Cozet, VA to Nashville, TN

A-Cozet, VA; B-Wytheville, VA; C-Pigeon Forge, TN; D-Nashville, TN

Blue Ridge Parkway, VA

Thursday, October 14 we left Crozet and headed down the Blue Ridge Parkway --- in the RAIN. In spite of the rain and frequent fog, we had a beautiful drive along the northern 120 miles of the Parkway. The colors were outstanding. There were lots of pullouts and though the road had no shoulder, it was a good road, and with the poor weather, there was little traffic. We cut off the drive at Roanoke to drive on to Wytheville, VA for the night. Finally the skies began to clear.

The next day we woke up to cloudy skies and a bit of rain, but it did clear by mid-day. We had an easy drive on the Interstate, but when we got to the Pigeon Forge area, it was a different story. My goodness – terrible traffic. It took us 35 minutes to go about 10 miles. An additional lane is being added, but there is only one street through town. But we did get to the park OK. Of course, the fact that it was Friday of a very nice weekend didn’t help to reduce the traffic.

Clingman's Dome tower

On Saturday morning we took off at 8:30AM to drive through the Smokey Mountains just south of Gatlinburg. Traffic was light that early, but the Smokey Mtn traffic was quite heavy. Temps were in the 30s for a bit, but the sky was clear. We hiked to Clingmans Dome – 0.5 miles up a steep blacktop path. Whew!!! But at the top at tower level we could see 360 degrees – well worth the panting!! The Smokey Mtn road meets the Blue Ridge Parkway at its south end, so we followed it for 30 or so miles before heading back to Pigeon Forge. When we got into town the traffic was again very heavy and slow – suddenly we felt a thumping and the guy behind us said he saw a bubble on our back left car tire. Fortunately we were able to pull off into a parking lot where Gordie put on the spare; and off we went to WalMart where they were able to put on a new tire. We felt so fortunate that we weren’t off in the mountains somewhere, or towing the car when this happened.

Gatlinburg's Pancake Pantry - Yum, Yum, GOOD

On Sunday we left early so we could get to Gatlinburg before the crowds descended. We had breakfast at a fantastic pancake place (The Pancake Pantry). We had seen a long line outside the day before and figured this was the place to eat. We were NOT disappointed. By the time we left the line was much longer. We visited a few shops and then noticed that lots of shops didn’t look like they were open. Well, we then realized that police were directing traffic – the electricity was off all over town. We decided we’d seen enough and went back to the car. By the time we headed out of town, the lights were on again. We never did find out what happened.

Driving in the Smokey Mountains

From there we headed back into the Great Smokey Mtn Nat’l Park. We went to the visitor center to see the movie, then drove down the road and did the 2.6 mi round-trip hike to Laurel Falls. It was pretty, but my goodness, the masses of people made it hard to even get pictures. But we enjoyed the hike. We returned to Pigeon Forge and spent an hour visiting the shops in the Old Mill area of town. In the evening we attended a local dinner theater and saw TG Sheppard perform. He had a very good band and a couple of cute girl singers that wore beautiful gowns.

Dollywood - Turning a bowl by foot power - amazing

October 18, Monday, was our day to go to Dollywood. We left about 9AM and drove the 3 or so miles to the park. While we were there we watched several of the shows. It is run much like Disneyland – you pay a hefty price to get in, then all the concerts, rides, and shows are ‘free’. We weren’t interested in the rides. The shows were relatively good. The place is kept very clean. There are lots of restrooms and eateries and stores. There is a large area where craftsmen demonstrate and sell their wares. We enjoyed watching a bowl maker who used a foot activated lathe and hand held tool to shape the wood. It was an enjoyable day, but we considered Silver Dollar City near Branson (a few years ago) much more to our liking.

Gordie with statue of Jack Daniels

Tuesday we were off again – an easy day as we headed further west to Nashville. The weather was overcast  - evening and overnight we got some good rain showers. But by morning the skies were clear again. So we drove the 70 miles to Lynchburg where we visited the Jack Daniels Distillery for the hour long tour. Too bad the distillery is located in a dry county – all we got to drink at the end of the tour was lemonade. Oh well…..

We also went to the Tennessee Walking Horse Museum in Lynchburg before heading back to the RV park.

