News

Forty-eight Chattanooga Ski Club members flew or drove to Tampa, Florida a day or two before our adventure cruise began so they could enjoy the beauty of Florida as well as this wonderful city.

On Sunday, October 7, we boarded the beautiful Carnival Miracle and left the port of Tampa. Members used this time to explore our ship and discover the many amenities it had to offer as well as enjoy their favorite beverages.

On this same day, Hurricane Michael decided to form near Cozumel and headed north to meet us on our way there.  Our Captain must have thought we didn’t have room for Michael on the ship, so we headed due south from Tampa instead of the usual southwest route across the Gulf.  On Monday, our sea day, we took a left just north of Cuba and slowly cruised as we gave Michael time to move out of our way (having fun all the time).  By Monday afternoon, Michael had moved north enough to not be a factor in our fun. However, the rerouting around Hurricane Michael caused us to have to forego our visit to Cozumel. 

Tuesday was another fun sea day and by Wednesday we were back on schedule with beautiful weather and smooth sailing.  On these sea days, popular activities were eating, sunning, exercising, reading, listening to one of the many music performances, or participating in the many family games and activities offered on board the ship (not to mention gambling in the casino).  We regretted missing our visit to the beautiful port of Cozumel, but we appreciate Carnival Cruise Lines for making our safety their paramount concern. Throughout the cruise, we were never in rough seas or bad weather.

Wednesday was a day for excursions at Belize.  Cruisers were tendered (taken by boat) to the mainland.  Large ships cannot dock at Belize because Belize has the second longest coral reef, second only to the Great Barrier Reef near Australia.  Members enjoyed many activities, like scuba diving, jungle river boat rides, visiting Mayan ruins, eating local foods, and swimming in beautiful clear water at exclusive resorts.

On Thursday, we enjoyed the tropical Isle of Roatan, Honduras. Carnival’s own private beach and beautiful shopping area was just a short walk from the dock.  We were particularly lucky on this day because we were the ONLY ship docked at the port and had these areas to ourselves. Many enjoyed this great beach area while others were busy exploring with excursions like scuba diving, sightseeing the coral reef in a semi-submersible boat, or flying on the zip lines through the forest. 

On Friday, we woke up anchored near the port at Grand Cayman, the largest of the Cayman Islands. Cruisers were tendered to the mainland where they explored the Georgetown port area or met up with the leader of their chosen excursion.  Popular excursions on the cruise seemed to be the ones that involved swimming with the dolphins or stingrays.

On most nights, live singing and dancing productions or other shows were enjoyed in the Phantom Theater.  In the Mad Hatter’s Lounge, the comedy shows were very popular.  The Red Frog Pub, with its Caribbean, laid-back atmosphere and enjoyable music, was a popular “watering hole” for our members.  Karaoke in the Red Frog and in the comedy club was also a well-attended event many times during the cruise, especially since our own Bill Hooton performed several times and was a big hit.  Soon, everywhere Bill went, strangers would point and say, “Hey Bill!”

Our group consisted of first time cruisers to experienced cruisers and contained a mixture of members from various parts of Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.  They all liked the fact that, although this was a group trip, each person or couple individualized the experience and activities on the cruise to their own desires.  On Saturday, many members migrated to the Sports Bar to watch the Tennessee-Auburn game with delight.  Unfortunately, the channels that carried the Alabama and the Georgia games on that day weren’t available at sea.

Every night of the cruise we were seated together for dinner (six tables of various sizes).  This was a special time for sharing of the day’s activities, laughing, and eating too much.  Night after night, we were impressed with the great service, wonderful food selections, and appealing presentations, especially the baked Alaska on the last night. Many members knew each other before the cruise, but we all regarded everyone in the group as friends at the end of the cruise.  Before the end of the cruise, we had started a random rotation of our seating at dinner so more members would get to know and enjoy each other better. 

Everyone had a great time at the private cocktail party that Carnival sponsored for the Chattanooga Ski Club on Saturday afternoon and couldn’t believe the week went by so fast.  This was a fun time to share the week’s experiences and laugh.

