Dances With Dirt....INC's Gnawbone Adventure

[kampfirekim 260]

IN!  :)

[wdwpoohbear...Jennifer 40]

I'm in!  Love the t-shirt INC got.  Sounds like you had fun last weekend...sorry your shoulder still hurts though.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

I'm in also!!!!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I'm in. Sorry I'm late.

Never heard of a trail run either.

Wow. People actually run 50 miles?

Did I read that right?

 

Yes, you read it right.  They start in the early morning before sunrise, so they need a headlamp to navigate the trails at first.  And some of them don't finish until early evening.  The elite runners do it much quicker, but there was a couple that joined us for dinner on Saturday and they were late waiting for their friend to finish the 50 mile at 6pm. 

 

IN!   :)

 

Awesome!  Did you bring pie?  Sorry...that's just too sad.   

 

I'm in!  Love the t-shirt INC got.  Sounds like you had fun last weekend...sorry your shoulder still hurts though.

 

Glad to have you reading...and thanks. 

 

I'm in also!!!!

 

Cool!

[Beckers 1,136]

I don't even want to drive 50 miles!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Let's finish off Friday now so we can get to the race in the next update. 

 

We went downstairs for dinner around 8pm, which is late for us to have dinner even with the hour time change.  The restaurant in the inn is called the Little Gem Restaurant.  I have no idea why, but it might have something to do with Abe Martin, which we'll get to later.  Be prepared for that update...it's a bit creepy. 

 

The restaurant has a menu you can order from, but also has a buffet on weekends.  After getting our table, we went to check out the buffet to see if we wanted to do that or order from the menu.  This is what we were faced with, and I apologize for the picture quality as I was having problems with my camera settings this evening.

 

Salad bar.

 

 

Here's the hot buffet.

 

 

Desserts.

 

 

And pie.

 

 

 

I was hungry for a salad, so I started there.

 

 

It was a tasty salad...everything seemed fresh.  But it was time to dive into the main courses. 

 

My first plate.

 

 

Fried chicken, a cabbage au gratin dish, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, green beans, carrots....and up on the top, the tour de force of this buffet.  Fried biscuits with apple butter!!

 

Oh my, let me tell you.  Those fried biscuits were TO....DIE......FOR!  Z snaps, handstands, and all.  I'd never had them before, and they were a hit with the DIT gang. 

 

Here is my second plate.

 

 

This time I tried the bbq pork chop, mac n cheese, more potatoes and beans, and another fried biscuit. 

 

Anna was getting tired but was being a good sport while I pigged out.

 

 

I was getting pretty full, but wanted to try some desserts.  The pie was so so...some sort of custard.  But they also had bread pudding, cobbler, and a chocolate cake with pecan sauce.  I tried the pudding and cobbler and both were pretty decent.  But I was too full to really enjoy them. 

 

Our server was a kid name Jessie who was awesome.  He was very attentive, extremely friendly and courteous.  Another girl who also worked there asked us to play a trick on him.  She brought our bill before him, and when he printed it out to bring he saw I already had it.  She had asked me to mess with him and tell him that he had already brought it.  The poor kid was quite confused.  They both got a huge kick out of it.  I didn't think it was that funny....but hey, they were having fun and seemed like really nice young people, something you don't always get in restaurants these days. 

 

The buffet was pretty reasonable, I think it was $13.99 for adults and half price for kids, or something like that.  Not bad for that selection.  We put the bill on our room charge and went back to the room. 

 

The Abe Martin Lodge has an indoor water park for guests, and the 4 older girls wanted to check it out after dinner.  Since it was open until 10 they still had an hour to do so, so they put on their bathing suits and went while we got Anna in bed. 

 

Anna needed a shower before bed, so I grabbed the bar of soap in the bathroom and found that it had a hole in it!

 

 

 

What the Fort!?!

 

I guess since so many bars of soap in hotels only get one or two uses, a lot goes to waste.  So they must have figured out that if you leave the middle out, there is less waste.  Makes sense I guess. 

