Cheapness In Seattle (A 2019 PNW Trip Report - 2020 update added on 6/25

Now let's hope for some scholarships.

Heh, those are hard to come by for a lot of college bound kids these days. :/

I've heard good things about Dollywood too. But we weren't going to visit during a pandemic.

Might have been a good time to go with the low crowds, masks, distanced stuff. ? Maybe ? I know we really got a rare treat with the Disney parks back in Jan.

It's hard to capture the view in a photo. It was a panorama of the Smokies. Heavenly.

I could get used to coffee with that view in the mornings.

I really hate driving behind slow people with no awareness of the delay they're causing others.

I wonder if they ever give out tickets for that in those highly traveled, congested areas.

Not all day. Eventually, I'd just pick it up and toss it out of there.

Wait! Is that even allowed?

Hey there, Magdalene! Thanks for checking in! We had a great trip. New TR coming soon.

I haven't seen @Flossbolna in months! Hey, Magdalene, are you still here with us?
When did we get so old?

Sigh... the last 5 years have been so hard on the old bod. Nursing is HARD physically, but then Covid added some oldness.
 
Dayton over Alaska? Anyday. Not even a comparison.
Knew it.
COVID made us all do some strange things.
Truer words...
You think you're nearing the end of Virginia when you reach Roanoke, but there are 2 more hours to go after that.
So... like North Dakota?

Nah. Nothing's like the tedium of North Dakota. In the US at least. You haven't been to Saskatchewan.
That was such an awesome rental. I miss it quite a bit. Would love to go back.
Race ya!
That early morning mist on the mountains is pretty special.
I bet! Man... very envious. :)
I've been glad to get back to restaurants lately. Not sure if it's the same in Canada.
Depends on the Province. Here, you can dine with members of the same household or with others if everyone at the table can prove they've been fully vaccinated.
We got towed up to the top. It was actually pretty relaxing until we started going downhill.
Cool video. I agree, the uphill looked pretty relaxing. I might do it just for that part.
If you'd seen me play, it would have been impressive even from there.
:laughing:
He did! Now the green was just to the right of the photo, so it wasn't far, but still...it was a great shot.
:worship:


And welcome back!
 
Heh, those are hard to come by for a lot of college bound kids these days. :/

You're not telling me anything I don't know! Here's hoping.

Might have been a good time to go with the low crowds, masks, distanced stuff. ? Maybe ? I know we really got a rare treat with the Disney parks back in Jan.

I know everyone's comfort level was different. Our feeling was that we weren't going to go to theme parks until a vaccine was available.

I could get used to coffee with that view in the mornings.

That was a highlight of the morning, for sure.

I wonder if they ever give out tickets for that in those highly traveled, congested areas.

I don't ever recall seeing any consequences other than middle fingers.

Wait! Is that even allowed?

Um....

Sure it is.

I haven't seen @Flossbolna in months! Hey, Magdalene, are you still here with us?

She comes by every half a year or so. :rotfl2:

Sigh... the last 5 years have been so hard on the old bod. Nursing is HARD physically, but then Covid added some oldness.

I can imagine it's a tiring job to begin with.

So... like North Dakota?

Nah. Nothing's like the tedium of North Dakota. In the US at least. You haven't been to Saskatchewan.

I have to agree. Pretty much all of the Great Plains states are a version of picking your poison with the drives.

I imagine my drive strategy in Saskatchewan would be to floor it and get to Winnipeg as fast as possible.


In the rain? At night?

Depends on the Province. Here, you can dine with members of the same household or with others if everyone at the table can prove they've been fully vaccinated.

Gotcha. We're pretty much opened up now. For better or for worse.

Cool video. I agree, the uphill looked pretty relaxing. I might do it just for that part.

I mean, downhill was more fun, but the whole experience was pleasant.

And welcome back!

Thank you, and same to you!
 
I have to agree. Pretty much all of the Great Plains states are a version of picking your poison with the drives.
::yes::
I imagine my drive strategy in Saskatchewan would be to floor it and get to Winnipeg as fast as possible.
Not necessarily. Going South or West works too. Just as long as you leave the Province.
In the rain? At night?
With a faithful dog at your side.
Gotcha. We're pretty much opened up now. For better or for worse.
Hopefully... there won't be spikes.
 
