Bear Mountain

This was a great day hike with time to spare. The 4+ mile loop connects the Major Welch trail with the Appalachian trail. Many thanks and congrats to the volunteers who crafted this sectoin of the AT.The weather was not so great for pictures but made for an interesting day on the mountain.Trail map

Major Welch trail near base of Bear mountain.

Steep rock face but not so slippery when wet. The trail goes straight up the mountain and ascends (or descends) large rock faces. There may be easier ways around but the rock face is really incredible.

North view of Hudson river valley. Just missed autumn colors by a week or two, I guess we'll have to come back next year... After this picture we lost the trail and wandered around for about 20 minutes before back tracking and finding the trail again.

Fire watch tower on summit occasionally open to public. Dedicated to George Perkins who is regarded as the founder of the Palisades interstate park conservancy.

Thanks trail volunteers, this section of the AT is very well crafted.

Small Town Discoveries

Returning from our day trip to the Chattahoochee National Forests we happen to drive through a town called Helen, Georgia that was in the midst of celebrating their annual Oktoberfest. We were so wiped out from our hike that we didn't stop to check it out but it appeared as though the town's architecture was German/ Alpine year round. With all the townspeople out and about enjoying the weather and the festivities, it was really a nice little town to drive through. So much so that I definitely think its worth returning to Georgia in the fall for.

Http://www.helengeorgia.com

We did stop for dinner at a lakefront restaurant on Lake Lanier. It was a breezy, casual, seafood restaurant featuring gulf shrimp and fish that I assume is caught in the lake. With a front row view of the marina it was a great dinner and a great way to finish our trip.

Http://www.fishtaleslakelanier.com

Pizza Epiphany

For about 7-8 years I've been declaring to anyone that would listen that the best pizza I've ever eaten was Totonno's on Coney Island, NY. I probably even blogged about it, it was so good.

Well, I'm about to commit pizza blasphemy and lose my pizza cred with this post. So here goes...

The best pizza I've ever eaten is no longer in NYC. It's in Fairburn GA at a shop called Oz Pizza. They get their impossibly thin crust so right. I can't even explain it.

Now that's out of the way, I will say this. I haven't had a good pizza in NY in a while. But I'm pretty sure when I do, I'll be back to saying the best pizza is in NY again and the order of the universe will be restored. But until then, if you're in the Atlanta area, you can get a delicious slice at Oz Pizza (they have 3 locations).

http://ozpizza.net/

Anna Ruby Falls

If you avoid the major highways, there's a wonderfully winding road to the next state park, 40 miles west. It's a fun drive for the serious car driver and you remain in the Chattahoochee National Forest so it's picturesque for passengers too. We head to Unicoi State Park to see Anna Ruby Falls. Our parking fee for Tallulah Gorge State Park was valid at Unicoi, so you can really do a lot for just $5. However, Anna Ruby is a separate park within Unicoi and charges an additional $3 per person. Still an affordable price for a family trip.

This is a more family friendly hike. All ages and fitness levels are able to walk at leisure to the twin falls, about three-quarter mile one way.

Tallulah Falls

A short 2 hour drive north of Atlanta will get you to Chattahoochee National Forest. There's lots of budget friendly outdoor activities here, from hiking to boating. You'll find something for everyone with a taste for the outdoors.

We decided to check out Tallulah Falls and Anna Ruby Falls. First we went to Tallulah Gorge State Park and took a 4+ mile hike to the bottom of the gorge and viewed various waterfalls. I forget the exact elevation but it was 1,100 steps to the bottom. The steps back up to the top are killer but the views are worth the sweat. It is recommended that this hike is for the physically fit. My knees and calves were burning on every step.

At this park you will also see where that famous tightroper guy crossed the gorge. You can cross the gorge too, by taking the route that includes the suspension bridge. Normally when I hear the words suspension bridge I tend to, instead, think of a rickety old rope bridge with a cannibal tribe waiting at the other end. But this is a nice, wide, sturdy bridge where you see nice views of the Chattahoochee River.

There are no fees for the park, but there is a $5 parking fee. That parking fee is good for all same day Georgia State Park parking. This was handy when we then drove to another state park later that afternoon.