We woke up Sunday at the Tampa dock, disembarked the ship, and flew (or drove) home with many lifetime memories of our fun together on this adventurous cruise.

It appears that we have CSC members that are interested in “dirty” biking along with bike racers, adventurers, advocates, dirt bags, and wild women and men. 

Eighteen of us made our way to Abingdon, VA for the fall Creeper bicycle ride. Yes, we knew "they” were calling for rain.  However, “they" have been wrong before. 

Friday afternoon was perfect, the play “Singing In the Rain” was perfect. In fact all was perfect until about 3:00 a.m. when I looked out my bedroom window and saw a monsoon falling from the sky.

Saturday, ten very devout cyclists made the trek to the Abingdon Bike Shop where owner Jerry informs us that the rain is “supposed” to stop at 10:00 a.m.  Trail Captain Bob Tramel gave us our pre-ride instructions, which featured where the bathrooms were located, where the food was located, and above all where the beer was located. 

It had been my goal this year to ride the entire 37 miles. Alas, I aborted that goal again after the 17 miles to Damascus and the fact that I came face to face with a car on the trail?? When the very kind gentlemen politely told me it was I that was on the wrong trail not he. The rain never stopped.

Only two die hard bikers, John Hilbrandt and Bob Tramel made the 37 mile ride.  The rest of us “dirty” bikers took the “Dirty Shuttle” (after we got on it) back to Abingdon.   

John and Bob told this story during the Tennessee/Alabama party at “Command Central."  Bob had gone on ahead of John from Damascus, and when John caught up with Bob, he noticed that Bob was riding a new bicycle.  "WOW! Bob, where did you get such a nice bike?" Bob replied, “Well I was riding along the Creeper Trail minding my own business when this beautiful woman rode up to me on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, “Take what you want!”  John nodded approvingly, “Good choice. The clothes probably wouldn’t have fit."

During dinner we learned that a very devout cyclist dies and goes to heaven.  Saint Peter meets him at the gate.  The first thing the cyclist asks if there are bicycles in heaven.  “Sure,” says St Peter, “let me show you,” and he leads the guy into the finest velodrome you can imagine.  “This is great,” the cyclist says. “It certainly is,” says St Peter. “You will have a custom bike and the best cycling clothes you’ve ever seen, and your personal masseuse will always be available.”  As they speak, a blur streak zooms by them riding a gold-plated bike.  “WOW!” the cyclist exclaims.  “That guy was so fast that can only be Mark Cavendish!” “No,” says St. Peter, “that was God on his bike; He only thinks He’s Mark Cavendish”.

Enjoy the “dirty” pictures as promised.

      

“Learn to ride a bicycle.  You will not regret it if you live.”- Mark Twain

Go with us next time,

Barb

HELLO EVERYONE,

Welcome to all our new members, and hello to all our members.  Our activities are still in full-blast mode for the club.  Hiking, cruising, and skiing are keeping us all busy.  Heard good things about the bourbon trail trip, and looking forward to seeing a report on this. I hope the weatherman is correct on the cooler temps moving in nationwide, to spark some more interest on our ski trips. Be sure to reserve Dec. 11 for our Christmas party; more details to follow.  Our regular meeting is Oct. 2,  looking forward to seeing everyone, and please make your dinner reservations so we can get an accurate food count.  Every month we seem to get new members,  which is GREAT! Bring a friend to our meeting, let them see that our club is about active lifestyles for all ages. As you know, we all are a pretty decent bunch! 

Thank you,

 Mike

The Louisville walking bourbon tour involved a lot more than walking!  There was a lot of flying from one distillery to another, increasing our knowledge on how to use corn, rye, and wheat to make Kentucky bourbon. 

Friday night, we started at Bulleit Distillery where owner Tom Bulleit, Vietnam veteran and Marine said, “No veteran will pay to tour my distillery.” We drove back to the hotel to change for the group dinner at a local restaurant, Doc Crow’s. Dinner was wonderful and the fellowship was, as always, the very best with CSC members.