The Ryman Theater

Thursday we took a Grayline bus tour of Nashville. We had a 73 year old driver who was relatively uninspired. We did see most of what we were supposed to – had a half hour to tour the Ryman Theater (original home of the Grand Ole Oprey - it had started out as a mission tabernacle). And we had an hour at the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum where there was a large new exhibit about the life of Tammy Wynette, as well as the history of country music. That evening we went to the Grand Ole Opry and saw a show of Old Country Classics. These shows are all done for the live country radio show on WSM, so we heard the announcer do commercials every ten or fifteen minutes. This live radio show is celebrating 85 years of broadcasting. The live entertainment is so enjoyable – western musicians are spectacular. During the 500 year flood in May 2010 the Grand Ole Opry was flooded with water well above stage level. With hard work and determination, they were able to reopen the Opry the end of September, and they say it’s better than ever.

Nashville home of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban

Friday we did a Tommy tour – now THAT was a great tour!!! Tommy drives his own bus and is really entertaining. He took us through downtown, then we spent half the tour looking at stars houses – Nashville has some really pricey neighborhoods. The Belle Meade area has homes starting at $2,000,000. Whew! That evening we again went to the Opry. We saw Darell Singletary, Riders in the Sky, Connie Smith, Little Jimmy Dickens and several others. In the lobby many foods and drinks (hard and soft) are sold and patrons are allowed to take their food and drink into the theater. The atmosphere is quite relaxed.

Belle Meade Plantation

On Saturday we drove south of Nashville to visit the Belle Meade (meaning ‘beautiful meadow’) Plantation. This plantation was active before, during, and after the abolition of slavery. The focus of the owner was breeding race horses. The plantation fell on hard times when Tennessee outlawed gaming (including betting on horse racing). The racing then moved to Kentucky – horses had to be transported by train to race and this proved too hard on them. The plantation had several different owners after the horse racing days until it was purchased by the state which then deeded it as a historical site to the current foundation in the 1950s.

Nashville's Parthenon

Then we drove back to town and visited the Parthenon in large Centenial Park. This is the only Parthenon built the same size as the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The original Nashville Parthenon was built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centenial and International Exposition. It was made of wood, brick, lumber, and plastic and over the years it began disintegrating. It had become so popular in Nashville, the city raised money to rebuild it to provide a permanent location to display art. They spent a great deal of money to hire an artist to create a full-size Athena – she stands inside the upper level of the Parthenon today.  It was very different and quite interesting.

That was the end of our time in Nashville. We now head south for more adventures.................

Gordonville, PA to the Blue Ridge Parkway

A-NYC; B-Gordonville, PA; C-Gettysburg, PA; D-College Park, MD; E-Crozet, VA

Covered bridge in Lancaster county, PA

October 04 and we are off in the rain AGAIN. Oh soggy, soggy – yuck. Anyway, we drove to Gordonville, PA which is in Lancaster County, PA. We did drive around the area a bit in the rain – it’s a wonderful Amish/Mennonite area – lots of great stores, pretty farms, fresh food markets. We would love to spend a couple of days here, but we only have tomorrow – and that day is our trip into Philadelphia.

THE Liberty Bell

More rain and off we left for the 1.5 hour drive to Philly. It was supposed to be intermittent showers, but it was more like a constant rain/drizzle. We parked in a garage under the Visitor’s Center – a huge facility. First we went to Independence Hall. Here we saw where the first Continental Congress met to put together the Bill of Rights, and where the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence were signed. The one original piece of furniture was the actual chair that George Washington sat in to sign the Declaration of Independence.

In the rain we walked across the plaza to see the exhibit including the Liberty Bell. For both the bell and the Independence Hall we had to go through security – not as extensive as in New York, but still…..

Gordon and Rich in front of Campos

By then it was lunch time and we wanted an authentic Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. The folks in the Visitor Center gave us directions and four blocks later we dined on yummy Philly fare. On the way back to get the car we walked by the US Mint. Unfortunately there are no longer tours, but it was fun to see it anyway.

When we returned to the car we were ‘thrilled’ (not) to pay the $16.25 parking fee. Fortunately we didn’t have to pay for the tours and visits to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, so it wasn’t too bad. On the way home we took a detour of 7 miles into Delaware – might as well add that to our list of states we’ve seen. Finally the rain stopped for tonight at least.