 

We turned in early.  INC had a big morning the next day and needed rest.  Which she didn't get....but we'll get to that in the next update.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I don't even want to drive 50 miles!

 

Yeah, I can't imagine running that far. 

[Grumpy and Grandma 739]

Fried biscuts is one thing the "Nashville House" in town was famous for. Now your making me hungry.......

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

That food looks yumm, and that soap is a pretty good idea!

[BuckeyeFortMama 43]

Fun read so far.

 

Sad to hear your injury is holding you back. Hope it heals shortly and gets you back in the driver's seat quickly!

 

A family held from camping, for any reason, is a sad family.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Fried biscuits sounds good. But I think anything fried tastes good.

Love the Anna pix. There's just something about that smile of hers. It just make me smile.

[Ok Grumpy AKA Cindy~~ 9]

Pretty cool hotel!  How was the indoor water park?

[thecplusplusguy 7]

Well I got in before midnight.  Good so far except reading about really good food at 11:30 pm.

 

I am interested in your experience at the race.  I have recently dropped a small person from my waistline and would like to start doing races like this as well as other things.

 

Dan

 

p.s. by small person I mean 78 lbs.   :jumpforjoy

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Love the Anna photos.  Keep those coming.

When we went Saturday night, they had the buffet all gussied up for their Mother's Day brunch.  Less fixings served in bowls for cold and chaffing  dishes for the hot stuff.  The fried dough and apple butter were the very best thing on the line.  I totally killed my diet eating those things. :D

We didn't tell the kids about the indoor water park since campers are second class citizens and we aren't invited to use it.  Did you get photos of it?

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Fried biscuts is one thing the "Nashville House" in town was famous for. Now your making me hungry.......

 

Someone in town mentioned the biscuits at the Nashville House.  I'd like to try them there to compare. 

 

That food looks yumm, and that soap is a pretty good idea!

 

Nice thing about the soap is, you could make your own soap on a rope.  I'm not sure why you'd want to...but you could. 

 

Fun read so far.

 

Sad to hear your injury is holding you back. Hope it heals shortly and gets you back in the driver's seat quickly!

 

A family held from camping, for any reason, is a sad family.

 

Thanks BFM.  I hope we get back out camping soon. 

 

Fried biscuits sounds good. But I think anything fried tastes good.

Love the Anna pix. There's just something about that smile of hers. It just make me smile.

 

The fried biscuits were really good.  They are covered in sugar and maybe cinnamon.  How can you go wrong?

 

Pretty cool hotel!  How was the indoor water park?

 

I have pics of the water park (don't expect anything grand) coming up. 

 

 

Well I got in before midnight.  Good so far except reading about really good food at 11:30 pm.

 

I am interested in your experience at the race.  I have recently dropped a small person from my waistline and would like to start doing races like this as well as other things.

 

Dan

 

p.s. by small person I mean 78 lbs.   :jumpforjoy

 

Wow!  Good for you, Dan.  I will cover the race coming up in the next post. 

 

 

Love the Anna photos.  Keep those coming.

When we went Saturday night, they had the buffet all gussied up for their Mother's Day brunch.  Less fixings served in bowls for cold and chaffing  dishes for the hot stuff.  The fried dough and apple butter were the very best thing on the line.  I totally killed my diet eating those things. :D

We didn't tell the kids about the indoor water park since campers are second class citizens and we aren't invited to use it.  Did you get photos of it?

 

I agree...even with a full buffet going on Friday night the biscuits were the best things.  And you're right...they are more like fried dough than biscuits. 

 

I do have pics of the water park area I'll post later.  And I know what you mean about them not letting non-hotel guests use it...we got 4 passes with the room.  Being a large family (illegal crammed into one room...don't tell anyone) I asked if we could purchase more.  We could have gotten 1 more, but no more than that.  And none were being sold to outside guests as the hotel was sold out.  It sounded to me like they do sell them outside the hotel during quieter times. 

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Fried biscuits are now on my must try list! 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Well I got in before midnight.  Good so far except reading about really good food at 11:30 pm.

 

I am interested in your experience at the race.  I have recently dropped a small person from my waistline and would like to start doing races like this as well as other things.

