The BIG trip this year was to the Alabama School for the Deaf. We drove from CT to Alabama and then drove back. Along the way we would do small touristy things. Warning this is a LONG post!
Day 1- CT to Harrisonburg VA
The drive started out a bit rainy but once we got of CT/NY area it was sun shinny and the fall colors were beginning to show. Harrisonburg is a small historic college town. Found a nice little bar named Billy Jacks that had a good selection of craft beers. Found one that was brewed in Harrisonburg and also one that tastes like Banana Bread. Our hotel room for the night had a balcony.... that looked over the indoor pool. Eh oh well. I did not sleep well so I was up early to see a bit of the sun rise. A little chilly so I did not stay for long outside.
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| Hotel with a balcony. |
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| Sun rise |
Day 2- Harrisonburg to Chattanooga TN
Great day for a drive. Light fluffy clouds, sun bright. Traffic was moderate. Once we found a hotel and got settled we did a bit of driving around Chattanooga (looking for food really). After dinner we watched the Tigers (baseball) win. The next day we got up a bit early to head up to Lookout Mountain. Great in theory.... not so great for looking out. With the fall settling in it was a bit foggy. Normally you can see all of Chattanooga, we could just see a few miles. Minivan took a good workout with this part of the tip. I had a lot of "fun" making sure I stayed on the narrow road that wound up (and down) the mountain.
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| 3 Bears= 3 beds |
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| From the Hotel room to Lookout Mountain |
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| View from the hotel room |
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| Entrance area |
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| Observation point Looking down on Incline Railway |
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| Looking out onto Chattanooga |
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| Foggy Chattanooga |
Day 3 Chattanooga TN to Talladega Alabama
This was the only day where we had to be a specific spot at a specific time. What the three of us failed to do was check if Alabama was in the same time zone at CT. Obviously if it was I would not have mentioned it. Luckily because we were moving east to west we were an hour early. It was another great day for a drive. Three days in a row. I was very grateful. The weather also became warmer as we moved south. The day we arrived it was close to 80 degrees!! We arrived at the Alabama School for the deaf and were greeted by two of the teachers. They let us into the high school to see the auditorium and then took us to the guest house across the street. This house was AMAZING!! I fell in love right away. We each had our own room and bathroom. The house also had 2 "kitchens" available to us. We were the only ones staying in the house. Each room has a name not a number. Most of the rooms have flashing doorbells. Which is important to those who are deaf. I took advantage of the down time (as Joey watched the Tigers and Chrissy slept off a migraine) and walked around the Campus. I had a bit of a nerd moment with all the historical markers and buildings. Talladega itself does not have a lot of places to go and eat. Most are chains and fast food. We had to drive a bit to find dinner. That night Mother Nature provided us with a lightning show that was so powerful it woke us all up. It was not loud, very little rain, LOTS of lightning!!
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| Entrance to the School |
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| Entrance to the School |
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| Entrance to the School |
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| Front View- wrap porch! |
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| Side view!! |
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| My room's name |
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| Chrissy's room name |
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| Joey's room name |
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| Picture of the oldest building on Campus |
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| Oldest building on campus |
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| Marker for the building |
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| Right next to campus- found on my walk |
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| Entrance to the High school building |
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| I have a friend who's last name is Thornton- no known relation |
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| Our Stage |
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| Front of the building. |
Day 4- Show day then drive to Kodak TN
This morning we got up and had breakfast in the school cafe. Met a few of the kids, but we came late so we missed most of them. After breakfast we cleaned up our guest house and packed our stuff in the van and drove across the street where we unloaded the set. The principal and one of his assistants were waiting for us. The full school came to see the show (pre-K till high school) they had such great energy and were ready to participate. I am always nervous with schools for the deaf, more of a language thing, but they were so much fun! After the show we had a chance to talk with the high school kids, the elementary had to get to lunch. Bummer. After we loaded up the van we also went to lunch and had more time with the high school group. After lunch we decided to be tourists....
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| All set up and ready to go. The space has an echo. |
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| ASD- Alabama School for the Deaf |
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| Post show- talking with the High School Students |
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| Chrissy |
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| Joey |
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| The High School group |
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| Silly faces! |
After the show, and lunch we went to the Talladega Super Speedway. Yeppers!! Nascar. We took a guided tour. I was the interpreter so I don't remember much. That is the bummer about interpreting sometime you like. When you are interpreting you are using a lot of your short term memory that the long term does not click into work. It goes in one ear, is translated into ASL and comes out on your hands. The speaker had a typical southern accent, that added to my "fun". Truly it was fun! Sometimes they let you ON the track itself, but when we went some motorcycles were doing testing so we could not "touch" the track. Bummer. (next time!) Chrissy took most of these pictures:
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| Oops.. wrong entrance... THANKS GPS!! |
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| Entrance to the Motor Sports Hall of Fame. |
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| Grandstands - entering the inner track area |
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| This was near the Owner/Driver Compound |
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| I think this was near ... um yeah I dont remember |
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| End of Pit Road |
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| VICTORY!! |
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| We win!! |
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| Go Team :) |
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| Spots for the reporters to stand |
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| Look Mom- Im Interpreting! |
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| Scoring tower |
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| Turn 2. 33degree angle, if you are going less then 85 mph you will not make it through the turn. |
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| Leaving the area. |
After our tour we got back on the road and went to Kodak Tenn. Here we stayed with my Aunt. Short visit but fun to catch up with family!
Day 5 Kodak TN heading North East
After a short visit with my Aunt and another day watching the sun/fog rise, looking out on the mountains we headed north. Another beautiful day to drive.
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| My Aunt and I and Oatmeal |
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| The cast with Oatmeal |
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| The Beach Bears |
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| Sun rise, settling fog |
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| Suns up... time for the fog to rise! |
Day 6 Somewhere in PA-home CT
After another wonderful day for the drive, which I had the day off from driving, we stopped somewhere in PA. I should find out where, because our waitress knew basic sign language. That is always helpful and great! We all crashed and woke up and got back on the road (this time I drove). Less then 6 hours later we were back in CT, unloading the van. We were all pretty exhausted. My body was pretty sore from driving and sitting in a car for such a long time. We have a few days off, then a bit of brush up rehearsal. Few more shows in CT before we move into our "holiday" show. (More information to come!!) Great trip. I won the "award" for the most driving and for the smallest bag packed!! Looking forward to our next one!!
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