Comedy of Errors at the Grandover Resort

My husband and I have really terrible luck at hotels. We typically get placed next to the noisy room. So when we planned a little trip to Greensboro, we decided to stay at a resort & spa. We have found that these type of places tend to be a little quieter and nicer than regular hotels. We even sprung for the King Suite with Whirlpool Tub because we like jacuzzi tubs.

We got there four hours early and the staff let us check in. The lobby was amazing. It was almost as good as the Grove Park Inn in Asheville - I just love that place, but this place was closer and my heart fell in love with the Christmas trees and decor of the Grandover Resort in Greensboro.

This was one of the trees found in the resort.


We got up to the room and found it to be in nice condition, but it was no Grove Park Inn. However, we weren't planning on spending a whole lot of time there on Saturday so as long as the bed didn't have bugs and the whirlpool worked, we were happy. Whirlpool worked and the bed was comfortable.

We met my college friend and his new wife at the Natural Science Museum to see the Titanic exhibit. That was pretty cool. I was a woman on the Titanic in the first class and I was one of the saved passengers. My husband was a man in the 2nd class and unfortunately he perished.

We ate dinner and headed back to the hotel. The four of us spent time out in the hot tub, but the two men braved the cool waters of the pool while the ladies soaked our leg muscles in the hot tub.

The Hot Tub:



The Pool:



After we were done soaking, we decided to go our separate ways to our rooms. We made our way to our 4th floor room and got ready for bed. Then, it happened.

We heard slamming doors, loud talking and laughing in the room next door. I fell asleep and then one of the three things would wake me up. Finally around one am, my husband made the call to the front desk letting them know of the extra loud things going on next door. A few minutes later we heard security knock on their door and things calmed down, but every time I fell asleep someone next door would laugh so loud it would wake me up.

My husband decided he would get up and call again when something caught his attention. I heard it too, but honestly I thought it was the toilet. He went to the bathroom and his shock was apparent. I can't remember his exact phrase, but the bottom line was that there was water pouring from the speakers in the ceiling.

This isn't the ceiling that was leaking, but water was pouring from the circular thing in our FIRST room.



He put a trashcan under it and made a second call to the front desk. Very shortly after, security came to check it out. Then maintenance came and finally a bell hop showed up with new keys to escort us to a new room at a mere 2am.

At this point, we were laughing. All I could think of was the comedy of errors of the night and how somewhat grateful I was of all the noise next door because if we hadn't been disturbed, we would have had a major flood in the bathroom.


We did have a good time though in Greensboro and after we left Greensboro Sunday morning, we headed to Old Salem to check out the colonial village.

IN all the years

In all the years that I have worked and in all the years that I have been sick with Lyme Disease. I have *never* taken 5 days off in a row (including when I had Gallbladder surgery). In between jobs, yes there have been some time taken. However, I have never purposefully requested and been paid for 5 days off in a row.

Applaud now, for today is day number 4. Technically it's Day number 6 (if you're including Saturday and Sunday). I have not left the house even once since Saturday upon returning from the beach. I had some things that I should have done, but I decided that I was going to be lazy and rest. After all, that is what I needed more than anything.

So *clap* for me. I saw that I needed a "staycation" and took it. It will actually be a total of 9 days off in a row including the two weekends. I'm so glad I started my staycation with a day trip because it has caused me to relax. That is something I actually don't do very well. Even if my body relaxes, my mind just doesn't stop.

Clemson University Visit

I will not be posting pictures of Sarah's graduation unless I get permission from her first. I'm sorry about this, but her family's privacy is important to me.

So everyone knows I'm a HUGE UNC fan. I rarely spend (okay never) anytime on any other college campus other than Western Carolina and UNC. So it was quite interesting to go to another college campus. I took LOTS of photos.


This statue and I have a story. I sat down for the photo and when I went to stand up my dress got caught under his leg. He wouldn't let me get up! I said, "Sir I'm so terribly sorry, but I'm married. You'll have to be letting me go now." :o) Then once I was released I whispered to Rob that the statue was a pervert!



The Clemson Memorial Stadium. ~ ya know where they play football ~ and where marching bands perform! :P



I love clock towers! Here is Clemson's clock tower. It's *almost* as beautiful as UNC's & Westerns. *almost*



This post would be missing something if I didn't post about the university honoring our military. They had such a beautiful display by the clock tower.



And You might be a Blogger if .. you see this




and you think about ...