 

Dan

 

p.s. by small person I mean 78 lbs.   :jumpforjoy

 

78 pounds?!?!?! That's awesome! Congrats!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Fried biscuits are now on my must try list! 

 

Yes, you really must!

 

78 pounds?!?!?! That's awesome! Congrats!

 

That is awesome.  And I bet he did it without eating a single fried biscuit. 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Dave, that buffet looks awesome!  Although I'd skip the biscuits. 

 

Well I got in before midnight.  Good so far except reading about really good food at 11:30 pm.

 

I am interested in your experience at the race.  I have recently dropped a small person from my waistline and would like to start doing races like this as well as other things.

 

Dan

 

p.s. by small person I mean 78 lbs.   :jumpforjoy

 

Congratulations on your weight loss!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Man, that buffet looks good!

 

As far as I can recall, I've never had a fried biscuit.  In fact, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I've ever heard of a fried biscuit.

 

And I've never seen soap with a hole in it like that.

 

This is some kind of progressive place you are visiting.

 

TCD

[Grumpy and Grandma 739]

Fried biscuits are now on my must try list!

http://www.food.com/recipe/the-nashville-house-fried-biscuits-360001

[DaveInTN 3,247]

On Saturday morning, INC's race didn't start until 9am....kinda late for a race but they were staggering the start times of the various races that day, with the 50 mile, 50k, and full marathon starting earlier.  That meant we didn't have to rise before the crack of dawn.  But we were up early nonetheless.  INC didn't sleep well that night, and I never sleep well in hotels, so around 5:30 I headed downstairs to the coffee station to get some brew.  Coffee was free, but was similar to Nescafe.  Douwe Egberts, I think.  It was fine.  The machine looked like this.

 

 

We left the room around 7:30, leaving all the kids to sleep and relax while I took INC to the spot where the races start...Mike's Dance Barn. 

 

 

I think this place used to be a ski resort, as there are old ski slopes back behind the place. 

 

Those ski slopes will become important in a bit. 

 

The check in area was still kinda slow.  Nothing like the zoo at most street race check ins. 

 

 

We met up with some of the group that INC runs with and I took a group pic.

 

 

As I mentioned, INC's race began at 9 am.  Race times for trail half marathons, in particular those on difficult terrain like Gnaw Bone, tend to be quite a bit longer than road halfs.  And just how difficult is the Gnaw Bone course?  Well, I thought it would be interesting to compare this course to the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville.  When I ran that race, I had heard runners say it was a moderately difficult course due to the terrain of Nashville, which is quite hilly. 

 

Here is the course elevation for the Nashville race.

 

 

You'll notice that the terrain of the Nashville course ranges between 400 and 600 feet above sea level, with the biggest climb between mile 2 and 3, around 120 feet or so. 

 

Here is the course elevation of the Gnaw Bone half marathon.

 

 

At the beginning of the race, you ascend an old ski slope that is made up of ankle deep mud.  The change in elevation in the first mile is around 600 feet.  And at the end of the race, you have to descend another ski slope that is completely muddy...and difficult to navigate without wiping out.  And throughout the race there are streams to cross...one of them thigh high. 

 

Did INC successfully complete the race?  Did she do so without wiping out?  Did she enjoy it?   

 

You'll have to wait for a later update to find out....as now it's time for me to head back to the Abe Martin Lodge for breakfast.

 

I drove back to the inn and the girls were all dressed and ready to eat.  We headed back to the Little Gem Restaurant to check out their breakfast offerings.  Just like with dinner, they offered both a buffet and a menu.  Since most items on the menu were in the $7-8 range, and the buffet was $8.99 for adults and $5 for kids, we all did the buffet. 

 

Somehow I ended up with no pics of breakfast.  Chalk it up to being solely responsible for 5 kids I guess.  They again had the fried biscuits, which Gwen realized tasted really good dipped in maple syrup.  Similar to a french toast stick.  The waitress said she'd never seen anyone in her life eat them that way.  Guess she hadn't met my family before.  It seemed only natural to us. 

