Asheville, NC

We started at the Blue Ridge Parkway Folk Art Center. The Southern Highland Art Guild has several locations. The center we were at is the largest and definitely worth the trip. The work we saw was fantastic! We were drawn first to the glass (stained, blown and fused) and the quilts. Then we saw the wood carvings and all the metal work and jewelry and weaving and.... (click on the online store and you'll get an idea). Outside the building a man was showing how to make an iron rose. AAA recommended at least 30 min., if you go there plan longer than that.

We had lunch at another brewery, Jack of the Wood. The beer is called Green man beer. We asked about the name, Jack of the Wood, and were told it's another name for Green man, and an ancient Celtic symbol meaning 'linked to nature'. The website gives another link for more information about 'green man'. Again good food and good beer. This time my web searches for breweries brought me to an article for a Pub crawl- for new comers and visitors to know where to get good beer:) It certainly made it easier to decide where to go.

We've had a great time 'Looking for Spring' but we're heading home tomorrow.

Chimney Rock, NC

The thundershowers early today left fog so we're glad we did our mountain sightseeing yesterday.

Friday we went to Chimney Rock Park. The road to the park was another road made for the 'zoom zoom' commercial. The views from the top (almost the top) were fantastic.

We spent some time in the village of Chimney Rock. There were lots of shops with all kinds of things and a river walk that was right on the edge of the water. The water was low and so we could walk over the little bridge and onto the boulders.

The road down was fun in the Miata (one car pulled over to let Bob go by). Watching the road on the GPS was a series of squiggles.

On our way back to the campground in Swannanoa, NC we went to the Asheville Pizza and Brewery. It's in an old movie theatre, there's a small bar and tables, a game room, a small movie theatre and the brewery. Good food, good beer (said Bob) and a definitely interesting place.

Flowers

After an overwhelming day of history we headed northeast and went to Athens, GA. We visited the state botanical gardens. Spring was definitely there! They are moving plants and designing some beautiful new gardens. There was a herb garden bigger than our back yard! We spent over an hour wandering and enjoying spring!
As we left we saw a beautiful blown glass orchid. It was a very peaceful place.

Lots of History

We had a couple very busy days.
First the history:
We started at Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site. They went back to the very beginning when man crossed over the Bering Strait and worked their way down to what became the US. Then they talked about the Mississippian culture- the people who settled along the Mississippi- and spread from there. While only part of the site has been excavated it shows a great deal. (Lots of history I don't remember ever learning) All of this was before the Indians I knew.
Next we bounced ahead in time to the Cherokee. Many of them lived in the land that became Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. We went to 2 sites in Cherokee history. The New Echota site was too large to see in just a couple hours but here's some of what we learned. The Cherokee established a capital at New Echota and a system of government very similar to ours. Sequoyah devised a written 'alphabet' of their spoken language. It was at New Echota that a printing press was made that printed a newspaper in both Cherokee and English. The recreated village looks like any village of that time (and the homes were a lot nicer than the ones we saw in the Smoky Mountains).
We also went to the home of "Major Ridge". I'll quote the paper we were given- 'seeing the changing times, he began to live in two worlds and succeed in both.' He was a very successful and important man.
But the finding of gold in Georgia was the final 'straw' that resulted in the State of Georgia taking the land.
Bob and I said he was the person between a rock and a hard place- as chief, no matter what he did he would be wrong- in supporting the "Treaty of New Echota" he angered many of his tribe and without the treaty the Indians would have nothing.
It was a sad and difficult time.

How many does it take to change the tire on the Miata?

When we left the parking garage after lunch we found the flat. After AAA changed the tire (donut) they took us to a tire store.
Of course they didn't have the size we needed but sent us to Sears.
(This is about 6:00 the Saturday before Easter). We finally found the Sears and they were extremely helpful- they didn't have the right size (thought they did but -no). The Sears Essentials guy called the Big Sears and made them check that they really did have the tires the computer said. He made sure we knew how to get there and then apologized for not having the right tires. We found the mall and the Sears. They had the tires. After fixing the tires (both front were still the originals) as we were leaving the guy asked how we liked Big River- he saw the grolier in the trunk- and said it's his favorite.
While it took about 4 hours total we were helped by several very nice people. The tire didn't blow when we were towing the car. And while waiting for AAA I got to See the Chatanooga Choo Choo.

