Hats off in Ecuador

January 21, 2012    Category: Albino Bowler   No Comments »

Mount Cojitambo EcuadorKimberly and I took the bowler with us on a brief trip to Ecuador.  Most of our time was spent in a town called Cuenca.  It is the third largest city in Ecuador and rated #1 for the last three years by International Living as a retirement haven.  It’s also been premiered on two episodes of House Hunters international.   Although a fairly large city of over 500,000 Cuenca feels very small town.  It is a Spanish colonial town built in the 16th century. It has great architecture, and since it’s on the equator at just under 9,000 ft above sea level, it also has great weather.

We arrived via plan in Guayaquil, Ecuador and drove to Cuenca the next day.  It’s a 3 hour drive to Cuenca which takes you over the Andes Mountain range and thru El Cajas National Park which is breathtaking at over 12,000 ft above sea level.  We stayed at a bed and breakfast in down town Cuenca that has been in Bowler and his Panama hat.the same family for over 150 years called Casa de Ordenez. 

Our first brief outing took us to the village of Cojitambo including Cojitambo Mountain and Incan Ruins from 500b.c.  The view from the top of the village below is great and the ruins were very interesting. 

We also took the bowler to a small village nearby Cuenca where the "Panama" hat was first created.  Strangely, it’s only called a Panama hat because the first Europeans to get them were told they came from Panama because that’s where they were loaded onto their boats.  We watched ladies hand make these hats, bought several This lady had her own bowlerand even saw the worlds largest panama hat according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Ecuador is nearly 100% Catholic and there are plenty of beautiful Cathedrals to prove it.  However, there are also so weird pictures and statues of Christ.  Like the picture we took of Christ holding up a machete and the one of baby Jesus and Mary wearing Panama hats.

We really loved the area and the people, so much so that we plan to go back in the next month.

–Chad Quesenberry

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    Oh my gosh it seems like forever since I have had a chance to sit down and type of my travels.. I have been so busy.. but it’s not always documented.. but I am ALWAYS on the run.. and now with the holidays.. whoosh where has the year gone??

    So a couple of weeks ago I went over to Erin’s again.. heh that new puppy is a little much.. she stares at me so.. I got bored for a while.. you can see by my pictures I just meandered around the house.. I tried to get out.. but sometimes it’s just better to nest.. who said that.. yes even a bachelor likes some down time..
    Then I went to the Madonna show.. G Hollah!! wow was that fun.. a lot of driving.. we went to Atlanta.. three girls and me..there was a lot of LOUD singing all the way there.. I thought I might have to start hitchhiking.. Show was great and then back to KnoxVegas.. It was Thanksgiving.. I was in a coma after that meal.. I said no pictures.. I was a little bloated.. Derby Pie, Turkey, every kind of potoato and family member imaginable was in town.. and of course there’s football all day..
    Speaking of football some of you might have heard that our legendary Coach Philip Fulmer is no longer going to be our coach. So we decided to have a phinal tailgate for Phillip.. it was freaking freezing and raining.. ugh.. the photos are lovely.. although my sweater shrank a little on that day..as did my spirit.. We’ll miss you Coach Fulmer.. tear.

    So now I have been slaking Santa but for some reason I keep chickening out.. although I think I will be ringing bells for the Salvation Army on Thursday..

When the heck is the work Holiday Party??
– Erin Donovan

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    So, I hitched a ride with this funny family to sunny Florida again – this time to Orlando – Disney more specifically.  They have a cute couple of kids…the little girl, she sure is cute – but she talks a lot.  I kept looking for her battery compartment but couldn’t find it.  The littlest dude, he drools a lot, poops a lot and hardly ever sleeps…more on them later.  It took us 2 days to get there and when we did, we hit the ground running.

     Our 1st stop was the Magic Kingdom. Here I am at the front gate and in front of Cinderella’s castle. 
    She sure does know how to live it up right… I think that she is loaded! I think that I will try to meet her while I’m here. Well, as you can see… I did!! I even met one of her girlfriends, Belle. She was a hottie too!!!  Grrr!! Good thing my hair was in place, I know they liked me.   She’ll be able to check me out on my Facebook page.