Later Gator and Hello Tigers!

So Friday morning, I will be taking a mini trip down to South Carolina. I rarely leave the area so some of you might be wondering why I'm taking a road trip outside the RTP area much less out of the state. A few weeks ago I received an invitation to go to someone's high school graduation. It's been years since I've attended a graduation and this someone is quite special.

My dear Lyme friend Sarah is 18 years old and lives in Upstate South Carolina. We've been friends almost since the beginning of my Lyme Diagnosis. Sarah also has Babesia and Bartonella. As if those things weren't bad enough on their own, Sarah also has: Hashimoto's Thyroid Disease, Tachybrady-Cardia, POTS syndrome, Gastroparesis, Poly-neuropathy, Degenerative Disk Disorder, nerve damage to vagus nerve, and now Chiari 1 Malformation has been added to the list.

And my friend can now add "High School Graduate" to the list! On Saturday morning, I will get to see her receive her diploma. I will finally get to meet the friend I've been talking to the last two years.

Congratulations Sarah. I can't wait to meet you.

P.S. Curious about the Title? I'm going to be headed to Clemson South Carolina. The home of the Clemson Tigers!

Post Picc Pics!

1. Take a nice long shower without a picc line cover *check*



2. Find a hot tub somewhere and enjoy it. *check*


3. Swim in a pool. *check*


4. Go Bowling. (soon?) :( Haven't done it yet, but hopefully have a trip planned with a friend or two (or 10) soon.

5. Walk on the beach *check*


6. Go to a Winterguard show! *check*

7. Spin a rifle. (Okay maybe not .. but it would be fun.) (uh yeah haven't done it and probably won't be doing it anytime soon, but do taking pictures of these count????)

Rifles at Fort Macon <>

8. Hug my friends without fear of being hurt (I seriously need to get better pics of this)


9. Sleep on my right side without hurting



What??? that's not me sleeping in my bed? Could have fooled me!?!?! It was one of my favorite photos that my husband took with our SLR camera. But yes I am sleeping on my right side again without pain.

Atlantic Beach

So the primary goal of going on this trip was to relax and get away. We accomplished just that. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon to our destination of the Sheraton. I highly recommend this hotel at Atlantic Beach (especially if you can get the suite with jacuzzi tub). It wasn't long after arrival that we made our way back out to find something to eat. Now the funniest thing happened on our way out. I don't know if I mentioned this when we went to Nags Head that we had the hardest time finding pizza places. Well, pizza places were a plenty at Atlantic Beach. Every few minutes there was another advertisement for pizza. I was starving and we finally landed at Dairy Queen just so we could get something fast.

We went back to the hotel and walked on the beach. We proceeded to take the first of many photographs. We began thinking about all the things we could do, but wound up not doing very many of the things we had "planned." Two things kept us from doing them. Mainly it was the weather, but the other was that it wouldn't have allowed for much relaxing (our main goal for the vacation). We really wanted to go visit Cape Lookout Lighthouse, but it was just too cold on the day we could have gone.

We saw dolphins from our hotel room balcony. We attempted to take many photographs, but only a few really showed them. Here were the best two photos. We went out on the pier the next night about the same time hoping to get some more photos, but they didn't come out to play the next night. These were taken off our balcony on Friday Night.

Dolphins swimming together

Dolphin swimming in the waves.

The main two things we did (other than swimming in the pool and lounging in the hot tub) was go to Fort Macon & the NC Aquarium. I may share pictures of those later on, but here's another one of me under the pier.

PS. I've posted once today already so go down one to see my favorite photo of me from this trip.

I'm back!!!

Nothing much to say.

I went to Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. My husband and I relaxed. We had an enjoyable time of nothingness! I'll get a good post on the vacation in later.

We must have taken over 2500 pictures between two cameras.

My favorite picture of me:

Sunday update

Last week was a difficult week. Not only was I emotionally drained from my grandfather's poor health, I had a cold. It was not pleasant. I wasn't sure if I would have the immune system to beat it, but so far so good. I took all my immune building supplements and was reminded of one special supplement that I have and took it today as well. It is a supplement that I took for to kill bacteria, but thought it might be useful for this particular strain of whatever it is that I have.

Because it does kill the Lyme bacteria as well, the potential for herxing is there. For those not in the Lyme speak, "herxing" is the effect of when the bacteria dies and creates toxins. Those toxins make you feel quite lousy and sometimes it makes you feel even worse than lousy. I fear the potential of the "herx," but I know that I need this supplement right now. When I return from the beach, I will begin a new supplement. This supplement may also create the herx reaction. I received this supplement last week, but have been terrified to take it.

