I'm back!
I had a great time in Ohio. I took my time driving up there last Wednesday. I took back roads through the NC mountains and saw Chimney Rock, Lake Lure, Asheville, Maggie Valley, Lake Junaluska, Cherokee... and then I drove through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and hit Tennessee on the other side. In Tennessee, I drove through Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Seiverville, and Knoxville -- and then I hit the interstate the rest of the way up to Cincinnati. Cincy is gorgeous at night because you come around the Kentucky hills/mountains not knowing how close you are to the city... and then suddenly there it is! Definitely a perfect ending to a great drive up.
We went up to Columbus for Red, White, and Boom last Thursday, and then Buckeye Lake (east of Columbus) on Friday. Before we went back to Cincy on Saturday, we took a little tour of Ohio State. My brother's girlfriend went there, so we got a
real tour -- that was neat. The campus was huge (I think she said it was the second-biggest in the country), but it was also pretty. Ohio Stadium was particularly impressive.
I left Monday morning and drove back through a lot of back roads in Kentucky all the way to Lexington. I drove around the UK campus there -- and I must say I wasn't too impressed with it. The buildings were too generic for me and it just didn't have a college feel to it at all. Commonwealth Stadium was cool, but I was really expecting a lot out of Rupp Arena... and it turned out to be a letdown. It's in downtown Lexington and it looks just like every other building there.
I also drove back through Knoxville and took a little tour of the UT campus. I had heard bad things about it, but I was pleasantly surprised (and that was probably because I was comparing it to the UK campus in my head). Even though it's right there at downtown Knoxville, the river separates most of campus from the majority of downtown... and that gives it more of a college feel. I drove around Neyland Stadium, which was huge. The arena is right beside it and looks a lot like the Dean Dome from the exterior.
After all that, let me just say that I truly appreciate campuses like UNC's that are in college towns. And schools like Wake and dook -- though they are in bigger cities -- have prettier campuses because they're separated from downtown in those cities.
I spent the rest of the trip in the NC mountains. I camped in Cherokee Monday and Tuesday nights, and did a little whitewater rafting on the Nantahala during the day. Drove back yesterday... and let me just say that I'm exhausted. I don't want to be behind the wheel of a car again for a long, long time.
Hope everyone had a great Fourth, and I look forward to getting reacquainted with everyone on the board!
-JD
