Patio Lantern Tour

Wednesday, May 29, 2019 After a quiet evening enjoying the fireflies in David Crockett State Park, we returned to the Trace and continued southward.   When we were cycling the West Coast, we were often referred to as ‘the older Canadian couple that stop at all the pull offs.’   Well, today we continued to keep our reputation intact.   We stopped at every interpretive board and enjoyed some short hikes to see historical sites.   Progress was slow, but that is what this trip is supposed to be about. We are surprised by the lack of people (not complaining mind you) driving the Trace.   We are obviously here before the crowds.   The Trace is the most visited National Park in the US.   (But I do believe that the Blue Ridge Parkway made the same claim!)   It is strange to have only a few cars and some cyclists to contend with.   This is a major cycling destination.   To encourage cycling they have put in some bicycle only campgrounds.   We saw 3 groups of tour cyclists today as wel

Tuesday, May 28, 2019 We are in a new time zone so everyone can guess what that means…it gets light at 5:00 so I was up shortly after…much to my better half’s chagrin!   The plan was to go see two waterfalls before leaving the park and before it got busy.   You know, at 7:30 no-one was there to bother us, and we had the 256-foot falls all to ourselves.   The Fall Creek Falls advertises itself as the highest falls east of the Rockies.   We could barely see the bottom of the gorge that the water plunged into.   Sue was a happy camper despite getting up way too early. The rest of the day was spent getting our selves to Nashville…no not to go to The Grand Ole Opry…but to get onto the Natchez Trace.   The Natchez Trace Parkway is part of the National Park system.   It spans 444 miles passing through 3 states.   It was established in 1938 and was finally completed in 2005.   Only the government could take so long to complete a project! The ‘Trace’, as it is referred to, starts

We were up and at it this morning by 5:30 am…or maybe I should say that ‘I’ was up.   We wanted to beat the mass exodus from the KOA and from the Cherokee area.   We succeeded to a point.   Highway 441 was busy but nothing like it probably would have been later in the day.   Today was to be a day of driving and that is pretty much what it turned out to be. We climbed for about 16 miles up through Great Smokey Mountain National Park to Newfound Gap.   We then descended for 16 miles where we were spit out into the city of Pigeon Forge.   What an experience this town was.   It is ‘theme park’ personified.   The entertainment ‘strip’ was at least 5 miles long.   It was non-stop ‘tacky’ entertainment from rides of all kinds, to cheap retail shops, to hotels and motels, to fast food places.   It made the strip in Niagara Falls seem small and ‘cultured’.   I realize that growing up close to a summer resort town has tainted my view of these places but this one was on a scale like we have

Our plan to beat the crowds worked today…sort of!   We left the campground early this morning, but it took us a long time to find the part of the Great Smokey National Park that we wanted to hike in.   The signage was less than impressive and at one point we were following a stream on a single lane gravel track.   Eventually we found the trail head parking and grabbed the last parking spot.   It appeared that lots of other people had the same plan as us to beat the crowds. Our efforts were rewarded, however.   A reasonably strenuous hike led us past 3 separate waterfalls.   The trail had taken us over 2 miles to the third falls and then decided to drop us down the side of the mountain back to the parking lot in about half a mile.   Hopefully the pictures will do justice to the beauty of the waterfalls. At the main entrance to the park on Highway 441 we visited a farming museum.   It had original log buildings that would have made up many of the mountain farms in the late 1800

Staying at KOA’s can be a challenge for me.   There are too many campers (using the term loosely) in too small a space and we will not even mention the number of kids running around or the idiot with the large 5 th wheel across the street.    It makes me feel claustrophobic.   However, we will leave the KAO rant for another day. It is unfortunate that we are in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park on the long weekend.   We suspect that it would not have mattered where we were this weekend, it was going to be a zoo.   We know that this is only the beginning of dealing with ‘Too Many People’.   We drove about 20 miles up Highway 441 to another park road which we took 7 miles up, up, and further up only to be met by wall to wall cars and people.   Cars were double parked and triple parked, and cars were circling.   We will not mention the idiot drivers that wanted to drive on their side of the road and ours too. We were able to find some hikes and places to see that were ‘l

