A Very British Trip Report - August 2007 - Day 1

[Kevin Stringer]

Who’s goin’:

Me: Kev, 49. I think I’ll be permanently 49 from now on.
Wifey: Tam, 43. I guess that means she can be permanently 43.
Daughter 1: India, 16.
Daughter 2: Georgia, 13.
There will be a few interlopers along the way as well.

If you want to know more about us, look at www.kevinstringer.co.uk

We all sleep very well, Tam and I waking around 7.00am. I guess all the walking has tired us out and enabled us to get on to local time sooner than usual.

The forecast for today is 93° and humid, making it feel more like 100°. Our plans are to do the full island boat tour with Circle Line and we’re hoping the breeze on the water will cool us down a bit.

We walk across town to Pier 83 to get our tickets for the cruise. We are booked on the 10.30am and have an hour to kill before then so we decide on breakfast from the little booth by the pier. Bad move. Can we have a grilled chicken sandwich please? No, we don’t serve that until lunchtime. Ok, can we have a mocha please? No, we are only serving straight coffee. Ok, we’ll have 3 of those with lids please. No, we only have 2 lids left. The girl is a right grumpy old tart as well. We end up with Danishes (Dani?) and coffee.

Watch out if you ever do this tour, people start to queue quite early to get on the boat and you really need to be sat on the left hand side as you can then see Manhattan clearly. If you sit on the right side you just get to see The Bronx, New Jersey etc.
I suppose I should have put ‘port’ and ‘starboard’ there instead of ‘left’ and ‘right’. Unfortunately I don’t know which is which.

The tour is very informative, but takes 3 hours, which is a little too long I think. The 2-hour tour covers the southern half of Manhattan, which is really the part most people want to see. That being said, it is quite interesting seeing the extreme north of the island as it is amazing how many trees and how much vegetation there is there. In my ignorance I thought every inch would be covered with buildings.
I suppose overall it is worth doing the 3 hour tour if you have the time, otherwise the 2 hour tour shows most of the things you are likely to want to see.

After the boat trip we take the tube to Fulton Street ($2 per person single trip) and walk down to Pier 17 where they have a large area with shops, restaurants etc. It’s main attraction is that it gives stunning views of the Brooklyn Bridge.
After walking around for a while we decide on a late lunch around 2.30pm at the Heartland Brewery. Tam and I split the chilli, India has a BBQ chicken sandwich and Georgia has wings. The beers are quite interesting here and Tam has the Apricot Ale while I try the Indian River Light Beer. The spiel says it has undertones of orange and coriander. I take this with a pinch of salt (not literally, salt and beer don’t mix) as people always claim you can taste this or that in beer when mostly it tastes of beer, but in this case it’s true. You definitely get an undertone of orange. It’s very nice.

After lunch we get the train uptown and return to the Waldorf Astoria where we relax for a while before showering and getting ready to go out for the evening.
I head down to Sir Harry’s Bar at 6.00pm for an evening aperitif while the rest of the ladies continue with their pruning. I wandered what the hedge clippers were for. No, wait – that should be preening. Now I really am wondering what the hedge clippers were for.

Sir Harry’s is a really nice bar in the plush red leather style of many bars in the better hotels in the US. It’s already busy with many people dressed up to go out for the evening. Its’ really nice to relax in a bar for practically the first time on this holiday. I’m writing this with a beer in front of me on our last night in New York, so what better time to reflect on our stay in this vibrant and exciting city. Frank called it The City That Never Sleeps for obvious reasons, there always seems to be something going on somewhere. It’s an exhilarating place just to walk around and view the amazing architecture, especially the older skyscrapers, which are far more interesting and atmospheric than their newer counterparts. The Chrysler Building has to be one of the greatest man made structures in the world.

It’s a city of contrasts. On one hand you have a huge number of museums, art galleries and theatres. This is in contrast to the gaudy, flashy Times Square and some of the more rundown districts. I guess this is what makes it so interesting.
It can certainly feel crowded and occasionally too fast paced, it’s not a city to stand still in. I think the 3 full days we have spent here are just about enough. We’ve walked miles and crammed an awful lot in and so it will be a wonderful contrast to get to our cabin in Lake Watauga tomorrow.

New York a wonderful town? Well, I’m not going to argue with Mr Sinatra. Is it my kind of town? No you fool, that’s Chicago, don’t you know your Frank?

