Time: Nov 22nd 2009 – Dec 1st 2009
Places: Durham/Raleigh/Cary, Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg, Chattanooga
Company: Wife
Album: Click here
Highlights:
Day 1: Left Marlborough at 5 am. It so happened that we were shifting our house too and we had to clean out the house at 5 in the morning! We were to move into a new house once we came back from Raleigh. So, packed the car with the final few items in the house and left to Malden, where we were to park our car. Yasser was kind enough to give us a parking space in his apt. Reached Malden at 6 and took the T to Airport at 6.30. Reached airport at 7 and boarded the 8.30 am flight to Atlanta.
After 1 hr lay over in Atlanta, finally reached Raleigh airport at 2 pm. Abhishek and Archana had come to airport to pick up. We stayed with them as long as we stayed in Raleigh. It was a short commute to their home but then everything is a short commute in Raleigh. Raleigh, Durham and Cary are all nearby cities. Went to an Indo-Chinese restaurant for lunch. Headed back home, settled and then saw –with beer! - 12 angry men movie and Bhoothayyana Maga Aayu.Nice movies. Retired.
Day 2: Went to office in Raleigh. Had a strange experience sitting in a cubicle [I don’t have a cubicle of my own in Marlborough] and being able to hear a dozen other people in cubicles in and around me. Got settled in the new office with a laptop of my own. Thankfully, less work. Lunch with Abhi, Archana, Mithun and Swati. From today on, till 30th.
In the evening, Mithun and Swati came to Abhi’s house and we all saw Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma and had laughs. Retired.
Day 3: Office during day time. Usual. In the evening, Swati invited us for dinner. Had a nice time chit-chatting at Mithun’s house with Mojito.
Day 4: Office during day time. Usual. In the evening, we all went to Starbucks for one more round of chit-chat. Then went to an Indian restaurant – Kadhai. Ambience and food was average. Took the booked rental car from Raleigh airport for the tomorrow trip.
Day 5: Me and Gouri left at 9 am to the Great Smoky Mountains from Raleigh in the rented car. The atmosphere was covered with fog everywhere. It was as if we were in Heaven! The newly bought GPS informed me that the destination will be reached at 3 pm. I pressed on the gas pedal to get it as much lower as possible. We drove for 4 hrs straight and then, upon seeing messages that the I-40 was closed due to a rock slide, we stopped at a fuel station to plan ahead. GPS was now showing destination ETA as 2.25 pm. By chance, it so happened that the keys remained in the car and the car got locked and we both were outside!
With help from the fuel station attendant, we called up a number of police stations, officers, sheriff’s house, etc with no luck. A locksmith would have charged us dearly considering that today was thanksgiving holiday. Finally, called Budget Car Rental and they said they would send someone to unlock the car. It took 2 hrs of wait in the cold for help to come! Finally we were back on our way. GPS now showed destination ETA as 5 pm but then this was through the rock-slid road. So, we followed the flashing messages and took the detour. It was a 50 mile long detour.
Half way through the detour, we felt hungry and stopped at a subway. Lunch inspired us to think that we had GPS which we can use to find alternative road that is nearby to our destination. Upon using this, it gave the direction back on the rock-slid road but we didn’t realize till we reached it! But we did one more “find alternative” and this one gave the route via the same fuel station where we had got stuck. By the time we passed this fuel station, it was 6 pm. So, from 1 to 6, we were either waiting or roaming around the same place! It was frustrating! We should have done the alternative search once the car door opened in the fuel station at 3.30 pm!
Rest of the journey was uneventful. Except that it was a wooded, winding road called ‘Scenic Highway’ and it was snowing lightly. Little did I know that because of this snow, the 7 mile road to Clingman’s Dome will be closed tomorrow. CD is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains. Reached Gatlinburg at 7.30 pm and we were exhausted. Had a glimpse of the bubbling Gatlinburg. A beautiful quaint little town, very much the same as how it was when I had visited in 2006.
Day 6: Trekked 1.4 miles to Grotto Falls amidst thick forest. It’s a nice little falls where you can stand behind the falls and hear the roar of the water falling in front. Also, the road to this falls is very nice. Its called Roaring Fork Road and it is amidst thick foliage and it’s a one-way road at very high altitude. A very nice experience. On this road, I used to drive in just shifting the gears – D, D2 and D3, without really pressing on the accelerator.