Food Guide: Southern BBQ

If you're the type of traveler that prefers to eat local, here are some suggestions on where to eat well, on a budget, and not at a chain restaurant. (You can also find additional restaurant suggestions in my previous travel guide posts)

You can't leave Atlanta without trying some great southern BBQ. We found an excellent BBQ place near our hotel in Fairburn called Ohio Hog Company. They keep their menu simple- ribs, pulled pork, or chicken and your typical southern sides of slaw, corn on the cob, baked beans or fries. This is an extremely delicious BBQ, just the right smokiness and spiciness in the sauce. We got the rib sandwich which comes with a 3 bone section of ribs, 2 pieces of white bread and one side (coleslaw) for less than $10 per person.
http://www.ohiohogbbq.com/

There is also a good BBQ spot in Northern GA near Tallulah Gorge called Overlook BBQ. It's upstairs from a roadside country store that happens to have a very clear view of Tallulah Gorge. They also keep the menu simple and we chose a lunch platter ($8) consisting of pulled pork, a slice of bread, slaw and boiled beans. This was a little too smoky for Joe's taste but I thought it tasted just fine. The couple that runs the food service portion were super friendly. (Google maps places this at the end of a road loop when in fact it is in the middle of the loop.)
http://m.yelp.com/biz/overlook-bbq-tallulah-falls

Atlanta on a Budget

Half the expense of traveling is just getting there and finding decent lodging. Here is some budget friendly advice on getting to Atlanta without already spending half your bank.

Cheap flights are hard to find these days but luckily you can get a one-way ticket from Baltimore to Atlanta for less than $100. You may need to wait for air fare sales though. Try to be flexible with your travel dates. We chose to travel on a weekday, which is sometimes cheaper but definitely less crowded. Sometimes, avoiding the aggravation of crowds...well you can't put a price on that.

You can definitely find cheap hotels outside of downtown Atlanta. I booked at Hampton Inn in Fairburn for ~$75 per night. The hotel is new, so it's clean and well-maintained. It's 20 minutes from the airport and about 30 minutes from downtown. Finding hotels outside of the beltway will certainly help your budget.

Previous Posts from Atlanta

It turns out that I previously posted a restaurant and shopping guide for Atlanta several years ago. I'll start by linking to them here and then add new posts from our current trip. Enjoy!

Atlanta Guide Part 1
Atlanta Guide Part 2
Atlanta Guide Part 3

The Peach State

We're heading down to Atlanta Georgia for my friend's wedding and taking a long weekend to explore what this city has to offer. Stay tuned for our next misadventures!

STHLM

We spent all day sightseeing. Even with a 3 day unlimited subway card, our feet are still sore from walking all over town.
We visited the Old Town, Gamla Stan, with it's very classic European architecture, cobbled streets and small shops. It's where the Royal Palace is located and we watched a changing of the guard, toured 2 of the royal apartments, the royal armory, the crown jewels, and the museum which displays artifacts from the original royal palace before it burned in the 1690's.


We walked around Sodermalm, which is the hip cool neighborhood. We even found a Vietnamese restaurant here for dinner. A little too posh to be considered authentic Viet for me, but the food itself was familiar and comforting. From Sodermalm, you can see a great view of Stockholm and its harbor.


We walked through Ostermalm for the food. A big market can be found here where you can buy produce, meat, fish, cheese, bakery items, etc. And it's all beautifully displayed. We stopped here for a late lunch and also bought some baked goods. There are a dozens of hot dog stands in Stockholm and the Swedes like their dogs with mashed potato for some reason. Rolled up in a flat bread with various condiments and mix-ins and you get a really popular, cheap meal. Joe had one with mash potato, lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup and mayo.
We went to the Modern Art Museum in Skeppsholmen which, if you're not into modern art, can be a snoozer. Lots of pieces that don't make any sense. We also went to the Vasa Museum in Djurgarden. It has on display the only surviving 16th century warship. It sank on it's maiden voyage. This thing is unbelievably huge and there was so much information on display. We easily spent 3 hours there.