But we’re not finished yet. Tam and the girls join me in the bar and we then head out to the Rockefeller Centre to go to The Top of the Rock observation platform. We decided to go up at 7.30pm as we thought we would be able to see the city in the light and as it gets dusk,
We have already got our tickets and walk straight through to the elevators. The roof of the elevator is clear and you can watch your ascent to the 67th floor. Here you get on an escalator to the 69th floor and can then walk up to the 70th floor.

The views are sensational. Tam and I have been up the Empire State before, but we think this is better as you are closer to Central Park and also get to see the Empire State, which dominates mid-town.

We enjoy the sights for ¾ of an hour and as it starts to get dark, thousands of lights are gradually turned on. It’s a display Disney would be proud of. We all agree this is the highlight of our visit to New York.

Back at ground level we walk to McCormick and Schmick’s for our 8.30pm reservation. This is a chain restaurant and our friends Deb and Matt really like the one they visit in Orlando, so we thought we’d give it a try. It’s primarily a seafood restaurant, so Tam and I try the coconut-encrusted mahi-mahi with a spicy cashew sauce and sea scallops with a mushroom risotto. I don’t mean this is all on one plate, we split the two dishes. Georgia has fish and chips and Ind tries the mahi-mahi as well.

The food is very good, but the sea scallops with risotto is the standout dish. Our server is very efficient, although of indeterminate sex. We have a discussion where I maintain that it is a young lady batting for the other side, whereas Tam holds the belief that he/she is a rather feminine bloke. None of us has the guts to ask. I mean, what do you say? ‘Excuse me, when you visit the bathroom do you use the door with the little man or the little woman on it?’

The ladies are in the mood for dessert and try the 3 crème brulees (normal, raspberry and coffee) and a chocolate box full of berries with white chocolate sauce. Both are good, but Tam declares the raspberry brulee to be the best.
Along with a rather respectable bottle of Syrah and tip, the bill comes to $200.

Back to the Waldorf and bed at 11.00pm.

Kev

 

[jen0610]

None of us has the guts to ask. I mean, what do you say? ‘Excuse me, when you visit the bathroom do you use the door with the little man or the little woman on it?’

I now have to clean my monitor off, after I read this line with a mouth full of pepsi. I don't care what anyone else thinks, but that there is a freaking hysterical line.

 

[OhMari]

Nice update Kevin, and nice to see a family picture.

The closest I came to NYC, was on a plane leaving Kennedy airport to Italy.

Oh, I did see the sky-line last summer from Staton Island when my son was racing. And we almost drove our 44-ft trailer into Manhattan when we were suppose to be heading West back home and I lost my sense of direction and we were heading East right into NYC.

 

[1000thhappyhaunt]

Mr. Stringer,

I don't read many trip reports. No reason. Except that I fear I'll start reading too many, again, and will forget to water, rotate and fertilize my three children. Properly.

Anywho... I've been reading yours and I've got to say: I LOVE IT!!!!

It's very funny and just plain good.


I'm hooked.


Keep bringin' it! Dude.


Cheers, Mel happyhaunt.




P.S. You have a lovely looking family and you don't look like you're 49 and holding. You barely look like you're pushing 48.

 

[Kevin Stringer]

Who’s goin’:

Me: Kev, 49. I think I’ll be permanently 49 from now on.
Wifey: Tam, 43. I guess that means she can be permanently 43.
Daughter 1: India, 16.
Daughter 2: Georgia, 13.
There will be a few interlopers along the way as well.

If you want to know more about us, look at www.kevinstringer.co.uk

The alarm goes off at 7.15am and we all get up and begin packing. India asks if we heard the rain in the night. Nope, never heard a thing. By 8.00am we are checked out and trying to get a taxi to La Guardia.

It’s a bit of a job getting a taxi, but we are eventually on our way at 8.30am for the supposedly 30 minute trip to la Guardia. With our flight to Charlotte at 10.05am, this should give us plenty of time. I’m glad I said ‘should’. All goes reasonably well until we reach the Triboro bridge and the traffic slows to a crawl.
For what seems like ages we move so slowly it makes Mr Snails attempt on the world record for slow sliming look positively rapid. The driver says it is due to the huge storm they had last night and that the underground is flooded in many areas making the roads incredibly busy.

We eventually arrive at 9.35am and rush to the US Airways check-in area. There is a bit of a queue so Tam goes to the e-ticket machines to try and use that. Apparently these things close 30 minutes before departure and we are now 28 minutes away! Doh! We have missed our flight and now have no alternative but to wait in the queue and throw ourselves on the mercy of the US Airways staff.
While in the queue we chat to a few people and hear many horror stories of delays and missed departures. It seems there was horrendous rain last night and one lady says her trip from Brooklyn, that should take 40 minutes, took 3 ½ hours.