October 6 we left Gordonville and drove to Gettysburg. We only had a few hours so we did what we could. It is a huge site of great importance to the history of our nation. We watched a film about the three-day battle, then a huge Cyclorama where the fighting was brought to life. We then took the 2 hour narrated bus tour over the most important sites of the war. Our guide was a historian who really knew the battles and had lots of interesting facts. Over 5000 soldiers died in those three days. The first two days were won by General Lee of the Confederacy, but the final day was won by General George Meade of the North – this was a big turning point of the Civil War. It was very interesting and we were sorry we didn’t have another day to spend time on the battle fields and in the museum.

From there we headed to College Park, MD near Washington DC. We had rain and some traffic, but still managed to get to the campground just before 5PM.

The Hope Diamond

On Thursday we made our first foray into Washington DC. We were able to catch the bus at the park which took us to the Metro which took us right to the National Mall. We began at the Natural History Museum where we visited the new Oceans display. We found it a bit confusing to go through – no flow to the exhibit; but there sure was lots of information. We also visited the gems exhibit where the Hope Diamond was on display, along with many other beautiful gems from around the world.

SmithsonianAmerican Indian Museum

From there we went to the relatively new Native American Museum where there is a large cafeteria where you can choose foods from many different Native American areas. We spent the rest of the afternoon at that museum – It’s quite a place and had a very nice flow to it. The architecture of the building is very interesting.

Friday we again headed to the Mall – another lovely day. We started at the relatively new Newseum – This is a private museum concerning the history of news, stories that have affected all our lives, and so much more. We took an hour long introductory tour and then spent an additional three hours on our own. The museum flows very nicely and is very modern with lots of interactive kiosks, exhibits on hurricane Katrina, 9/11, photo journalism winners, journalists who have died in the line of duty, and so much more – really good.

Washington DC capitol building

From there we walked along the reflecting pond in front of the Capitol building, visited the Hirshorn Museum of Modern Art (didn’t care for it), the sculpture garden (better) and the National Museum of Art. By the time we finished at the art museum, we were beat and headed back to the RV Park.

Arlington National Cemetery

Being recovered from the first two days, we took off once again for the capitol mall. This time we drove to the subway (free parking on the weekends), then took the subway into the center of town. Today we rode a Tourbus that took us on a nice tour of the Arlington Cemetery. We visited the graves of JFK, Jaqueline Kennedy, and their children; we visited the Tomb of the Unknown and were there for the changing of the guard. And we visited General Lee’s home – Arlington House. The cemetery is so much larger than I dreamed it would be – lots of monuments to various war veterans and a separate area for women in the service.

Korean War Memorial

From there we visited the Korean War Memorial – really powerful and well done. Then the Viet Nam War Memorial – interesting but not powerful. Here there were two large volumes containing alphabetically all the names of the service personnel killed in Viet Nam with their location on the wall.

We then spent over two hours at the Holocaust Museum – this is a very well done and powerful exhibit. But on this day (Saturday) it was full of junior high school students who really weren’t particularly interested and made it very difficult for the rest of us to see the exhibits and read the panels – disappointing.

From there we walked several blocks to the Portrait Museum and spent 40 minutes at the special Norman Rockwell exhibit. These pictures were loaned to the library by Stephen Spielburg and George Lucas. At the end of that, as much as we wanted to keep going, it was after 5PM and we were pooped. We took off for the RV Park.

Smithsonian Air and Space Museum at the airport

Sunday we took it down a notch. We  took off for the new large Smithsonian Air and Space Museum near the Airport. The museum was free, though the parking cost $15. There are dozens of airplanes of all shapes and sizes inside a gigantic hanger. First we went six floors up into the tower with 360 degree views of the airport and surrounding countryside. It took us 3 hours to see everything. The exhibits included many fighter planes from WWII, Viet Nam, Korea. We saw the Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan) and the Concorde. There were displays of helicopters, gliders, personal planes, trick planes. There was a huge hanger wing that had the Enterprise – that huge, huge, huge thing and many other space flight displays. Many of the planes were hung from the ceiling of this gigantic building, so there were ramps where you could walk along and look down at planes on the floor and up at planes hanging from the ceiling. There were engines displayed from the beginning of aviation history through those of the present – very interesting to the fellas. It is a wonderful display.