Do You Smell Smoke? I Think Your Wallet's on Fire

You guys, I figured out how Europeans stay slim. Food is way expensive here!! Sheesh! Stockholm is not known to be cheap (I previously heard Copenhagen to be notoriously expensive, so I came prepared) but if you ever find yourself in the area hopefully these tips will keep you from burning a hole in your wallet.
Joe and I booked a mid-priced hotel outside of the trendy hotspot neighborhoods. Again the room is small by American standards but it's comfortable, clean and quiet. It includes breakfast so we make sure to eat a hearty meal to start the day. Breakfast here includes scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, and Vienna sausages (not Jimmy Dean breakfast sausages) and a cold bar with deli meats and cheeses, tomato wedges, cucumber slices, liver pate and pickles. Bread bar includes hard rolls, baguettes and pastries. Don't forget the yogurt bar with all kinds of toppings and mix-ins.
Lunch is where you have to get smart. Many restaurants here offer daily specials or prix fixe lunch for about 89 Kr. It usually includes a main entree, salad, bread and a cup of coffee. Take advantage of this because it's a lot of food for about $14. Many restaurants have a board out on the sidewalk with their specials and the lunch times. If you can, try to have lunch as late as you can but still taking advantage of lunch pricing.
I hope you're not thirsty because free refills is not in the vocabulary and sizes of drinks are small by American standards. Most drinks are, like, less than 12 ounces. My coke today cost me $2.82. Beer is expensive too, we each had a big mug of beer and the total was $21.97. You best bet might be to find a beer and wine store and drink in your hotel room before going out.
With a big breakfast and a late lunch, hopefully you can get away with a light dinner or skipping dinner altogether. Most dinner entrees are more than $15 a la carte. With drinks, it can really get expensive. Cafes are open late and you can get comfy with some coffee and pastries and spend an hour writing home about your day on free wi-fi. If you can hold out, another big breakfast awaits you in the morning. If you really got a hankering, try some street food. Hot dogs stands are popular late night stops and the hot dogs are cheap and filling.

Doing the Unstuck

On 2 occasions we have gotten ourselves in a pickle. The first time we were out sightseeing with Axel and Kathy in Iceland. There is a good spot to view some southern shoreline but there is no access road, actually the road was being built as were were driving on the dirt path. After seeing the coast with it's wonderful views we headed back on the dirt path when we got ourselves stuck, DEEP, in the ash. We tried pushing the car but we were pretty stuck, out in the middle of nowhere-land and barely any other people to help. Luckily the road construction workers (all 3 of them) came and towed us out with the big wheel cars.


The second time we got stuck was last night in the snowmobile. We were a small group of 6 (3 snowmobiles) and I guess we were doing so well, our guide took us off trail and into some deep snow. Joe got stuck and the guide had to try to unstick us. He got his own snowmobile stuck himself (on a tree) but we eventually got ourselves out. The snow is deceptively deep. Like over waist deep. Er, I mean Sophie-sized waist deep. We guesstimate over 1 meter but I'm talking DEEP SNOW. I thought for sure we would be stuck for more than an hour when the guide couldn't get our snowmobile out from what seemed like snow-quicksand.

We have reached our destination

Location: 67*51'2" N, 20*35'44" E
Jukkasjarvi, Sweden

IceHotel Lounge



Ok, I lied. For being 200 km above the Arctic Circle it is incredibly warm here and who guessed there was Internet connection?? Silly me for thinking we would be so remote, out in the middle of nowhere. In fact, it actually feels like a little ski resort town with a constant flow of incoming and outgoing people. Doesn't feel so far away after all.
We arrived yesterday afternoon after a flight delay. The plane's reverse went out, which helps in landing. So after about 40 minutes wait, we had to de-plane and board another plane. Then a quick 1.5 hour jump and we arrived at our planned honeymoon destination. We walked on our own through the IceHotel and toured all the rooms, the chapel and the bar. It's definitely as magical in person as seen in pictures.


I couldn't help but make Joe pose for pictures so he'd look like Superman in the Fortress of Solitude. Ha! In the evening we had a fancy dinner of reindeer and elk. It was the kind of fancy where they give you a huge plate and the food is piled in a stack on the corner and the sauce is painted on the rest of the plate. Joe wasn't at all impressed by this. Late in the evening we put on our snowsuits and walked out to the field and stargazed. We hoped to see some aurora but we didn't. Instead we saw a clear sky full of bright stars, some really bright shooting stars, and some other phenomenon that we can only describe as "a rainbow in the dark". It was a low slung, light colored arc that stretched across the sky (but it wasn't the Milky Way).


This morning, we took a snow shoe excursion into the woods. The guide said it wasn't ideal conditions for cross country skiing. The snow was too soft and powdery to ski on top of the snow. We would end up walking the whole way anyway which would have been pointless. We snow shoed, looked for animal tracks and saw some reindeer. Later we will take a guided tour of the IceHotel and then take a Northern Lights tour by snowmobile.

Poll: Snow shoe or cross country ski??

During our stay at Ice Hotel, we have a choice of snow shoeing or cross country skiing for one morning. Use the comment section and tell us which we should choose. We will tell you what we ended up doing upon our return.

FYI

Sweden is 6 hours ahead of EST.
Currency: Swedish Kroner. $1 is about 6.5 Kr.
Weather today is partly cloudy with occasional shower. High 34, low 27.
I think I'm going to talk like the Swedish Chef until I find some meatballs. Will they get mad?