Today we completed our amazing journey down the Blue Ridge Parkway.   It winds itself through 469 miles of mountains and meadows.   It connects Shenandoah National Park (Skyline Drive) with the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. The Parkway was constructed as a depression era work project for unemployed men.   It was also intended to help drive economic activity in the small communities along its route.   Thousands of men lived in work camps for no wages but a roof over their head and 3 square meals a day.   They were referred to as the Civilian Conservation Corps.   These men put the finishing touches on the roadsides and built the park information buildings.   The road base construction work was done by road building companies.   They were forced to hire a certain amount of local men.   However, I am sure these companies managed to ‘fleece’ the government just like they do today. When we first read about the designers and their visions for what the Parkway was to be, we

Today we visited Biltmore House, George and Edith Vanderbilt’s country estate.   In 1895 the house was officially completed after 6 years of construction. (And the parties began…More later!)   The house has 250 rooms and 43 bathrooms. (Now remember most houses in the US, at this time, did not have even one bathroom!)   It had both a bowling alley and a swimming pool in the basement.   It is surrounded by gardens that are a match to anything the royal palaces in England have. Whenever I visit a place like this, I am always struck by the way wealth was flaunted.   This era is referred to as the Gilded Age.   I am always wondering where the money came from and what these people did to be able to afford to build and live in such opulence.   Here is a brief history of the Vanderbilt family.   George’s grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt, made his fortune in the shipping business starting with a ferry to Staten Island and turning that into a shipping business operating over 100 steamship

Each morning it has been a bit of a challenge to find our way back onto the Blue Ridge Parkway.   We have read that the designers tried to make sure that it blended in with as little disturbance to the ‘ambiance’ of the area as possible.   Therefore, the limited signage that I had mentioned in an earlier blog.   However, we have found that the signage to get back onto the Parkway is even worse.   Signs that might read “Next Right” could mean 2 or 3 blocks away.   We have been forced to make numerous U-turns, not the easiest thing even with our little trailer. Today we experienced fog for the first time up in the mountains.   The overlooks were not very impressive despite the elevation being higher than we had experienced so far on this trip.   We made it to over 5000 feet today.   The driving remained challenging with numerous tunnels and switchbacks.   But it was fun! Our first stop of the day was at Moses Cone Memorial Park.   Moses Cone became wealthy producing high qualit

At 4000 feet elevation it is amazing how the temperatures fluctuate from daytime to nighttime.   Yesterday it hit 29 degrees and last night it dropped to about 10 degrees.   We are told that this is typical for this time of year. Today we did nothing…well maybe that is not exactly true.   We spent 2 hours this morning doing laundry, answering emails and paying bills.   It is funny how those darn things do not go away even though we are over 1500 km from home. One of the strangest things we have found on this trip is the piece of art located in front of the KOA Office.   It is a dinosaur (we think) made up of all sorts of metal objects welded together.   Just a few we could make out were, vice grips, wrenches, flywheels, bearings, hinges, springs, shovels, pulleys, cogs, chain hooks, chain links, locks, and hundreds of other unidentifiable pieces of scrap metal.   At first glance you think, “how weird” and then upon further observation you realize what an amazing piece of art

Oh for a shower!   After 2 nights camping without services, last evening’s campground with services was welcome as anyone within 15 feet of us would probably have attested to.   (I am sure that kind of information is a highlight of the blog!) After getting a little bit turned around this morning and having trouble finding our way onto the Parkway (we actually ended up on a bloody expressway…it seems Sue’s map reading skills abandoned her this morning), we stopped and wandered around the Mabry Mill.   This grist mill was built over a hundred years ago and during the summer grinds corn meal for demonstration purposes.   The Mabry’s also ran a sawmill, a wheelwright shop and a blacksmith shop.   It was nice to see a little bit of agricultural history, though we have to admit, where corn or anything else was grown in the hills around there is beyond our comprehension. Or next stop was the Blue Ridge Music Center.   This area of Virginia has a rich history of mountain folk music a

Sunday, May 19, 2019 A hot evening was followed by a warm night.   Today it hit 31 degrees.   We were expecting some warm temperatures on this adventure but not in the mountains this early.   We can only imagine what is in store for us in the future. In Sue’s research last evening, she realized that there was a possibility of seeing another waterfall today.   It would only be a short hike and then we could continue on our ‘merry way’.    It would only be a 1.3 mile hike.   We kind of overlooked the fact that it was 2000 feet down and that it was rated as strenuous.   To add insult to injury, it was 1.3 miles back as well.   It is a good thing that it was a picturesque waterfall.   And did I mention it was hot today? After recovering from our hike, we continued along the Blue Ridge Parkway, weaving our way around 100’s of bicyclists that were participating in a race.   It made an already tough road to navigate even more difficult.   However, our challenge paled in comparis

