Hello from the Great Smoky Mountains and Beyond

Coming off miles along the Blue Ridge Parkway finds us passing through the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. At the very highest elevations are forests dominated by evergreen spruce and fir trees. We’ve found ourselves cloaked by clouds and enveloped in mist for a while. Eventually we dropped down to the lower elevations for miles following a lovely creek along the roadside. Trees of yellow birch, American beech, mountain maple, hobblebush, and pin cherry trees have burst forth a picturesque canvas of autumn. In addition there is a spectacular display of other colorful trees in the landscape including scarlet oak, sweetgum, red maple, and the hickories. Obviously sunny days and cool nights have brought on the brightest fall colors even in the South.

 Several sets of wild turkeys meandering by the roadsides caught our eye. By far the best wildlife sighting came this morning as a black bear cub darted across the road within twenty feet of the motor home. After leaving the Great Smoky Mts we headed north to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville to checkout the campus.

Gotta love the views

High elevation in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee

Christa’s parents did their undergraduate work here in Knoxville years ago. She found the chemistry building where her father spent many long hours.

Autumn leaves on the UT campus

Administration Building at UT Knoxville

 A graduate student invited her in to see his research chemistry lab and they chatted a while.

Like wouldn't you love your own research lab as a chem grad student

 A severe storm with gusty winds has us pulled off Interstate 75 southbound at a Home Depot parking lot as a safe haven for the night.

Great Smoky Mts are awesome

"Oh my, looks like the beginning of a storm ahead," shouts Yukon.

 Miraculously we have picked up WiFi on their wireless service, so amidst a rain storm comes greetings to you on this blog posting.

Greetings from Shenandoah Valley National Park

Cousin Carolyn and her husband Kent from Maryland have driven down to join with us in the motor home for several days. The four of us have been traveling along the world's longest and narrowest national park, the Blue Ridge Parkway ribbons 469 miles across the Appalachians, from Skyline Drive to the Great Smokies, stretching through Virginia and North Carolina.There was a chance for us  to hike on the AT (Appalachian Trail). A young recent college graduate on his first bike road trip was invited to share a hot meal or two at our campground.

Let the good times roll in the Chateau with Cousin Carolyn and Kent

Considering the temperature dropped into the 30s we knew Bryan would enjoy a chance to warm up and be included in our camaraderie. Good food, wine, and stories being shared together have been great fun. The scenic vistas and sunrises in the Blue Ridge Mountains are incredible overlooking the Shenandoah Valley. Enjoy a few moments we recently captured.

Love the Shenandoah Valley below from the miles of Blue Ridge Mts above

JR trouble shoots with Bryan on a bike repair

Skyline Trail in the Blue Ridge Mts, Virginia

A camp visitor strolls by nonchalantly

AT hiking babes (Christa and Carolyn) along the trail

AT marker guides the way along the trail

Sunrise at Peaks of Otter on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Sunrise at Big Meadows Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Howdy from the “BIG APPLE” New York

Fall has become a kaleidoscope of autumn colors in the Northeast. Drove the northern part of Upstate New York through the Adironack Mountains for a couple of days. We stayed at a great campground near Lake Placid having the place nearly entirely to ourselves. Most camp operators have begun to close by October 15 for the season. The best part was visiting the Adironack Museum at Bluewater Mt. Lake. It covers four hundred years of life in the Adironacks starting with explorer Samuel Champlain mapping the area out.

Just enjoying the view off Blue Mt. Lake in the Adironacks

The title says " 159 Years in the Adironacks"

The museum displayed a wonderful traveling quilt exhibit amongst its various buildings filled with early day artifacts, classic boats, birch furniture, log cabins, old photos and wilderness lore. The 1800s gilded era of the wealthy coming to the Grand Hotel Lodges and summer tent camps of the Adironacks to escape city life was personified in all its glory. 

Okay so I'll need a horse to cart my canoes I guess

 The mountain wilderness is full of beautiful rivers and lakes in abundance. JR mentioned it would be a great place to spend a two month summer vacation just camping, hiking, canoeing, and fishing as it was so lovely.

Can we use our lottery winnings to buy a private Pullman railway car to travel in style honey?

Upstate New York is peaked with fall foliage

Wow just a little view from the Toad on a drive

From there we cut across the central part of state on the toll road Hwy 90 thruway to fast track it to the Finger Lakes wine country region. Watkins Glen State Park became base camp giving us a chance to explore around several of the lakes. It was fun wine tasting at the Atwater Winery while overlooking its vineyards and Lake Seneca. 

Starlings flock to feed on the leftover vineyard grapes after harvest. Great view from Atwater Winery

Twelve tastings (shared) plus hot mulled wine and then some Ice Wine...Yup we are good to go!

Next a rainy day drive took us north to Seneca Falls to see the Women’s Rights Historical Park and the National Women’s Hall of Fame. It was hard to believe that the efforts of the Women’s Suffrage Movement had lasted so long. It took from 1848 until 1920 before the 19th Amendment gave women in our country the right to vote.