Railroads

Today we went to the Tennessee Valley Railroad and rode the Missionary Ridge Local. It was fun and brought back memories for Bob. He remembers going to his grandmother's as a kid and watching the trains. Before they demonstrated how the roundhouse worked Bob was describing the one at home (I remember the building- near the doctor's office ). The train also went through a tunnel that dates back to before the Civil War. It is truly amazing to understand that everything is done solely by volunteer work.

After that we went downtown and walked along their River Walk.
We also saw the beginning of the 'Trail of Tears' . More about that later but they do have a tribute in the Riverfront Area.

We then went to the Big River Brewery for lunch.

A great day so far.

Rock City

Rock City Gardens are on top of Lookout Mountain. To get there we drove from Georgia to Tennessee back to Georgia half way up the mountain.
We weren't sure what to expect but it was really interesting/beautiful. To paraphrase the brochure: The Carters owned this very large estate and made paths and planted flowers throughout the rocks. The Depression hit and they opened it to the public advertising everywhere 'See Rock City'.
The paths through the existing rocks were amazing. They do have lots of opportunities to spend money but we managed to see it all without spending extra.
We fit through the tight squeezes and I walked the 'swing along bridge'
and we could see to all 7 states I'm sure it was such a beautiful day.
Apparently the Caters did well when they opened it to the public because Mrs. Carter commissioned a sculptor (Jessie Schmidt) to make 'Mother Goose Village'- (see picture above) I don't think there was a fairy tale not represented.
It was a really neat place to visit for children and adults.

Smoky Bear Campground

This campground is the friendliest we've ever been at. The hosts, Barry and Chong O'Leary are extremely helpful. Barry came over after we got set up and made sure everything was ok. The next day we stopped in the office before we went anywhere. Chong asked what our plans were and she had us wait a minute while she printed out some information. We wanted to go to the Smoky Mountains so she got out a map and they both showed us roads and trails with some advice about the difficulty and or time required. One afternoon Barry came over with a stack of CD's. He'd heard us playing some Irish music and wondered if we'd heard those. He also told us about the Irish/ Scottish history of the area.
The campground is very nice and all the staff are very helpful and friendly.
We'll be sure to stay here again (there's lots we haven't seen yet).

Wind, Rain, tourists

Last night was extremely windy. The camper was kinda shaky. At midnight we got new neighbors- a big camper, the wind was blowing and they left about 12:30 (we think to a lower campsite). At 4:30 am the cooker blew over- Bob went out and picked up the pieces. We also lost our dishpan. (guess we'll have to use paper plates)
The rain started about 9 am.

We went into Gatlinburg to be tourists. We had driven through a few times but hadn't walked around. Parking is at a minimum (and can be rather expensive) I wanted to go to the Easter Craft Fair at the Convention Center. We found a parking lot near there, and there were places left. There is a school of Arts and Crafts and an 8 mile drive of crafters .
We saw lots of nice things, got some ideas, and made a couple purchases (limited by the fact everything had to fit in the Miata). We then walked -about 10 minutes-(didn't dare give up our parking space) in the rain to the Smoky Mountain Brewery. There were free parking places in front of the brewery. We dried out, watched the rain, had a couple drinks and a nice meal. It finally stopped raining so we walked back to the car and drove back to the campground.

It's raining again now and we're under a tornado watch until 9pm. I think the line of thunderstorms is now about gone and north of here. Rain is desperately needed but we'd just as soon skip another windy night.

More Smoky Mountains

Today we went to Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountain National Forest.
The drive there was as beautiful as yesterday's drive (but 2 lane and a little wider). I think we both got some sun/wind burn today.

The Cove is a valley that was inhabited by pioneers and has been preserved to look like it did in the 1800's. It's a one way, 11 mile drive. Today there were lots of cars with us and we were all slowed down by kids or kids and parents on bikes. (I think we're cursed- we seem to, even now, find kids on vacation - spring break here; almost everywhere we go.) With stops the drive was about 2 hours- the only wildlife we saw were some deer- too many kids running in all the rest of the fields.

We decided to stay here one more day before continuing our Spring Loop. There's lots to see and we've only done the nature/history part.

Tomorrow the Easter Craft Show starts- guess where we'll be?

Smoky Mountains part 1

Our hosts, Barry and Chong O'Leary, gave us some great information about the area.

