Well, I did promise some more details of our trip, so here it is.
I think the best part of it all was the first week and the third week (although the second week wasn't too shabby either!). I say that because for those weeks, we had no commitments at all. We had an idea about what we wanted to do, but if we felt like it, we changed our plans and did something else. Or, we didn't do anything at all! We never had a problem finding a nice place to stay (for the most part anyway). And we saw everything we wanted to see (for the most part anyway!)
We started on Saturday, October 26th and headed for Nashville, Indiana. Jenny had heard about this community, so we thought we'd try it out. It's like the Door County of Indiana. What with all the Fall Color sightseers, we couldn't get a room in Nashville, so we stayed about 18 miles away. The next morning, we had a wonderful autumn drive through countryside, with absolutely beautiful weather, that reminded us of the area Black Earth and Mt. Horeb. We spent the entire morning in Nashville, and we could have easily spent two complete days there. It's a beautiful little town with quaint shops and interesting sights. Even the guys enjoy it!! We left there headed for Madison, Indiana. This is the little town we had driven through when we first took Tom to Myrtle Beach, and we always wanted to go back to visit. along the way it started raining pretty hard, which I'm sure didn't help. Well, we got there and couldn't quite figure out why we had been so enamored with it. It was run down, most shops were closed, and there was no one around. So, we left and headed for Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
We arrived there around 7 or 8 p.m. on the 27th. We checked into a nice Comfort Inn just across from our favorite restaurant, the Apple Barn. We had always had wonderful breakfasts there, so we were looking forward to having a good dinner. Well, we had Granny (from the Beverly Hillbillies) for a server - I kid you not. She was missing a couple of front teeth, sounded like she'd been smoking straight tobacco for about a hundred years, and didn't speak with any words that had more than one syllable. And to top it all off, the meal was less than average. Sooooo, we had some disappointment there.
The next morning, we woke to lightning and thunder - and rain - LOTS of rain! Just what you want on vacation. Well, we headed off to have a "country" breakfast in a real, legitimate grist mill. Actually, it was very good......and so was the check! Oh well, we're on vacation. We had planned on touring the Smokies and enjoying the fall colors. Lightning - remember? Thunder - remember? LOTS of rain - remember? Not to be discouraged, we did drive a beautiful fall tour on the Roaring Fork nature drive. Even in these conditions, it was spectacular!! We spent the rest of the day frequenting art galleries and local artisans shops. And just for you he-men out there - we had lunch in a tea room!! Now don't laugh, because I'll tell you. I had the best turkey sandwich I've ever had! And an apple cake with hot caramel sauce that you'd kill for! Yes, yes, we bought a recipe book that has all those recipes in it. Oh yeah, we did a little shopping in some of the outlet malls in the area. I bought a new pair of golf shoes in a Nike store for $50.00 (normally $150.00)
The next morning, the 28th, we decided to head south. The plan was to go to Savannah for a couple of days, but since we had actually gained an extra day when we skipped Madison, we threw caution to the wind and headed for Hilton Head Island! I'd always wanted to check out the golf courses there. This was the longest drive on the trip, and we arrived well after dark. You know what we found out? Hilton Head doesn't allow signs to be seen at night! Obviously they are trying to keep out the gawdy neon signs so many places end up with. And they are VERY successful. So successful, you can hardly figure out where anything is until you've driven by it. Anyway, we finally did find our way into a a nice Hampton Inn. After getting checked in, we went looking for dinner. We were fortunate to find the Hilton Head Diner just down the road from our hotel. At least we thought we were fortunate. After being seated in this throw back to the 50's diner, we ordered. As we sat there, we noticed that all of the employees, including the cooks, were all standing around this half wall by the kitchen. They were all just standing there chit chatting. You can tell how busy the place was! Well, our meals arrived, and Jenny's was so bad she couldn't eat it, and mine was on the cool side of cold. We asked our server to see if she could do something about that, and she looked like we had just called her a tramp. Well hey - if the shoe fits - right? Anyway, the manager comes over to apologize and assure us that they always make the customer happy. Oh - imagine him talking to us as if he were Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront. Remember how he talked in the movie? The whole time he's talking to us, he has his arm draped around Jenny's shoulder like he's her long lost brother. We thanked him for his consideration, informed him that we were just passing through and wouldn't have the time to partake of his hospitality, and beat a hasty retreat out of there!
The next day I thought I might try to play some golf. The only problem was that the area had been inundated with rain for the two days before we got there. Almost every course was closed trying to dry themselves out. I finally found one just off the islan that had their front nine open. So we head over there. Jenny's coming along because she wants to drive the cart! We get to the course, and I break out the new golf shoes. I go into the clubhouse and check in and head out to the first tee. By the time I get there, my shoes are cutting into my heels a little bit. Since I had to wait a few minutes to tee off, I take them off and work the backs a little to soften them up. O.K. Time to whack the little white ball. Hit a pretty good drive and away we go. Because the course is so "damp", it's cart path only, so Jenny parks, I grab my clubs, and away I go to my ball. By the time I get there, my shoes are really hurting the back of my heels. I hit my second shot and head back - more like hobble - to the cart. I tell Jenny to go back to the car and get my old golf shoes. while she's driving back there, I walk up to my next shot, take it (not bad - about 5' from the pin) and walk back over to cart path to wait. While I'm standing there, I take my shoes off and look at the back of my socks, and all I see is red - as in blood. The shoes had gouged out about a half dollar size of skin, and it seemed like it was about 1/4" deep. Jenny arrives with the old shoes and almost passes out when she sees my feet. Luckily, I'm a prepared golfer. I had a bunch of bandaids in my golf bag, so I cover the wounds, slip on the old shoes and finish my round. HEY - I'm in Hilton Head [censored]! I'm not leaving until I've played at least 9 holes! I even got a really sweet birdie on a par 5!
I don't know if it was just us or what. We didn't get a real good feeling about Hilton Head. Maybe we didn't spend enough time there - I don't know. It seemed like everything was outrageously expensive, and the people we encountered seemed to be a little snobby. We do want to go back and give it a second chance though. We did have a couple good meals at some of the seafood restaurants though.
So, on the morning of the 30th, we headed for Savannah.
I'm going to stop for now. My two fingers are getting sore! I'll send out the next installment (if anyone is still interested) in another day or two.