The queue at check-in is now growing much longer and moving very slowly. We are lucky that we are fairly near the front; there are some people in for a very long wait. It’s taking a long time because US Airways are having to re-book everyone on to alternative flights. Eventually it is our turn and the lady taps away at her little computer terminal. Be kind please madam. She tells us we can go on standby for the 11.55am flight or book confirmed seats on the 255pm. We can’t take the risk of not getting on together, so we go for the confirmed flight. Tap, tap, tap….. computer says no. The confirmed seats have now gone. Sigh, we’re not having the best of luck with flights on this holiday.
We are put on standby for the 11.55am. Being British and intrinsically ignorant in the ways of standby, we are told to report to the gate and our name will be called if there is a seat for us.

Through security we go where me, Tam and Georgia are pulled aside for additional screening. Sweet, innocent India gets away with it. It’s a little alarming when the lady snaps on a pair of latex gloves! As it turns out, it’s just a quick search and they wipe our stuff with a little tissue that they then analyse in a machine. I guess they are looking for traces of explosive or maybe is measures foot odour. Unlikely, or it would have gone off the scale on Tam’s turn.

At the gate we sit and wait to see if we will get on the flight. A TV is on and there are warnings of severe hot weather in many parts of the mid-west and east. Guess what, Charlotte is due for temperatures of 104°. It never rains but it pours. Perhaps not the best metaphor in this case.

The plane arrives and they start calling names. Hugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Stringer. Woohoo and Woohoo again! We’re on!
I have to give US Airways credit, there were so many delayed and missed departures, it cannot have been easy sorting out the mess, but they managed it and at no cost as well. A big thumbs up for them.

Due to the queues of aircraft waiting to take off we eventually get airborne at 12.55pm. I’m certainly not going to be complaining about it being late, we’re just very thankful to be on our way.

The flight lands at 2.20pm and it all goes pretty swiftly from there and we pick up our car from Dollar and are on our way by 3.30pm.
We have a Nissan Murano, which is a reasonable size for us but would be too small for 5 people.

We leave the airport and are soon heading west towards Boone. It’s just a smidge warm as the temperature display reads 108°. I know these things tend to read a bit on the high side, but that’s hot by anyone’s standards.

As we drive further west the countryside keeps getting prettier with forested hills surrounding farms and small towns. I’m amazed by how many pretty little churches we pass by, the folks round these parts must be of the religious persuasion.

I knew we would need to stock up on provisions, so I did some research before we left home and found that there is a Walmart in Boone. Now this is the strangest supermarket I’ve ever been in. As usual with these things it seems to sell just about everything under the sun, but there is no fruit and veg section, no fresh meat section and no (and this is possibly the greatest sin known to man) beer! Oh, they do sell guns, so should you want to blast the hell out of someone or something, no problem at all, should you want to create a nice salad, get the hell out of this supermarket.

At the checkout we ask the lad if there is anywhere we can buy beer. I think he takes one look at me with a small tear in my eye and my upper lip quivering ever so slightly and takes pity on me. There is a Food Lion just across the car park. Lord knows what a Food Lion is, but they sell beer and that’s good enough for me. As it turns out this is much more the sort of place we are looking for and we leave fully stocked with foodstuffs and booze.

We cross the Tennessee border and the countryside just keeps getting prettier and prettier. Eventually we reach Lake Watauga and drive down increasingly narrow roads until we end up on a gravel path to Majestic Manor.

As we enter the property our jaws drop. The living room has an enormous picture window looking out onto the lake below. The décor is rustic with wood and stone everywhere.

The view from the balcony and out the picture window.

This is the view you get while soaking in the whirlpool bath

This place is just huge for the 4 of us with 4 bedrooms, two balconies on different levels and a hot tub. I think it’s the most amazing place we’ve ever stayed.
The ladies are particularly taken with the massage chair in the living room.

There are 3 levels with the lowest having a large games room with pool table and the most humungous TV I’ve ever seen.

We soon unpack and shower and are ready for something to eat. It’s cooled down to a chilly 80° at 8.00pm, just right to fire up the BBQ. We’ve bought some Big Bubba’s Burgers, which amuses Tam for some reason, but they are very tasty. Twinkies and cookies and a few beers complete a fine repast.

We have a discussion about what the car should be called on this holiday. The ladies are coming up with silly names like Muriel (Murano), so I have to take the opposite view and suggest Buttface. This amuses Georgia who looks forward to telling us all to clamber into Buttface.