 

I again ate too much.  They had all the usual breakfast foods.  And I tried most of them.  But could have made a meal of those darn biscuits. 

 

After eating, we wandered around the inn for a bit.  We didn't need to get back to the Dance Barn for INC's finish until at least noon, so we had time to kill.  The water park opened at 10am, and so we slowly made our way back to the room for the girls to change. 

 

For anyone curious about what a state park inn water park looks like....here you go.

 

 

 

They crammed quite a bit into a fairly small space.  On the left was a sports area with volleyball and basketball.  In the middle a splash zone with beach entry.  To the right was a lazy river area with noodles to hang onto.  It was too small for tubes, but my girls really enjoyed it.  In the back is the slide, and off in the corner a hot tub. 

 

My impressions are they did a nice job, and it's much nicer than I would expect in a state park inn.  However, this inn is much more expensive than most state park inns I've ever seen.  I guess you get what you pay for.  On this weekend the inn was sold out, and the water park was quite busy most times, although I took these pics when it had just opened and was still pretty empty.  

 

The girls enjoyed themselves.

 

 

 

 

While the older girls were swimming, Anna and I took a walk around the grounds.  I had wanted to find out exactly who this Abe Martin character was .  And as it turns out...he WAS a character, literally.  Abe Martin wasn't a real person, but a cartoon character popular in the early 1900's, who resided in Brown County and dispensed homespun wisdom...or something to that effect. 

 

http://www.browncountystatepark.com/abemartin.html

 

 

Here's a statue of Abe Martin carved from wood that is in the lobby of the inn.  Tell me this wouldn't give you nightmares.

 

 

Also displayed in the lobby are some animal pelts, like this brown bear.

 

 

And there is a gift shop in the lobby too. 

 

 

I have no idea who Mrs. Fern Moots is, but she runs a rather fine little shop.  She sure did suck in a couple of my kids, who proceeded to drain some of Dad's wallet to buy bracelets and suckers.  I'm thinking old Fern used to work in a Disney gift shop.  She's good.  And she stocks a variety of items....such as miners hats.

 

 

No, I did not buy Anna the hat.

 

Old Abe Martin isn't the only thing in the hotel causing nightmares. 

 

 

What the Fort?!?

 

Anna and I walked around outside for a bit.  Here's a view from outside the lobby looking toward the wing where our room was.

 

 

They also have two types of cabins at the inn you can rent.  They have some family cabins which look very nice on the website, and they also have rustic cabins, like these here.

 

 

One of the people from INC's group stayed in a rustic cabin, and I guess they leave a bit to be desired.  He said there was a spider on the bed that was so big he could have snuggled with it. 

 

I don't think we'll be staying in those cabins. 

 

The canopy over the lobby doors was a haven for birds.  REALLY loud birds.  Like these.

 

 

 

 

We headed back inside to get the girls out of the water.  It was almost time to change and head back to the Dance Barn.  And I had one thing I wanted to check out on the way, that might cause a bit of trouble for the DIT Big Van.  Coming up....

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Dave, that buffet looks awesome!  Although I'd skip the biscuits. 

 

 

Biscuits fried and coated with sugar?  Those things are low carb!

 

 

Man, that buffet looks good!

 

As far as I can recall, I've never had a fried biscuit.  In fact, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I've ever heard of a fried biscuit.

 

And I've never seen soap with a hole in it like that.

 

This is some kind of progressive place you are visiting.

 

TCD

 

Progressive?  Yeah, we'll go with that. 

 

http://www.food.com/recipe/the-nashville-house-fried-biscuits-360001

 

I did NOT need a recipe for those things. 

 

But thank you.  :) 

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I'm thinking I could do a short cut and just cut some refrigerated biscuit dough and fry it up. 

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

Wow the race course looks like it was designed by Attila the Hun.   I'm praying for INC after seeing your graph.  The food looks great and I too have never heard of fried biscuits.  Old Abe's place seems very interesting...  I did not expect the indoor water park, and huge guest store.   The only proof I have that the owners are not Disney is the buffet prices...