Vacation 2 - Part 1 (West Virginia)

We stopped at Beckley Coal Mine and did a tour there underground. Something I think everyone should do atleast once in their life to understand what all the coal miners had to go through in order to make a living!

The tour guide doing a demonstration.


Looking back at an area we just went through on the rail cart.


The next day we went to Oak Hill to do a full day of river rafting with a company called River Expeditions. It was sooooooooo much fun!! The only downfall is that I have zero pictures from that day because they charged WAY TOO MUCH for them so I declined..I mean 45 dollars for either a video or a CD of pictures and 65 bucks if you want both...RIDICULOUS!! So here is a picture of the river we went down called New River...we rafted the lower part and went under the gorgeous New River Bridge! I don't know if we specifically rafted this part but it was the only picture I got of that river. Next time I'm taking a waterproof camera so I can have my own pictures of the rafting trip!


Day three we headed to Lewisburg for an all day spelunking trip with Lost World Caverns. Yes, most people think I'm crazy for doing this! It was supposed to be 4 hours in the cave but plan on 6 hours including gearing up and a cookout afterwards (which is included in the VERY REASONABLE price along with a CD of pics). Well, we had someone on the trip that shouldn't have signed up (not fit at all and it does take strength, afraid of heights and claustrophobic...not a good combo for this activity!) so the trip took an extra two hours...but hey I was excited because I got all that extra time in the cave at no extra cost! :) If you have never been spelunking before I highly recommend this company because they are very cautious on safety and Steve (the main tour guide and part owner) has so much patience and a very calming nature about him! Plus if you get in there and can't fit through some of the tiny holes (like my hubby..he got stuck twice..LOL!) they have alternate routes that you can do. Some caves are not like that at all....actually with this one you don't even have to try any of the holes which is what that one girl did...she basically just sat in an area with another guide while the rest of us went in the tiny tunnels/holes and we caught up with her later. Needless to say this was by far my favorite part of the entire trip! I had never been spelunking before and thought I could of ended up scared once getting in there but heck no...I was all about the adventure! My body paid for it though as I had several bruises and scrapes...looked like I had been beaten the next day when I put on shorts and a short sleeve shirt! LOL! My arms ached for about 4 days too especially after using them all the day before with rafting and then all the next day for 6 hours squeezing my way through a cave! For me it was completely worth it! :P

Here is a "before" picture.


Making my way through the cave...lots of tall climbs/slopes!


The first hole called "The Drain"...I actually made a joke to everyone that I bet we were going down that hole first. I really didn't think we would...I just thought it was a random hole that went nowhere...to my surprise it was the first hole we went down!! LOL!


Hubby is stuck...the guide had to go in the tunnel below him and give him a knee to boost off of so he could get back out. Before that I was in the tunnel and could see hubby dangling his legs...I couldn't help but laugh! LOL! Thank goodness he isn't the nervous/panicky type or he would of probably been really mad at me for making fun of him...he is very good at staying calm!


This one is called "The Birth Canal" and hubby was supposed to be the first one out but again...stuck!


So I was the first kid born on this trip...made it all the way through and it was a toughie!


Here we are at the end of the trip...soaking wet and mega muddy! But very happy! :)

Vacation 1 - Gatlinburg

Here are a few pics from the vacation I took with my mom and sister to Gatlinburg, Tenn. during Mother's Day weekend.

An example of some yummy food we ate! This is shrimp and bacon flatbread we had at a wonderful place called bullfish where they specialize in steak and fish!


A fruit platter at the old mill restaurant which was our last breakfast out...this was just the beginning of that meal as we all had pancakes, biscuits/gravy, waffles, ham, sausage, eggs, etc.! Oh yeah...we rolled outta that restaurant! LOL!



Finally some good ole southern frog legs! Wish more restaurants had these to eat! This was at a fun restaurant called Dick's Last Resort...you gotta have a somewhat twisted/crude since of humor for this place! :P


The three amigos in front of the Old Mill area ready to tackle some shopping!


See the tram WAY UP in those trees?? Yep, that was our ride up Ober Mountain....so much fun!!


This was the "non-goofy" pic as we all tried on some sort of animal hide after this and had our pictures taken! This was at Cade's Cove where you can drive around and see wildlife and some old historic areas.


The gorgeous Smoky Mountains!!


A random waterfall on our drive to Cades Cove...so beautiful!!


Hope you enjoyed these pics!

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