Basically, it was awesome. I was a bit freaked out for the first one, but adrenaline kicked in soon and I got the hang out it. Figuring out how to stop made me the most nervous, but I quickly learned how much pressure to apply to come to a stop. The first time, I put WAY too much pressure on the line which hurt my shoulder a bit, so I quickly learned my lesson.

Our two guides were really funny and entertaining, which made the experience even more fun. One of the women in our group was pretty terrified, so naturally our guide, nicknamed Mouth because he always runs his mouth, decided that she would be a great target for teasing. I was glad that he picked on her instead of me!

While ziplining, if you tuck your knees into a ball, it makes you go faster. I liked getting the extra speed to fly even faster through the woods. At times, the course went over a corn maze and other activity areas in the amusement park, and it was thrilling to fly high over people’s heads.

I’d really like to zipline again, probably in a tropical destination instead of North Carolina woods. Ziplining is a great activity for adventure seekers, and I really enjoyed Kersey Valley Zipline.

In late September, my boyfriend’s mom orchestrated a girl’s-only wine trip in the Yadkin Valley area of North Carolina. A group of 30 women, ranging from early 20s to early 80s, met early in the morning and hopped on a bus, which drove us to three different wineries during the day. I’d met some of the women before but not many, and it was really nice to get to know them.

Our first stop was Raffaldini Vineyards and Winery. We were given a behind-the-scenes tour to see how they actually make the wine, and were able to sample wines at various stages of the wine-making process to see how each step affected the taste, texture, etc.

Check out how cloudy this white wine looked – it wasn’t quite ready for mass consumption.

Our tour of Raffaldini finished with lunch inside the Italian-style villa and a wine tasting. Throughout the day, I stuck mostly to reds because I don’t normally like white wine – it was until I visited The Wine Feed in Raleigh last month that I finally discovered TWO white wines that I liked! The Sangiovese Reserve was the best wine I had at Raffaldini, so a few bottles came home with me.

Next, we made a quick detour to Laurel Gray Vineyards. This winery makes the most amazing chocolate wine sauce, and I think our group bought their entire stock of the chocolate sauce! I snagged a few pictures while everyone was inside making purchases – I thought this was the prettiest place we visited all day.

Finally, we stopped at Shadow Springs Vineyard, which recently opened about to the public a few years ago. One of the owners brought us downstairs for the wine tasting, and he was so knowledgeable about wine. An interesting fact I learned was that planting roses at the end of each row helps to show how healthy the grapes are. If the roses look sick, then the grapes are likely sick too. I always thought the roses were just for decoration, but was fascinated to learn that they serve a purpose too.

Here again I tried some delicious reds. The green asterisks denote which wines I tried. I don’t think I bought any here, but definitely enjoyed the ones I sampled.

On the way back to Charlotte, we stopped at the Shiloh General Store to stock up on sweets. It’s an Amish bakery, and just like at Laurel Gray, we cleaned out the bakery of all their huge cinnamon rolls, breads, fried apple pies and cookies.

This trip motivated me to get out and explore other North Carolina vineyards and wineries. While this state is known for sweet Muscadine wines, it produces some really great wines that I must try. I know my girl friends will be up for our own girls wine trip!

Last weekend, I went to visit Pegi, one of my best friends from college who lives in NYC. I had not been to the city since I was nine years old, so the trip was long overdue, especially for an adventurer. Southwest was running a great deal where you could get tickets for $40-$80 each way, so I got a great deal too.

I’m happy to say that we didn’t do anything overtly touristy the whole time I was there. When I travel, I want to experience what it’s like to actually live in that place. Museums, landmarks, monuments etc are great, but I prefer to just walk around and pretend to be a local. Eating and walking made up the majority of the weekend – not complaining there! For some reason, we ended up eating a lot of French food throughout the weekend. I’ve been intrigued by French cuisine lately, I think because I haven’t eaten much of it in my life. We went to French Roast, L’Express and Café Lalo (which was featured in You’ve Got Mail):

Saturday night, I ate the best pizza of my life at Otto Enoteca Pizzeria. We ordered the pane frattau, made with tomato, pecorino and egg. Seriously delicious. We actually ordered so much food that the waiter wouldn’t let us order any more!