I thought the crickets we heard in Short Hills were loud, but those boys were just amateurs compared with Lake Watauga posse. They might even drown out my snoring tonight.

Kev

 

[Kevin Stringer]

I thought I might add a video to accompany each section of my trip report.

New York Video

Kev

 

[tinawv]

What a beautiful place. How did you find it?

 

[50 years Too!]

Bravo, Kev. As you Brits would say, brilliant!
Looking forward to more.

Deb

 

[50 years Too!]

Kevin,
You've seen more of the United States than most US citizens.
I love the way you don't only visit the usual tourist attractions but really go off the beaten path. Well, maybe that Walmart was a little too off the path...

 

[Marion]

Oh my.... that place is gorgeous! I'd just never leave

 

[Sherrynny]

BRAVO Almost makes me want to go back,lol

Sherry-n-NY

 

[AshClan]

Watch out if you ever do this tour, people start to queue quite early to get on the boat and you really need to be sat on the left hand side as you can then see Manhattan clearly. If you sit on the right side you just get to see The Bronx, New Jersey etc.
I suppose I should have put ‘port’ and ‘starboard’ there instead of ‘left’ and ‘right’. Unfortunately I don’t know which is which.

C'mon, I KNOW you've been on a cruise. That's the first thing they teach you! Left = Port.....they both have the same number of letters

Loved all the pictures, especially the family shot that actually has YOU in it!! And those last two skyline shots are breathtaking.

 

[AshClan]

Wow, Kevin! That place is gorgeous!

And I agree with 50 Years Too! Kudos on putting the "locals" to shame! I may call on you to plan my next trip!!

 

[Kevin Stringer]

What a beautiful place. How did you find it?

The internet is a wonderful thing!

It all started when friends of our (Deb and Matt, you'll meet them later in this trip) told us how much they enjoyed the Blue Ridge Parkway. We decided it would be nice to stay close to it yet still driveable to Hilton Head.
Tam then made up her mind that she had to stay close to a lake. From there on it was just searching around on the net until something looked nice. This place certainly was.

Kev

 

[Kevin Stringer]

I may call on you to plan my next trip!!

Not a problem Susan. The trouble is, you may end up with a tour of southern Hooters if it's left to me!

Kev

 

[3inthefamily]

I've been enjoying your trip reports, and finally had to comment when your "computer says no" quote made me spit my wine all over my keyboard! Your trip report + Little Britain = sputtering, laughing mess!

 

[KimAshton]

Wow that is beautiful.

 

[OhMari]

Finally, I have been in an area, that you are staying at. Ya know you were in Nascar territory. And, please don't tell me you don't know what Nascar is.

 

[Kevin Stringer]

Finally, I have been in an area, that you are staying at. Ya know you were in Nascar territory. And, please don't tell me you don't know what Nascar is.

Yes, Nascar is that strange sort of motor vehicle racing where they go round and round and round and round.........
Why bother having a steering wheel?

When we met up with Lu Beth (who lives in North Carolina) she gave Matt and I Nascar hats, which I wore with pride around the parks.

Kev

 

[Kevin Stringer]

Who’s goin’:

Me: Kev, 49. I think I’ll be permanently 49 from now on.
Wifey: Tam, 43. I guess that means she can be permanently 43.
Daughter 1: India, 16.
Daughter 2: Georgia, 13.
There will be a few interlopers along the way as well.

If you want to know more about us, look at www.kevinstringer.co.uk

Tam and I are both up and around by 6.30am. This may be partly to do with the fact that there are no curtains in the front windows of the house. I assume this is because there isn’t exactly anybody to see in as our view across the lake and mountains is as far as the eye can see.

It’s quite eerie this early in the morning with the mist hanging over the lake and shrouding the mountains. It’s going to be hot, hot, hot again today.

The girls are still in bed so, after a cup of coffee, Tam and I walk down the very steep track to the lake where there is a boat dock with kayaks and canoes for use by the people staying in the lodges.
It’s very peaceful this early in the morning and our plan is to return later to go canoeing up the river. The walk back up the hill is a darn sight harder than the walk down was!

The girls are slowly getting up when we return, at least India is. Georgia takes some gentle persuasion. My boot is very gentle.
We have cereal for breakfast and then drive down to the lake. Tam and India are going in one canoe, while George and I take another.

We set off across the lake and then head upstream as far as we can before the water cascades down over boulders and rocks. Here we beach the canoes and have a paddle. You have to be careful where you tread, as the rocks are quite slippery, but there is one area that is just about deep enough to swim. The water is surprisingly warm given that it is a wide stream in full flow.