Columbus Day and we were off – around DC and to Crozet,VA – 5 miles from the Shenandoah National Park. The weather was great and the countryside is just beautiful. We keep seeing more and more color, though we’re not into the strong yellows and reds yet. We stopped at Chancellorsville where during the Civil War one of the bloodiest battles took place. It is here that Stonewall Jackson lost his life. There was an excellent film on the battles at the Visitor’s Center. We were amused that acorns were falling continuously on our vehicles – they made quite a noise when they hit – we expected to get pelted with nuts as we walked, but never did.

Shenandoah National Park

The next day we took a drive through half of the Shenandoah National Parkway – BEAUTIFUL !! It was a great day and the colors really were lovely. From the Skyline Drive there were viewpoints to see over each side way into the distance. It is always a bit hazy because of the extensive use of coal here in Virginia, but the views were so nice.

Monticello

Wednesday we said Good-bye to Diann and Rich. Their new house in Casa Grande was completed before expected and they had to head west to get the papers signed before penalties started rolling in. After they left we headed the few miles to Montecello – Thomas Jefferson’s home. The home itself is quite grand and filled with treasures from his trips overseas. He was quite influenced by the French because of his time spent in France as ambassador there. There were also Roman influences. He owned 5000 acres and had 5 operating farms on the property. He loved architecture and had the house built and redone several times to incorporate the new ideas he acquired during his travels. He also had a great love of plants – flowers, vegetables, trees – and had quite a showplace there. We stayed for several hours – saw a film on his life, did a tour of the home, garden, and plantation. The weather was beautiful. The Jefferson Foundation recently purchased a large ‘chunk’ of hill property that used to belong to Jefferson for $15,000,000  (the same amount he paid for the Louisiana Purchase). The foundation purchased the property to prevent another buyer from building condos there in view of the Jefferson Home. Interestingly, Jefferson died $180,000 in debt.

Public chalkboard in Charlottesville, VA

From there we drove the few miles to Charlottesville to their pedestrian mall. It is several blocks long with large trees all along. The most interesting thing was a public chalkboard (probably 40 feet by 6 feet) with chalk and cleaning cloths available. Anyone could write whatever they wanted to, or wipe off anything they wanted to. Don’t know if it cut down on graffiti in the area, but we thought it was a novel idea.

Now we are off to the Blue Ridge Parkway;, Pigeon Forge, TN; and Nashville.

Middleboro, MA to Lancaster, PA

A-Middleboro, MA; B-Mystic, CT; C-Newburgh, NY; D-Lancaster, PA

Monday we drove through Rhode Island to Mystic, CT. It was a very cloudy and sometimes rainy day, but we arrived without problems. That evening the four of us went to Old Lyme, CT to have a lovely pasta dinner with Lee White – our son Jeff’s, mother-in-law.

Large picture in the Mohegan Indian Casino

Tuesday was nasty rainy, but we took off to explore Mystic, CT – it’s a beautiful village on a bay. We spent an hour wandering around Mystic Village – lots of cute shops, nicely landscaped. We also drove a few miles to see the Mohegan Indian Casino – my goodness – it is huge and is decorated in all the Indian themes – corn, trees, wolves, etc. It has several different casino areas, an area of many shops, several restaurants and bars, and a huge hotel lobby with a waterfall two stories high. It was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. No, we didn’t put even a penny in the slot machines – we just enjoyed looking at everything.

Rich, Diann, Ellen, Lee, Gordon

That night we went to Lee’s again for some wine, then she took us to a local restaurant (The Bee & Thistle) where we didn’t eat – we dined. The restaurant is in an old house and has a wonderful cook. Lee is a restaurant critic who writes articles for local newspapers, so she knows the great places. The meal was outstanding and since the owners are friends of Lee, we were treated like royalty.

Nautilus submarine

Finally Wednesday we had a lovely day (between rain storms). We drove to Haddam, Chester, and Essex – three very lovely east coast towns. Many of the homes have signs saying when they were built – many in the early 1800s and a few in the 1700s. We spent some time at the Submarine Force Museum where they have the Nautilus – the first nuclear powered submarine – we could even go through the vessel – very interesting. We finished the day by having a late fish lunch at Flander’s Seafood and Restaurant in East Lyme. Tomorrow we will head inland, so this was our last chance to get some coastal seafood.

