Helen Continued
So, where was I? Oh yes, I was exploring my whiteness.
Welp, we closed down the Fest Halle (not difficult to do since it closed at 11:00). Jules and her party showed up at the "cabin" not long after we got home. A few of us stayed up talking until 3:00 in the morning. I am blown away that I lasted that long. I was only working on 4 hours sleep from the night before. What on earth did we do until that hour? We talked about deep and meaningful things.
One of the brothers who was visiting from New York is quite the thinker. He kept asking these complex questions which lead us into really deep conversations. I should have been too tired for that kind of thing, but it was all personal opinion type stuff...and y'all know I got no problem sharing my opinions, right?
The next day brought nothing but laziness. I was amongst the first to get up - around 9:30. I grabbed a quick bagel and hung out chatting with my friends. Then the breakfast crew got up and began to cook breakfast ... at 11:00. Jules and her party went to a restaurant famous for its Southern cooking. I stayed and had a second helping of breakfast - pancakes and bacon - yum. Then I proceeded to do absolutely nothing all day. OK, I played some pool, worked on a puzzle and read a little bit. But I never left the "cabin."
Around 5:00 some of my friends got antsy and decided to leave the "cabin." They headed down to Ana Ruby Falls only to be turned away because it closes at 6:00. Everyone was back around 5:30. One couple had brought dinner fixins for Russian shish-kebabs (shash-leek). They fired up the grill (the wood-burning grill, not the inferior gas grill) and cooked a delicious meal.
Four of us played Scrabble while dinner was being cooked. I was up against one really good Scrabble player, one lucky player and one guy I just felt sorry for. As I often do for the really clueless, I cheated by helping the player who was clearly in over his head. I typically do this for Super Mom because she has dyslexic tendencies (if not down right dyslexia). It's just not fair for her to play against me and The Doctor. But even without my help, she still does fairly well. The lucky player won. I call him lucky because he got all the valuable letters. It was nearly impossible for me and my vowels to keep up with him when he got the x, q, z, and the j. Come on!
After dinner, we failed at making smores. Does anyone know how to make the chocolate melt? A few of us sat by the outside fire while the Russian brother skooled us on how to make shash-leek. According to him, we failed at that, too. I fell asleep in the den around pumpkin-time with a Morrissey CD turned up to 11. I crept to bed figuring that if I could fall asleep in the den under those conditions, I wouldn't notice the sounds of the rest of the group staying up 'til whenever. I was correct.
My English Cousin was the first one up and out of the house on Sunday morning. She had an appointment with the Dalai Lama, yo. Go check out her Flickr stream if you don't believe me. In fact, check out my Flickr stream for photos of all the places I've been recently.
We had to be out of the "cabin" by 11:00 on Sunday. That meant showering, packing, cooking, eating and cleaning up by that time. I can't believe that we made it. The weird thing is that after getting out of the "cabin," we continued to stand around in the driveway for another 45 minutes trying to figure out what to do with our day.
Jules and her party took off to take the kid back to the airport. The kid's friends clearly didn't want to hang out with the rest of us because they gave the lamest excuse possible for getting back on the road to Nashville. "Uh, we need to get going. There are a lot of curvy roads that I don't want to drive on after dark." Dude. You're 20-something AND you're a fireman. Isn't danger your middle name? I guess firemen can be afraid of the dark, too.
So the rest of us went to Ana Ruby Falls. The trail is not long, but dang! I am way out of shape. I can't walk up any kind of slope without almost dying. I made it, but only because I started 20 minutes ahead of most of the group. I stopped plenty of times along the way to "take photos." No really, you should check them out.
Then we went back in to Helen to eat (again). One sister and I just couldn't face the idea of eating more food, so we sat on the outside deck of the restaurant and listened to the two-man oompa band. They were pleasant enough. I even thought the band leader (he didn't actually sing) was a nice looking older man until he came over to hit on my companion in between sets. That was a tad creepy seeing as how he was at least 15 - 20 years older than her. Dude. You're not a real musician. You play German music on a 20 x 40 foot deck in front of a tiny restaurant. We're not your groupies. Go back to your accordion and let her eat her schnitzel in peace.
When the rest of the group was finished with their "inside" food, we forged into the bustling city block of Helen to take a gander at the shops. Yeah, that didn't take long. I was finally about to see a band play in the square that would play music I recognized when I was informed that the group was "over Helen" and was leaving. Oh well.
