluchi clips from Samari Chef for research), Emily was a box with Japanese writing on it (um not sure what that was), there was a sumo wrestler guy, and a few others. I think they came in last. The Freshmen won the parade float thing. Milton won, that was good, even though we left early. 
We left early Saturday morning, like at 6am, stopped and had breakfast at "The Moose Cafe" in some small mountain town, the food was ok, kind of a cool laid back place. Then we made it to Bryson, North Carolina, at the foot of the Smokey Mountains. The hike on Saturday was beautiful, Deep Creek, we took the trail which was a 4 mile loop, but decided to keep going past where it started to loop back, we hiked a total of 6 miles. The trail followed a creek the entire way, there were falling leaves, there were beautiful waterfalls, just a great place.We then dro
ve through Cherokee, saw all the tacky tourist places, saw the 400 room Harrah's Casino, then as we left town going toward Maggie Valley, we saw it - - Santa's Land. Annica made me stop, she says Santa is her favorite guy (next to me of course). When we later got to Maggie Valley, we saw the most incredible fall colors, much more than at Deep Creek. Our hotel room was nice, with a creek right outside out back door. We drove into Ashville that afternoon, about 30 minutes away, a really cool town, kind of like Berkeley of the South, lots of nice stores and restaurants, plus street people. We noticed that many of the Street People played guitar, not sure of the connection. On Sunday we did a 8 mile hike to "Charlies Bunion" which was nice because it gave us some expansive views of the smokey mountains. The colors were not quite as nice, but that was because it was a higher elevation, their colors problably would hit a week or two later.
ve through Cherokee, saw all the tacky tourist places, saw the 400 room Harrah's Casino, then as we left town going toward Maggie Valley, we saw it - - Santa's Land. Annica made me stop, she says Santa is her favorite guy (next to me of course). When we later got to Maggie Valley, we saw the most incredible fall colors, much more than at Deep Creek. Our hotel room was nice, with a creek right outside out back door. We drove into Ashville that afternoon, about 30 minutes away, a really cool town, kind of like Berkeley of the South, lots of nice stores and restaurants, plus street people. We noticed that many of the Street People played guitar, not sure of the connection. On Sunday we did a 8 mile hike to "Charlies Bunion" which was nice because it gave us some expansive views of the smokey mountains. The colors were not quite as nice, but that was because it was a higher elevation, their colors problably would hit a week or two later. We returned Sunday 
night. Monday I dropped annica off at school, and then had her oil changed, and took her car for a complete detail . . . it needed it. Annica was so surprised and happy when I picked her up and she saw her shinny car. Tuesday, I got new tires for Annica's car, it needed them, especially as she may be driving to California next Fall to start College somewhere hopefully in California. Tuesday after school, we drove to Sandy Springs where I met the attorney and his wife/office manager where Annica will be doing part time work. They were really amazing people, turned out that the wife worked at The Meadows in Arizona, a place I know through a friend, and turns out the wife, Sonia, had gone to Camp Swig, in Saratoga as a teen/young adult, and I too had gone to Camp Swig in my youth. I also talked to her about law office technology, and scanning mail, which my office has developed, so I was able to provide her some useful ideas. We had fun discovering these things we had in common. That's it for now. Keith
night. Monday I dropped annica off at school, and then had her oil changed, and took her car for a complete detail . . . it needed it. Annica was so surprised and happy when I picked her up and she saw her shinny car. Tuesday, I got new tires for Annica's car, it needed them, especially as she may be driving to California next Fall to start College somewhere hopefully in California. Tuesday after school, we drove to Sandy Springs where I met the attorney and his wife/office manager where Annica will be doing part time work. They were really amazing people, turned out that the wife worked at The Meadows in Arizona, a place I know through a friend, and turns out the wife, Sonia, had gone to Camp Swig, in Saratoga as a teen/young adult, and I too had gone to Camp Swig in my youth. I also talked to her about law office technology, and scanning mail, which my office has developed, so I was able to provide her some useful ideas. We had fun discovering these things we had in common. That's it for now. Keith