It's Prima Una de Gato. (Most know it's name by: Cat's Claw) It is so strong that I have to take one drop in four ounces of water. Then increase each day until I get up to five drops. Depending on how I do, I may have to increase very slowly. Oh the other thing that I had done a couple of weeks ago was have my lab work redone. I wanted to see if I could possibly get a positive Lyme test. Through Labcorp, they have a negative, equivocal and positive results. There are no specific bands to look at .. it just gives you an overall answer. I do not know what my Labcorp results were previously, but this time I had an Equivocal result. This means that the bands weren't strong enough to be a full on positive, but there was something there so they couldn't say it was negative. I am waiting on my IgeneX test results. Those show more details on specific bands.

I can tell that stress is playing a role on how I feel physically. I have had small amounts of joint and muscle pain. I have also had a significant amount of twitching. The weather has also played a small role. It snowed the 2nd day of March, then it was hot at the end of the week and now it's cold & rainy! It has rained most of the week. Rainy weather affects my joints and muscles. It also affects my moods.

I had so much fun at Congress on Wednesday, but I was exhausted & winded at the end of a very short visit. It taught me that I am definately not at 100 percent. I received a hand written letter from Senator Rouzer from Johnston County. He is the Senator that had just read my letter prior to me walking into his office. However, he was not available so we talked with his wonderful assistant. :o)

And props to my best friend. He always seems to know exactly what I need when I am feeling down. He always seems to call when I'm feeling my lowest and knows exactly what to say or do to help me get my chin up. Props to my other friends too. You guys all rock. You have no idea how much your support and prayers have meant over the last week. The phone calls, the IM's, the emails, the comments --- you guys have a special place in my heart.

Just so it doesn't throw you off guard, I plan to take a Time Out from blogging this week. My husband and I are going to the beach on Wednesday. It will be a huge blessing to get out of town. My mother in law will be a huge blessing to us and stay out our house while we go out of town. Her staying will allow us to go out of town without worrying about our dogs or phone messages. She'll be able to hear all of our messages so if my family calls about my grandfather. We will return on Sunday. I'm sure I'll have a lot to say when I get back!

I believe I will skip Not Me Monday this week. I know I've said it before and still participated, but I have a lot of packing and cleaning to do before I leave on Wednesday.

My LLMD appt

I was ready. I was prepared. I had my paper with all my symptoms and all my bloodwork in hand. I was ready to go into fight for me and my life. :) I, Jennifer, have been fighting for my life for the last 10 plus years. I have been battling life with massive artillery since February of 07. However I left my papers sitting on the counter and went in armed with memories.

Those memories were from the Outer Banks and Western Carolina

Carolina and a work related event



I was armed with the fun I have had rather than problems. I was armed with the knowledge that the goal in this "whole treatment" is to reduce the symptoms in between treatments and to spread the treatments further and further apart.

I was also armed with the knowlege of my Live Cell Analysis (finding Parasites, Plaque, Black Fungus, Lyme, Yeast and Heavy Metal Toxicity) and that my CBC and other numbers had improved since my last test. So I went in hopeful. I was hopeful for a light. I wanted that light at the end of the tunnel. I needed that light at the end of the tunnel. AND that light needed to NOT be a train.

So whenever I leave my office I generally get some sense of hope, but never is an end in sight. Today for the first time our focus is going OFF of Lyme Disease and we are focusing on Parasites and Heavy Metals. Now I am still going to be having my Lyme Treatments, but those are going to be spread further apart. My next appointment isn't until 6 weeks after my last treatment and I am going OFF of my oral Dioxychlor. WOOOT WOOOT.

So I have to increase my "mineral" intake so that they can test me for Heavy Metals. Some of my symptoms have pointed that way, but we've been so focused on Lyme and co-infections that we have not even "gone there." It's a marathon ... not a race. I have to go slow and steady. After all, the turtle wins the "race." So I'll have to do the jug-o-pee test. I know this has you intrigued.