Hi. Me again :wave:

Seriously, next time you decide to play Tobacco Road you have to let me know. It's only about 45 minutes from my house, and @pkondz can vouch that I'm excellent company.

Not necessarily on the golf course. I think the maximum number of holes I've made it through is 5. Then I got tired/frustrated and just drove the cart the rest of the 9 (the only time I go is if my FIL decides to go to the course by their lake house, and they only ever play the front 9 🤷‍♀️)

But! We do have a really cool new, funky mini golf place. And my short game isn't bad.

I know I come and go on the boards, but that's life. Add in a toddler (can you believe she'll be 2 in just under two weeks?????) and a career change and a couple of other curve balls, and you end up sneaking in Dis time on your phone after you told your in-laws you were going to bed.

I can't wait to read about the Alaska trip!!!!!
 
Seriously, next time you decide to play Tobacco Road you have to let me know. It's only about 45 minutes from my house, and @pkondz can vouch that I'm excellent company.
She's not kidding. She's absolutely delightful. ::yes::
 
Hi. Me again :wave:

Seriously, next time you decide to play Tobacco Road you have to let me know. It's only about 45 minutes from my house, and @pkondz can vouch that I'm excellent company.

Not necessarily on the golf course. I think the maximum number of holes I've made it through is 5. Then I got tired/frustrated and just drove the cart the rest of the 9 (the only time I go is if my FIL decides to go to the course by their lake house, and they only ever play the front 9 🤷‍♀️)

But! We do have a really cool new, funky mini golf place. And my short game isn't bad.

Hi Annie!

So, I apologize if you felt like we were avoiding you. That was most certainly not the case. A couple things:

1. We drove 6 hours from TN during the day in order to get to the golf course and make a 3 p.m. tee time. Julie, Sarah, and Drew had to basically occupy themselves for 4.5 hours while we played, and they ran out of stuff to do and sat in the parking lot for a while before we finished. Then we had to drive another hour to get to the hotel. So I know they wouldn't have been up for meeting anyone at that point. I was already hoping I wasn't going to be sleeping on the couch for a week when we got home.

2. It was still in the middle of the pandemic, so we were still basically keeping to ourselves and not really trying to cross paths with others. Sure, it was unavoidable here and there, but we did try to take the pandemic seriously and minimize interactions. So we didn't really publicize where we were going ahead of time.

Now, what I should have done was see if you were around and try to meet up for breakfast or to wander around the NC State campus the following morning while we were checking it out. That probably would have been the smart thing to do. I'm sorry I didn't think of it sooner!

It will happen, I promise. Again, I hope you aren't upset with me.

I know I come and go on the boards, but that's life. Add in a toddler (can you believe she'll be 2 in just under two weeks?????) and a career change and a couple of other curve balls, and you end up sneaking in Dis time on your phone after you told your in-laws you were going to bed.

Career change? What's going on there?

I can't wait to read about the Alaska trip!!!!!

Well, you're in luck, because I'm about to post the intro!

She's not kidding. She's absolutely delightful. ::yes::

I believe you! As long as she isn't mad at me.
 


It will happen, I promise. Again, I hope you aren't upset with me.

Oh gosh no!!! You didn't have to explain yourself at all, the timing alone (being in the middle of a pandemic and all that) was enough for me to know why.

I'm not mad at all, and please don't take anything I say as critical. I'm more just bummed we seem to always miss each other due to things out of our control.

Career change? What's going on there?

I worked at a credit union for 5 years. And while it was nice, and I loved my coworkers, a couple of things started to wear me down. First, they were very old-fashioned. Up until a few months ago pantyhose were required as part of the dress code, which was business professional. I thrive on fun clothes and individuality, so while I could put up with it for a job's sake, it wasn't my favorite thing. Then as 2020 progressed, it became more and more apparent how little they cared for their employees, and I started to feel less like a valued person and more like a cog in the corporate machine.