Other trip highlights included:

• A hippie lover’s dream: a smoothie in a bowl from Juice Generation - I think I got the Amazing Green
• Finding poppy seed sweet bread at Zabar’s. This was one of my favorite treats that I’d enjoy with a cup of coffee at the café around the corner from my housing when I studied abroad in Prague. In Czech they are called kolache – I really want to make them soon.
• Taking a spinning class called Soul-Cycle, which was a full-body workout set to great music. The instructor was a lot of fun, and encouraged us to chuck our water bottles at her when they were empty. My legs were seriously sore after that class.
• Vol De Nuit, a Belgian beer lounge.
• The Strand, a bookstore with 18 miles of new, used, rare and out-of-print books. And they have a photo booth in the basement. If I lived in NYC, I would live in this bookstore; it’s a book nerd’s paradise.
• Wearing leggings as pants. This is not something I’d feel comfortable doing in Raleigh, but I figured since people wear crazy clothes all the time in New York, surely I can wear leggings as pants.
• I finally tried Pinkberry! The peanut butter and chocolate was a great combination.
• Coming across a light saber convention in a random park and witnessing a light saber mosh pit. And then convincing someone to let me borrow their light saber for an epic photo.

Overall, my favorite thing about NYC was the freedom I felt from being able to walk everywhere and take public transportation. In Raleigh, people just don’t walk places very often. I drive everywhere, even if my destination is just down the road. I’m going to try to make walking more of a priority, especially now that it’s slowly getting a bit cooler.

I’m already finding things to do on my next trip. Pegi, you’d better start resting up now for my next visit

One morning, dad and I rented bikes and biked along the carriage roads in Acadia. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me. John D. Rockefeller built the roads in the early 1900s, and they cover about 50 miles throughout the park. Cars are not allowed on the trails – only bikers, runners and pedestrians are – and the absence of cars made the experience very serene. Although as pretty as the scenery was, it didn’t quite distract me from the burning sensations in my legs as we climbed hill after hill (note to self, need to bike/do lunges more). But seriously, how beautiful is this place!?

Another day, we hiked Acadia Mountain. The hike was pretty short but the view from the top was beautiful even though it was an overcast day. The summit overlooks Somes Sound, the only fjord on the east coast of the U.S. The photo shows the view of the Sound looking out to sea.

Look: real Maine blueberries!

During the afternoon, we took a cruise on the Margaret Todd schooner around the islands in Frenchman’s Bay. Unfortunately, it started raining – and none of us brought raincoats, naturally – but the scenery was still great. On our way of Bar Harbor the next day, we drove through parts of Acadia to see Thunder Hole (TWSS) and The Jordan Pond House. And most importantly, we stopped and ate lobster rolls for lunch; I have a lobster quota to fill every time I go home.

And what post about Maine is complete without cheesy lobster and moose pictures?

As soon as we made it home, my best friend Amanda came to visit from New Hampshire. We went out to Novare Res Bier Cafe, which is my favorite place to go out in Portland, and tried lots of beers, including a chipotle beer. In retrospect, we probably shouldn’t have had so many beers that night, because the next morning we were up bright and early for a bikram class! In case you were wondering, beer does not make for an enjoyable bikram class. But we both enjoyed trying a new studio – even if we did have to take a few lying down breaks.

I love going home to Maine. There are so many beautiful places to visit, and it’s a treat every time I go back. I’m heading back for Thanksgiving (and bringing le boyfriend) so I need to plan an extra special adventure – have any great adventure ideas to share?

We met at the Aviator Brewing Company and boarded a bus and were taken to Drake Landing for the shootin’ portion of the event (don’t worry, we didn’t have ANY beer before shootin’). Once there, we were split into groups, shown how to load the gun and sent on our merry way without any more instruction. Prior to this, my shootin’ experience involved two shots with a bb gun and an aluminum can, which I definitely did not hit. So I didn’t have high expectations for being a good skeet shooter.

