Hips Don't Lie
Last night, my mom, little sister, hubby and I went to see Shakira at the American Airlines Arena (home of the MIAMI HEAT!!) in downtown Miami. What a concert! There were quite a few surprises. Wyclef Jean entertained the crowd for a while, singing some of his solo hits as well as those with the Fugees. After intermission (which seemed to take forever) Shakira hit the stage just a bit past 9PM. She sang and spoke in English and Spanish, and after about six songs, a very special guest came on stage to sing with her on one her recent hits, La Tortura: Alejandro Sanz. That was completely unexpected, and totally amazing. (Let me go off topic here for a moment and say...THE MAN IS HOT!)
Shakira would not be Shakira if she did not show off her belly dancing moves. There were several performances, backed by sensual, beautiful Middle-Eastern music, and that girl shakes like nobody's business!
Also worth noting is that the female guitarist in the first picture above is none other than Olgui Chirino, and her proud papa
Willy and stepmom Lisette were in the first row, having a great time.
The last song was "Hips Don't Lie", with Wyclef coming back onstage to sing with her. They were all over the stage, with pink, white and orange confetti flying through the air. It was a big party, Shakira-style.
Here's the review by the Miami Herald. I told you it was a great show!
Our Trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains
What an amazing time we had during Spring Break! Sometime in early February, we discussed that since we would have nine consecutive days off, we should do something we’ve never done before. Our best friends V and M, their three , M’s mom, my mom and the four of us were going to road trip it North. The original plan was to spend three days in Gatlinburg, TN, and three days near Stone Mountain, Georgia, with a possible detour at an Orlando theme park on the way up or down. Two weeks before our vacation week, the plans started to change, the https://www.chaturbaterooms.com/ project required more time as was planned and ultimately we were the only four still interested or able to go on the road trip. But we stuck to our plans to go on a road trip, found a darling little cabin just outside of Unicoi State Park near Helen, Georgia, and stayed there for four days working on www.jasminelive.online portal. It is now one of our most precious memories.
We spent the first weekend in Orlando with my cousin, my stepbrother and niece and nephew, and Monday around noon we were off on our adventure to Georgia. It took us around 10 hours to arrive at our lovely little cabin in the woods. At first it seemed eerie, the only light around was coming from our headlights, and we’re not used to that. But when morning came and we woke up to that tranquility, we were hooked! I had a routine of finishing my cafe con leche (the cafetera did not come with us, but thank you Bustelo for your Cappuccino packets!) on the porch every morning, enjoying the peaceful view, before we headed out for that day’s adventure.
After breakfast on Tuesday morning we walked around the property and the surrounding roads a bit. Our cabin was right on the outskirts of the state park, just outside of the Chattahoochee National Forest, and it was surrounded by tall trees and lush forest, with a limited but equally impressive view of the mountains. We got back in the car and drove towards the Forest and the mountains. We stumbled upon a drive-up map/directory for the Russell-Brasstown Scenic Byway…Perfect! We were going to drive aimlessly anyway, so now we had a plan. So off we went, up and down and around the mountains.
Following the scenic drive (which we’ll revisit later on in our trip), we went down the road to the city of Helen, a tiny town of about 500 people. It’s designed like a German Alpine village, but in the Appalachians instead of the Alps. It’s adorable! I can tell you it’s as authentic as Germany in Epcot, without the ridiculous theme park prices. After linner at the Troll Tavern, we rode a horse drawn carriage, then walked around the town for a while. By then it was almost dusk, so we headed back to our cabin for the night. After showers and some snacks, the boys were off to bed while hubby and I checked some of the points of interest online, and made our plans for the next day.
It was a new day, and we were off to see more awesome sights. The cashier at Anna Ruby Falls had provided us with a map of the area, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that there were at least four more waterfalls to hunt down. We started day three with the closest in proximity to Anna Ruby, Horse Trough Falls. To get there we drove through a one-lane unpaved narrow road along the side of a mountain. We weren’t even sure we were going the right way, but fortunately we crossed paths with a park ranger in his truck, and he assured us we would have no trouble finding it. After a 20-minute drive, going 5 miles an hour along that tiny road, we found the entrance to the Upper Chattahoochee River Campground. We parked outside the campground, walked about half a mile through the campground into the forest, and there it was. It was beautiful, and definitely worth the adventure to find it.