We followed their advice and for a starter did the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.
I wish I could download all my pictures. It was breath-taking- sometimes literally.
We fit around the curves in Bob's car but I wouldn't have wanted to be in any of the SUV's we saw on some of the curves. I was ok on the way up (I was hillside) but at one point on the way down Bob looked over at me and asked if I wanted to drive so I'd be safer. I really would have lost it if we'd been any closer to the side (no guard rails even). It was a fun drive with the top down and all the trees and cliffs and even some flowers.
In addition to all the beautiful scenery there are historic buildings. They've preserved some of the farms and buildings from the late 1800's early 1900's to show how people lived in the mountains. We stopped at one of the houses (10 people in 2 rooms). The lady in the car we parked next to asked Bob if she could ask him a question- "Is that (tow stuff on the front of the car) so you can hook up a plow? I know you do things differently up there in New York."
Bob was very polite and explained no it was to tow the car behind our RV and besides his car can't be driven in the winter at home. (The license plate was Alabama)
Tomorrow we're going to do the drive to Cades Cove.
Now I think we'll do a little St. Patrick's Day celebrating :)

There's daffodils!!

Bob is a much happier camper when he only drives 3-5 hours. Everything seems so much easier and quicker to set up when it all works on the first try.

We’re in Gatlinburg ,TN at the Smoky Bear Campground. We followed the directions from the website and email. The drive in Pennsylvania was practice for Rt,321 – it was a little better – no hills with stop signs at the bottom. After our short exploring in Bob’s car we understood why the directions to the campground took Rt. 321 curvy as it is.

Driving around Hilton Head was practice for driving around Gatlinburg (and we haven’t even tried Pigeon Forge). Tomorrow we’ll try parking and walking.

We watched the sunset and can see mountains from the camper. I like it here.

Getting Closer to Spring

West Virginia is a beautiful state to drive through.
We also drove through two tunnels. I don't know which I disliked more the tunnels or the high bridges over the river a million miles down with little tiny guard rails protecting us from falling.
We got here (Fort Criswell, VA) safely.
All the things that didn't work yesterday are fine today.
There aren't any flowers yet but the only snow we saw was at a ski slope on the side of the mountain.
Tomorrow we'll get closer to spring.

Looking For Spring

Looking For Spring
part 1

Let’s start with the good stuff:

We arrived Thursday afternoon and Anna and Dave moved vehicles and made room for us to park. We fit in the back of the parking lot even with Bob’s car attached.
We played lots with our granddaughter and had a very enjoyable afternoon and evening. Friday morning we made coffee in the RV and waved to the drivers going to work. Dave, Anna and Lucy brought breakfast out and Kim (Dave’s cousin) came in for some coffee. Later we joined more of the family for breakfast at ‘the diner’. Then everyone got out of our way and we took off.

We followed NYS 90 to the western edge of NY state (I’d never been there- Lake Erie looked very frozen). But I was surprised at all the vineyards. Soon after we took 79 South through PA and had our shortest trip ever through Pennsylvania. About Pittsburg we finally ran out of snow. We got about half way through W.V. before stopping for the night.

The real story- I planned very carefully and found three campgrounds that were (supposed to be) opened year round- two in PA and one in Morgantown, WV. The first we weren’t ready for and it really didn’t look open. The campground in Mt Morris PA was the one planned on (and had directions for). Both AAA and the GPS agreed on which way to go- it was not a road designed for a camper towing a car. The stop sign at the bottom of the hill and sharp left turn that had something major scraping the road was extremely frustrating and it got worse-when we got to the address for the campground- it wasn’t a campground. No choice but to continue on- eventually we did get to what looked like the campground (it was labeled a trailer park with a small sign for camping)– but it didn’t look open (did I say I called to be sure they had room for us and got a machine?). So now we’re at my last option- I called and same story another machine. So at this point we’re frantically looking through the camping books and while they were lots of campgrounds in northern WV, none of them open until mid April at the earliest. So we got back on 79 headed for choice number 3- but there was a welcome center-we figured we’d get lots of information- It was closed- we could get a map but none of the pamphlets that listed all the campgrounds etc. The Trailer Life (big) book had a campground that was near the highway, open all year- sounded great, it was after my planned 1st tourist stop but …, and they even answered the phone and were open. So we’re at Flatwoods, Sutton, WV. (Did I mention the rain and fog?- that added to the drive). As we got to the campground we hit one more bump and sharp turn and the cupboard opened and the jars of sauce fell out and smashed. So Bob cleaned while I went into the hotel to register for the campground. But the fun wasn’t done yet- the sites not level so we can’t open the slides. Apparently all the bumps dislodged something and we only had power on one side of the camper. So Bob went back out in the rain and eventually (several trips in and out and double checking the manual) he got things working right again.
I can’t wait to see what’s next. I think tomorrow will be a short drive.