Blue Ridge Parkway Mid and Southern Sections

On a sunny October 23, we left Waynesboro, VA and started down the Blue Ridge Parkway. In many places we felt like we were driving through a cathedral of trees, with sunlight glowing through the yellow and gold leaves. I don't think the photos really show the vibrancy of the colors in their full glory.

We stayed two nights at the Peaks of Otter campground at milepost 86. Eighty to ninety miles is about as far as we drove in one day on the parkway, as the narrow, curvy road with many up and down hill sections is far more demanding than our normal routes - throw in having to pass bicyclists on the blind curves and it gets really interesting. We were able to maintain the speed limit of 45 mph in most places, but many cars were going far faster than that.

When we arrived at Peaks of Otter on Sunday afternoon, the area was crowded with people enjoying the nice weather during the last weekend that the park was fully open. Our walk around the small lake was more like a stroll on a city street, there were so many people out. On Monday, the crowds were gone and we enjoyed two hikes:

In the morning we did the 2.2 mile loop to the Johnson Farm, a fairly typical example of an Appalachian family farm in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The same family owned the farm from its inception until the early 1940's, when it was gifted to the National Park Service. The staff were packing up the house for the winter, so we weren't able to tour the inside, but we were able to explore the outbuildings and have a picnic lunch on the grounds.

That afternoon we did a steep 1.6 mile hike to the Fallingwater Cascades - a very pretty series of cascades that were worth the walk down, but the climb back up was a challenge (at least for Barbara - Shelby wasn't fazed).

We traveled the 86 miles down to our next campground, Rocky Knob, on Tuesday. At first we weren't sure we would find a campsite we could fit into, as most of the sites are C-shaped arcs with too small a radius for our 37 feet to fit into. We did finally wedge into one of the longer sites, but it took some careful maneuvering. This area along the parkway also has some nice trails, but after doing the 1-mile "easy" picnic loop trail and a half mile "moderate" loop up to Rocky Knob, we decided that the park service definition of easy and moderate is not the same as ours!

Just south of Rocky Knob is the Mabry Mill, a combination gristmill and lumber mill that is reputed to be the most photographed site along the Parkway. The area around the mill is set up as a farm museum, with interesting demonstrations of antique equipment. We marveled at the ingenuity required to harness the water from two small creeks, funneling it through several hundred feet of sluices to operate the water wheel. After touring the mill, we stopped at Chateau Morrisette, a winery just off the Parkway, for a nice lunch followed by wine tasting.

With snow and sleet forecast for the Linville Gorge area of the Parkway, we decided to forego our planned drive between Fancy Gap and Asheville, and instead dropped down about 1000 feet to just south of Mt. Airy, NC, where we stayed one night each at two Harvest Hosts wineries. Since it was raining, we went wine tasting instead of hiking. We had a nice lunch at one of North Carolina's oldest wineries, and sampled the wines at several others in the area - the wine industry in North Carolina has expanded greatly in the 14 years since Barbara lived there, and the quality of the wines has definitely improved.

On Saturday, Oct 29 we went on to Asheville, NC, where we stayed at a small RV park perched on a ridge north of town, with a great view out over the French Broad River and the mountains beyond. The approach to the campground was a narrow, one lane gravel road with sharp turns - I'm not sure how motorhomes longer than ours can get up there, but there were a few in the park. The nights were very cold, but daytime temps were in the 50's.

On Sunday we drove about 40 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway south of Asheville; the fall color was still good here, but the haze made photography a challenge. We had our lunch overlooking Looking Glass Mountain, which apparently gets covered with ice and shines like a mirror in the winter.

As we drove further south and up in altitude, we encountered a north-facing rock face covered with frozen seepage. The icicles and sheets of ice were falling off the warming rock and shattering on the road below - we were glad we were in the other lane. This picture was taken at about 1 PM - definitely cooler than we like to be!

On our last day in Asheville, we toured the Biltmore Estate - subject of the next post in this blog.