So I left. I now work for an online insurance marketplace, and so far I'm loving it. I get waaaaaaaay more leave than I did at my old job, including like 4 whole months of 100% paid maternity leave if/when I have another kid. Casual dress code, and even that doesn't matter because 90% of the time I work remote anyway. They actually care about their employees and want us to be happy. It's a refreshing change.
 
Oh gosh no!!! You didn't have to explain yourself at all, the timing alone (being in the middle of a pandemic and all that) was enough for me to know why.

I'm not mad at all, and please don't take anything I say as critical. I'm more just bummed we seem to always miss each other due to things out of our control.

Well, that's a relief. I just didn't want you to think we were purposely avoiding you.

I worked at a credit union for 5 years. And while it was nice, and I loved my coworkers, a couple of things started to wear me down. First, they were very old-fashioned. Up until a few months ago pantyhose were required as part of the dress code, which was business professional. I thrive on fun clothes and individuality, so while I could put up with it for a job's sake, it wasn't my favorite thing. Then as 2020 progressed, it became more and more apparent how little they cared for their employees, and I started to feel less like a valued person and more like a cog in the corporate machine.

So I left. I now work for an online insurance marketplace, and so far I'm loving it. I get waaaaaaaay more leave than I did at my old job, including like 4 whole months of 100% paid maternity leave if/when I have another kid. Casual dress code, and even that doesn't matter because 90% of the time I work remote anyway. They actually care about their employees and want us to be happy. It's a refreshing change.

Well, I'm very glad you like the new job. Most places really don't care about their employees anymore. Of course, every job has parts of it that you won't like. That's why they have to pay us to do them. But the culture really does matter.
 
Kind of a lot’s happened since then.
Really?

The only real issue was when Drew would finish his work and then spend the rest of the day crawling over my lap and asking me to play with him.
Mine were a bit older, but I still tried to explain just because you're not at school, does not mean I'm not at work....had to put a door on my office...eventually had to put a lock.

That’s about all for the win column.
Crap

We were very happy when sports began to return, even without fans in the stadium.
I didn't like the no fans part nor the piped in crowd noise. I typically only watch baseball, but it was meh.

Anyway, he doesn’t write too many columns anymore, but he always does a Year In Review column that I eagerly look forward to reading every December. Here’s his column on 2020, which for my money contains the single most accurate summary of what life was like in March and April of last year that I’ve read.
This is where I stopped before. I wanted to read that article, but I think I've just resigned myself to trying to read TRs I've fallen behind on(like this)

Captain understatement now?

I found this out when I put my foot straight through our deck.
So, I guess when Julie calls you lead foot....she was right.

She naturally did what any wife would do in this situation, and burst out laughing in my face.
Or other disdads. :rotfl2:

So we ended up just getting a couple of gray boards that were in stock and making a bit of a welcome mat out of it. It was the best we could do.
Looks good.

It’s been a little hard to meet people due to COVID restrictions, but she’s been thriving in her classes and has a couple of really good friends, including her roommate.
That's really good!

Man plans…God laughs
Truth.

So we decided to make the trip, if only for our own sanity.
Well maybe the other's sanity. We've already given up on you.

There’s a parking area nearby and a short boardwalk trail down to a viewing area for the falls.

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That’s worth getting out of the car for, right?
::yes::
Especially since you'd been looking at walls and netflix for so long.

These are the cuts of wood specially selected for major league ballplayers with contracts with Louisville Slugger. These meet the precise specifications each player asks for in his bats.

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Cool. See one Cubbies player (well formerly) Kyle Schwarber.

Near the end, this guy was giving a demonstration of how they used to have to carve the bats by hand. It looked painful and labor-intensive, but it was also a bit mesmerizing watching the man work.

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Way too cool. Watching people turning wood has always been fascinating to me.

After the tour, you’re led into a museum with quite a bit of memorabilia, including bats used by hall-of-famers, some of which you can hold for photos. Here’s one used by Babe Ruth during his famous 60-home-run 1927 campaign. It’s a little hard to see, but he would cut a notch around the center label every time he hit a home run with it.