    Another great stop that we had was breakfast at Chef Mickey’s in the Contemporary Resort. Wow!! What a spread that Mouse had for us to eat. He had everything from fruit to breakfast pizza!! The dad in this family tore this buffet up… he had eggs, biscuits and gravy and who knows what else. I knew that we had a big day planned, so I just took some OJ for the road.  We got to meet Mickey, Donald, Minnie and Pluto here. They were cool, but they didn’t know how to react to me, so no pics with them. I did get my picture made with the Mickey on the table though.
    While I was just chillin’ out there.. the little dude tried to make me breakfast.  Thank goodness he doesn’t have teeth or I could have been a goner. Little Dude did get my shirt wet though. It was dry by the time we got to the park… and hair, still in place! Weather was great while we were there, sunscreen was in demand for the bowler.
    I got to go to Epcot, that could clearly be the world’s largest golf ball. After going golfing with Chris Walker, I would say that he may need this ball for his bag. It would be tough to lose in the woods. ( Sorry Chris!)
    I got to see Crush from Finding Nemo while we were there, but I couldn’t get a picture with him. They said no photos where he was. I did get to see some fish in the aquarium. Those guys were checking me out… I was like their size. Also considered as a possible snack for them. It was a cool place to visit I must say.

    Another morning we had breakfast at this high-flutin’ hotel. That was a nice place.. I think it was the Grand Floridian. We saw Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, The Mad Hatter, and Tigger. Mary and Alice were some nice eye candy to see in the morning. Tigger was Tigger and this Mad Hatter dude… he was a trip!! Could have been the funniest guy there. He thought that I was a I Phone until he opened me up. Dude, he nearly dropped me in some grits!! 
    We made it back to the Magic Kingdom and I went through the Swiss Family Tree House (1494) and had my picture made with their map since I am a world traveler myself. They needed a globe for me instead of this North America map. This will due for now and for the photo op. The little girl and dad rode Space Mountain while we were there. It was her first and last time I think. I wasn’t tall enough to ride, so I had to wait outside with the mom and little dude. All I remember was hearing from that little girl.. “I want to ride Space Mountain”… until afterwards!! Ha Ha!! Then it was, “I’m never riding that again!!”. The dad loves that ride and I think any rollercoaster from what I could gather. They rode rides all day while we were there.
    We also went to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios). That was a cool place too. We went into this place where you can learn to draw characters, voice over movies and all kinds of stuff. I got to see where the real people draw the movie characters up for the films. Seems like a cool place to work. We were there after working hours, so all that we saw was their offices. 
   We went strolling around the park an low and behold… I saw my favorite truck. No, it’s not a Ford F350 or a Dodge Ram… it was Tow Mater!!  He doesn’t have a HEMI, but he can still Git ‘R’ Dun!! He asked if I knew of anyone that he could hook up with to fix him up and I gave him Dan Thompson’s, Jeff Lane’s and Chad Quesenberry’s numbers. They’re motor heads as they say in the business. He said that he was.. “ Happier than a tornado in a trailer park” to get those guys’ names. Be on the look out guys, he will be calling. He’s got a few rusty places on his body and a jacked up grill.

– Mark and Jennifer Allen

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    Playing golf was a new event for me. Although I really didn’t play, I guess you could say I was CW’s caddie. We went to Soldiers Creek Golf Club in Elberta, AL. It was designed on a National Wetland Preserve, where all 4 venomous snakes in the U.S. reside. Suddenly, it feels good to be made of hard plastic.

Before I get to the first tee, I have to get my gear ready…
    I keep hearing people yell what sounds like “four”. Why not 1,2,3 or heck 78. Shortly, there after someone corrected me and it is “fore” which rhymes with “sore” which is what I am now that I got picked off by a stray golf ball. I guess someone shanked their drive.
    Here I am sitting waiting for CW to tee off – This is Allen teeing off behind me. He shanked it in the woods, followed by Phil (CW’s brother) who shanked it in the woods. Finally CW teed off…. and shanked it in the woods…

These guys suck.

    At this point, I don’t think anyone was worried about their score. I was asked to hold the ball on the tee. I was told that this is customary for a caddie to do on the 17th hole…or something… The aftermath of this was not good as you can see. There are some places that a tee should not go. I know of one them now.

    Overall the vacation is good. Relaxing….no. But good nonetheless. Many lessons have been learned that I will use in the future. I am going to jump back in my box for the 12 hour trip home. Bowler out!

