Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! It’s the Year of the Ox in case you were wondering.

spoilers for “A Disquiet Follows My Soul” (4.12)

I caught some weird bug that laid me out all weekend so I don’t feel as if I was fully emotionally or intellectually connected with this episode. I’m sure it will play differently for me in future viewings.

For today, all I have are some quick hits:

• I think the webisodes fall in between “Sometimes a Great Notion” and “A Disquiet Follows My Soul.” That placement makes a significant difference for the Hoshi character.
• The prophetic characters (Roslin, D’Anna, Starbuck, Leoben, Baltar) are feeling the weight of their failures. It seems that Six has been spared so far because her future is growing within her. She’s still able to see the beyond. My question is, why do the rest of them all seem to think that their prophetic leadership ended with Earth? Those interpretations seem to be of their own dreams and wishes. Was that really the gods’/god’s/universe’s message?
• Athena, Helo, and Hera supplied the only happy moment in the pervious episode. Perhaps everyone really should get down to the business of making babies.
• The installation of Cylon-technology may be beneficial, but it is not politically possible at this time. It’s also not immediately urgent. It may become so once they face a Cavil scouting force or become in danger of being stranded, but until that time, you just can’t sell this. This is not a smart stand on the part of the Adamas. Everyone’s judgments are clouded at this time, but this just doesn’t seem to be a good fight to pick. I wonder why they think it is.
• Oh, Cally. Even after you’re gone, they still can’t give you just a little bit of importance in the grand scheme of it all.
• Dear Tigh, if you develop that chart for Tyrol, could I please also have a copy?

Tags: Travel, TV by Ms. SP
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This post is a stand-alone post, but it is also #3 to Monday’s Holiday Gift Ideas for the Established Civil War Buff.

Nashville is a great destination for anyone interested in the American Civil War. The Virginian battlefields get all the glory, but the war in the western theater was just as compelling. Many argue that the North won the war because the North won the west. (They had a heck of a time defeating Lee in the east.)

Nashville is a great jumping off point for many points of Civil War interest in Tennessee. Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Stones River (Murfreesboro), Franklin, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga are all within a few hours’ drive. Of course there are also plenty of sites within Nashville itself.

(Ask about the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust of honor in the Capitol Building. It makes the guides nervous.)

One of the great things about establishing a central headquarters in Nashville is that you don’t have to keep packing and unpacking every day. For those in your family or group who are not enamored with this period of history, there are plenty of other places to explore. Also, I didn’t find Nashville to be that expensive for travelers. For me, the cost-convenience scale was definitely in my favor.

A Civil War buff is definitely going to enjoy visiting these sites. The topography of Tennessee helps make the events of these battles understandable. Highlights include:

• the river locations of Forts Henry and Donelson
• the railway at Stones River
• the bullet strewn houses from the urban fighting of Franklin
• the almost insignificant swell on which Thomas and his men made their stand at Chickamauga
• the little central hill on which Grant stood and watched his men go up and over the Chattanooga mountains

Even if you don’t understand all these references, your friendly neighborhood Civil War geek will. And he/she is going to want to see them all.

Tags: Recommendations, Travel by Ms. SP
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Part of a series: (links to go live as they get posted)

• Packing
• Getting to
• Moab, Utah
• Silver Sage Inn
• Arches Tips and Trails, part 1
• Arches Tips and Trails, part 2
• Canyonlands Tips and Trails
• Salt Lake City, part 1
• Salt Lake City, part 2

An outing to Canyonlands National Park is much more straightforward in its options than one to Arches. There are many distinct areas of Canyonlands, but only the Islands in the Sky section is practical for a day trip when you are already in the Arches/Moab area. Even though it is just forty minutes down the road, the geographical features are completely different.

This section of the national park protects an area of mesas. These flat-topped plateaus rise in layers. This makes activity choices fairly obvious. Either you can explore the relatively flat but short area atop the mesas or you can tackle the steep climbs and descents of the sides. There are long hard hikes and short easier hikes. Nothing is in between.

Up this high, there are even fewer resources than in Arches. Besides the bottled water available at the visitors center, there are NO water or food sources within the park. Two of the easier trails I would recommend are the Mesa Arch and the Grand View Point Overlook.

Mesa Arch is a short half mile round trip. It reaches an accessible and breathtaking arch right on the edge of the mesa. I was surprised that there were no guardrails or protective features, because the cliff is right in front of you. I walked towards the falloff and became really light headed. When I visited, there were a number of small children running around. A mom was at the point of a nervous breakdown. I didn’t blame her one bit. It’s a nerve testing site.

Grand View Point is a longer trail of two miles. This one is interesting because it extends out towards a narrow end of the mesa. On the early part of the trail, you see the Colorado River side of the formation. Then, unexpectedly, you will turn and the Green River side becomes visible. At the end of the trail, there’s a high rock crag. Climbing up it, you may be able to follow the edge of the mesa all the way around.

Tags: Travel by Ms. SP
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