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Nice

Again, the visitor center was closed, but we were able to take a short trail to an overlook where we could see the famous arch bridge over the New River.
What happened to the old river? Did it get demoted? Fired?
 
Multi quote malfunction

Also know as operator error.
 
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Try 7

As I quietly whistle if I only had a brain from the wizard of Oz.

This makes me even more ridiculously excited to move there!! I know my sis and BIL would buy thousands of dollars of fireworks every year and have huge parties. The 4th is a BIG deal in Bowling Green, KY. Apparently, it's a KY-wide thing.
Can I come visit for 4th? I can stop in TN and buy my typical $500-$600.

My biscuit was nothing special. It was a little skeevy in there, to be honest
Well, I'll make the offer to you as well. When you visit, I could make you my home made biscuits and sausage gravy.

Yikes! Yeah, all I got was a couple of scars
But....

The question is are the grandkids going to get the REAL story about the scars or is the story going to involve exploding helicopters?

Again, thank you. I'm amazed at the things she creates.
Missed the comment on this...must have been on my previous multi quote from months ago that has been long since gone into the great Internet in the sky somewhere.

Yes, very talented young lady you have.

If you can get up high, you can see a panorama of fireworks!
Did you intend to have the word up in that sentence. Would be valid without it too.

That's so disappointingly normal. But you're right, I wouldn't touch the cole slaw. Blech.
Good man. Cabbage.....NO!

Funny story (well I think so).
When I was stationed in Korea, people kept trying (almost daily) to get me to try kimchi. My reply was always. I don't like cabbage. I don't like spicy food. Why do you think I'd like ROTTEN, spicy cabbage?????
 
We absolutely loved this house. It was huge, new and well-appointed. There was a foosball table, a pool table, hot tub, arcade games…but our favorite part was very low-tech. We had this deck with a view of the Smoky Mountains.
Van you send me the info? This looks sweet!!

Yeah…that’ll do. That’ll do nicely.
Very nicely.

We spent the week mostly enjoying the house and the Smoky Mountains. We tried to do some things we hadn’t been able to do on our first visit a few years ago. If you recall, we’d tried to visit the highest point in the park, Clingman’s Dome, only to give up on the hike when we found it to be completely socked in with clouds. This time, we used the Rope Drop Principle to get to the top of the mountain road as early as we could. We were still racing the cloud cover as it moved in, but we were able to successfully complete the hike and reach the observation tower b
Nice!

Another morning, we once again got up early in order to beat the crowds and secure a valuable parking space so we could to a 1.5-mile hike to Laurel Falls. That one proved to be well worth the effort to get there. Especially when we came back and found lines of cars attempting to invent parking spaces along the road.

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Nice looking falls and good family picture.

All in all, we had a very relaxing week. I took the boys to play golf at the Gatlinburg Golf Course, which proved to be a fun hillside course with lots of elevation changes. The biggest one was this par 3 that involved about a 100-ft. drop down to the green.

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Not my thing, but interesting. Basically just a chip shot and let gravity do the rest?

I’d never been on a mountain coaster before, but it’s basically the same thing as an alpine slide if you’ve ever tried one of those. You sit on a little sled with one handle. You push the handle forward to let it slide, and pull back for the brakes. That’s all there is to it—gravity does the rest of the work.

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They have a tow cable that pulls the sleds all the way up the hill, and then you get turned around and set loose on the downhill section. It’s a ton of fun. Drew was apprehensive at first, as little kids tend to be, but screamed and yelled his head off the whole way down and then begged for more and more rides. We ended up taking a couple of rides during the day, and then coming again at night when it was lit up for more fun. It was a blast.

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Oh, that looks sooo fun. Note to self. Take about $300 in fives.

I’m thankful that we had these chances to get out as a family during the pandemic. It’s been a long, hard year (and a half) for all of us, but I feel like we’re finally reaching the end of the tunnel. I can now safely say that I’m not a big fan of pandemics and never want to experience another one.
Well said and agreed. Unfortunately, not so much for me.
 

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