And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods fo the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Joshua 24:15
WOW OKAY so I thought I published this like six weeks ago, but apparently I didn’t. Sorry! I was going in to write another post about my job and here this draft was sitting. Anyway, so six weeks ago… I went to Asheville with my parents to celebrate America’s birthday and to pre-game me starting my new job today. We got a hotel right next to where they shot off the fireworks for the city’s fireworks show on the 4th, and I managed to get some really awesome shots with my new photography know-how! It went to show that I don’t need a super fancy camera to take good photos, just a steady hand (or better yet, a tripod), and some patience. My mom and I took a rainy trip up to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and saw some elk. Then we went to an arts festival in the city before driving back on Sunday.
Fire in the streets, fire in the sky
We went to Asheville to celebrate America’s Independence Day, which is traditionally celebrated by loosing colorful explosives into the sky (something about “and the rocket’s red glare, the bomb’s bursting in air”).
We booked a hotel room right next to the parking garage from where they set off the fireworks, so we got a front-row seat to the show from our room, which was on the 10th floor. I set up my camera right by the windowsill so I could take some long exposure shots without blurring the rest too much. I took a few test shots to try out the lighting then waited for the show to start.
I have to tell you, it was absolutely incredible. Who knew that fireworks up close could be so awe inspiring? We were high up, with no obstruction from the place of origin, and super close. You could feel every shot and every explosion and hear every crackle of the secondary explosions. The colors were awesome, and I think even looking back at my photos it was just really crazy to see.
Seeing fireworks like this was probably one of those simple experiences that are really impactful and leave an impression on you that lasts quite a while. Such power and spectacle of light and color!
I took a lot of photos during the show. I wasn’t really looking at the camera, mostly staring at the fireworks and pressing the camera button a lot of times. The timing was not as easy as I thought to get down, and having to adjust the exposure and shutter speed during the show was a bit fumbly. But I got a lot of shots out of it that I really liked. Please enjoy them also!
I got some videos too, but I am too lazy and it’s too hard to rotate and upload them. They also slowly go out of focus because my camera has difficulty maintaining focus during the dark pauses in between each firework. But the finale was awesome, and the parking deck just looked like it was on fire. There were even some firefighters on the top floor sitting in chairs with a huge hose in case anything went awry. A few fireworks misfired, but ultimately nothing bad happened.
The irony was that throughout the entire weekend we encountered firetrucks responding to things at least two or three times a day. Not even an exaggeration.
Floodwaters on the mountain
So my mom wanted to go see the Great Smokey Mountain’s National Park because, “I’ve lived in North Carolina for 20-some years and we’ve never been!” which is as good a reason as any, I suppose. My dad wasn’t feeling well, so he stayed at the hotel while my mom and I went to see the mountain.
It started raining on our way over. Like super hard. Torrential downpour. Zero visibility. Mind you, the park is like at least an hour from Asheville, longer with the bad weather. My mom was “determined to at least get to the door” and so we continued our journey, even if we might not really be able to see anything. I was 100% in on the plan. It was really nice to get some time one-on-one with my mom, which I realized I don’t get a whole lot of at all. I actually don’t get any one-on-one time with anyone in my family really. We just do everything as a family which is super great, but taking quality time one-on-one is a bit of a different feel.
We drove through some tiny valley town called Maggie Valley, and we spent the little bit driving through it wondering who Maggie was. By the time we reached the door to the park, most of the rain cleared up! It was still quite “smokey” (misty) from the rain/humidity, and it was nice because it did cool down the temperature quite a bit.
We stopped by the Ocanaluftee visitor center and saw some elk hanging out in the field by the center. The visitor center is situated on some historic farmland which has these vast open fields by it where elk like to come and graze. There was a lot of signs bordering the field saying that if elk were grazing the fields were CLOSED TO VISITORS of the non-elk variety. So we had to keep our distance, but I think they were a bunch of young elks and/or all ladiessss because they didn’t have any cool horns (yet). I honestly don’t know, I’m not very well-versed in elk developmental biology.
Afterwards, we drove to Clingman’s Dome, which is the summit/overlook at the top of the tallest mountain in the park. Except when we were maybe a couple mins away the sky opened up and the torrential downpour started again. There were sooOoOOOOoOooo many people who got caught off-guard running down the mountain road to get back to their car. Soaked through. There were so many cars parked for miles down the mountain so my mom and I were like “eh… maybe let’s not get out of the car.” So we drove to the top and then turned around (it’s also an additional 15 minute walk to the actual top). The parking lot was flooded pretty deep, too.
The rainstorm seemed localized to the summit though, because on the way down the weather was as if nothing ever happened. So we got out of the car and snapped a photo or two and then went back to see if my dad felt better (he did).
Unrelated
The hotel had a beekeeping thing on the roof of one of the wings. Pretty cute! I think they’re still developing it because it’s a little small. We were really high up so we could see it from our room window.
Also unrelated, we went to this restaurant that had steak knives with little pocket-knife notches in them (despite not having any folding function). Can anyone guess what it’s for? See below for the answer…
I emailed the knife company that manufactures the knives to ask what the purpose of the notch was since the knife didn’t fold. I had a pretty long back and forth conversation with the customer service person while they forwarded the question to the design team and waited for their answer.
I hope all is well! I received a response from my team in regards to the requested knife. Please note there is no purpose for the notch on this steak knife as it is for the unique look and style. The design for this particular knife was inspired by the original Laguiole pocket knife which was created by the French in the 1800’s! I hope this information helps! Please contact me if I can be further assistance.
Now you know.
See you soon for my post about my job. (Unless I forget to publish it again.)
—Jasmin
Well according to my husband, who is a knife guy, the original reason for a notch on a knife is called a “blood rail”. The design was created when folks fought with knives. And the notch was added so that when you stabbed someone, the notch allowed a break in the suction of the organs, so you could retrieve your knife. Aren’t you glad you asked? Peg
Fascinating! Though I would expect such a notch would be along the whole ridge of the knife rather than a small notch, right? One of my Smith & Wesson knives has some longer grooves on it, but I never stopped to think about what they were for! I guess you learn something new every day.