The course had 13 stations in all, and each group started at their own stations before rotating to them all. Despite not getting much instruction about what to do, our group was pretty good! I shot one skeet during the afternoon, so I was content

Kelly was very comfortable with the gun

And I was not and needed extra instruction (shocker). I like the photo on the right because it sums me up pretty well – I’m part adventurous (able to wield a gun) and part girlie (carrying my Mary Poppins purse with me on a shootin’ adventure)

But by the end, I was pretty comfortable with the gun, and a decent bruise was starting to form on my right shoulder.

After finishing, we boarded the bus and headed back to Aviator for the drinkin’ portion of the adventure. Everyone got to sample four beers, have a few sliders and hang out. At that point, we were famished, thirsty and tired, so we didn’t stay too long. Just long enough to play cornhole (and I got all four bean bags in during one turn!) and get a free chair massage.

In my opinion, this was a perfect adventure. It was something new, pretty random, and involved a massage – what’s not to love? I’m excited to see what else LivingSocial Adventures has planned this summer!

To back up a bit, several months ago Courtney found a Groupon for a weekend blacksmithing class in Floyd, VA. A random art activity that involved a road trip had our names ALL over it. Saturday morning, we were up bright and early to drive to Floyd, which turned out to be an adorable small hippie mountain town. After we checked in at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts and were introduced to our fellow blacksmiths (all middle aged men, fyi), we were set loose to make a hook. Way harder than you might think. The instructors quickly became my new best friends because I needed A LOT of guidance slash they fixed everything I messed up and made my projects look nice.

We learned a lot about blacksmithing during the class. For example, I had no idea that the slaves on Thomas Jefferson’s plantation could produce up to 10,000 nails each day, at a rate of one nail per minute! It easily took me 30 minutes to make one nail; I would have been a nail-making failure back in the day. We learned how to use every portion of the anvil to make curves, sharp points, right angles, you name it. Who knew anvils had a practical purpose, besides dropping them on cartoon characters heads that is.

That night, after super long showers to wash off all the grime, we explored Floyd and all it had to offer. Which turns out is not that much besides a few restaurants and health food store. The grandma in me had no problem going to bed at 9:30 because there was nothing else to do Here’s what we saw of the nightlife:

Sunday morning, after a good night’s rest and a delicious country breakfast, we were back at the blacksmithing. Miraculously, we were much better! We learned to make fire rakes, fire pokers, and nails, and everything we made turned out really well (the fire poker is my favorite of all).

I would love to try blacksmithing again. It ended up being very satisfying work and a lot of fun, and off all the adventures Courtney and I have had, this was one of the best.

We look pretty happy despite being covered in grime, right? Check out more pictures of the group here – scroll to the very bottom of the page to see my group.

]]> http://adventuretaker.com/2011/05/31/too-bougy-for-blacksmithing/feed/ 0 Kathy DSC02424 DSC02423 249942_588320553815_8400329_32834838_5261955_n Recently Updated2 DSC02443 246607_588320533855_8400329_32834837_3660853_n DSC02451 DSC02448 http://adventuretaker.com/2011/04/17/unexpected/ http://adventuretaker.com/2011/04/17/unexpected/#comments Sun, 17 Apr 2011 18:00:10 +0000 Kathy http://adventuretaker.com/?p=915 Continue reading →]]> When I woke up yesterday morning, I could never have predicted the crazy tornado-filled adventure that would become my weekend. I’m happy to say that I survived my first tornado warning, but it was a truly terrifying experience.

Yesterday afternoon, I went with friends to see the Carolina Rollergirls play at Dorton Arena. None of us had ever been before, and were excited to see what the rollergirls’ derby was all about. Before the derby began, the announcer talked through an evacuation plan. What?! We knew there was a potential for storms, but didn’t know why an evacuation plan was necessary. Also, the sound system is terrible in the arena, so we couldn’t hear the plan. Off to a great start already.