To sum up, Helen was relaxing and strange all at the same time - a great get away.
Welp, we closed down the Fest Halle (not difficult to do since it closed at 11:00). Jules and her party showed up at the "cabin" not long after we got home. A few of us stayed up talking until 3:00 in the morning. I am blown away that I lasted that long. I was only working on 4 hours sleep from the night before. What on earth did we do until that hour? We talked about deep and meaningful things.
One of the brothers who was visiting from New York is quite the thinker. He kept asking these complex questions which lead us into really deep conversations. I should have been too tired for that kind of thing, but it was all personal opinion type stuff...and y'all know I got no problem sharing my opinions, right?
The next day brought nothing but laziness. I was amongst the first to get up - around 9:30. I grabbed a quick bagel and hung out chatting with my friends. Then the breakfast crew got up and began to cook breakfast ... at 11:00. Jules and her party went to a restaurant famous for its Southern cooking. I stayed and had a second helping of breakfast - pancakes and bacon - yum. Then I proceeded to do absolutely nothing all day. OK, I played some pool, worked on a puzzle and read a little bit. But I never left the "cabin."
Around 5:00 some of my friends got antsy and decided to leave the "cabin." They headed down to Ana Ruby Falls only to be turned away because it closes at 6:00. Everyone was back around 5:30. One couple had brought dinner fixins for Russian shish-kebabs (shash-leek). They fired up the grill (the wood-burning grill, not the inferior gas grill) and cooked a delicious meal.
Four of us played Scrabble while dinner was being cooked. I was up against one really good Scrabble player, one lucky player and one guy I just felt sorry for. As I often do for the really clueless, I cheated by helping the player who was clearly in over his head. I typically do this for Super Mom because she has dyslexic tendencies (if not down right dyslexia). It's just not fair for her to play against me and The Doctor. But even without my help, she still does fairly well. The lucky player won. I call him lucky because he got all the valuable letters. It was nearly impossible for me and my vowels to keep up with him when he got the x, q, z, and the j. Come on!
After dinner, we failed at making smores. Does anyone know how to make the chocolate melt? A few of us sat by the outside fire while the Russian brother skooled us on how to make shash-leek. According to him, we failed at that, too. I fell asleep in the den around pumpkin-time with a Morrissey CD turned up to 11. I crept to bed figuring that if I could fall asleep in the den under those conditions, I wouldn't notice the sounds of the rest of the group staying up 'til whenever. I was correct.
My English Cousin was the first one up and out of the house on Sunday morning. She had an appointment with the Dalai Lama, yo. Go check out her Flickr stream if you don't believe me. In fact, check out my Flickr stream for photos of all the places I've been recently.
We had to be out of the "cabin" by 11:00 on Sunday. That meant showering, packing, cooking, eating and cleaning up by that time. I can't believe that we made it. The weird thing is that after getting out of the "cabin," we continued to stand around in the driveway for another 45 minutes trying to figure out what to do with our day.
Jules and her party took off to take the kid back to the airport. The kid's friends clearly didn't want to hang out with the rest of us because they gave the lamest excuse possible for getting back on the road to Nashville. "Uh, we need to get going. There are a lot of curvy roads that I don't want to drive on after dark." Dude. You're 20-something AND you're a fireman. Isn't danger your middle name? I guess firemen can be afraid of the dark, too.
So the rest of us went to Ana Ruby Falls. The trail is not long, but dang! I am way out of shape. I can't walk up any kind of slope without almost dying. I made it, but only because I started 20 minutes ahead of most of the group. I stopped plenty of times along the way to "take photos." No really, you should check them out.
Then we went back in to Helen to eat (again). One sister and I just couldn't face the idea of eating more food, so we sat on the outside deck of the restaurant and listened to the two-man oompa band. They were pleasant enough. I even thought the band leader (he didn't actually sing) was a nice looking older man until he came over to hit on my companion in between sets. That was a tad creepy seeing as how he was at least 15 - 20 years older than her. Dude. You're not a real musician. You play German music on a 20 x 40 foot deck in front of a tiny restaurant. We're not your groupies. Go back to your accordion and let her eat her schnitzel in peace.
When the rest of the group was finished with their "inside" food, we forged into the bustling city block of Helen to take a gander at the shops. Yeah, that didn't take long. I was finally about to see a band play in the square that would play music I recognized when I was informed that the group was "over Helen" and was leaving. Oh well.
To sum up, Helen was relaxing and strange all at the same time - a great get away.
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