I'll get an IV of these meds and for 6 hours after the start of the meds I have to PEE in a JUG. Then I have to shake this jug up .. pour a little bit out and send it off to be tested for all sorts of heavy metals. It will take the words "Pee You" to a whole new level. :)

So that's it. My doctor is pleased with my Lyme Progress. I still need the PICC since it is doing well and ... I'm so psyched. :)

I'm back part 5

After the game was over, we did a "driving" tour of campus. I showed Kellie all four dorms that I lived in on campus and a few of the places I went to when I wasn't in my room. It was a short tour (as I only really stayed at the Wesley Foundation and Hunter's Library).

We took a rest at the hotel before heading out for a quick bite to eat. Now I figured since Cullowhee/Sylva has grown a bit that maybe just maybe the road to Franklin would be filled with new food places. Well ... color me surprise ... I was wrong.

After at least 30 minutes of driving (to and back again), we wound up back at Wendy's for dinner. We rushed back home to see 27 Dresses on TV and passed out shortly after.

Alarm woke us up at 6am so we could get up and ready to leave. It was after our bathroom time that Kellie told me that we made a huge oops. Even though we discussed it and knew it was happening ... her cell phone failed to set itself back one hour. So we actually woke up at 5am instead of 6am.

At least we wouldn't be late. We hemmed, hawed and watched an old movie that we poked fun of the cheesy acting for a while. We ate the continental breakfast and left Cullowhee for our homes. Talking made the 3 hours to her house go by very quickly. It seemed longer for the 2 hour drive to my house.

I'm back part 3

So Saturday morning, Kellie & I got up bright and early. After minimal time and effort, we both were ready for our day. What can I say ... we're both very low maintenance. Though I have to admit that Kellie was a little more high maintenance than me. I mean come on Kell ... Make-up and curls for a football game? Cute and Cold don't go hand in hand after all. :) Though .. I admit it didn't take her all that long to apply said make-up or do said hair style. :)

Best part about Kellie is that she is just as time conscientious as I am. In fact if I had to make a guess, she might even be MORE time conscientious. This is a good thing in my book. Time conscientiousness is in the pro column in the how to be a good friend list

We get our continental breakfast. Most of the time continental and crappy could be interchanged, but this breakfast weren't half bad. We get to Western before registration time. Excellent start to the day already. It's so cold we can see our breaths. Prior to the game, we bought these warm hand things. We stuffed them in every single pocket we could. Front pant pockets, back pockets, shoes ... I even put one on top of my head under the hat.

This was us waiting to register for Alumni Band. This was BEFORE we had put on any major heating supplies. I blew out just as Kellie snapped the photo to show how cold it was. Thanks Kellie for letting me steal the photo of us from your facebook album. You rock.




We wrapped ourselves in our scarves, jackets, sweaters, and climbed up the bleachers at Western. Another item in my "pro column" is that someone is just as excited as I am about something I am excited about. I love to take photos. It's something I am passionate about and I probably have about 100 photos of the alumni tower, football field, marching band, but I keep taking more.

Kellie & I walked around the field getting even more photos. I think she took just as many as me. We watched the band practice for two hours. At the end of two hours, we headed to Lowe's to get more warmers and then ate lunch. It was still freezing as we entered the UC (University Center for those of you *not* in the *know*). We walked out and it was still freezing. We watched the band warm up and took lots of photos of the percussionist.

As we were walking back to the car to get our supplies for the game, we realized it was all the sudden getting warmer. Then I remembered the old addage at Western. If you don't like the weather at Western, wait 20 minutes ... it will change.

Next up: Part 4. :)

I'm Back part 2

I'm wrote this Sunday night to be published later. Today is that later. :)

I left work around 11:30 and started on my drive to Kellie's. Kellie lives about 90 minutes from my work and I have never been there. Anyone that knows me knows that I am terrified to go anywhere new and different.

Well my dear friends, I made it there safe and sound with no troubles at all. Thanks to Kellie's great directions and my ability to analyze the mess out of it before I left on google maps ... I was able to find her home without any trouble and very little anxiety.

My friend and wonderful chauffeur accompanied me to Western. We found our ways to the hotel for the weekend and then went on to Western Carolina for a fun filled trip to the bookstore. Now I wasn't there to buy books, but see old supervisors. I called all these ladies "Mom" while I was there so it was nice to see them again. I wish I had seen Mama Debbie, but alas not this trip.

I'm already struggling with memory issues, but we did a quick drive by tour of campus and ate dinner. We sat up and talked until way too late remembering good times from high school.

Part 3 to be continued.

