I'm packing up and gearing up for the second leg of my spring break but I wanted to write a trip report on my journey to the Smoky Mountains last weekend.

A group of my friends and I rented a five bedroom log cabin up in the mountains in Tennessee. The cabin was equipped with some nice TVs, private bathrooms for each bedroom, a pool table, hot tub, and a two-tiered deck that looked over the mountains. Needless to say it was a wonderful getaway from the persistent winds and chilling temperatures of Chicago-land.

After a five hour drive we were given directions to our cabin. We literally drove up a mountain and winded and swerved our way through a few streets to get to our building. We must have been five to seven thousand feet up (though that's pure estimation) and the drive made me both rather dizzy and fairly motion-sick. It took us about 20 minutes to climb from street level up to our cabin and the roads were unpainted and without guardrails. Definitely some fist-clenching moments of apprehension and nerves.



View off our back deck

After settling in the first evening we went out for pizza and had some drinks. Apparently Yeungling is a beer that is not sold in Ohio, so it quickly became the favorite brew of the house. We went to the Mellow Mushroom for dining which unfortunately did not satisfy this spoiled Chicagoan who is accustomed to Lou Malnati's. We ended the night with drinks and billiards/hot-tubbing before tackling the next day.

All the guys except the one who showed up late.

I ended up getting pretty sick during the second day there. I did a pretty intense workout with some housemates and didn't sleep/eat well prior to it. We walked around downtown Galtinburg, TN which is filled with various museums, tourist traps, and rides. Exhaustion and dehydration probably lead me to feel under the weather and it culminated with a nice glutton-filled ice cream binge by me after spending a day in the sun. Empty stomach + 20 oz Coke + ice cream = disaster. I ended up celebrating my St Patty's day with zero alcohol and puking in the toilet. I called it a short night, watched some bball, and went to bed while the rest of our gang battled it out on some Xbox Kinect.

I woke up well-rested Day 3 and realized my NCAA Bracket had gone to shit. Our last trooper of the group had arrived late and we all settled up and went out to breakfast. We then headed to Cave's Cove which is a national park/preserve area that is notorious for its wildlife and preserved buildings/churches. The track is around eleven miles long and it's not uncommon to see dozens of deer, various species of birds and foxes, and the occasional encounter with a bear. Unfortunately 1pm is not the primetime to see anything and we drove through this place and only saw one deer. The deer looked wounded and limping too so if it weren't for its handicap, we probably see nothing but the horses grazing some of the land.

Night 3 was the highlight of the trip - Go Kart Racing! Now I should say that the five guys on this trip with me are all very heavy video gamers. We've stayed friends over the years through Xbox Live and we all have a knack for competition. This made for some great races (and wrecks) on the slick tracks. We have video footage of some of the races which I'll link once the video is produced and uploaded to YouTube, but the highlight is definitely of this one doucher who was throttle boosting his kart. For those unfamiliar, there is a mechanism on a go-kart designed to restrict (or govern) the amount that you can push down on the throttle. If this mechanism is compromised or removed, it can lead to your kart being significantly faster than those who still have the mechanism working. Well, doucher white-trash was all about cheating and made it a point to fist-pump and lift his hands in triumph in the races which he illegally won. Fast forward to the last race of the night and we all had placed a target on his back. We were fortunate that the two kids running the tracks were loving the intensity and they'd give us extra time on the track and also pour extra water on tight turns to encourage and increase the number of spin outs/wrecks/chaos. We collectively wrecked this guy a half dozen times in the final race and completely ignored trying to beat one another.

We spent our fourth and final day there shopping and playing some putt putt. We went to this place called "Hillbilly Golf" which apparently means playing putt putt on the side of a mountain while putting through farm equipment. Pretty cool course that starts with a ride up a hydraulic lift to 300 ft above street level. I ended up winning a little bit of money which negated the money I lost playing pool and made for a fun sweat near the end.

Hillbilly Golfin

Anyways, I'm off to South Carolina for a golf trip with some friends. 5 rounds in 3 days will be pretty brutal but I've been itching to play and the weather in Ohio and Chicago hasn't cooperated. Lots of betting and fun dealer's-choice poker games are sure to be played. Trip report will come as well!