Adventure 7: Hiking the Appalachian Trail!

My next big adventure was just that...BIG! Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I traveled a couple of hours from my home to stay in the NE Georgia Mountains (as opposed to he NW Georgia Mountains where I live).

 

 Originally, I was just going to stay at one of my favorite state parks, do a little exploring and DEVOUR eat some yummy Thanksgiving lunch at the lodge cafe. As the week passed and it got closer to go time, I decided to pack my hiking boots. Why waste such a good opportunity to explore and hike and enjoy the great outdoors...and that is just what I did.
 
Early Thursday morning, on Thanksgiving, I woke up, laced up my hiking books and took to the mountains. That day, in total, I hiked just under 11 miles. My legs certainly told me all about it the next day.

 I hiked 9.2 miles on the Appalachian trail (4.6 miles each way) which was spectacular. The weather was amazing and there were very few other hikers so the hike was peaceful.
Later, after I drove back to Unicoi State Park, I decided that while I was there, why not hike up to Anna Ruby Falls. I haven't done it in a few years and at 0.8 miles each way, I figured it would be a nice leisurely pace that I could stretch my legs out some after the early morning hike.

 WHAT A VIEW! I LOVE Anna Ruby Falls. 100% worth the VERY sore legs the next day.

As the sun set on my little Thanksgiving getaway, I was so glad I had decided to spend it in the beautiful mountains. Needless to say, the sunset that night was hard to beat as well.


Another item checked off the list. Until next time......

Adventure 6: KARAOKE!

It's been a while since I've posted here but I have still been working towards my 30 by 30 list.
While on our Bahamas cruise in October I did something.... something, different for me.
I. SANG. KARAOKE!

Let me be clear, this is a frightening task for me. I, for one, am not a big fan of being the center of attention. Some people are made for it... I am not one of those people. Secondly, I CANNOT sing. More said, everyone can sing, just some people sing well... again, I am not one of those people. Don't get me wrong, that in no way stops me from belting Adele in my car every morning, but, nobody is there to hear me or judge me!
 This is totally different!
Nevertheless, I took the plunge, sang my song, and then left the bar.
One more item checked off the list!!!!

Until next time.... 

Adventure 5: 30 books

This list will be added to as time goes on but here are a few books I have finished recently and a few books I am in the process of reading for my 30 books before 30....

~ Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
~ Symphony for the City of the Dead by M.T. Anderson
~ Grace's Guide- The Art of Pretending to be a Grown-Up by Grace Helbig
~ Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Adventure 4: Hot Air Balloons... IN ALL THEIR GLORY!

 After the GLORIOUS cruise I went on in October, the day I got back, there was a festival at a local college. KSU (Kennesaw State University) had it's annual Owl-O-Ween Festival which was full of fun. (owl-o-ween because their mascot is the owl)

At the festival, part of the festivities revolved around the big hot air balloon show. Personally, it is what drew me in.
I was super excited to go and see all of the hot air balloons as they were inflated and lit up to glow throughout the night. They did offer tethered hot air balloon rides however (due to the insane lines), I did not partake. Nevertheless, it was a really enjoyable time and I was in awe of some of the gorgeous balloons!

 until next time.....
 
 

Adventure 3: Cruise / Island Getaway

Ahhhh. Vacation.
The one word that helps you relax almost instantly.... Unless your vacation involves some insane activities or death-defying acts. But that is another topic for another day.
For me, this month, VACATION meant RELAXATION. Don't get me wrong, a good time was had by all but mostly, it was a time to get some R&R.
Myself and 4 of my gal pals all set out for Miami last Monday to hop on the Norwegian Sky for 4 days of fun, sun, and island hopping.

Goodbye Miami.... Off we go to the Bahamas!

On our trip, we stopped over in Freeport and Nassau. In Nassau we visited the GORGEOUS Atlantis Resort. We gambled, we walked, we oohed and ahhed our way around...

Our final day was planned for Norweigan's own Private Island Great Stirrup Cay (small island that is part of the Berry Islands in the Bahamas). Unfortunately Neptune, Poseidon, and all of the other Mythological Gods of The Sea decided they were against this plan. Our last day we were unable to get off of our cruise ship because of the rough seas.... BUMMER.