Thanks Kellie

I was asked a question by someone last week and wanted to clarify why I chose to invite Kellie on this annual trip. Four years ago I decided that I wanted to visit my old alma mater once a year. I decided it would be a wonderful treat to go when other alums were visiting specifically band alums.


I marched only one semester, but I had the best time and always enjoyed watching them perform while I was there. The first year I attended alone. I stayed at "nana's house" and had a great time there. I had a marvelous time on campus and ran into a dear college friend of mine. P.S Nana was one of my supervisors at the bookstore that everyone calls Nana. :)

The next year, I decided that while it was fun to go alone it would be better to go with someone else. I wanted to show my husband what it was like for me so we went on the trip together. He finally saw what I enjoyed through middle, high school, and some of college. We made the weekend a little vacation and had a blast.

Last year, I thought I would take my best friend. A true blue band geek. The trip didn't turn out exactly how I planned, but the time I spent on campus I will cherish and the time I spent with my friend I will never forget. :)

So when it was time to plan for this trip, I thought about my options. I had no idea who to ask. Most people I know now really don't go for this whole "band" thing. A while back though, I found an old friend from high school. In passing, I mentioned that I had this alumni thing in November every year. Next thing I know, we have a planned trip to go together.


Here's a picture that Kellie took on my camera in the afternoon. Pardon the hair. It was hot. It had to go up. Note the black shirt around my waist. Prior to this photo: I had on 1 t-shirt, 2 long sleeve shirts, scarf and winter jacket. Had the t-shirt been under my long sleeve shirt, I would have only had on the t-shirt at this point.


I am truly grateful that Kellie & I found each other after all these years. This weekend has to be one of the best that I have ever spent with a friend. Thank you Kellie for a memorable weekend.

Percussion Passion

Since the time I was able to participate in band, I was very passionate about percussion. I was passionate that I hated it. I hated the drumming, constant beating, oversized egotistical people that generally played drums. It wasn't that I hated the sounds of drums; it's that the people that I knew that played them were arrogant and not so nice.

Plus, I was a colorguard member. It was an unwritten rule that guard members must hate drumline people. When I arrived at Western, the percussionist were a horse of a different color. They were friendly and excelled at their instruments. I was hesitant to say that I liked them so I kept it a secret. A deep dark secret that I must finally under cover.

I, Jennifer, love Western Carolina's Pride of the Mountains Marching Band Percussion Line. They are amazingly precise, funny and though their egos are probably the size of Catamount Gap ... they are the BEST percussion line I have EVER heard. I told Matt Henley that they improve every year. He told me not to tell them or their heads would just swell even bigger than they already were. :) Just goes to show that even the Percussion Instructor thinks they have big heads. :)

Here are the Bass Drummers. I love this picture. :) It's one of my favorites of all the pictures I took all weekend.

Note a few things in this second photo. First the beautiful leaf colors. Fall at Western ... it's the best. Second .. notice the drum sticks. See anything beautiful about that. They were doing what they do. I snapped a photo and they are all at the same angle. AMAZING. Third. See the fellow 2nd in line on the left on the front row. I bet he's got the biggest head of them all. :) Just to throw it out there. I love them all, but ya know have to crack on at least one of them. Fourth: Look at their feet. Same way. All of them. AMAZING. They are just practicing and it's that synchronized.

There you have it. My confession. I love them. I really do.

Confession number two is that it was extremely hard to even watch the guards with all the cool drill that the band had this year. *wow* They were really on the top of their game when they wrote the drill for the percussion and band. The visual effects were out of this world.

I'm back

So I had a blast at WCU. I don't have the time to post a proper blog at the moment, but wanted to leave you with a few thoughts and a couple of pictures.

1. We froze our toes off in the morning at practice.

2. The Marching Band Rocked the hats off of us in the afternoon.

3. It went from 32 degrees to a whopping 70 in a matter of hours. 8am: 32 degrees. Noon it was so hot we had to take off our handy dandy hand warmers stuffed in all pockets, hats, shoes and any other spots that we could cram them in and remove jackets/scarfs and hats. Don't like the weather in Cullowhee ... wait 20 minutes. It will change. We were freezing our booties off at 11 something and by 12 something we were roasting.

4. Kellie was the best companion I've ever had on a trip (sorry to anyone who has ever accompanied me to Western or anywhere else for that matter). It was like no time had passed at all. We picked up right where we laughed (errrr Left) off. Kellie's so darn photogenic. Me: Not so much.

5. The most shocking thing happened while we were there. Western Carolina actually won the game and I have photographic proof.

