Tuesday, November 3, 2015

November already!

      It is now November, and we are still on the road, albeit closer to home. We have had an excellent trip since we last checked in.

After getting on the road again after the tire episode, we stopped in Richmond to see Keith Hill. I've know him since Cub Scouts in New Orleans WAY back when. It was a nice, but short visit with him at Panera Bread.  Sarah couldn't make it for breakfast, so it was good we connected with her on Sunday.



Once again, we visited places that were at the end of their season, which is fine with us. Shenandoah National Park:  105 miles of Skyline Drive was beautiful – we hit the leaves at a good time, and not on a weekend when many other visitors would be there. We camped in the cold – 38 degrees in the morning – and finished the drive the next day.


Shenandoah National Park, Virginia


One of the overlooks on Skyline Drive



Autumn in the Appalachian Mountains


After a night in a motel because it was rainy (and cold), we started the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 0 in Virginia. The day was foggy and drizzly, but still nice – meaning not as many people were driving! Not much to see from the overlooks, and we've seen fog before, but the leaves were amazing.




Our campground was almost empty the first night. We walked around Abbott Lake to get to the lodge at Peaks of Otter (milepost 86 if you care), and weren't too impressed with the Lodge, but had a nice walk.  It was another cold night, and LATE sunrise, and a beautiful day. We drove to milepost 235 {half way!] and camped again. Mabry Mill was a place we couldn't pass up. We've been there before, but it is the iconic point of interest on the Parkway. One of the information signs said that other states have used pictures of it on their postcards.


 You can't stop at Mabry Mill without taking a picture!



We continued the next morning for a very interesting day. One cache that we found was at a small building that said “Jail and Wedding Chapel”. The fact that the owners were “The Kissel Clan” made it even more interesting for us. Soon after that fun cache, we found one at a church that is decorated with fantastic frescos – the main one is of the Last Supper. There was a recorded narration of how (and why) it was created, which was quite informational, too.


 Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Glendale Springs, NC

Fresco by artist Ben Long, The Last Supper


 Later in the day, we stopped at the Linn Cove Viaduct – quite an engineering marvel – and drove up to Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi River. It was getting late and we pressed on through the dark to get to a campground that had showers, because, after three days, we needed them!



The view from Mount Mitchell




Saturday, October 31, was day #133 of our travels, and after taking a great sunrise picture before eating breakfast at Mt. Pisgah Lodge, we finished the rest of the Parkway to milepost 469 and entered Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We've been to “the top of old Smokey” before, but there is a geocache there, so off we hiked uphill to the summit of Clingmans Dome in the cold drizzle to see it again. We didn't stay long, though! 


Sunrise from Mount Pisgah Inn

The Devil's Courthouse, Blue Ridge Parkway



The last milepost on the Blue Ridge Parkway - we drove the entire route!

Observation Tower on Clingmans Dome

The view from Clingmans dome, Great Smoky Mountains National Park


I was glad to be wearing my foul weather gear in the windy drizzle up there.



Daylight Saving Time ended, so we were up earlier than usual on Sunday. We drove into Gatlinburg, Tennessee for Mass.  We did a few caches in town and headed west for a campsite at Cades Cove. There is a one-way loop in Cades Cove that we drove. There was bumper-to-bumper traffic in two places that really slowed things down. We found out why: there were bears at the two places. We were able to see them, but couldn't stop for pictures.  We ended our visit at GSMNP with a campfire just before it started to rain again.



Cades Cove



We couldn't have planned our trip any better if we had tried to see leaves near their peak. GSMNP had some spectacular views, too.



Next, we headed toward Atlanta. Daughter Kim went to the aquarium there a few years ago, and highly recommended it, so we had it on our 'to-do' list. The Georgia Aquarium was great, and Kris got to experience the excitement of a school field trip without the responsibility of keeping track of a bunch of kids. There were many school groups there today. The big tank is about the size of a football field and 30 feet deep. It features 4 whale sharks which are the world's largest fish. We enjoyed a fabulous dolphin show, but kept returning to the huge tank to watch the whale sharks.  The ones here are about 15-20 feet long.


Kris pointing at a whale shark
 
huge viewing window at Georgia Aquarium







Seen while geocaching:
the "Pickin' Porch"



another fresco

and another

cave opening, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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