Clingmans Dome

Today was another day in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We began our morning with a drive up to Balsam Mountain and onto an off road trail for some up close views of the scenery and wildlife. We brought Haley along with us and boy did she enjoy herself, riding in the back of the truck howling and carrying on with excitement. Today we saw another black bear this one pretty close. After our morning drive we headed back to the campground for some lunch and a little relaxation and then set off later for a trip up to Clingman's Dome, the highest elevation in the park. We parked and hiked the steep 0.5 mile path up to the observatory on top. When we had left the valley it was about 78 degrees and where we parked at Clingman's Dome it was a chilly 57 degrees and even colder on top of the observatory. The views from up top were pretty breathtaking; you were level with the clouds. We hiked a little ways on the Appalachian trail and then headed back down to the truck. On our drive out of the park saw two more elk, this time they were so close we could have petted the bull, as he almost stuck his head in the window.

In the Smokies

Today we ventured into the park, packing a picnic lunch and preparing for a full day of scenic views and wildlife. We stopped at the visitors center to pick up some maps and then began driving, climbing higher and higher, stopping at each scenic overlook to snap some photos and gaze at the beautiful mountains. The day had started out sunny but we hit some rain as we got higher into the mountains. Luckily as we wound down towards Gatlinburg the skies began to clear and we were able to find a place near a stream to have a picnic lunch in the sun. After lunch we drove along a scenic loop and saw our first black bear, a bunch of turkeys, and a doe and fawn. Then it was off on a back road adventure. We drove through streams and forests and saw 3 more black bears and a wild pig! Then on our drive back to the campground we saw 2 elk. A full day of wildlife indeed!

Great Smoky Mountains

Today we left Cleveland, TN and headed to Cherokee, NC right outside of Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Before departing Cleveland though we made a trip to a fireworks warehouse and picked up some supplies for next year's fourth of july! There's nothing like a roadtrip without a stop to a fireworks warehouse, at least according to Zach. Our drive to Cherokee was a scenic drive, as we found ourselves weaving between tall tree covered mountains.

Jack lives here

Today we left Nashville and headed towards the Great Smoky Mountains. Along the way we stopped in Lynchburg, TN at the Jack Daniel's Distillery. We took a tour of the distillery, bought ourselves some consumable souvenirs and then headed to Lynchburg's town square for some lunch and more Jack Daniel's memorabilia. It's kind of ironic that the Jack Daniel's Distillery is located in Moore county, TN, a dry county. The distillery sells commemorative bottles of Jack Daniels but it is the only place allowed to sell alcohol in the entire county, and there's a hefty fine if caught with open alcohol. We left the distillery with Mark grinning like a kid in a candy store. In case you didn't know, Jack Daniel's is his favorite adult beverage, so he was thrilled to know its history and see how it's created. From Lynchburg we headed to Cleveland, TN northeast of Chattanooga for a night.

more Honky Tonk

Today we headed into downtown Nashville for some on foot exploring of the city. We returned to the Country Music Hall of Fame to visit the Gift Shop and pick up some souvenirs. Then we walked over to Broadway to get some lunch and check out the shops and entertainment. We ate at Jack's Bar-B-Que; some good pulled pork, and beef brisket with an array of bbq sauce choices and some southern comfort sides. After the hearty lunch we wandered over to Ernest Tubb Record Store for some country music. Then we perused the shops lining Broadway and looked into the numerous bars. Emily found a new pair of cowboy boots and Marilyn got a new cowboy hat; officially outfitting them in true country style. :) After some shopping we headed back towards the campground and stopped at Opry Mills, the large shopping mall right near the Grand Ole Opry. We checked out the inside of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, a massive complex with spectacular indoor gardens. They even have a boat that you can ride through the hotel.

Honky Tonk Express

Spent a good portion of the morning lounging around and figuring out what we wanted to do, so we didn't get downtown until mid-afternoon. We decided to take the Gray Line Discover Nashville tour, a 3.5 hr small bus tour of the city. The tour began a little late, as we spent an hour picking up fellow tourists at their hotels and there was some unnecessary confusion at one hotel, but we were on our way then, driving into the heart of Nashville. We cruised along 2nd St and Broadway, the center of entertainment and made our first stop at the Ryman Auditorium. We toured the Ryman, originally a church, which served as the Grand Ole Opry from 1943-1974. We boarded the bus again and headed past the Tennessee State Capitol, down to Bicentennial Park, saw Vanderbilt University, the Parthenon and then up Music Row and over to the Country Music Hall of Fame for a tour of the museum. We were a little rushed at the Country Music Hall of Fame; wish we would have had a little more time to see everything. After the Country Music Hall of Fame we headed over to Legends Bar for a little live country music and a refreshing drink. This concluded our tour and we were delivered back to our campground to grab a quick dinner and get ready for the show at the Grand Ole Opry. The Grand Ole Opry was an impressive show. It consisted of four parts; each hosted by a different host and about 12 different music acts. It was a real experience, enjoyed by all.

Woke up early this morning, to get over to the Toyota plant, in hopes of getting on the morning tour. We lucked out and there was space for us, so we spent the morning touring the factory. Rode on an electric tram car throughout the factory on a narrated tour. One of the more interesting tours we've been on during a vacation! After the tour, we headed back to get the trailer and get on the road to Nashville, Tennessee. Took a small detour on the way to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, TN. It was a day full of cars! Made our way into Nashville, to our campground on Music Valley Drive, right near Opryland Resort and the Grand Ole Opry. Relaxed for the evening and discussed what to do in Nashville the next day.

