We interrupt this program...

Yeah, I know I haven't finished posting my Germany and Austria pics. but I thought I would break it up for now and let you all know how I have been spending my summer days. My next post will be the last ones of Europe.

First, let me say that even though I've had plenty of free time this summer, my funds for traveling are being used sparingly. Last week, Best Friend had a day off work and we were itching to do a great day trip. The problem? Neither of us have too much money to burn, so we did what we like to call our "Poor Girls Trip". Poor Girls Trips are not foreign to us, so we don't really mind. For example, we wanted to go to the Virgin Islands for spring break, but we decided the Bahamas would be cheaper. The Bahamas became our Virgin Islands. Even sadder, we decided to downgrade it even further to a Florida Keys trip. When we were 70 miles off the coast of Key West in the Dry Tortugas, I lied to myself that I was really in St. Johns. Another time, we were planning to live out our dream of going to Peru and hiking the Inca Trail past ancient Inca ruins to Machu Piccu, but decided we should put it off for another year and maybe make Mexico our Peru. After all, the Mayan Ruins at Chichen Itza are pretty cool... oh yeah and cheap!

So even though on this day we were wishing for a hike in the Alps, we settled for the Smokies and even though we wanted to go whitewater rafting, we settled for the $4 tubing down Deep Creek. Thus, Bryson City, NC came our Poor Girls Day Trip. It was awesome! We hiked to three waterfalls in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and then went tubing down the creek. It was the best tubing I've ever done! We actually hit a lot of whitewater and went over 3 ft.+ drops. It was way fun!

Best Friend and I were also missing taking pictures of the castles and ancient buildings, but we settled on hunting down a historic mill on the way home. I was actually very happy to find this one, just outside of Dillard, Ga., because I have tried to locate it three times already! Finally, my determination paid off and I was successful. It's not a castle, but for a Poor Girls Trip, it was just right.

So what else have I been doing this past week?

Planning a double birthday beach party for two of my friends! Here I am relaxing by the pool with a Pina Colada. The water balloons in the pool were for the war about to take place. And it did indeed turn out to be a war!

I'm glad that I didn't wear a solid white shirt!

Beer and insect repellant flowed freely.

...so I'm not sure if it was the bug spray or the beer taking effect in the picture! haha. Just kidding. They always look like this!

Ash, birthday girl #1 is on the right here with her sis Red.

At least one of them is happy to be here. That's because she's birthday girl #2!





Chillin' by the pool. In the background the very last of the water balloons has just been filled. We are on the brink of war here!

And by the look on my face, I think I had just been threatened.

The filthy aftermath of the fight.

The party moved indoors, mainly because everyone needed to change into dry clothes.

Isn't it funny when you click to enlarge photos such as this one and find that people in the background are making even funnier faces than the one in the foreground?

(Come on Red, couldn't you wait until you got home???)

Man, just looking at these photos make me glad that I'm not the drinker I once was!

Me to Red, "Here, taste how nasty this is!"

Red (through coughs and sputters), "Tastes like some feet or something!"

Ahhh yeah! Feeling good!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASH AND LA-LA!!!!

And yesterday, I took a trip with some friends, Ash and JM, in seach of a wedding destination to Amicalola Falls. This is the top of falls where it begins its 729 ft. drop the mountain.

I like this park a lot. Hiking the trails (especially the stairs) is a real butt kicker. But we all agreed that even though it's really nice, it's not a great place to have a wedding.

I saw a snake here on this day, too. I was told by JM that it was a Timber Rattlesnake, but I just took his word for it. I wasn't about to look close enough to see a rattle. The good news is I didn't burst into tears or vomit all over myself. Way better than some of my previous snake sightings, I'd say.

Soon after, a thunderstorm blew in and brought our day out and about in the mountians to an end. But before leaving the park, Ash and I made a quick stop in the visitor center to pick up some more information on the wedding facilities. When we came out, JM informed me that one of the park rangers--one that I would probably think was hot--was checking me out.

"Really?" I said excitedly. "One of the rangers? All I saw were those prisoners doing some clean up."

"No," he said. "It was one of the rangers. He was wearing the khaki suit."

I sighed, "But those were the prisoners!" Of course. Just my luck.

So this is what I have been up to. Next time I post, I'll get back with the program and post the last of my Germany and Austria pics.