Via Gatlinburg, we then went to Clingman’s Dome but saw that the road was closed. Yet, we walked a little distance on the fallen snow-turned ice. Last thing we saw in GSM was Cades Cove – a 4-, 8- and 12 mile loop road. We took the 8 mile loop road as traffic was slow and were done with GSM by 5 pm. The same road I had cycled with Murali, Deb and Soumik in March 2006. Memories.
Drove on then to Chattanooga. It was 2.5 straight road on I-75. Sometimes I was driving on just cruise control, accelerating and decelerating the car with just the left thumb! Road was good too with runway like reflectors in the night and it was an enjoyable drive. Stayed at Chattanooga. Dinner after much search ended in Waffle House.
Day 7: 3 Main Attractions at Chattanooga: Ruby Falls, Rock City and Incline Railway.
Our first visit was to Ruby Falls. Ruby Falls is a falls within caves. It truly is a natural wonder. It is something out of a fairy tale. I have read novel s of Enid Blyton where such falls as these have been described where the water comes from an unknown source, falls within a cave, travels underneath the earth, through more caves and finally merges onto the main river. And this is exactly what it is!
Leo Lambert dug through the Lookout Mountain in 1928, removed the debris in bucketfuls, worked 60 feet down from the top of the mountain towards the ground almost single handedly and discovered this cave. Once he discovered the cave, which was about just 2 feet tall, he crawled inside and was gone for 17 straight hours! He discovered the falls within, which he named after his wife Ruby, who also crawled in later! This cave has been later renovated and made comfortable for visitors.
Our next visit was Rock City. This is more of a rock garden – garden amidst huge rocks. It has a number of trails and visitor can choose appropriate to health. The trail goes through a number of scenic spots, including the place from where we can see 7 states and the look-out over Chattanooga and Tennessee River. It also goes twice between 2 HUGE boulders and you will have to walk sideways. So it helps if you are lean! Also, there are some puppets kept in the form of fairy tales like snow white and 7 dwarfs, Cinderella, etc.
Our next visit was to the Incline Railway. It takes about 30-40 minutes to go from top to bottom and back to top or vice versa. It is just one coach that has a steep incline, much like a theme park ride except that it is much slow. The coach itself has steps so you can imagine the steepness. If you are going from top to bottom, the starting platform itself is inclined and you just go down. If you are going from bottom to top, the starting platform is not so inclined but it gets steeper and steeper and so its kind of exciting. The cog rail in the Mount Washington is much exciting in many ways as compared to this.
We then headed back to Raleigh but had booked a hotel at Knoxville for the night halt. Reached the hotel at about 6.30, had dinner at the Taste of Thai. Retired.
Day 8: Just drove back to Raleigh. 6 hours of drive. Took I-81 and I-77 to by-pass I-40. Reached home, after the rental car return. Then, with Abhi and Archana, we went to Venkateshwara temple in Cary. A very nice temple especially because of the chanting sloka in the back ground. Retired.
Day 9: Office during day time. Usual. In the evening, Swati and Mithun came to Abhi’s house. Wine! Saw American football of Patriots Vs Saints. Unfortunately, Patriots lost. Had nice dinner. Retired.
Day 10: Office during day time. Went lunch with some office client folks like Satya, Arun and Prabhu to a South Indian restaurant called Towers. Very tasty lunch. After long time, had idli, dosa, vada, kesari bhath, chutney, sambar, etc!
Alas, all good times have to come to an end. Left office at 3.30 pm with Mithun. Picked up Gouri from Abhi’s house and headed to the RDU airport. Way too early, considering how fast we reached because of the proximity! An uneventful flight back to Boston, except that it was a very small airplane. So the noise of the wings bore through us all through the 2 hrs journey. The smaller planes do not go to high altitudes, so when we went over New York, it was a spectacular scene. Could easily make out the Manhattan and the 4 other Boroughs, the location of WTC, Empire State, Central Park and Statue of Liberty. NY looks so beautiful from up top in night.
Reached on time at 8.15 pm, Malden at 9.30 pm, took the car from Yasser and finally reached Marlborough at 10.45 pm. Got into our new home at 11 pm! All in all, a very nice time spent with best of friends, and a nice experience of home away from home. Also experienced another office in US! Added to it was the bonus trip: Smoky Mountains and Chattanooga trip!
PS: I also realized the 3 ways of driving a car – with cruise control using thumbs only, with gears only and then the normal way of using the accelerator and the brake! :-)
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