On to Plan B

Hi all. I hope you had a happy thanksgiving feast with friends and family. Our Big Meadows trip was cancelled. It snowed! In fact, all of Skyline Drive was closed. This is what met us when we got to the entrance:

 

So we regrouped at the local WalMart, and decided to head down to Pocohontas State Park. No snow here, but it is still cold. No worries. We settled down and watched some TV (we have electric and water, oh how I love Virginia parks!!). G gathered some kindling (and we paid $5 for six pieces of firewood that was still wet from the previous night, so it only smoldered). But, alas, when life hands you lemons, make frozen lemonade. Just kidding. We made the best of our Thanksgiving and had this lovely meal. Enjoy (I know I did!)

 

I'm Only Happy When It Rains...NOT!

Another rainy, misty, foggy day in the mountains. We drove on the BRPky for a little bit, and saw some wild turkeys (the non-alcoholic kind). They might be getting a little skittish, seeing as how it's over 6 weeks till Thanksgiving. Ha ha ha! There were at least 5 or 6, but my camera only allowed me to take this one clearly.

Nature's clean up crew (turkey buzzards hanging out over a squirrel carcass--lovely).

 

And G posted this on FB:  no matter how much you pay for the trailer, this still shows you are white trash (giggle giggle). I say, Why paint the peacock?

 

 

Airstream Exclusive

Hi all!

We are enjoying the Columbus Day weekend camping in the beautiful mountains of Virginia in a place called Copper Hill. We are at 3000ft elevation. The weather is less than desirable, but we are surrounded by beautiful colors and nothing but Airstreams. This is an Airstream-only campsite. We get state park rates (about $27/night) with full hookups. Oh yeah, this is the way to go. Here are some pics.

Our site is here.

 

Some wild turkeys just over the hill.

 

They say there's bears here. If only the mist and rain would lift, we'd see a great view of the valley.

 

 

Maybe tomorrow we'll get sunshine. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

C'est Finis

Hi all. We are all finished galavanting around the east coast area. We have returned home. It was a totally lovely trip. The weather upon our return was pleasant also. Now we take care of things back here.

The day before we left, we drove to Corolla up Hiway 12 to see the wild horses up there. We had to drive on the beach. That was fun, but we saw no horses. It was also very crowded for a weekday. Next time we visit the beach, it will be in the fall or spring.

We met a real nice couple next to us. They are from G's home state of SC. In fact, the lady taught our great-niece in fifth grade. Too funny! G gave her the computer, and she sent our niece a message on Facebook. She and G will be friends and will keep in touch. They do a lot of traveling with a travel group (like a caravan) and went to really cool places. We will be doing that one day.

This is the Cape Hatteras Light House (in its new spot since 1999). You are now charged money to go climb its steps. I guess we have to pay back the cost of moving it.

 

Thanks for traveling with us. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Take care, and until next time, keep your feet on the ground and let your dreams take flight. Enjoy!

 

The Island Life

Hi all. We went from cheery SC to the islands, of the OBX. We are staying in Rodanthe at a fancy campground (fancy because it has full hookups). There is no shade, so we welcome the air conditioner. There is a great breeze off the sound (Pamlico) and across the street is the ocean (more crowded). We have been here since late Sunday afternoon. I spent yesterday cleaning the trailer and laundry. Today we took a look-see on Ocracoke Island. To get there, you drive all the way to the end of Hatteras and take the ferry across. It was a nice ride and pretty quick. This is what we saw.

Wild horses (called the Banks Herd)

 

 

 

Our fancy digs:  the Pamlico Sound is in the back.

 

 

Our daily entertainment (if you stay at the campground all day). The kiteboarders really get some air! Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Promised Land

Hi to the world! We are in the Promised Land (home of G, and my other favorite state, SC). We are camping on some great property and taking in the sights. We went to downtown Charleston yesterday, just a "ride through". But it was a little warm (over 84 and it was around lunchtime). But that is typical for this region. We are here for a few days to "recharge". We have TV, radio, electric, water, and WIFI!!!

The day we left to come here (Wed), a black bear crossed the road. He was too fast to take a picture, but what a nice "going away" present.

A mom turkey and her chicks.

 

This is a waterfountain that the park maintenance guy fixed up from halfway. Nice job! You can tell they really care about that place. We saw the maintenance people everywhere as early as 7AM. They even took a blower and cleaned the pads for the campers so that they were clean for the next set. Wow!

 

 

And G thought it fitting that you could get boiled peanuts on a Cherokee Indian Reservation. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Hike a Beautiful Trail

Hello all. Since my last post, we have been busy hiking. The weather has held out and it has been beautiful and sunny. We did something we hadn't done in over a week--run the air conditioner. But only for about 2 hours tops; then we got an afternoon shower and a breeze off the river, so we opened the windows again. We have extended our stay a few more days and head out Wednesday. Here are the pics as promised. Enjoy!

Mingus Mill--oldest running mill--since 1887. The millstones are still the original stones. The corn stone comes from Smokemont, the wheat stone from France.