 

– Chris Walker

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    Well, we made an 8.5 hour drive in about 12 hours, but we finally made it to Navarre Beach, FL. I think this my first family vacation experience, but it has interesting. I am with Chris Walker (CW) (editor’s note, CW is commonly pronounced like “See Dub”) and his family consisting of his wife, mother, 3 year old Dawson, and 8 month Nolan (the juicy one). CW’s brother was there with his wife and 3 kids as well. I am expecting to be herding cats most of this week according to CW, but we’ll see what happens.
    The first couple of days we had bad weather, but luckily I picked up a poncho while in Scotland. The weather got better in the middle of the week and knew it was Red Stripe drinking weather.Stroller Assembly
    Apparently the juicy one got a new stroller before we left. I decided to put this together, so I needed to read the directions. It is not as easy as it looks especially when the wheels are bigger than you. I finally tamed the beast and got everything put in place. I was sore the next day, and spend most of the time in this stroller.

Diapers

    CW wanted to expose me to other pleasures that you can experience while on a family vacation, like changing the baby’s diaper. This is not as easy as it looks, especially when the baby is about 20 times bigger than you. It is about the Human equivalent of changing King Kong’s diaper. After being wrestled with I managed to get the diaper off. I let CW put a new one on.

 Eating Out    I decided to take everyone out to eat. We left the kids with Nana and a baby sitter so we could go out and get loose. While doing so, I was attacked by a gulf shrimp. It was not pictured here for graphic violence reasons, but I took him down and eventually and ate him. We got a ton of food and I paid the Bill. The waiter was enamored by my appearance and got a picture with me. I think he just wanted to get on the web site, but it’s all good. He did a good job and he’s good peeps.

Pool Action with/ the boys

    I tried hanging out at the Pool with Dawson (pictured) and his cousin Trey, but this 3 year and 4 year old crew is tough. Trey kept on calling me “Little Bo Peep”. I haven’t been called that since I got out of prison. I played with them a while and then they got board and left me at the bottom of the pool. Unfortunately when you are only about 4 inches tall every end is the deep end of the pool.

Beach Walk    We went out on the beach for a walk and we happen to run into this thing. I never thought that I would see a silicone breast implant on the beach in its raw form, but this was interesting. However, I touched it and it stung the fire out of me. I had been violated by a breast implant. CW later told me that it was a Jelly Fish. Interesting, woman sure do go through a lot of pain to enhance their appearance.

    Ah yes… tomorrow we golf.

 

– Chris Walker

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    For you long time Albino Bowler fans, you’ll recall that a while back he did some rock climbing out west on El Cap.  Well, it has become somewhat of a Tuesday tradition at the Claris Networks’ office to head up to Look Rock for some good ole East Tennessee climbing (at least for a couple of us anyway)… so we decided to bring him along so he could brush up on his skills a bit.  It got a bit hairy at times (because Zac is apparently not to quick with learning cameras that have more than one button), and yes, the Albino Bowler’s arm broke off… again.  Donations anyone?  We desperately need a spare parts / stunt double.

    At any rate, if you’re familiar with East Tennessee, hopefully by now you’ve heard of the Foothills Parkway (it’s on the way to Deal’s Gap and the “missing lake” mentioned in a previous post). 
It’s a gorgeous drive, and just so happens to have some decent sandstone (by our standards anyway).  Stop off at the Look Rock overlook and have a look around… you’ll see the short trails snaking back through the woods (no pun intended).  Zac Mckinney, Jay Norris, and I tied off and headed up the cliffs… check out the pictures for the rest of the story.

– Dan Thompson

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2008 Hot Air Balloon Festival

September 28, 2008    Category: Albino Bowler   No Comments »

      For the 5th year in a row, Pellissippi State Technical Community College put on a Hot Air Balloon Festival.  The festival consists of all manner of musicians, arts and crafts vendors, and of course, hot air balloons.
     Balloon pilots from all over the country come to the college to put on a show for the crowd.  Visitors can enjoy tethered balloon rides, watch the balloon race lift-off, or hang around after dark for the “Glow”, which consists of a choreographed light display set to patriotic and popular hit songs.  Pretty neat stuff.
    My wife Holly and I have some how managed to miss the past 4 years, so this year we loaded up with the Albino Bowler and drove down to check out the event.  Much to our dismay though, the wind was not playing nice and so only three balloonists had their balloons aired up for display.  It did prove to be a nice relaxing time however, and a chance to get an up close view of some hot air balloons.  Oh well… there is always next year, right?

– Dan Thompson

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Islamorada underwater extravaganza!