Location: 59*38'57"N, 17*55'47"E
Arlanda Airport
Sweden

We ended our stay in Iceland with a stop at the Blue Lagoon. It is a geothermal spa known for it's mesmerizing blue color and the water's relaxing and medicinal qualities. They have stations along the lagoon where you can apply a special silica mud to your face and body to sooth and clarify your skin. The best part was the steam room, sauna, and waterfall massage area. It's a must-do when you are in Iceland and definitely when you spent the prior day driving all over the country and seeing the sights. What a relaxing way to end the Icelandic leg of our trip.

A quick 2.5 hour flight and we are here at the hotel in Arlanda Airport for the night. We leave for Kiruna, within the Artic Circle, tomorrow morning. I can't imagine that there is any communication service up there. So my next post may not be until we return from the Ice Hotel. The weather looks favorable for our 2 night stay. Highs in the 20's!!

Looks Amazing. Smells Even More Amazing!

We saw a bunch of hot springs and geysers on our trip. They all have signs marked that the hot springs are, well, hot. The steam and hot water can burn you. And the sulphurous smell is real, like rotten eggs out in the middle of nature.



But all smells aside, the sights we've seen can be jaw dropping. Like these waterfalls.


Today we walked up to a glacier, Solheimajokull. Just like in the magazines, this glacier had a sublime blue tinge. Remember in the movie, Into The Wild, where you got towards the end and you feel like your eyes just opened for the first time? I swear I had that moment when I saw and touched the glacier with my own two hands. The whole landscape is like you're at the edge of the world, cold white ice against the black ash that had fallen from last year's volcano eruption. Its really wild. What is most striking is how much the glacier has receded. A tour group or school group marked where the edge of the glacier was in October 2010. I'm not as good at judging distance, but I think we walked 10 minutes from the mark to the actual edge of the glacier. It was shocking to realize how quickly the ice melts.

Local foods we have eaten

Joe has commented that this is the most un-foreign country we've visited. Strange for a European country, huh? Most people here speak English as a second language and everything here is modern. Our hotel room, although small by American standard, is comfortable and incredibly clean. The bathroom has a towel warmer, which I quite enjoy. So far we've had the comforts of home during mealtimes, including fried chicken and pizza, but we've enjoyed the local foods too.


The most popular hotdog joint in town serves a beef/lamb/pork hotdog with fried onions, mustard and a remoulade of some kind. It's good! Last night we had boiled haddock, potatoes, peas, and red cabbage. All served with sweet rye bread. Seems bland but you slather everything in a rich Icelandic butter and you are all set. One delicacy we've quickly latched onto is Skyr (skeer). The process to make skyr is similar to cheese making, but it tastes and looks like yogurt. It's high in protein and is eaten at all times of day- bfast, dessert, snack, etc.- with cream and fruit.
We've been dared to eat boiled sheep's head and fermented shark meat. Uh...we have not gone there yet though. It's intimidating so far but perhaps we'll get brave during our stay.

FAQs

Break out your maps, you may be surprised that Iceland is only a 5 hour flight away, similar to a flight from Baltimore to LA or Philly to Barbados. Iceland is on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or 5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.
Currency is the kronur. USD 1 = ISK 117.
Temperature is strangely similar to York, high around 41 and low of 31, sunny with occasional snow shower.
The sun rises and sets almost at the same time in York too. The only difference is that it takes a lot longer for the sun to rise and set so it's like twilight for hours and hours.

Day 1

Location: 64*8'39" N, 22*55'48"W
Reykjavik, Iceland

Babalu Coffeeshop
We left Logan Int'l at 8:35 pm on Saturday and landed at 6:40 am on Sunday at Keflavik Airport. It's a short 5 hour flight overnight, and Kathy and Axel were so kind to pick us up at the airport. After a quick nap to re-calibrate, Kathy and Axel picked us up for our introduction to Iceland.
We visited Thingvellir, where the first Parliament met. There's a continental divide here and I guess it is constantly moving. Like a few inches a day. The visitor center is built exactly the width of 1000 years movement.


We also saw a geyser, or shall I say, the Geysir. Apparently geysers are named after this particular geyser named Geysir. The Icelandic word for geyser is actually some other word. Other things we saw: big waterfall called Gullfoss ("golden falls"), a big dormant volcano crater, and oh yeah! Axel's family cave. He apparently has ancestor's who apparently lived or were born in a cave out in the country. Strange thing, we found a geocache hidden in the family cave. So in case you are geocacher, there's one in Iceland!