Hold your horses

Thursday we found ourselves surrounded by horses, horses and more horses. The Lexington, KY landscape was lined with the wooden fences of horse farms. Our stay in the horse pasture behind Brookledge had been nice, but we were without fresh water and electric, so we searched the campground directory and found that there was a campground nearby at the Kentucky Horse Park. We drove over to check it out, and once we were satisfied, made reservations for the night and headed back to get the trailer. After setting up and eating lunch we made our way over to the Toyota plant in Georgetown, KY where Mark's childhood friend Billy worked. Billy had informed us of a tour you could take of the plant, but that it was very popular and he could only put our name on the standby list. We were on the list for 2pm but got a little lost finding our way there and missed our chance for the day to see the factory. We did get to see Billy though and watch a 30 minute video of the factory and had our names put on the standby list for the next morning's tour. We made plans to have dinner with Billy and his family and then headed over to Keeneland race track. Keeneland was an enormous, attractive complex which we explored for a little while, making our way upstairs to some of the private boxes for a full view. We headed back to the trailer to get ready for dinner and then met Billy and his two sons at a local Kentucky eatery, Ramseys, where we enjoyed some traditonal Southern cuisine; sweet tea, fried-green tomatoes, chicken-fried pork chops, buffalo fried chicken, and a Kentucky specialty, a hot brown. After an enjoyable dinner we headed back to Kentucky Horse Park so we could be up early for the Toyota tour in the morning.

joining the New River swim club

Wednesday we traveled to Minden, West Virginia for a trip down the New River.  We had made reservations the day before for a white water rafting trip, choosing the Express trip; a half day trip hitting all the major rapids.  We arrived at ACE Adventure Center the rafting company we were going with after a bumpy ride up and down a windy country road, paved only as a strip down the center with gravel lining each side which was quite an adventure with the truck and trailer in tow.  We were later informed that this is what was called a "No Fault" road in West Virginia, where neither party was responsible should an accident occur.  The road back to ACE wound through a stereotypical West Virginia post-coal mining town with junkyards next to depressed-looking houses and one home that featured a 365 days a year yard sale in the front yard.  The weather was overcast and misty, not ideal weather for a day outdoors, but once we were loaded up with PFDs, helmets and paddles and made the bus ride to the launching site, the dreary weather was off everyones' mind and the sun even managed to come out later in the day.  Our family was put into a 17-foot boat with 4 others; some teenagers from a summer camp in Virginia, and our guide, Matt. After some basic paddling and directional lessons from Matt we were set to go down our first rapid, a class III rapid which we navigated fine.  The next rapid, a class IV was a boat full of excitement, as we lost all but 4 passengers navigating it.  Rachel, Zach, another girl, and the guide were the only ones to remain in the boat. Mark and Emily were recovered quickly, but Marilyn floated down the river a little ways and was picked up by another boat in our party.  After recovering all of our passengers we made our way down the rest of the 8 miles of river, navigating more class III, IV and even a few class V rapids.  The rainy weather preceding our trip turned out to be a good thing; as the river was up 2 feet from it making the rapids all the better.  Overall we had an awesome day on the New River!  When we got back to ACE tired and hungry we showered and hit the road for Lexington, KY our next stop on the trip. We opted not to reserve a campground for the night and instead set up in the field behind Brookledge's location in Lexington, KY.  

HERE WAS BURIED THOMAS JEFFERSON AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND FATHER OF...

Our travels brought us to Monticello, home of our third President and author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson today. We left for Monticello, situated right outside of Charlottesville, VA in the early afternoon. Upon arriving we picnicked for lunch and then headed up to the Visitors Center to purchase tickets and board the shuttle bus that would take us up to the actual homestead.  Driving up the winding mountaintop road we were surrounded by a beautiful green landscape and spectacular views of the nearby Virginia countryside.  Monticello, itself was of striking beauty, Roman-influenced classical architecture and colorful gardens in full summer bloom. We were led on a half hour tour of the house's interior by a knowledgeable tour guide and then were free to wander the grounds; exploring the tunnel of storage rooms and wine cellars beneath the house, the large vegetable garden and bountiful flower gardens.  From the house we strolled a short while down to the cemetery where we saw the grave of Jefferson, a large monument with the words " Here was buried Thomas Jefferson Author of the Declaration of American Independence of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and Father of the University of Virginia, Born April 2 1743 O.S. Died July 4, 1826" engraved in it, the epitaph written by Jefferson himself. We returned to the Visitors Center and concluded our visit with a stop at the Gift Shop, before heading back to our campground for the night, Walnut Hills Campground in Staunton, VA where we had decided to stay a second night.

heading south

We departed for our tour through some of Southern states on Sunday night; pulling out of the driveway around 7:30 and heading down to right outside DC to pick up Rachel. We spent the first night at a campground in College Park, MD and then got on the road in the late morning Monday and headed through Maryland and DC into Virginia. We reached the Shenandoah National Park around 2pm and began our leisurely ride on Skyline Drive winding through the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains. The views were breathtaking and we even got to see some local wildlife; several doe and fawns. We meandered down Skyline Drive and ended up in Staunton, VA for the night with plans to visit Monticello tomorrow.

Setting forth

This summer we're headed to several states in the South for a two week vacation with the trailer. The whole family's along, Haley included. Our plans include stops in Charlottesville, VA to visit President Thomas Jefferson's residence, Monticello, white water rafting on the New River in West Virginia, Lexington, Kentucky, the Great Smoky Mountains and Nashville and Bristol, Tennessee, with other excursions added as we go.