September 24, 2008    Category: Albino Bowler   No Comments »

 Day 4:  We went snorkeling today but the current was too strong to take the bowler out and get pictures.  When we got back, we took a few funny pictures in the pool at the hotel.  The Bowler decided he wanted to climb up a tree and get a good look at the ocean.  I got a few really good pictures of the sea life while snorkeling.  I am still getting a feel for this mask / camera.  It is very hard to line up shots with it.  Tomorrow is Scuba diving so there will be some great pictures!

Day 5:    We woke up early today and ate breakfast at the hotel.  I was excited because I am finally going to get to scuba dive which is something I’ve never gotten to do before.  I put the bowler in my pocket and we drove to the Holiday Inn where we were meeting our trainers (Jason and Heather).  We met them at the Holiday Inn pool and they showed us how to put together our scuba gear.  We got into the pool and they showed us to use the respirator.  They also taught us to clear our mask from being full of water, how to get your respirator back in your mouth if it were to be knocked out somehow, and how to tell another diver if you are out of air.  We took a lunch break and met the trainers again later in the day to do the real thing.

    We got onto the scuba boat with about 15 other people and the captain took us to the first dive site.  We went down to about 30 feet (the bottom) to see the coral.  Heather and Jason showed us around and took us to some cool stuff underwater.  There was a ton of fish, lobsters, and eels all around us.  The first dive lasted about 45 or 50 mins.  I was running low on air so we had to go back to the surface.  We all loaded up in the boat again and went to the 2nd dive site. 
   We went through the same procedure again and saw some more cool stuff.  I took the bowler out and got some amazing underwater pictures.  After we were done diving, we got back on the boat.  It was by far the most fun thing I’ve ever done on vacation.  On the way back to the dock, the bowler found himself a girlfriend. :)
Day 6:  Today is the last day of vacation and it is sad.  I will be happy to get home though.  I went fishing today and caught a 25 pound Kingfish.  About 10 minutes later, my brother caught a giant barracuda.  We ended up having a ton of fun on vacation this year.  The bowler had lots of good pictures and has now been to the entire Keys.  Everywhere from Islamorada to Key West.

– Zac McKinney

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Day 1:  We finally got to Islamorada and before we got to check into the hotel, we went to Theater of the Sea to swim with dolphins.  There were tons of animals at the park including some dolphins, parrots, sea turtles, sea lions, and big fish.  Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let me take The Albino Bowler with me to swim with the dolphins for fear that they’d eat him so he had to sit that one out but I did manage to get a good picture with him and some parrots.  After we finished swimming with the dolphins, we went to our hotel.  It is really nice and has 2 heated pools and 1 Jacuzzi!
Day 2:  We woke up and ate breakfast.  I put on my swimming trunks and we got on a charter boat to go fishing with 6 other people.  The Bowler had a great time out on the water and just chilled out while everyone caught fish.  Unfortunately, at the end of our trip, the Bowler had an accident and a fish tried to eat him.  Luckily, I was able to rescue him while taking a picture of his ordeal.  :)  
Day 3:  I slept late today and it’s a good thing, my sunburn is killing me.  I put on lots of sunblock and we went to play mini golf on the way to Key West (it was an 80 mile drive from where our hotel is).  The Bowler decided he wanted to play too.  I got a green golf ball because it matched his shirt.  After we were done playing golf, we drove the rest of the way to Key West.  The first stop was the most southern point in the USA.  There is a huge buoy on the ground to let you know.  The Bowler of course had to take this rare moment to get his picture taken.  The next stop was Jimmy Buffett’s famous Margaritaville restaurant.  I got a frozen strawberry margarita (best one I’ve ever had btw) and let the Bowler have a few sips.  We went back to the hotel and soaked it up in the pool afterwards.

– Zac McKinney

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    Today was the first day of vacation.  We made it to the airport at about 3:30pm today.  We had to wait to check our luggage so I started reading “I am Legend” by David Masterson.  I managed to get through a nice 57 pages before it was time to go eat.  The Albino Bowler was excited once we boarded the plane because he got to come out of his box.  It was a two hour flight so about 1.5 hours into it, I took the bowler out and started taking some pictures.  He apparently doesn’t like to fly because he got sick and needed a barf bag.  We landed at Fort Lauderdale at 7:30 and got our rental car (White Rav-4).  Gas is less expensive down here but still not cheap (3.50 a gallon).  Once we got to our hotel, the Bowler was tired so he laid down and went to sleep.

– Zac Mckinney

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