Saturday morning, we had to divide into two groups of twelve to tour a new bourbon distillery, Angel’s Envy.  Some of us walked the sixteen blocks from Angel’s Envy to Kentucky Peerless for the next tour, some of us drove our own vehicles, and SOME of us chose to ride the NOT SO RELIABLE FREE BUS!  We finally all ended up on time for the Kentucky Peerless tour, still a locally owned distillery that currently only sells rye whiskey. All the tours had anecdotes of the ups and downs of whiskey making. Distilleries often changed names, changed owners, went out of business, and, more recently, enjoyed success with the resurgence of bourbon in America. Some buildings were old, some new, many now are computerized; but all still use the old technology of aging spirits in charred oak barrels. At Peerless, we learned that one of the current founders got kicked out of a military boarding school for antics with his roommates, Duane and Gregg Allman.

After the tour, again the ones in the group that were taking the bus that was supposed to run every fifteen minutes were still waiting after thirty minutes.  After calling the bus headquarters, a bus finally arrived and took us… wait for it… to the very next stop for another twenty minute wait while the electric bus charged.  When we finally were moving, we were told the bus we were on would not take us to 5^th Street, where we needed to be to make our 3:30 p.m. time at Jim Beam for our lesson in how to make our own cocktail.  The bus made us disembark on 4^th street; so we had a wonderful, delightful, joyous time walking in the pouring rain for .25 mile to hurry to Jim Beam.  We made it with one minute to spare.

Much to the delight of everyone, the bourbon sour we learned to make was delicious! Who knew that you could put jam and egg whites in a bourbon sour?

All in all the entire trip was great; the CSC members were all a joy to spend the weekend with. 

Nobody complained; at least not to me!

Go with us next time,

Barb

Welcome new members and hello to all of our members.   It's always a good sign to see those fall goods in retail and online stores, which means fall is on the way.  But our club enjoys all seasons of the year.  We all also enjoy the active lifestyle, where we are the participants and not the observers. I see on our web page Barb was so kind to share the good times and pictures of the SUP party we had a few days ago.  Thanks to all who worked so hard to make this happen. Looking forward to it again next year.  We have the Hiawassee river kayak/raft trip coming up on August 26, so I will be looking to hear about it and seeing some good photos on that one as well.  All of our ski trips are full throttle ahead and all is well!  We still have openings on all of them, so I encourage you to join one of them before we have the drop dates on them come up. 

Again, thanks to all who volunteer to make our club so diversified in all the activities we share. 

Thanks,

Mike Hood

In 1963, the last of the mining companies opened Treasure Mountain ski resort with funds from the federal government.  It opened with the longest gondola in the United States as well as a double chairlift, a J-bar lift, base and summit lodges and a 9-hole golf course.  There was a minor problem however.  No access to the mountain.  It was solved by miners. 

The Skiers Subway moved skiers through the pitch-black Spiro tunnel on a mine train through 2.5 miles.  They then used a mining elevator that lifted them 1,750 feet to the surface.  Aerial trams used for hauling ore were converted into chairlifts.  Deer Valley and Park City Resorts still have more than 1,000 miles of tunnels under them and numerous mining structures dotting the landscape.  Treasure Mountain first changed its name to Park City Ski Area and then Park City Mountain Resort.

An adjoining ski area, Park City West, later known as Canyons Resort, was opened in 1968.

Snow Park was opened in 1946 with a name change to Deer Valley in 1970.

The owners of Park City Mountain Resort missed the March 2011 date to renew the lease for the mountain.  A $7 million lawsuit was filed against the land holding company.  On September 11, 2014, Vail Resorts purchased Park City Mountain Resort for $182.5 million and combined it with Canyons Resort.  This made it the largest resort in the United States for the next two years.

The combined resort now has four gondolas, 32 chairs ( 6 six packs and 9 quads) however no tunnels are in service.

I’ll continue with more next month.  Come join the trip to a great resort.

John

Two things that CSC members really like are SUPs and deviled eggs.  The 88 deviled eggs were brought by the Duboses, Bill Coolidge, and Mike and Beth Rawlston. The Rawlstons also made the trek to the event by boat, bravely and safely, despite being surrounded by sharks and huge boats causing tremendous waves! Despite these hazards, Beth was able to deliver her eggs in perfect condition.  As the eggs came to the food table CSC members were standing ready with fork in hand ready to stab one or two of the delicious little devils.  FYI, this same thing happened at the “Pond Party."  Deviled eggs were the first to go. If you want to make a hit with CSC members you might want to consider bringing deviled eggs to the next covered dish event. 