Shortly after getting back to civilization (i.e. paved roads), it started to rain, so it was as good a time as any to find some lunch. We drove to Hiawassee again, this time eating at The Happy Hawg, which had just opened for the season an hour or so before we arrived (Another great dining experience). After our meal, we made our way back to the mountains, and we were off to climb to Brasstown Bald Summit.
Brasstown Bald is the highest point in all of Georgia, at 4,784 feet above sea level. Besides being the highest point, it also divides two counties, Towns and Union, at its peak. The climb up the summit from the parking lot is 6/10 of a mile, and is pretty steep. Although the rain had stopped, it was still overcast, and we could hear the thunder off in the distance. Matty got a bit scared when we were almost at the top, but once we got to the summit he quickly forgot about his fears as he looked at the views from the observation deck. It was amazing.
It was about 5pm at this point, we were hoping to get in one more point of interest before wrapping up our adventures for the day. We drove about 40 minutes along the Russell-Brasstown Scenic Byway to Dukes Creek Falls.
Dukes Creek merges with Davis Creek to create this 150-ft waterfall. The trail is just under 2 miles roundtrip, and has three switchbacks before getting to the base of the falls and the observation deck. You can hear the roar of the falls fade in and out as you walk along the trail. You really can’t appreciate its full beauty in pictures. It is definitely worth the trip!
Dusk settled in as we hiked back up the trail to the car. This was the last stop on our vacation, and it was bittersweet. We still had Raven Cliff Falls and DeSoto Falls to visit, which means we’ll definitely be duplicating this trip sometime in the future.
Hubby and I are so glad we decided to take this road trip. It was so much more than we thought it would be, and we are so happy to have been able to give the boys these memories that they (and us) will treasure forever.
Where were we? Oh, yes, plans. We now had plans for the rest of our vacation, thanks to that roadside map and some Google searching. Our first stop on day two was down the road to Anna Ruby Falls just outside of Unicoi State Park. Tailored to tourists, this would be the most “user-friendly” of the waterfalls we would visit.
Anna Ruby Falls consists of two waterfalls from two separate streams, Curtis Creek with a drop of 153 feet, and York Creek with a drop of 50 feet. They join at the base of the waterfalls to form Smith Creek, which flows into Unicoi Lake, less than 2 miles from our cabin. The 1/2-mile paved path to walk up the mountain is alongside Smith Creek, and quite lovely. At the base of the waterfall is the Smith Creek Trail, a 5-mile hike (each way) along the side of the mountain that will take you to Unicoi Lake. We walked the trail for about a mile, but then the terrain got a bit unsteady (read: I was a scaredy-cat and paranoid about the boys falling off the edge), so we walked back to the start of the trail, and back to the car.
At this point it was just past 3 in the afternoon, so it was time to find some lunch. A local we met the day before had mentioned the next town over, Hiawassee, as having a great little restaurant named Michaelee’s Chocolate Caffe, so we decided to find it. We are so glad we did, it was So. Good. So Good that the details of our meal requires its own post.
We soon discovered that the Georgia/North Carolina border was just five minutes away, so after our meal we drove the four miles or so into the next state. We stopped about a mile into North Carolina at the Chatuge Cove Marina to take pictures of the breathtaking view of the Blue Ridge Mountains with Chatuge Lake in the foreground. We weren’t there long though, we were still apprehensive about driving at night along those dim roads. So off we went back to Georgia and to our cabin. Good thing we did. Dusk was approaching, and shortly after passing the Unicoi Park entrance, we saw wild turkeys and deer near the side of the road. We got out of the car and watched them for a while, our first sign of wildlife (save for a few squirrels and birds). Then back to the cabin we went, looking forward to the next day of adventures that lay ahead.