 

 

Oconaluftee Indian Village--a recreation of the Indian village. The middle one is making a canoe. They put clay around it, burn it with fires, and hollow it out. The man said it takes roughly six months, and the whole village helps out. They even included a fight scene. Cool!

 

 

 

 

Mingo Falls waterfall--a simply beautiful cascade

Another pretty waterfall on the Deep Creek trail

Clingman's Dome--topmost part of the park (1/2 mile hike straight up; but what a view!) When you get to the top, you get to see 3 states:  NC, TN, and of my favorite, VA!

 

 

 

Smokemont Loop trail was 6.1 miles. Heard a coupla bears but scared them off. It was very pretty and quiet. Once we hit the Smokemont part, 1/2 of it was up, but again, the other half was down. Phew!

Today we did the river hike along the Oconaluftee River. It was 3 miles and basically flat. Tomorrow we tackle a 4 mile hike, relatively easy, to a hidden waterfall. Enjoy!

Simply the best

Hello my faithful crew. We had another great day watching elk. After my last post, the herd we were photographing, the big bull, came up real close to the truck. You could hear him eating, it was really cool. G took pics, even of him crossing the road.

 

 

Let's not forget the ladies.

 

 

And these really cool shots. Elk are closer than they appear.

 

 

 

Yesterday we went to Cataloochee to see the elk herd. They are all radio-collared. The group we got all these pics of migrated off of that group. We only saw 7 of them yesterday. The old village at Cataloochee is cute but doesn't have much to offer except a nail-biting, white-knuckled ride to get there. I was a little queasy when we got back. Luckily it passed after we hit flat roads the rest of the way. The 5th wheels that make that trip are seasoned travelers and know what they're doing in order to get up there.

 

We did some waterfall hiking yesterday after the elk excursion. Those pics will come later. Today we did laundry and visited the Oconaluftee Indian Village. It was very educational and interesting. Their language has 85 syllables, and a character in their alphabet for each syllable (not like our 26). Their schools teach their young ones NC standards and Cherokee standards. Cool! Pics to follow later for that, too.

 

On our travels yesterday, we found out how resourceful these Appalachian Americans really are. For instance, you can get Frog Jam, Moonshine Jelly, and Rat Cheese. Here's your sign. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elk Land

For all of you who followed along last year's trip, we are now following that schedule:  up early (before sunrise) to view wildlife, back at the camper after noon. Right now we are at Oconaluftee Visitor Center (Cherokee, NC) side of the park and viewing 5 elk in the field:  2 bulls and 3 females. There are about 140 total elk in the park (transplanted in 2001 from extinction in the park). Saw them with the headlights first and waited for the sun to come up over the mountains. Unfortunately, early morning pics don't look too hot with the camera, so we wait. Here are some to get you started. I'll have better ones at the next post.

 

 

Another thing I'm finding fascinating are the birds. I got started last year with our triple-park excursion, listening to the different calls. I know most of the ones that hang out at the house. It is really cool to see and listen to other species. They are really spectacular. I need to get a book to log the ones I've seen. Right now I am logging the colors and their songs so I can check with the brochure I have back at the camper.  So while we wait for wildlife (remember, it's not Disney so they don't show up on cue), I bird.

 

This is our campsite. We are about 50 steps by the river (Oconaluftee River). We slept with the windows open listening to it last night. The weather is very pleasant, and the campground is very clean. Not a lot of people here right now. We are here till the end of the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

We are completely off the grid here. In fact, the park ranger laughed when we asked where to wifi. We have no TV stations, no radio stations, no cell phone service at the campsite. Cherokee is 15 minutes from the site, so there is civilization nearby. Yesterday, we needed to go to the store, so G sent me to a gas station to ask for one (the lady in the black box disappointed us). He said to make sure I got the name of the store (I guess in case it was a local grocery). So I asked the manager where it was and he told me the directions. And then I said, "By the way, what's the name of the grocery store?" He answered in a condescending tone, "Food Lion."  Here's your sign.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Step Into the Past

Yesterday we were greeted with a rainy start to the day but it rewarded us with sunny skies and beautiful weather around 10ish. We went back to Cades Cove to check out the mountain village there and the buildings. We walked around and checked it out. Of course, being a weekend, it was dreadfully crowded, but that's okay. We saw the local wildlife:  a bear and her two cubs (another "bear jam") and two snakes at an old house. There was a blacksmithy, working grist mill, and other outbuildings. We saw two cantilever barns (two overhangs on the side and space in the middle you can drive through). Apparently, that was pretty reasonable and proper here in the early 1900s. I thought it was really cool that you could wake up every day and go to sleep seeing that wonderful view. But I wondered, if they had to work all the time, did they ever really enjoy it?  Anyway, here are some of the pics we took. The bear and her cubs were pretty far away (they don't like you to get closer than 500 feet of the bear) so all you see are black shapes. Tomorrow we head to Smokemont. Maybe we'll see some elk (yes, elk in NC--who knew?). Enjoy!