The SUP/Kayak party was a huge success thanks to CSC member Jan Wyatt volunteering the club house in her beautiful subdivision on the water.  The property is lovely, and the club house is on a quiet slough which made for perfect conditions for SUP and kayak lessons for anyone that wanted to learn. Thank you to Zach Bopp, water sport coordinator for REI, for assisting us.

A huge shout out to Jan Wyatt my partner in crime and collusion (I just wanted to use that word in a sentence; it’s in the news so much these days). 

A huge shout out to Gloria Gass who came early to help Jan set up the room while I was picking up chicken and balloons. 

A huge shout out to John Neblett for providing the ice, watermelon and music. 

Finally, a huge shout out to Tom DuBose who keeps us all legal and takes care of the money matters. 

The topping on the cake was the celebration of Ashley Ownby’s 60^th birthday and birthday #?? for Jim Kapsho

We had 43 CSC members and guests join us for a glorious, outstanding day!

Barb

What do you get when you cross a world renowned sculptor whose works are considered to possess outstanding artistic merit in the field of blown glass and the Biltmore House, a classy chateau-style mansion built by George Washington Vanderbilt between 1889 and 1895 which is the largest privately owned house in the United States? You get a magnificent boat load of blown glass that is inundated with light and color.

 

  “Pure delight, magical, a sense of wonder," are just some of the comments from CSC members to describe the artist Dale Chihuly’s sculptures, which shatters pre-conceived ideas that glass blowing is only for glass dogs, vases and bowls. Combine the Chihuly exhibit with the amazing Biltmore House, a stunning estate which is breathtaking on its own, not to mention the astonishing gardens, which are more amazing than the house itself. This past weekend, both the house and the gardens were chock full of Chihuly’s impressive glass art.

CSC & Cape Fear, NC club combined to make the trek to Asheville. What do you get when you cross two ski clubs totaling thirty three Chihulians?  You get a tremendous weekend.

Jeanne Scanland summed up the entire experience with the email below.

“Hi Barb, I really enjoy the weekend. Thank you again for getting everything coordinated for us. It was a wonderful weekend with perfect weather, fun fellowship and gorgeous artwork in the Gardens with the orange moon in the background along with the magnificent mansion! Could have not been a better weekend!! “

A special thank you to Bobbi Witt, who found the Holiday Inn as a convenient and affordable (by Asheville standards) hotel and coordinated with the Cape Fear folks. Also thanks to Tom DuBose, who ”forced” (right!!) wife Susan to go a day early to enjoy Asheville and scout out the area for us. Tom, Susan, and Bobbi also picked up all the tickets at group sales and had them in individual envelopes at the hotel desk. This was such a help for everyone.

These pictures by CSC member Deb Prater & Lyn Marvil sum up the perfect weekend.

Come with us next time,

Barb

About 100 members signed up to come to the annual lake party this year, and despite severe storms the night before, the weather on the day of the party could not have been better.  Chris and Bobbi Witt did a terrific job with setting up the event and cooking the wonderful shrimp boil and grilled chicken. Kudos also to all the members who brought plenty of side dishes and desserts. There was so much tasty food that even after everyone loaded up their plates, we still had food to spare.  This group really knows how to throw a party!

Mike Hood survived his whipped cream initiation rite as our new president, and managed to make his announcements despite cream impairment.

HELLO EVERYONE,

Welcome new members and hello to all our members.   Did someone say, let's have a rainy July?  Let's hope July 21 is a dry one for our Lake Party.  A lot of exciting things are coming up for our club this month and next. I wish safe travels for all.  The only ski news I have heard of this month is the announcement of America's first indoor ski area and it is going to be in New Jersey.  Why not Tennessee?  Oh well, I will take those Rocky Mountains over New Jersey any day. Look forward to seeing everyone at our upcoming meetings. 

Thanks,

Mike