Skyline and North Blue Ridge Parkways

During our 3 days in Front Royal and 3 days in Waynesboro, VA, we traveled the 105 miles of the Skyline Parkway in Shenandoah National Park, and the northernmost 86 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The weather while we were in Front Royal was not great, but we did drive two sections of the Skyline Parkway when it was only overcast, then on the one rainy day we visited a Civil War museum in Front Royal, and 3 of the many wineries in the area. We really liked the Viogner and Seyval at Fox Meadows Vineyards. Linden and Rappahonnack Cellars also had some very nice wines - Linden makes a 100% Petit Verdot that is deep, thick, and luscious. At the museum, Tom discovered that his great-great grandfather was part of Stonewall Jackson's Shenandandoah campaign during the spring of 1862 - perhaps we'll return someday to trace his steps through this region rich with history and beauty. We found that we could only just begin to appreciate this lovely part of the country in our week here - way too many historic sites, farm markets, wineries, and scenic places to see in just a few days.

Here are some photos from our tour of the Skyline and northern Blue Ridge Parkways. Over the next week, we will travel the Blue Ridge Parkway as far south as Asheville, NC - wish us luck on the hills, curves, and tight campgrounds!



View from the northern end of Skyline Parkway, south of Front Royal, VA

 


Tom and Shelby looking over the Shenandoah Valley from the Skyline Drive

 


Fall color along the Skyline Drive - overlooking the Shenandoah Valley - the haze is largely due to coal burning electrical generators and other man-made sources. If it were 1850, we could see the Allegenies from here!

 


More fall color with the Allegeny Mountains in the background, on the southern section of the Skyline drive with the Shenandoah Valley in the distance - what a difference in visibility a bit of rain during the night makes.

 


Barbara and Shelby above Arnold Valley on the northern section of the Blue Ridge Parkway - I wonder if I had ancestors in the area?

 


Fall color on the Blue Ridge looking over Arnold Valley, VA

  


The James River at its intersection with the Blue Ridge Parkway at about mile 65 - on a lovely clear Fall day. The James was the most important river in Virginia's colonial days - at this point, a canal went along the left side of the river, with locks that lifted boats past rapids. Now there is a dam downstream that slows the river. In the mid-1800's, the railroads made the canals superfluous, but the remnants of the locks preserved here serve as a reminder of earlier days.

 


Along the northern Blue Ridge Parkway, sun shining through the yellow leaves. Aren't we going to have fun driving the motorhome up this road tomorrow?

 


Mostly leafless trees silhouetted against the yellows and reds along the northern Blue Ridge Parkway

 

Family Visits and Engine Issues

For the last couple of weeks we've been visiting family in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. We also spent a few days in Gettysburg, which will be the subject of another post.

Tom's cousin Judy Packard treated us to both lunch and dinner at her weekend home in Martinsburg, West Virginia - Judy has an avid interest in genealogy, and has a wonderful library of source material that rivals that of some historical societies. She also has interesting collections of antiques and various Packard memorabilia displayed throughout her home. We had a great time talking family history and current affairs. 

The following weekend we went out for dinner with Tom's younger daughter Tisha, and figured out it's been 5 years since they last saw each other. Tisha lives on the north side of Philadelphia, which has not been on any of our itineraries until now. On Sunday, we enjoyed a wonderful warm afternoon at the RV park in Coatesville with Tisha, her friend David, and Tisha's two Bedlington Terriers, Hamlet and Ophelia. Unfortunately, Shelby is not fond of other dogs, so we had to keep them somewhat separated. Tisha did a nice demonstration for us, getting Shelby to heel and come around (we've really undone most of Shelby's great early training by letting her just wander on walks, but she responded to Tisha's commands right away). We were quite negligent, and did not take any photos during this visit.

We had planned to spend a week in Arlington, VA, visiting the National Archives for some research, then spending time with Barbara's brother Jim's family - but instead spent 3 days in Harrisburg, PA getting a bad injector in our diesel engine replaced. Not fun to go up hills on only 3 cylinders, limping along at 10 mph with emergency flashers warning drivers coming up behind! Fortunately they did finally figure out what was wrong, and fixed it under warranty, so while we lost 3 days, it didn't break the bank. 

We did spend the weekend with Jim's family - we left our motorhome at the park and spent the night at Jim's place in Arlington, catching up with him, his wife Susan and their children Isabel and Matthew. Their dog Boomer, a very mellow black Lab, had no problem with Shelby, nor she with him - I'm beginning to think it's only dogs her own size she tries to dominate. Jim has a great wine cellar, and treated us to delicious grilled lamb with a nicely matched vintage for dinner. On Sunday morning, we all went to Isabel's soccer game - it was her 17th birthday, and you'd think she'd deserve a win, but the opposing team's goalie was just too good, and all but one of her team's attempts were fended off. After the game, we again had an interesting and tasty meal, followed by a mile-long walk down the hill to a neat little neighborhood "market" that is actually a beer garden. I think the walk back up the hill probably took care of some of the calories we'd consumed.

