Awesome Place To Vacation

What do you do when a friend calls and asks you if you would like to go on a short vacation/road trip? Well, why not? Since I am originally from the North Carolina mountains and I always love going "home" for a visit and my friend, Robin, loves the mountains; it wasn't a hard choice to make when deciding where to go.

However, it took us a while to decide where to stay. We looked on-line for places to stay near Waynesville, North Carolina. Waynesville is pretty close to the places we wanted to visit. Well, I pulled up a website for The Old Stone Inn and it looked pretty interesting. I saw it had cabins and the price was right. So I gave them a call to see if they had a cabin with two bedrooms at a reasonable price and they did. And the trip was on.

Robin came by and picked me up and we were off! The drive was great and the scenery was terrific. We arrived in Waynesville and drove through town into a neighborhood.

We were thinking and chatting about the fact that this place couldn't be in a neighborhood - but it was. We drove with an apprehensive feeling that our selection was going to be a dud. We found the street to turn on and drove up this narrow drive way that seemed to keep going up. Wow! What a surprise when we got to the top! Behind all of these huge, ancient trees was this quaint lodge. The Inn was surrounded by trees and it was so shady and cool. The area at the top of the hill wasn't vast but still large enough not to feel over-run with people.

The Old Stone Inn

ready to serve dinner

(picture taken at dusk)

We found our cottage, The Hemlock, and went in to check it out. It was rustic, very large and most of all - immaculately clean in every room. The cottage had two bedrooms with a bath in each, a small den with a fireplace, adequate closet space, and a mini-fridge in one of the closets. The porch extended down the entire length of the cottage. Sitting on the porch was kind of like sitting in a tree house because it was so high, as you can tell from the picture. From there, it was difficult to tell that we were in a neighborhood. In fact, the whole area was sheltered from the neighborhood. We spent most of our time gazing out at the trees from the porch. It rained several times and we had to question whether or not it was actually raining because we could hear the rain but the trees acted as umbrellas. It know it is needless to say, but we enjoyed the cottage and sitting on the front porch.

The Hemlock Cottage

Now comes my favorite part of any trip - food. The Old Stone Inn has a fabulous restaurant with two very talented chefs. I am a meat 'n tater person and don't know much about sauces and foods in a foreign language but I had a quick lesson. The benefit of this lesson is that I learned how delicious food can be that I haven't tried before. The chefs were so customer friendly and made sure that the food experience at the inn was something that would always be remembered. Delicious! I really can't compliment them enough. Another thing was the cleanliness of the kitchen. You could see in the kitchen as you walked by and never did I see a clutter or a mess in there - cleanest kitchen I've ever seen in a restaurant. I know my opinion doesn't count for much but I give it 5 stars - food, atmosphere, service, friendliness and cleanliness.

(left) Carr - Chef

(right) Terry - Head Chef

What Goes Around, Comes Around

DEMOCRATS DISRESPECTING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Who are these rude people? They are showing disrespect to the President. Guess who that is in the circle being rude. Are they not sitting in the same chamber as Joe Wilson was when he called for the truth? Watch their rudeness in the video below as President Bush gives his State of The Union Address. Do we have a double standard here?


In this State of The Union Address, President Bush wanted to save social security but the "dem"wits obstructed his efforts and applauded themselves. I guess they don't want to try to fix the ill-fated social security system and want to wait until it fails so they can raise taxes again. Watch this video and determine if you think this is respectful to the President of the United States.

I don't understand how they can call for a reprimand against Joe Wilson and not themselves. I believe the President of the United States deserves respect but that should apply to ALL Presidents.

Unfortunately, it seems that the "bottom line" of this post did not come across. My point is that disrespect is disrespect. Many democrats disrespected President Bush during his speech and a republican disrespected President Obama during his speech in the same chamber. Why should Joe Wilson be reprimanded for interrupting and not the democrats, who did the same thing.

I did not agree with all of President Bush's policies nor do I agree with President Obama's. But both should have been respected while making their speeches in the chambers.

By the way, I am a Christian and very happy about it. If that makes me a moron as implied in an anonymous comment (not published), I will gladly accept the label. I will not deny my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for anyone.

Also, if anonymous had read my post about Gov. Sanford, he/she would see that I did not approve of his actions. Sanford, a republican, was disrespectful to the citizens of SC as well as his family. I am for fairness in all arenas. Fairness and respect are simple concepts and if you set your mind to it, the concepts are easy to understand. The End.

God Bless America! May God be with those who haven't found happiness and peace through Jesus Christ.

My Governor - He's A Ramblin' Man

If there's another sequel to the movie - Dumb & Dumber - Mark Sanford should definitely audition for the lead role.

I have very conservative political views and have always applauded Sanford's fight against "big government" and tax increases. I also applauded his stance against the SC Legislature concerning the so-called "stimulus plan". He always came across as a great conservative leader.