I'm outta here

I am leaving in a few moments first to go to work and then half way through my work day .... leave to go to Western Carolina. :)

I am going to see THIS SHOW from WCU's Pride of the Mountains Marching Band.

They are absolutely awesome and absolutely HUGE. I marched with them one season and it was the best experience of my life (barring all the sickness on my part). I had so much fun and today I return to my college town to revisit a time in my life where I had a blast on the football field. :) I will missing one special friend though. Really one of my best marching buddies from my college days. I won't know what to do with out him, BUT ....

I'm going to hang out with my friend from high school Kellie.

My cold/cough excluded I will have a great time. :) I'm only taking my heparin and my doxychlor drops (and some cough medications just in hopes that I won't keep Kellie up all night with my horrible hacking)

Football Friday Fun

I haven't posted about my fun last week until now because I've been focusing on my hand healing, thinking about Tricia and hoping for the best outcome in the Kelly Currin Morris case.

In any case, I had a blast at the football game. Shortly after Dad and I arrived home from the band room, Kellie called. Kellie is one of my friends from the good old band days. Oh what fun we had in the high school days from band camp to band competitions. So when we found each other on facebook, we decided that we had to get up together for a football game. We have not seen each other in 14 years. So shortly after she arrived, we all left to go to the game. We walked into the band room that we had walked into many times. It was bizarre to see the same room with all these youngin's in it. (Here's the picture off of Kellie's camera that was taken by some random person at the game. Ain't half bad for two old fogy's with glasses.)

We "marched" our way up to the football field with the band. We didn't intend to, but once a band geek --- always a band geek. We found ourselves rolling our feet to the beat of the drum, laughing all the way up to the field. We lingered standing, but after the band performed their pre-game show (aka Star Spangled Banner & the Fight Song) ... we had to find a seat.

We watched our team do their best, but lose they did. We got to see, not one, but two half time shows. Our rival high school was there performing their show as well. So that was a blast to be able to see two shows in one shot. We walked over to get something to drink and saw "fashion statements" that should have stayed at home. The most noticeable thing was a pair of neon orange high heel pumps. (and to those that are thinking it: No it wasn't our school colors or the rival schools color ... and I thought to myself SELF would Nathan wear these shoes?)

Glad I didn't get "that" memo on fashion. We stayed on the concession side of the field until the game was over. Then we walked down the "new hall" which had become worn with age. It was brand spanking new when we were there, but it was raggedy looking now.

Our next visit will be in two weeks when we drive to the mountains. I marched for one semester and drooled over for three semesters the Pride of the Mountains Marching Band. It is Western Carolina University's band and they are superb. We can't wait to see them. I go every year for Alumni Band. The very first year, I got to march. However, the years since I was unable with all my physical ailments. I may just have to pick up a flag and spin for a few minutes this year though. I miss marching with the Pride.

The shocking thing

So what was the thing I was wanting to do? I wanted to go look at the light houses. I have never seen them up close and I just was dying to go see Hatteras. Well I thought it was too far to go and figured that I might be able to go see Bodie Island Lighthouse. So I printed off information for three light houses just in case.

So Saturday morning after the Great Strides Walk, Rob said we could go see Hatteras. I was stoked. So on our way down, he said "there it is." I was a bit confused because it didn't look like what I thought it did. As we're getting closer, I'm like we shouldn't see it this close because it's still like 30 to 40 miles away. I'm realizing that this is actually the Bodie Island one. He pulls over to the area and we go look.

It was beautiful. We went into the shop and purchased a magnet for our fridge that had four of the NC lighthouses on it and also a map of the lighthouses. We took lots of photos. We got back on the road very quickly

We drive. I'm not paying attention and Rob's not paying attention. We comment on stores, schools and everything else and MISS THE SIGN. As we're driving we're realizing "Ruh Roh we're not in Buxton anymore." So we turn around and find the road for the tallest light house. We again take LOTS of pictures.

Then he asks me the all important question, "Do you want to climb it?" Without hesitation and without even thinking about it, I said YES. I was only thinking could I do it. Could I prove to myself that my joints are back to "normal?" YES I WANTED TO CLIMB THIS.

