Returning to Scales Lake

Box planted by someone attending the GLG

G-MA and I went back to Scales Lake today, the location of the GLG.  We still had 30 boxes we needed to get from the event.  There were also about 12 boxes in the area, planted by boxers who attended the event.

We got some of the boxes on the way to the park and started the, "Teddy Bear Trail."  We had heard that this was the most strenuous trail in the park.  It was tough.  There were 2-3 places where I had to pull G-MA up the hills.  They probably should not have planted on this trail.

After finishing this trail we went back to town for lunch.  We grabbed a few more boxes on the way.  While stopped for lunch we discussed our plan of attack.  We went back to the park for 3 more boxes that were planted by folks who attend the event.  By now it is 3pm and my kids are texting me about what to do for supper.

G-MA and I decide to leave the park.  We get a few more boxes as we leave town.  I ended up with 16 boxes today.  Our plan is to come back again right when the park opens.  We will get an early start and tackle the longest trail first.  Then we can leave for lunch, cool off, and start again.  We have 25 boxes to go.  I think I may take one with me to plant just for fun :)

Great Lakes Gathering 2018

Our First GLG 

I totally forgot to make a blog post for the Great Lakes Gathering (GLG).  Daddy's Favorite Princess, G-MA and I rode to the event together.  I just got a new van so I drove.  It was at Scales Lake, Boonville, Ind on Saturday, June 30th.

The day of the GLG was the hottest day of the year.  It was miserable and it looked like a lot of boxers stayed inside and stamped table tops.  My boxing buddy, G-MA, doesn't like table tops.  We checked in, dropped off our food, left behind my table tops, and hit the road.

We started off looking for the petting zoo series; we struggled with where the trail even started.  The series was entitled, "Around the Barn" but the boxes where no where near the barn/petting zoo.  We finally find the correct trail and realize that G-MA left her boxing bag at the event pavilion.  So, we go back, grab her bag, and get going again.  We ended up walking the petting zoo trail with two other boxers and it was nice to spend time with them.

When we were finished with that series we went back for lunch.  The place was a ghost town. We stamped a few table tops and went out again.  There was a trail that left from the shelter house called, "Fairies and Gnomes, Oh my!"  I enjoyed the stamps but we struggled finding some of the boxes.  We ended up going back and finding them later that day.

After that we went back to the pavilion again to restock our water, rest, and stamp a few table tops.  The hosts had planted a series of drive by boxes in the park.  It was very nice to have these boxes on such a hot day.  This series was called, "Aloha! From Indiana" and we found two of the stamps I donated.

We are locals living about 40 minutes west of Scales Lake.  Daddy's Favorite Princess was supposed to be at a birthday party at 6 and G-MA and I were very tired.  We went back to the pavilion to pick up our leftover food, gather table tops we brought, and say good bye.  At the shelter I was ambushed!  I had one boxer say she would not leave without exchanging with me.   I felt like a celebrity with all the boxers asking to exchange with me :)

I think we found 34 traditional boxes and only took 1 picture.   The birthday party that the Princess went to was a pool party.  I was very happy to sit in the corner and cool off.  I had a head ache the rest of the evening.

Campcation 2018

Ft Boonesborogh SP, KY

Yesterday my family and I returned from our 2018 summer vacation.  We are calling it a campcation because we camped almost every night.  It was an exhausting trip but we got to see a lot of great stuff.

We are from Indiana and we went down thru Kentucky toward the Cumberland Gap.  We were not going to make it by dark so we camped at Ft Boonesborogh SP in Ky.  We found our first LB of the trip here.  After checking out the fort we continued south.

Cumberland Gap Pinnacle Overlook

We arrived at the Cumberland Gap National Park around lunch time.  We checked out the northern visitor center and found a picnic area near a creek.  We ate lunch, played in the creek for a little bit and headed to the pinnacle overlook.  The overlook is a spot where you can look down and see the tunnel going thru the mountain.  We hiked around here for a while and then went to set up camp.

Pigeon Forge LB

We hung out in the campground for a while, went to town to eat dinner, and went to a nearby state park to look for a letterbox.  The state park had a nice playground and some old cabins so we stayed there for a while before going back to the camp site.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, tore down camp, and drove to an Iron Furnace.  Then we hiked up to the Gap Cave.  This cave is just a hole in the cliff but the kids enjoyed playing there.  The hike up was a little rough.