Well, about five minutes into the derby, the tornado siren sounded, and everyone started filing down to the basement of the arena. The walls of the arena are all glass, which was a major reason why we needed to get below ground. Down in the basement, we all lined up against the walls to wait out the tornado. People were really good about keeping everyone informed, and came around to update us on the storm situation. At one point, they told us to kneel on the ground, and then all of a sudden “cover your heads!” was shouted, probably when the tornado was closest to us. We stayed like this for about 10 minutes before it was clear that the worst was over. All together, we were down there for about 45 minutes, during which I alternated between making jokes, praying and freaking out.

The arena started flooding, so when we were allowed back upstairs we had to dodge puddles. There was quite a long line at the beer cart (can’t imagine why), but at this point we were more than ready to go home.

When I got home, I discovered that the power was out (and still is, unfortunately). I also learned that the tornado hit downtown Raleigh, and at one point was about .5 miles from my house. Check out this video of the tornado taken from the RBC Plaza:

Instead of hanging out in my powerless house by myself, I headed over to two friends’ house. They didn’t have power either but there was no way I was hanging out solo for the rest of the night. For some reason I brought over red velvet chocolate chip cookies and cheese; apparently these are my most precious food items that I wanted to save We lit ridiculous amounts of candles and spent the night watching movies on laptops and grilling pizzas. It was quite romantic actually

Watching Harry Potter 2

Making grilled pizza by candlelight

Lots of candles

Thanks to friends, yesterday’s unexpected adventure ended much more positively than it began. I’m glad I survived my first tornado warning, and am really hoping that I don’t have to experience another one for a really long time, if not ever!

So unfortunately I’ve already cracked about 2 weeks in While a greasy breakfast made me feel better, it wasn’t worth it. Here’s hoping I don’t forget again!

I used to think Segways were lame. Really lame. I didn’t get the point of them – why not just ride a bike or walk? Also, to be honest, most people look pretty dorky on Segways. Let’s be real – police who ride Segways are way less intimidating and authoritative than police driving cop cars.

However, a few friends bought tickets for a downtown Raleigh Segway tour, and when one had to back out last minute I was happy to take her place. It seemed like a unique adventure to blog about And I am happy to admit that I was completely wrong about Segways – they’re a lot of fun! The instructors had us practice in the office before letting us loose in public; balancing was awkward at first, but I picked it up pretty quickly. After the whole group practiced, we were ready to go!

We left headquarters in City Market and spun along to Fayetteville Street. We stopped at the convention center and admired the statue of Sir Walter Raleigh, for whom the city is named. Fun fact we learned about Sir Walter: he was executed after unsuccessfully finding El Dorado, and then his wife had his head embalmed and kept it until her death 30 years later. That’s some twisted love right there.

Image source

We made our way up and down Fayetteville and stopped for a break and photo opps at the Capital building.

Kate, Kelly and I decided to have fun with some cannons

We zoomed past government buildings and historic houses before making our way back to City Market to end the tour. There was one casualty – a woman fell off on a bumpy spot on the sidewalk – but she was fine; I felt perfectly safe the whole time. I adjusted to the Segway pretty quickly and thought it felt very natural. I’m definitely keeping this in mind for when I have visitors, because it’s a fun activity and great way to learn about Raleigh.

Have you ever done a Segway tour before? How was your experience?

PS Kelly and Kate, welcome to the blog

Since it was a Lady Gaga concert, part of the adventure was finding crazy costumes. My pièce de résistance was a mini top hat that I found at Forever 21, which was a great $10 investment; don’t worry, I’ve worn it three times since the concert. Courtney’s outfit was awesome – she was a hit with a headpiece of cassette tapes, spider webs on her chest and no pants.

The Monster Ball concert followed a fantastical story line, culminating with killing “the monster.” It was very entertaining and Lady Gaga’s voice was so powerful. It was absolutely one of the most incredible shows I’ve ever seen and completely worth the steep ticket price.

By the end, I could barely hear and was exhausted from jump-dancing the night away Can’t wait for her next concert!

What is the best concert you’ve been to? What made it so enjoyable?