Now keep in mind, I was not thinking. CLEARLY I wasn't thinking. Here I am the woman who is skeered to death of even standing on a child's slide for it being too tall. Here I am the woman who won't swing too high in an adult swing on a play ground for it being too high. Yet Here I was the woman who was about to pay 7 dollars to climb a LIGHTHOUSE that was the TALLEST IN THE NATION. CLEARLY I wasn't thinking. We started off sort of bolting the stairs. "See look at me. I can do this. I am woman hear me roar. Screw Lyme Disease. You will not take this from me." I was out of breath by the 4th set of stairs. Each landing took longer to catch my breath, but MY KNEES DID NOT HURT. We got to the top and then I realized what I had just done.

I had just CLIMBED A FREAKING LIGHTHOUSE. I made Rob take pictures to ensure that this was PROOF that I had climbed a light house. It was windy up there. I stayed close to the lighthouse only venturing to the railing near the air for a photo opportunity. I even took a photo of Rob up there. I needed proof to show my doctors that we climbed a light house.

So we walked all the way around the top of it and it was time to go down. RUH ROH RAGGY. My knees got shaky, my hands got shaky, and it was then I realized how far up from the ground I was. All I could think was Oh Dear God get me out of this light house and I'll NEVER do something this stupid again (did I say NEVER ... well ............. maybe one more time ... keep reading).

So we slowly descended. I was near in tears, but they never did surface. My knees were so shaky I was afraid that I was gonna tear down the railing. But ya know I figure a many skeered persons had climbed this structure and not a single one of them knocked it down. Sooo I was pretty certain that though I was skeered that I was fairly safe. I was so excited to see the ground that I almost kissed it.

We went into the Shop areas (which were the former lighthouse keepers residences) and we purchased this really cool thing. I don't know what it's called, but it's green and it went into a ship and let light go through it for lighting under the deck. I also got a t-shirt for the light house. I needed SOMETHING from that lighthouse. I climbed it after all and what's more is that I climbed down from it too.

So back to that NEVER statement. On Sunday, we decided to go up to Corolla to visit the Currituck Lighthouse. It was never our intention to climb this bad boy. We just wanted to go and take pictures. Well we walked in to take pictures and .. with some convincing from the keeper of the money (I think he just wanted our 14 bucks) and Rob, we decided to climb this bad boy. (b/c the keeper of the money said .. oh this isn't nearly as bad as Hatteras so if you did that one .. this one will be a breeze). Breeze was the key word. OMG .. it was so freaking windy.

AND I think because I knew how scared I was at Hatteras I was keenly aware of how high I was getting. I was TERRIFIED by the time I got to the top. Rob took a picture, but I wouldn't go near the railing. It was way too gusty up there. I felt like I was gonna get blown away (but in theory .. in all the visitors .. had anyone ever been blown off the lighthouse ... doubtful.). The climb down was almost as bad if not worse than Hatteras. It was terrifying until I decided to do something to keep my mind off it. Every step I took, I said an alphabet. Do you know that one of the sets of stairs I got to S, the next T, the next U and then the last one it took all 26 letters? Guess no one could tell that I teach for a living. :)

In any case, I Jennifer ... climbed TWO lighthouses this weekend. I am a little sore, but ya know what my joints DO NOT HURT. (it's my calves .. and whose calves wouldn't hurt after climbing over that many steps).

I am so proud of myself. :) I did it. BUT, I am still skeered of heights. :(

Vacation Part Three

Now up until this point, I was still itching. Quite severely. (and btw: I am still itching. I'm not sure what's going on with that. I will find out something when I go for my dressing change).

On Sunday, we weren't quite ready to leave. We took our time on the beach and collected massive amounts of shells. PS. We found a whole sand dollar. Ain't that freaking awesome? :) We took our haul back to the room and washed them free of sand. I didn't want all that sand tracked into our house. We packed up our stuff and went down for more free breakfast. This time I had two blueberry waffles, a danish, a cinnamon roll and something else that I just can't remember. It was delicious. :) Rob had his "standby" of sausage and cereal. But he shocked me, he also got a bagel. :)

It was nearing check out time so we checked out and went shopping. We went to a couple cool places and didn't buy a thing (we had already blown our budget for the trip so we couldn't get anything else). On our way to another very cool thing we did, we stopped by Duck North Carolina to eat Pizza. We couldn't stand that the pizza didn't do it's job the night before.

I'll tell you the very cool thing we did in the next post, but know that we got home 6pm. We thought we'd be home by 4pm, but decided that we'd stay longer. And ya know .. that is so unlike us. Usually we're awake 5am the morning of departure and out of the hotel by 6 and gone like the wind by 7. So it was nice that we took our time on the way back.