September 30 we took off in the rain for Newburgh, NY. The prediction was for thunderstorms and lots of rain all up and down the eastern seaboard. But it was supposed to be even worse the next day. So we decided to take off and hope for the best. We did have a few heavy downpours along the way, but we made it OK. We are getting quite tired of being soggy. All the maps are damp, clothes are damp, - oh, for the southwest!!! But we haven’t seen all we want to see yet, so we’ll put up with WET!!

First day of October and the rains keep coming. We heard reports of lots of flooding in the area, so we ended up staying close to the RV park for the morning. Diann and I got some groceries. Then in the afternoon Gordie and I drove to the West Point Military Academy and saw the Visitor Center and Museum. You can’t go onto the campus unless you go on a tour, and we didn’t have time to do that. The weather report is for a nice day tomorrow – sure hope it’s right.

FDRs home in Hyde Park NY

Yup, Saturday was a beautiful day. We left the park about 9AM and headed across the very wide Hudson River to the Franklin D. Roosevelt 

home and Presidential Library. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and made the tour of the home very interesting. The library was excellent as well. FDR was President for over 12 years and was the author of legislation such as The New Deal and Social Security.

One of the gardens at Vanderbuilt mansion

From there we drove up the road just a few miles and toured the Vanderbuilt mansion and grounds. Here again the tour guide did a great job of bringing the Vanderbuilts to life. The house is opulent and contains much of the furniture, paintings, and accessories that were there when Frederick and his wife, Louise, died. The couple had no children, so the home and property were left to the wife’s niece. She was wealthy in her own right and didn’t want the place. She tried to sell it twice and didn’t get any offers, so with the help of FDR, the US government took over the property and it is now a federal historical landmark. The Vanderbuilts had a huge flower garden to keep the home supplied with bouquets. The garden had gone to grass. But now there is a volunteer group that has returned the gardens to their original state. The gardens weren’t particularly exciting when we were there because of fall season, but no doubt they were gorgeous during the spring and summer months.

Two of the three entrances into the Lincoln Tunnel

Sunday we got up at 6AM (UGH!) so that we could have breakfast at the clubhouse and then board a charter bus for a tour of New York City. We were lucky that it was quite a nice day (a bit cool and breezy though). We had a very good tour guide who talked most of the trip, including the 1.5 hours it took to get to NYC. We entered via New Jersey and the 1.5 mile long Lincoln Tunnel. This tunnel is 90 feet under the Hudson River. Even though it was Sunday, going was slow.

Ellen & Gordon and the Statue of Liberty

Our first stop was the ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty. We had to go thru airport-type security on the way to the ferry. We got some great pics of the Lady and the NYC skyline while on the ferry. We had an hour to take pictures and enjoy the statue before boating by Ellis Island and back to Battery Park. 

'Sphere' 

Here the guide showed us a relatively new statue called ‘Sphere’. This large statue sat between the twin towers. When they came down, ‘Sphere’ was damaged but not broken. It stands alongside an eternal flame in rememberence of those who died on 9/11 and hope for the future.

From here we were driven through NYC streets with Mitch giving us facts and info all along the way. We were dropped off at South Street Seaport where the four of us raced 4 blocks to ‘The Best New York Deli’ where we had wonderful deli sandwiches. Then we returned to the waterfront where we were able to go up three floors and take pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Time Square

Back on the bus and we next went to the Empire State Building where we once again went through security and went to the top deck and enjoyed the views of the city in every direction. From there we did some more sightseeing from the bus before heading to Rockefeller Center (OOPS, there was a parade that blocked the way, so we missed it.) So it was on to Times Square (Named for the NY Times Newspaper) where we really got the true taste of New York with the very busy streets, theater district, huge lighted billboards……….and the most wonderful NY Cheesecake – absolute heaven!!!

By the time we got back on the bus it was 6PM and definitely time to head back to the RV park. The tour was a great way to see ‘The Big Apple’ without the hassle of subways or trains. It would be great to spend more time there, but we were out of time.

Ellis Island

Some observations of NYC: It is much cleaner than it used to be. Cars that HONK can be ticketed for $350 (so the streets are much quieter than in the past). The South Street Seaport was wonderfully clean and exciting – NYC had increased its police presence and the city is much safer than in the past. Parking IN the city can be over $8.50 for half an hour (We saw the signs). Mitch told us that minimum cost for a 16 hour period is $25.

October 4th and we are off to the Lancaster, PA and then to DC. It's nasty rainy and we are again wet, wet, wet!!! Oh goodie!!!