Ohio Travels

We spent the last two weeks of September circling around Ohio, visiting, giving workshops, and generally enjoying scenery that was new to both of us.

A - Allegeny State Park, NY

B - Geneva, OH

C - Cincinnati, OH

D - Celina, OH

E - Falling Waters, WV

After two days at Allegeny State Park, which was nearly deserted on a Monday and Tuesday after Labor Day, on Oct 14 we traveled to one of our Harvest Hosts wineries, Virant Family Winery in Geneva, OH. Charlie Virant helped us get situated at the edge of the parking lot, then gave us tastes of a number of his wines. We liked his Mya's Majesty, a light-bodied dry red blend named after his dog Mya.

That evening, we enjoyed dinner with our friend Darren Warren, one of Tom's coworkers at SNBL, who is now working in Painesville, OH, just down the road from Geneva. We had a nice time catching up on the happenings at SNBL and with our respective families.

On the 15th, we made a one-night stop in Columbus, OH so Barbara could have her eyes checked and order a years' worth of contact lenses at Costco. The next day we drove down to Cincinnati, where we stayed for 4 nights at the Family Motor Coach Association campground. Over the weekend, we went across the Ohio River to Kentucky for some genealogy research. One of Tom's ancestors immigrated from Ireland, served in the Revolutionary War, and farmed near Union, KY. He is buried in a family plot that is now on the 18th hole of a golf course! The county library in Burlington has a large collection of local history and genealogy sources, so we spent a few hours filling in some details for Tom's records. We also enjoyed a nice dinner and visit with Jim and Kathy Maurer at their lovely home just north of Cincinnati. Jim was one of Tom's regular golf partners when they both attended annual Society for Toxicological Pathology meetings.

On Monday the 19th, Barbara helped Donna Simmons, a friend from our histology days, give a workshop on writing a scientific paper at the National Society for Histotechnology Annual Symposium. We also visited with a number of old friends at the Charter Members reception that evening. Even though we've both been out of the field for almost 30 years, we treasure memories of our times in NSH, and it's great to see people we remember fondly.

From Cincinnati we moved on to Celina, OH for our first Eastern Gypsy Gathering - an annual RV rally put on by Nick and Terry Russell, authors of the Gypsy Journal, a publication for RVers and wanna-be RVers. We first met Nick and Terry at the Life on Wheels conferences in 2007 and 08, but this was the first time we were able to attend one of their rallies. We had a great time, despite the cool rainy weather - four classes a day, vendors we patronized too generously, door prizes and entertainment in the evenings, and lots of new people to meet. We especially enjoyed the classes taught by Jim and Chris Guld, the Geeks on Tour. In fact, I learned how to set up this blog in one of their classes. Tom and I gave a session on Harvest Hosts, and also hosted a get-together for the Newmar RV owners - 11 of the 110 RVs at the rally were Newmars.

After spending last night at the WalMart in Morgantown, WV, we are now in Falling Waters, WV, just southwest of Hagerstown, MD. The drive from Morgantown was very interesting despite the incessant rain - fall colors are beginning to pop, and I-68 snakes up, down, and around through the mountains of northern West Virginia and far western Maryland. Barbara used low gears and the compression brake quite frequently! The dramatic geology of the area is displayed in the cuts made to smooth the road - we even saw some people parked on the side of the interstate collecting coal that had crumbled down from an exposed vein. We would like to come back here sometime when the sun is shining, rather than in the rain that we've driven in all day yesterday and today! 

Tomorrow we'll visit with Judy Packard, one of Tom's cousins who works in DC, but lives in Martinsburg, just south of here.

Next week we'll visit Gettysburg, PA, then go on to Coatesville, PA to visit with Tom's daughter Tisha, followed by a week in Virginia, where we'll visit with Barbara's brother Jim and his family and do some research at the National Archives in DC.

Three weeks in Maine

After leaving Canada, we spent 3 weeks in 3 places on the Maine coast: Harrington, Bar Harbor, and Old Orchard Beach, where we sat out Tropical Storm Irene.

We had no problems re-entering the US at Calais, ME - we'd heard some horror stories from other RVers, but the inspector who cleared us barely looked at the motorhome; he didn't open any cupboards, or ask us to open any slides - just made us discard the one lime we had in the refrigerator.