P.S> I spent most of Sunday morning trying to get a picture of one of these ... DOES ANYONE KNOW WHY THEY ARE EVERYWHERE IN THE OUTER BANKS?

Our Vacation Part 2

That night I crawled into bed expecting to enjoy a nice night of sleep. I began to doze off when it hit me. I had an itch so I scratched. That led to a night of scratching, Zyrtec, hydrocortisone cream and very little sleep. I got up fairly early and we walked down to check out the free breakfast. Now most of the time, continental breakfast doesn't mean very much. In fact, most of the we see what is served and leave to go somewhere to eat breakfast. We saw waffles, french toast sticks, sausages, hard boiled eggs, pastries, bagels, yogurt, fresh fruit and much much more. I chose two blueberry waffles with maple syrup and lots fresh canteloupe and strawberries with apple juice. Rob chose two sausages, one bowl of cereal and milk. Hmmmm Tasty. We were pleased. So pleased in fact, we didn't eat lunch until nearly 4pm. (of course this could have something to do with the fact that we couldn't find a place we wanted AND we had lots of free donuts and Rita's Ice at the Great Strides Walk).

After this, we got in our car to the Great Strides Walk. I've already written about that, but what I failed to mention is that Rita's Ice is Da Bomb. I've heard about Rita's and I've read about Rita's, but I've never TASTED Rita's. Rita's donated some of their delicious stuff for the Great Strides walk and boy .. I have to find my local one because it rocked my taste buds right off my tongue.

Now even three months ago, the walk itself would have put me in the bed for a day. I would have worn a knee brace afterwards (which I did the Walk in Cary, NC) and I would have needed lots of pain meds. I had asked before we left on the mini vacation whether or not we could do something that I have never done. Rob told me that we could possibly do that particular thing I wanted to do. We were both unsure whether or not I would have the physical capabilities of doing such items especially after the Great Strides Walk. I did not even think of the fact that I would have to deal with one of my greatest fears should we do said item.

I am going to skip around what we may or may not have done and go on with the rest of the day. Because that "said item" deserves its own blog. After all, I haven't even told my mother what I did. Once she finds out, she is going to be SHOCKED.

So after "said item," Rob and I went to this restaurant near MilePost 4ish? Now the thing is that on our way up and down the strip on Friday night, I *know* we must have seen at least 10 pizza place. We left before the pizza was being served at the Great Strides Walk and we were craving pizza. So we decided pizza it was. Of course on our way through Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devils Hill, we could not locate ONE of them. The one place we did see was locked up tighter than (insert your own joke here). So we were going to turn around and try it again when we saw .... The Black Pelican. Now we had no idea what place this was, but we saw the sign .... Pizza till 11pm. So we went in. Now keep in mind, we are southern people. We do things the southern way. SWEET ICED TEA is the only kind of tea there is. We should have walked out when after I said "sweet tea no lemon," the waitress replied, "we only have unsweetened tea here."

Now if that wasn't to warn me off, once we did get our drinks it took an act of congress to get refills. We both ordered a little pizza. And boy was it little. I don't know how many pieces were there .. *7 or 9 or so* but I ate all but two and was still going for them when I realized that my husband was bout to chew off his own arm b/c he was starving and he had finished his pizza. So I offered him a peace offering of my two slices saying that once mine settled I would be fine. (heck no I wouldn't be fine .. I was STARVING, but I love my husband so ... the pizza slices were his).

After the act of congress to get the refills, it took another act of congress to get our check. (it was easier for the CFF to raise 46 grand in one walk than it was for us to get our refills and checks that night). Maybe they were having an off night and maybe they were better known for their .. *um you think they actually serve pelican?* other food, but we weren't too impressed.

After our visit to the Black Pelican, we went shopping. AGAIN. I had to find something special. You see I have this very special nurse. If it weren't for this nurse, I would not be able to do the stuff I did this weekend. So I had to find something and I had in mind what I wanted to give her. I just had to find it. After all how hard it is to find a starfish ... um ... rather difficult to find just the right starfish. In any case, we went from store to store to store trying to find the perfect one. Finally, we found it. :) (I had to get two too b/c there's another nurse there and I didn't want her to get jealous).

We went back to the hotel and opened up our presents to ourself ... two huge blocks of FUDGE. :) Then we went down to the beach for a walk and shell gathering session.

Stay Tuned next time for: Part Three