We’ve made sandwiches and so partake of an early lunch. When I say ‘sandwiches’ this is perhaps overstating the sophistication of the repast. It’s actually two bits of bread smeared with peanut butter. I did try to improve mine by slapping in a piece of processed cheese, much to the disgust of the women.

We canoe back down to the lake. It’s beautifully quiet, the only other people we see are a couple of good old boys enjoying a spot of fishing and doing rather well at it from what I can see of the 5 or 6 sizeable fish they have on a line.

As we turn out of the stream and into the lake Georgia decides we should race back. Tam and Ind set off as fast as they can, they are nothing if not competitive. Georgia and I still beat them back by some distance even though the others have a head start and we stop a couple of times to take some video. To be fair, they probably have to travel twice as far as us because their navigational skills leave a lot to be desired. By this I mean that they slalom across the lake like a drunken sea captain returning from a night out at Mrs Cuthbert’s Rum House. At one point India can be heard faintly in the distance berating Tam ‘You’re going the wrong way. Jesus Schmesus’.

Back on dry land we jump in Buttface (the car remember?) and head back through Boone before picking up the Blue Ridge parkway for a scenic drive of 10 miles or so. It’s very beautiful and remarkably pristine, looking as if the verges are mown all the time. There are rolling hills covered in tress interspersed with barns and small farms and plenty of places to stop and admire the view.

We can’t help but compare it to the drive we took into Kings Canyon in California a couple of years ago. I think the parkway is probably prettier, but the canyon was more rugged and awe inspiring.

Ever since we arrived in North Carolina we’ve been seeing what looks like giant cobwebs festooning certain trees. We stop for a closer inspection. There are tiny little spiders in them but also lots of small caterpillars. I’m going to have to find out what they are after the holiday.

Back to the normal road and we drive through Blowing Rock. This is a very pretty little place with many nice looking small hotels.
We stop for a drink at the Canyon Restaurant where they are serving pints of draft beer for $2.50! Due to the driving duties I cannot make full use of this. Shame.

On the way back through Boone we stop at the Food Lion for a few provisions and then head back to Majestic Manor, pausing only to sneer at the beerless Walmart.
It’s still over 90°, with the heat index over 100°, whatever a heat index is.
Given this information you may find it slightly strange that Tam wants to try the hot tub. She’s a weird woman. Just before she gets in the tub the phone rings. It’s the Debster ringing from the UK to make sure we arrived safely as she’s heard about the storms in New York. She’s a good girl is Deb. Tam and Deb chat for a bit and I can just imagine Matt stood in the background tapping his watch as the cost of a trans-atlantic phone call racks up. It’s a shame they can’t be here enjoying this place with us, but we’ll be seeing them in Orlando in just over a week.

It’s time to christen the pool table and we play a few games while listening to music and enjoying beer.
Showers and baths are next. The master bathroom has huge double doors that can be opened onto the landing above the living room. Tam has a soak in the whirlpool bath (that has underwater lights that change colour) while enjoying a beer and gazing out through the huge panoramic window overlooking the lake. It’s difficult to imagine greater luxury.

We are having steak cooked on the BBQ tonight and problem number one arises. We have a bottle of red wine but cannot find a corkscrew. This house has just about every gadget under the sun and I push aside the automatic nose hair trimmer and the matching his and hers button polishers in my frantic search, but to no avail. We have to walk up the track to ask the couple in the cabin there if we can borrow a corkscrew.
They are a very nice family from Pittsburgh who are just off to build a campfire and make smores.

Bottle opened and BBQ fired up we cook our rib eye steak and sit around the table in the dining room to eat the repast, which includes baked potatoes, garlic mushrooms, salad and bread. This is followed by cookie dough ice cream.

After the meal the girls disappear into the basement to play more pool. Georgia wants it to be known that she is improving and even manages to beat India once.

Tam and I turn off all the lights in the living room and sit in the warm darkness on the balcony staring up at the plethora of stars on display. Tam fetches a blanket and lies down while I slump back in my chair and rest my feet on the balcony rail.
It’s 10.00pm and the temperature is perfect. I guess it’s in the mid 70’s, not a breath of wind and the perfect silence is only broken by the loud chirping of the crickets. It’s a wonderfully relaxing time and I think we both fall asleep for a short while.

It’s time for bed for the ladies as they are all tired and we have an early start tomorrow as we are going white water rafting. I manage one more beer while I write up my trip report, then it’s off to bed for me too. It’s been a long day.

Kev