Sunset Point Campground on Harrington Bay had a nice mown path along the water, from which Tom took this photo at high tide the day we arrived. We splurged and ordered the lobster dinner - for $9 per pound, the campground owner cooked and delivered lobsters to our door at the time requested, complete with bibs and shell crackers. We figured it would be the last lobster we would have during this trip.





A few days later, here is the same scene at low tide. The rocks are covered with seaweed, and the aroma is quite different!

While we were at Sunset Point, we drove around Schoodic Point, the quieter side of Acadia National Park. We wished we had brought our folding chairs and lunch, as we could have spent a long time looking out over the rocky shore as the waves came crashing in.

Here is another view from Schoodic Point, looking south toward Cadillac Mountain on Mt. Desert Island, the highest point of Acadia National Park and home to the most visited features of the park.
On another day while we were in Harrington, we toured the Sardine Museum in Jonesport and learned more than we ever imagined about the sardine fishery and canning operations that were the basis of the area's economy for many years. We also visited the Bartlett Maine Estate Winery and Distillery, where we found a lovely dry Pear Wine that rivals a dry riesling for serving with spicy food, and a pear brandy that captured the essense of ripe pear. The winery has lovely grounds that are landscaped with native species - we'd seen flowering bunchberries at the Anne of Green Gables museum in Prince Edward Island, and here we saw them with the ripe red berries.

After we moved down to Narrows Too RV Park outside Bar Harbor, we took the shuttle bus around Mt. Desert Island, and stopped for lunch at Jordan Pond House atop Cadillac Mountain. The traffic was awful - the bus inched along in a solid line of cars around the north side of the island - if we go back to Acadia National Park, it will not be in August! It was a lovely warm sunny day after several days of rain, and everyone was out touring. After lunch we walked down to Jordan Pond, with the Bubbles ( the rounded hills in the background) in the distance.

On another nice day, we drove around the southeastern part of Acardia National Park, and visited Bass Harbor lighthouse - click on this photo to enlarge it to see the parade of boats progressing through the sound toward harbors farther down the Maine coast.

This four-masted schooner takes tourists on short sails out of Bar Harbor. As we walked the Shoreline Path out from the Bar Habor marina, we watched the boat take off the from the dock and raise its sails, before it sailed off into the fog bank and disappeared from view.



Our days in Maine ended in Old Orchard Beach, where we just kicked back to relax for a few days after all our sightseeing in the Bar Harbor area. We did make a trip down to Kittery Point for lunch at the Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier, which was recommended by Richard Grassy, a former coworker of Barbara's. The sun was shining, they let Shelby sit under the table on the deck, and we had the final lobster rolls of our Northeastern trek. Life is good.



St. John and Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick

We spent our last few days in Canada in St. John, New Brunswick, at the nice RV park in Rockwood Park. This large city park has miles of walking trails and several small lakes. Our main reason for spending time in St. John was to research Tom's Orkney Island ancestors who immigrated to the area in the early 1800's, and others who were Tories evicted from the US after the Revolutionary War. Tom's fifth great-grandfather is buried in the Old Burial Grounds, which provide a nice green respite right in the middle of downtown St. John.

The St. John River flows through the city and out into the Bay of Fundy, which is known for its extreme tides. We visited the Reversing Falls, where the river is squeezed through a narrow gap, to see the river actually reverse its flow when the incoming tide overcomes the outgoing river:

At 12:35 pm, the incoming tide has not yet overcome the flow of the river. Note the partially submerged rock with water swirling around.

By 3:52 pm, the tide was near high, and the rock is submerged. The St. John River is squeezed by the narrow gap at this point, and the river bed is very rocky, causing lots of whirlpools.

A few minutes after the previous photo, the incoming tide has reversed the flow

 

Two days later, in the rain. When the river current and outgoing tidal current combine, this stretch of the river is impassable by boat.



Water swirling over the submerged rocks and ledge at the reversing rapids. The whirlpools constantly formed and re-formed as the current bounced off the walls of the narrow passage.

On a sunny Saturday, we drove back north to Hopewell Rocks near the top of the Bay of Fundy. These interesting pillars and arches have been carved by the rising and falling of the tides, which can vary up to 43 feet between low and high water. In the 3 hours before and after low tide, it's possible to walk on the floor of the bay.


