Great Smokey Mountains (Knoxville, TN)

Cable's Grist Mill

We spent an afternoon at the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  It was beautiful, but not very relaxing.  We made the mistake of going on a Saturday afternoon and it was very…..very…very busy! Since we were starting late, we had to decide which of the loops we wanted to see.  We picked Cades Cove because we would be able to see an original community from the 1800’s.  The best part was the freedom to walk around and explore the nooks and crannies of the homesteads.  

Some of the barns looked almost top heavy with small first floors and wide second floors.  We were able to explore through the old cabins which seemed dark and very sparse.  

LeQuire Cantilever Barn

We found one of the first Spring Houses in the area to be very interesting.  The family stored butter and other items that needed to stay cool.

Spring House

Sandy had wanted to visit Gatlinburg’s 8 miles of Arts and Crafts.  You guessed right.  There’s a quilt shop there.  We started getting into heavy traffic in Sevierville.  Crawled through Pigeon Forge, and came to a complete stop on Gatlinburg’s main street.  We stopped for a quick lunch and decided we better visit the national park first.  By the time we finished, it was after 6 pm.  By that time we were tired of the traffic jams and the heat had worn us out.

Our Webshots Album: Great Smokey Mountains

Three Halves Make a Whole?

After a long travel day and not much food left in the RV, we decided to stop at a fast BBQ place for a take-out chicken dinner.  We order a whole chicken thinking this could last us for a couple of meals.  One of the workers came up and said they did not have any whole chickens.  “Would we mind three-halves of a chicken to make up for the whole?”  A little surprised, we said sure.  While waiting on our order, our discussion of course was how does 3/2 make a whole?  Most halves are one of each breast, wing, thigh, and a leg, right?  So, how were they cutting up their chicken?  We had to wait until we got home to find out.  Well, it turns out we ended up with one and a half chickens.  All we can figure out is either this one person needs to go back to school or this BBQ place does it by weight. 

All in all the meal was good and the price was even better!  

Shenandoah National Park

Fawns with Mama enjoying our site

We stayed in Loft Mountain Campground inside Shenandoah (webshots photo album link) National Park.  Sandy says she feels like we were on top of the world.  The campground sites were nice and private.  The parking of a large RV is a little tricky on the curved sites, but the spaces were large and surrounded by trees and bushes.  We watched birds, deer, and rabbits.  No black bears.   They must have heard we were in the area with our cameras.

Our first time on Skyline Drive

All the scenic views have been spectacular.  Driving 25 miles on Skyline Drive to the campground felt more like 40 miles because of the 35 mph speed limit.  Sandy wasn't so sure about this drive in the motorhome since she had read a description saying the drive wound around on top of the ridge of the mountains.  But it wasn't that bad.  Most of the time it was a tree lined narrow road with wide and very spacious overlook areas for pulling over.  We could fit our motorhome towing the car with plenty of space for many more cars.

We got a little relief from the hot weather.  We had just settled into our new home when the heavy rains came through.  The rain lasted a little over an hour, but it certainly made a difference in the temperature.  It was so nice to be able to sleep with the windows open at night.

Doyles Fall Trail

For our first full day in the park, we did a 3.5 mile hike on Doyles Fall Trail that was described as “moderate”.   It turned out to be a little more difficult for us since we are no longer use to higher altitude or steep climbs.  Yep our bodies were telling us “Time to get back into shape!”

Virginia Quilt Museum

We were tired the next day so we decided to drive to Harrisonburg.  Sandy wanted to visit the Virginia Quilt Museum while Dan spent time exploring the historic downtown area.  Sandy has a separate blog for her quilt adventures.  You can click on the link to her QuiltinCats Blog in the right column.

We ate lunch at a very unusual coffee house called The Artful Dodger.   The inside was eclectic decorated with local artists’ works along with household items that we recognized from our youth.  There was a large collection of retro wall clocks, old lamps, and other memorabilia from the 70s-80s time frames.  Oh, and the food was good too!

Our next hike was a little over 4 miles on Rose River Falls.  Two friendly Rangers advised us that the trail was an easier walk than Doyles and better because it followed the cascading river.   We did not feel as wimpy on this trail.

Wildflowers along Skyline Drive

We moved to a campground outside of Lynchburg, VA on Tuesday.  We will probably keep this stop short.  Dan is already plotting out our next moves towards the west.