Never the less, the trip was phenomenal. We went to Atlantis, shopped in the straw markets, drank rum (lots of rum), and just generally had a blast. Besides the rough seas, the weather was fantastic which gave us plenty of time to hang out on the boat deck and....you guessed it, RELAX!

I had a fantastic time with some great people. This was one of the adventures I was really excited to complete..... ON TO THE NEXT ONE!

Adventure 2: pay it forward acts of kindness. (Part One-Movie Nights!)

As part of my 30 by 30 adventure, I wanted to do something I knew would make me feel good while contributing something to others. For that, I decided to do some random acts of kindness.
In the first series of acts, I decided a little movie night pay-it-forward might be fun.
I went onto the website for Redbox and purchased a series of 1 night rental codes, there were 5 in all.

 
 Throughout the week last week and over the weekend, as a I passed by (or used) a Redbox kiosk, I taped an envelope to it with a free code.


Something simple and it isn't much but hopefully it brightened the day of the person who received it :-)



More random acts of kindness to come........

Adventure 1: Mother/Daughter Trip (Labor Day weekend 2015)

 Ancestry.... I have always been so curious about my extended family and ancestors and this year it lead me on an interesting journey.
In mid-June I FINALLY decided to sign up for an ancestry.com account to do a little digging and investigating into my families past. For one side of my family it was very easy... I have several living "resources" and a lot of information that was kept throughout my family members. For the other side of the family... it was a little more difficult.
This side of my family originally crossed over to the US from Germany and the surrounding areas to settle in Pennsylvania. When settling the Pennsylvania, they made home in the Amish country. Some records were lost, some records did not exist, and others were VERY difficult to find.
Along the way (all the while burning up my ancestry account) I found another user who had some very similar information in their family tree. For days, I debated contacting this person. Do I send a message or an e-mail? Will they respond?? The standard questions you would concern yourself with when reaching out to an unknown stranger/possibly distant relative.
I took the plunge and emailed the user. LO AND BEHOLD, THE VERY NEXT DAY I got a reply email from not only the user but also her father. After a series of emails, it turns out that they knew quite a bit about this side of my family. After further correspondence and dwindling down the family tree, it turns out the person I was talking to was my mother's 2nd cousin, my 2nd cousin once removed. In less confusing terms, this man's mother was my grandmother's cousin.
I immediately knew what I had to do..... I had to meet these people. A few days hours later, I had booked a flight to Philadelphia, along with a rental car and hotel near Lancaster, PA. I WAS SO EXCITED.... there was only one thing left to do. I had to tell my mother.
Many of you may be thinking, "you're nearly 30 years old and you have to tell your mother you're traveling!?!" No, though I am sure she would have appreciated the information, I needed to call my mother to tell her about the people I found and my intentions for travel.... mainly because these were her relatives too and they may have more family information she would be interested in!
Another week goes by, another plane ticket booked, and now, here we are.... A MOTHER DAUGHTER TRIP TO PENNSYLVANIA!

I'll spare the details on the rest of the trip but needless to say, it was fantastic. We went over Labor Day weekend and took the holiday to explore. We met our extended family, went through old photos with them, and visited the grave sites of our family members... my mom even visiting her grandparents grave for the first time in a very, very long time.

<- My mother at the 

grave site for her 

grandparents.

                                                                           My grandmother's Navy Photo! ^

                        ^  My Great Grandparents and some of the Cousins 

(including my grandmother)

We got to have some general fun as well visiting Hershey Chocolate World and exploring Hershey, Harrisburg, and Lancaster, PA.

A great time was had by all and we got so much information on our family. It could not have been a better way to spend an extended weekend!



***I have to give a special thanks to my Aunt and Uncle who sparked my inquisitive sense further by giving me some old family photos. I also have to extend a huge thanks to the Gerhart family for sitting down with us and going through photos and for walking us through the cemeteries in Lancaster (which is really not as grave as it sounds :::Bad pun, I know::::).