We climbed down more than 100 steps to reach the "beach"



The mud around the rocks was very gooey and sticky - we kept to the firmer ground. At high tide, the water comes about half way up the biggest rock - the passage between the pillars is completely under water. We were fascinated by the shapes worn by the constant tides - on the left we see an old woman's profile (with a big pointy nose!) - and if you use your imagination the rock on the right looks a bit like a standing bear.

Another section of the coastline, bare at low tide

 

South of the rocks, miles of mud flats are exposed, with muddy streams cutting through the muck.

View of the rocks from the cliff above

So ends our 7-week tour of the Canadian Maritimes and Newfoundland. We'll need to return at some point - while we saw and did a lot, there's a lot more to these provinces than we had time to explore!

Glenora Distillery and Broad Cove Scottish Concert

On a lovely Sunday in Nova Scotia, we drove to the western side of Cape Breton Island to tour the only single malt whisky distillery in North America, then on to the Broad Cove Scottish Concert, an annual celebration of Celtic music.

The Glenora Distillery and Inn, which survived several cash-flow crises during its first few years, is now an award-winning producer of single-malt whisky (otherwise known as Scotch, but only if it comes from Scotland). The pool in front of the distillery is a collection reservoir for water from McLellan's Brook, which flows through the grounds behind the building pictured above, as the mash process requires more water than can be drawn from the creek itself at one time:


McLellan Brook, flowing between the distillery and and the Inn and restaurant that are part of the complex.



 Gary and Tammy Beeler, long time friends of Barbara's who moved from sailboats to motorhomes long before we did, joined us for the tour of Glenora:





The distilllery tour was short, but very interesting, and the building houses a nice exhibit explaining the production of single-malt whisky and its history in Scotland and Nova Scotia.This huge mash tun is where the sugars are extracted by soaking the malted, smoked, and ground barley in hot water. The extracted sugar water ferments with added yeast to about 9% alcohol. It then goes through two disllations that concentrate the alcohol first to 22% in the right hand still, then to about 70% in the left hand still. The final alcohol content is adjusted with additional water, then aged in oak barrels for a number of years.

After the tour, we tasted the 10-year-old Glen Breton single malt - it was luscious, smooth and nutty with a very long finish. Unfortunately, the price was well beyond our budget!

We then went just a few miles north to the grounds of St. Margaret's Church at Broad Cove, for the 55th Annual Broad Cove Scottish Concert. This event turned out to be a "down home" affair, where locals and returning locals spent more time visiting than listening to the many small groups who performed.

We had especially looked forward to hearing Natalie MacMaster and her husband Donnell Leahy (Donnell grew up in Broad Cove), who were scheduled from 7-9 pm - unfortunately, they didn't get started til after 8, then only played a few numbers before turning the stage over to their numerous nieces and nephews - good family fun, but not really what we'd come to hear.

As always, Natalie was dressed to the nines - hard to believe they have 4 children under the age of 6. She and Donnell are incredible fiddlers - we have loved their music since hearing them in concert at the University of Florida.

Cabot Trail, Cape Breton Island, NS

After returning from Newfoundland, we spent several extra days exploring Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. First, we drove the Cabot Trail, the famed drive around the north end of Cape Breton, around the edges of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, and along some dramatic shorelines. To get to Cape Breton from North Sydney, where we were camped, we used the Englishtown Ferry to cross the narrow opening between St. Ann's Harbour and St. Ann's Bay, to the sandy spit of land extending from Cape Breton:

The current rushing through this narrow gap is very strong when the tides change, so the ferry uses the cable you can see in the foreground to keep itself on target. The whole ride takes less than 5 minutes, but cuts about half an hour off the travel time to Cape Breton.

As we drove north on the east coast of Cape Breton, the road snaked up, down, and around, providing many spectacular views on the clear, warm day that we were lucky to have for our drive:



Looking southeast along the eastern Cape Breton Island shoreline



We proceeded across the top of the National Park, stopping to view waterfalls that looked good in person, but not so great in photos. We stopped at the Rusty Anchor restaurant on the northwest edge of our drive, and enjoyed lunch on the deck as we watched tour boats in search of whales and persuaded Shelby that she had to stay off the edge of the deck.

On the west coast of Cape Breton, the road again twists and turns, high above the coast. We stopped at several lookouts to see if we could spot whales, but had no luck. We did stop on one lookout with one end cordoned off by police tape, and an ambulance on site - turned out that some unfortunate soul had driven his car right through the guardrail and down the steep slope - we never did find out what became of the driver.

We enjoyed the drive around Cape Breton, but were glad we were in the car, not the motorhome!