4th of July in Charleston, SC

Sights of Savannah - Hanging Chair

We did not plan to stay at Holbrook Pond so long, but between the 4th of July weekend being booked at several campgrounds and Sandy trying to arrange meeting with a couple of friends – well let’s just say it was a little longer than we planned. We moved on our 36th wedding anniversary to Foster Creek Naval Station near Charleston SC on 30 June.  We plan on a one week stay.

Savannah

We found Savannah to be very friendly as well as beautiful. We spent one hot day in downtown Savannah enjoying the sights, the people, and of course, the food. We started our walk along the river front on a very old cobblestone road. After visiting the City Market area, we found out that Savannah has free public transportation and decided to ride to our lunch destination. Not only is transportation free, they offer information about the city and talk about the areas you are passing. We had a delicious lunch at The Distillery an old prohibition bar on Liberty Street. We had plans to go back to Savannah but unexpected circumstances took up our time, so maybe someday we will visit again.

Midway Church

We spent one afternoon driving along Historic Liberty Trail.  We stopped to see the Midway Church and the cemetery across the street. There is a bulletin board with stories about the occupants. One was about a young indecisive lawyer in love with two women. His decision was to take his life instead of deciding which lady to marry. Because of the suicide, he was buried outside the original cemetery’s fence line. Later the cemetery was expanded to include the lawyer’s grave and ever since then a large oak tree has been trying to push the lawyer back to the fence. That was just one of the many interesting stories. We were able to take photos of two more stories. They are posted in our Webshots album.

During our down time, Dan replaced our old bathroom sink’s faucet. The darn thing was leaking every time we used it. The new faucet looks so much better!

ScarFace

We also befriended two campground tomcats. They looked like they might be brothers. One had a lot of battle scars and a nicked ear. Dan named him Scarface. The other one had one heck of a loud baritone cry so we called him Luigi. Yep, we were taken in by their lonely cries and their thankful purrs for the food. Dan treated them with tick and flea treatment and brushed them out.  Of course, they moved in under our motorhome so our poor cats could not go out for walks. Thank goodness, neither one showed signs of wanting to move in so we left them behind to the relief of our cats. Before leaving, we talked to the office and found out we were not the first to be taken in by the moochers, but we were the first people the brothers were letting pet them. Yep! We are………the Cat Whisperers! LOL!

While shopping on Ft. Stewart, we noticed a flag decorated tree lined sidewalk. Ft. Stewart has been planting one Eastern Redbud tree as a living tribute for each brave Soldier who paid the ultimate price for our freedom since Iraq Operation Freedom began. There are over 400 trees planted. It was overwhelming to walk among the trees.

On that note, we hope you have a safe and happy 4th of July weekend.

On To Georgia

We are now in Georgia.  Yep, we finally decided it was time to leave Florida and see some more of our beautiful country.  We spent some time at  Eagle Hammock RV Park, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, SE corner of GA.  Wildfire smoke drifting in was getting thick, so we decided to move up the coast.  Our new home for this week is Holbrook Pond Campground,  Fort Stewart, not far from Savannah, GA.    The campground has a small number of spaces, but with large nicely wooded sites.

Castillo de San Marcos

Before we left Jacksonville, we toured around the oldest city, St. Augustine, FL.  We kept our visit short due to smoke and sweltering heat.  We started with a national park tour of a 335 year old Spanish fort called Castillo de San Marcos.  Afterwards, we strolled down the streets of the old town.  We checked out a couple of stores and restaurants along the way.  We could not resist stopping at an Italian Pizza place after seeing the huge pizzas sitting in the window.  When we made our order for one slice each, our server wanted to know if we wanted a second slice.  Hmmm, we looked at the first slice that took up our whole paper plates…..that was a definite “no thank you!”

Bridge of Lions

We finished our walk at the Bridge of Lions which is a Mediterranean-style bascule draw bridge.  This bridge has an interesting story.   At one point, there were plans to demolish the 1927 bridge and replace it with a new contemporary style.  Others wanted the original bridge restored.  Finally, there was a compromise between those wanting to preserve history and safety.  Restoration took around 5 years.  In the meantime, the lions where taken away for safe keeping.  This caused some alarm with locals worrying their Lions were gone for good.  After assuring everyone that they were safe, this website did a “Where are the Lions?”  People could send in sightings of the Lions around the world.  Check out their fun website:  The Bridge of Lions.  

Photo Album

Sandy decided to open a small Quilt Shop on Etsy.com.  She is hoping people will check out her whimsical quilts and spread the word that she is open for business!