Hoping this post doesn’t disappear…
I still have no idea what happened to the three posts from last week about Brandon’s honor roll and our trip to Universal and Islands of Adventure. One possibility is that there was some sort of host crash and they reverted to a previous day. Either way, I don’t quite have the time this week to repost everything so I may do a shorter version of them soon.
In other news, today is WB‘s birthday!! Happy day to you, my friend!
Also wanted to share that yesterday Claudia and I were lucky enough to meet one of my favorite authors Jen Lancaster. I stumbled upon her book tour information via Twitter, and was jumping for joy when I saw she was finally coming to Florida. I immediately made plans to be there, no matter what. We were there super early, and had a snack at the cafe while we waited for the jasminlive event to start. We went into the room Jen would be speaking in around 7:40pm, and had seats front and center. Jen arrived 10 minutes early, and she chatted and engaged in “awkward small talk” with the small audience. We also got to vote on whether she would read a passage from her most recent book “If You Were Here”, or from her upcoming book “Jeneration X”. The majority of us chose “Jeneration X”, and it was hilarious (as was expected). A Q&A was next, followed by pictures and book signings.
Because we were seated in the front row, we were about fifth in line, which was great as I had to rush out of there and get home so hubby could go work his night shift. She was so sweet, and is as funny in person as in her books. Tiene tremenda chispa. According to her blog, she’ll be on a national book tour with the release of “Jeneration X”, so hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to see her again soon.
Chevy Eco-Chic Tour
I was fortunate enough to be chosen as a participant in the Chevy Eco-Chic Tour this past Saturday. A collaboration between greenermiami and GM Southeast, the tour took us through a few Eco-friendly spots in town, all while taking turns driving the Hybrid Chevy Tahoe and electric Chevy Volt.
We left the Chevy dealership in Miami Shores around 11am, and I was the first one to drive the Tahoe hybrid. I absolutely loved it! Not only is it a smooth ride, but all the extras, from the leather seats to the fancy in-dash navigation system with On-Star, had me drooling.
Day Trip to Key West
Last Saturday night, I mentioned to hubby that we haven’t been to Key West in about two years, so the following day that’s exactly what we did. We woke up on Sunday, packed up and drove South for three hours. My friend and neighbor W and her son joined us as well, and we had a lovely day!
We had brunch at Croissants De France, an adorable little French place where my friend happened to celebrate her 10th wedding anniversary 2 years ago. We ate galletes (fancy word for crepe), yummy desserts from their delectable bakery, and foamy lattes.
Afterwards, we walked over to the Southernmost point and took a few pictures from across the street as the line to stand by the monument ran halfway down the block. Then we walked to the Key West Aquarium, where the had a blast! The little ones loved the touch tank, and Brandon volunteered to feed a shark. By the time we left the Aquarium it was 6pm, so we crossed the street, had some ice cream, and called it a day.
Key West is so close and so much fun, we definitely have to do that more often. But I’m thinking we’re going to avoid it during the scorching summer months, it was just way too hot.
A date with a Silly Old Bear and his friends
Thanks to my friends over at Spanglish, we got a sneak peek at the new Winnie The Pooh movie on Saturday morning. While hubby was at work, my sister, the boys and I headed to the theater to visit my favorite little bear and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. Winnie the Pooh has been my favorite Disney character for as long as I can remember, and I think I was more excited than the boys to see the movie.
The movie was so cute! Without giving too much away: Pooh is after some “huny” (of course!), Eeyore loses his tail (again), and there’s a small misinterpretation that leads to an adventure for the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood. I loved it! The boys enjoyed it just as much as I did, and so did my sister. It’s definitely as entertaining for adults.
Definitely worth mentioning is the short film shown before the movie titled “The Ballad of Nessie”, a sweet tale about Nessie (The Lochness Monster), and how she learns that sometimes it’s okay to cry.
I so hope The Ballad of Nessie is included on the DVD for Winnie the Pooh. I look forward to adding both these instant classics to our collection.