Kudos to all those steadfast to the cause for Women's Equal Rights

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Definitely by far hiking the Watkins Glen State Park Gorge Trail was the highlight of Upstate New York for us. We saw 19 waterfalls and climbed 800+ steep stairs up through the canyon gorge. Passing through narrow tunnels cut into the water-carved walls and behind two waterfalls was really thrilling.

Main Entrance Tunnel onto the Gorge Trail

Christa in the red cap on the 225 stair

Watkins Glen Gorge view from the 450 stair

Christa takes on the 575th stair toward Cavern Cascade Falls. Go girl!

Here we are at the next rung beneath another waterfall. It plunges 65 ft.' "I Got YOU Babe"

The catwalk beneath the falls was narrow and wet squeezing along the wall....

Christa was a trooper using her trusting hiking holes as she rose to the challenge of the incredible steep climb. JR knees were a bit worse for the wear he claims.

Kept steadfast climbing up the trail. This staircase brought us to about the 625th stone step

Lastly at "Jacobs Ladder" staircase and wouldn't you guess  it was by far the steepest and longest climb with 185 steps.

Bravo, Hooray, Yippee doodah... Almost to the top...Whoopie!

Upon reaching the summit we cheated and caught a shuttle bus back down the mountain. Primarily for safety reasons, as hiking down the wet staircases seemed like it would be too dicey for Christa. Weighing on the side of caution instead of valor is always a wise option we’ve learned during our travels as road warriors.

Where to next? Southbound through Pennsylvania into Virginia and North Carolina in the Shenandoah National Park along the Skyline Trail 105 miles and Blue Ridge Parkway 469 miles to check out the scenic fall colors. Who knows how many more hiking peaks to climb await there. Tootalou

Farewell to Vermont , New York State Here We Come

President Collidge;ss boyhood home

What a wonderful time we have had during our brief visit to Vermont. A lot of miles exploring this great state in the Toad has brought us to several interesting places. Crossing through the Green Mountains off on a gravel side road found us lost on our way to President Calvin Coolidge’s birthplace in Plymouth. The GPS lead us on the wrong path to a closed gate at a dead end out in the back woods.Keeping a positive frame of mind we just chalked the event up to having had a true Vermont wilderness adventure. Hunting season must have just opened up as well. Several folks in their trucks with hunting dogs, tracking devices and rifles were out. We retraced our way back down the gravel road some six miles before getting in the right direction. The Coolidge State Historic Site of our 30th President’s boyhood homestead was informative. He was VP when President Harding had a stroke and died, thus putting him into the presidency. Seeing the bedroom where Coolidge was born in the farmhouse, a quilt and wooden chest he made as a ten year old, and a nanny chair were a few of the house’s highlights.

Calvin Coolidge was born in this bedroom on the homestead in Plymouth, VT

Another great place was the Wilson Castle in Proctor. It is a lovely 115 acre estate built in the late 1800s nestled on a hillside amongst the trees. The façade of the Castle we discovered was set with English bricks and marble. It is dominated by 19 open arches and shadowed by a towering turret, parapet, and balcony. Imagine three floors with 32 spacious rooms, interior features with 84 stain glass windows, and 13 fireplaces finished with imported tiles and bronze.The grand reception hall was paneled with carved Honduras mahogany. In spite of all the elegance and beautiful antiques the castle was really drafty and cold inside with no heat.

The Norman Rockwell Museum was just ten miles away from one of our campgrounds. So naturally we all had to go check it out. Most of you know of this famous 20th-century American painter and illustrator. During his lifetime (1894-1978) he completed some 2,500 masterpieces of art over five decades. The walls of the museum were covered with many of his masterpieces. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for

The Saturday Evening Post magazine,Boy’s Life, Country Gentleman,McCall, calendars, stamps, greeting cards, portraits of famous people, and numerous advertisements. We saw among the best-known of his works the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter, and the Four Freedoms series. Without a doubt Rockwell was an incredibly amazing talented artist.

Next stop brought us to the New England Maple Museum in Pittsford. It was a chance to learn about the maple products industry. It gave a terrific overview of how maple tree sap is tapped and processed into maple syrup.   This occurs during six weeks only between mid February to the end of March each year for licensed “sugar house” operators who make their living primary as farmers. For every 40 gallons of sap tapped on a maple tree, the final outcome after boiling yields only about a gallon of maple syrup.

 
Lastly, we made a visit to the Robert Todd Lincoln summer home in Manchester. The house was filled with lots of memorabilia from the Lincoln family. For a mere $10,000 user fee, wedding events can be held on the estate.We caught a glimpse of some folks training falcons in flight on the property.JR pulled his jacket sleeve down to cover his hand and extended his arm out to the bird when it landed on the grass nearby. Let’s just say that was rather darning and leave it at that.

We could go on and on about the many attractions in Vermont adding to our journey as traveling life long learners. Upstate New York is calling us to come visit next. Jack Frost covered the campground this morning at 30 degrees… burr! Meanwhile let’s pray we don’t get caught and end up in an early snowstorm. California weather and you all we do truly miss. Wishing you lovely Indian Summer days.

Greetings from Vermont and the Green Mountains