Saturday, May 18, 2019 What a difference two days can make.   Two mornings ago, we sat and had our porridge and coffee with toques and gloves on as the temperature hovered just above freezing.   This morning we sat with shorts and t-shirts enjoying the same.   The temperature hit 33 today. We visited Lynchburg today, a city that in its’ prime was made wealthy due to its’ proximity to tobacco plantations.   In the late 1700’s and well into the 1800’s, it had the 2 nd highest per  capita wealth in all of the US..  Thomas Jefferson, among many others, had several plantations in the area.   Lynchburg is located on the James River.   This river was one of the leading east-west trading routes of that era.   Many (hundreds) of the old houses/estates have meticulously been restored to their pre-Civil War glory.   It is apparent that the city still has a fair share of wealth! Today was a day to learn a little bit about the Civil War, of course from the point of view of the Confe

Friday, May 17, 2019 Last evening was the first time on this adventure that we were able to comfortably sit outside.   We actually stayed awake until after dark. After a leisurely pack up this morning, we were headed down the road by shortly after 8:00.   I am not so sure that Sue saw it as ‘leisurely’.   Once again, we tackled the hills and curves of the the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park.   This is truly one of the most challenging drives that we have ever faced, definitely a rival for our experiences in Australia.   We stopped for a one-mile hike before leaving the park.   (Imagine it had the nerve to rain for the whole 30-minute hike…the only rain of the day.) We have now arrived at our original destination, the Blue Ridge Parkway.   It is another challenging driving experience, a motorcyclist’s dream.   It is narrow, hilly, full of curves, and completely void of signs warning of an upcoming sharper curve.   The lack of signs, we are told, is so that t

After a rather chilly night in the trailer (single digit again), the sun, yes, I said ‘the sun’, greeted us this morning.   We made a quick trip out of the park for fuel for the truck (a story for another time).   We then headed for the trail head for the first of 2 hikes we had planned for the day.   After all, the 2 nd (maybe the 1 st ) major reason for this adventure is to take on as many hiking trails as we can.   Today was a good start. We hiked Stony Man Trail, a 1.6-mile hike to a lookout.   The view at the lookout is like no other that we have ever seen.   It was about a 300-degree panoramic view of the valley below.   It was a bit hazy so as per usual the photos did not do it justice.   Trail number 2 was the Rose River (using the word river loosely) Loop.   It was quite a bit more challenging with over 900 feet of elevation gain and 4 miles to do it in.   At the bottom we were rewarded with a 70-foot waterfall (Sue was happy) and again after climbing for about 1 ½

And on the 4 th day the sun shone!   The temperatures rose to 22 degrees.   It was a gorgeous day made even better by the spectacular scenery…but I get ahead of myself. We had a leisurely pack up this morning in the sunshine and it appeared we were destined to have an early departure.   It was not to be.   A Park Ranger came along and realized that we were from Ontario and started up a conversation.   We learned lots about the local area and about Pennsylvania.   It is always nice to talk to the locals. Sue had another two lane highway day planned so the pace was ‘slow’ once again.   We traveled south through a series of valleys dominated by prosperous Mennonite farms.   Every square inch of the valleys is farmed.   I think this is the only way that the state has any agriculture because this State is hilly.   The small towns that we went through had mostly seen their better days.   The Park Ranger had told us that Pennsylvania has never recovered from the closure of the coal

Tuesday, May 14, 2019 We ‘almost’ had the tent trailer taken down this morning before it rained.   Most of the day it rained, sometimes heavily but mostly just a sprinkle.   Three days on the road and three days of rain…just keeping our track record intact. When we were planning our route for this adventure, we set a goal to drive on 2 lane highways and as little as possible on expressways.   We wanted to see the rural areas and small towns of the US that most tourists do not get to see.   Today we accomplished just that.   We traveled on State highways that were narrow, rugged, and most certainly filled with curves and lots of hills.   At times it was ‘white knuckle’ driving as we exited New York State and made our way south across Pennsylvania.   The scenery was spectacular and it was a blast! Our intended destination was Ravensburg State Park but upon arrival realized that it was for tent camping only and we would have been illegal even with our tent trailer.   It also