Dollywood, TN

Then we went down to Pigeon Forge.  We stopped at the Great Smokey Mountain Knife Works for a little bit and set up camp at a KOA campground.  After we set up, we went to the Smokey Mountains National Park Sugarlands visitor center to get maps and whatnot.  Then we had dinner and went back to the campground to swim.

In the morning, we got up and went to Dollywood.  We got there 45 minutes before they opened so we left and found a LB.  It took us a bit to find it but my husband said we shouldn't give up so easily.  After stamping in we went back to Dollywood and spent the day there until 7pm.  When we were tired and hungry we went back to the campground to eat and swim again.

Newfound Gap TN & NC

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, tore down camp, and heading off to explore Smokey Mountain National Park.  We stopped at Newfound Gap and hiked to Clingmans Dome.  The lookout at the top was closed but we came all that way so we walked to the top anyway.  The walk down was beautiful with clouds rolling in.

Clingmans Dome

Then we pulled off and had lunch in a lookout/
parking area.  We continued south and saw a sign for a mill.  It wasn't on the map but looked close to the parking lot and we stopped to check it out.  It had a real short trail and was a nice place to stretch your legs.  When we were done we went on to the Oconaluftee visitor center.  There was a historic farm and a creek trail so we stayed here a while.

We stopped again for dinner and stayed the night at a campground in North Carolina.

One of the main points of the trip was to eat at Chef and the Farmer in Kinston, NC.  We watch a show on PBS called, A Chef's Life.  We love the show and talked about going last year on vacation but it was to far away.  We made it this year.  The chef, Vivian Howard, was not there the night we ate there but her husband was hanging around.  We left with full bellies, t shirts, and an autographed cookbook.  We also planted a letterbox in a nearby park.

The place we stayed at, the night we were in Kinston was just barley a campground.  It was a field with a shower house.  The kids were worried something might happen to us here and were happy that we only stayed one night.

Hotel in GA 

That morning we got up and consulted the old atlas and Google.  We discovered that going the long way back was just 45 min longer and would add 2 new states to box in.  Instead of driving back straight across NC we went thru SC and Georgia.

It took us a while to get out of rural NC.  When we got to a big rest area there were supposed to be 3 LB.  I looked for all 3 and only found 1.  When we stopped for the night in SC we were at a state park.  It had 2 boxes but we could only find 1.  The state parks in SC all have stamps and we were able to snag that too.  The woman at the park office fussed at me for putting it in my National Park stamp book but it's my book and I can stamp what I want in it ;)

Ruby Falls, TN

We drove thru Georgia without many stops.  The rest area that we had lunch at didn't have any boxes :(  But we did find one before leaving the state.  My husband was getting pretty tired and we stayed the night in a hotel.  The younger kids swam again.

We got up in the morning, enjoyed a hot breakfast, and went to Chattanooga.  In Chattanooga we went to Ruby Falls and Rock City.  Rock City has a Fairy Tale "cave" that is actually a building.  As we got to the end of the "cave" we discovered that it was raining cats and dogs.  We were at the end of the trail so we made a run for the gift shop.  We got some post cards, rock candy, etc and ran again to the ticket booth.  My husband was nice enough to pull the van around and we didn't get completely soaked.

See Rock City, TN

Next, we went to Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park.  The place was a lot like Gettysburg.  It had many markers of where different states were stationed and signs detailing the battles there.  It was getting late and with the rain, we didn't spend a lot of time here.

We continued north stopping for dinner and camping at Old Stone Fort SP in Tn.  My kids learned that we were just a few hours from home and tore down camp in record time.  They were tired of camping and ready to go home.  We didn't look for any of the boxes there.

Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Park, GA

We had a great but tiring 9 days.  We only planted 1 box and found 8.  We added 4 new states that we boxed in: VA, NC, SC, & GA.  We left 1 HH and the only ones we found were in a HHH.  The rules of the HHH were to leave 3 in the box.  There were only 3 left and we didn't have any to trade.

Today we are doing laundry and unloading and tomorrow we will go to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Ind.