The last couple of months Sanford has obviously experienced stress over the loss of his ability to reject part of the federal stimulus money. So when I heard he was missing, I just assumed that he needed a break but didn't understand why his staff and family didn't know (?) or wouldn't reveal (?) his whereabouts. I asked myself - was he having a mental breakdown?

Well, after watching Sanford's news conference on http://www.wistv.com/ yesterday, I still wasn't sure if he hadn't had a mental breakdown. I am referring to the full news conference not the edited clips shown by major news channels. The full news conference is shown on the above link in the video titled - RAW: Sanford's Full Remarks.

He began the conference by rambling on about his college hiking trips, apologizing that he hurt his friend who spent the night in his basement on dinosaur sheets and other irrelevant things. About mid-way through his speech, he finally dropped a phrase that he was unfaithful to his wife.

It has finally been revealed that his wife learned about the affair with Maria from Argentina about five months ago. Jenny Sanford asked her husband to leave their home two weeks ago. My question is that since his wife already knew about the affair, why didn't he just tell his staff and others who needed to know his whereabouts that he was going to Argentina instead of lying? He handled "the reveal" in such a tacky way - humiliating himself, his family, and the Office of the Governor of SC.

He accepted the job of governing this great state and this job also comes with the responsibility of being available to run it. Being in a secret romantic rendezvous with your lover for days is not in the job description of being governor.

"Every decision has consequences - good or bad". The consequences of his decisions have drawn more negative press to SC and his political career is definitely ruined. But the most important consequence of his decisions is the burden he cast upon his family. Sanford caused a private matter and his family's pain to be broadcast over the world. Now, his and Maria's love e-mails have been published which will add more pain for his family. http://www.thestate.com/sanford/story/839350.html

After giving my opinion of Mark Sanford's indiscretion, I want to add that this family needs our prayers. Sanford spoke from his heart and professed his faith. He is forgiven!

"As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man". Proverbs 27:19 (NIV)

You Gotta Love This Upset - Mine That Bird

Photo by John Gress/Reuters

This has got to be one of the most exciting horse races that I've seen in a long time. I always love the "come from behind" winner in almost all competitions and the Mine That Bird triumph was not a disappointment.

To make the win of this horse even better was the humbleness of the owners and trainer and the enthusiasm of Calvin Borel, the jockey. You couldn't help but feel Borel's excitement as he took Mine That Bird to the Winner's Circle.

If you didn't get to see the Kentucky Derby yesterday, it would be well worth your effort to find a video of the race and watch this unbelievable win.

The Four Blessed Looks

I recently received this in an e-mail and felt that I should share it with my readers.

Look Back and Thank God.

Look Forward and Trust God.

Look Around and Serve God.

Look Within and Find God.

This was included in the same e-mail:

Without God, our week is:

Mournday

Tearsday

Wasteday

Thirstday

Fightday

Shatterday

Sinday

So, allow Him to be with you every day!

Photo Op Arrogant And Insensitive

Maybe I shouldn't watch or read the news anymore because I am sure finding a lot of stuff that irritates me. When I saw this incident on video, I was appalled and full of sympathy for the people who had to endure it.

I cannot believe that someone in the President's administration is arrogant enough to believe that his decision to do a low fly-over using the President's plane with F-16's chasing it would not upset the citizens of NYC. The people in Lower Manhattan were rightfully terrified at this sight. The mayor of NYC evidently was not informed of the "photo op" and he was furious and his anger is just.

I read an article on the web found on www.nypost.com pertaining to this ignorant action approved by the Director of the White House Military Office. It is my opinion that this person should not approve anything in the future if this is an example of how he makes decisions.

Follow Up On My Global Warming Post

I recently found some more information that contradicts Al Gore's global warming movie. It is presented on You Tube and points out 35 errors found in Gore's movie. It will give you something to think about.

Lord Christopher Monckton, a former science advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher pointed out these errors in several forums. Of course, I recommend his website to read the transcript of these videos if you wish. Also, the following website has more links pertaining to errors and exaggerations presented in "global warming" scare tactics. http://www.scienceandpublicpolicy.org/

Monckton was supposed to appear with Al Gore at a global warming hearing this past Friday (April 24th) in Washington. However, Monckton states that when his plane from England landed in Washington, he was informed his invitation was rescinded. That's the reason I'm passing along some of Monckton's thoughts on global warming. I believe it is important to get all sides of the global warming story so each person can make up their own mind.

As I stated before, climate is always changing - always has and always will. It changed to extreme warmth when there were no cars or smoke stacks. It is my opinion that climate change is a phenomenon that exists and at this time, scientists can only speculate on the causes, the length of time it takes for the change to occur, and the severity of the final change. After all, it could warm a little bit and then start cooling again. Again, opinions are like heads - everybody has one.