TENNESSEE September 1-16, 2015

After 2 wonderful months in the mountains outside of Asheville, NC we spent the next month just one state east seeing as much of Tennessee as we could in 30 days. The drive on I-40 E has to be one of the most scenic interstates we've seen as it winds through a beautiful forested landscape. Our first stop was at Douglas Dam Headwater Campground on August 31. It was our first TVA park and just east of Knoxville and, I've got to say, camping below a dam is an interesting experience.  

Deciding to catch a visit to Knoxville on our way back we continued east to a beautiful Tennessee State Park at Cumberland Mountain and a 2 night stay. The park's interesting history began as part of the Cumberland Homesteads Project, a New Deal-era that helped relocate poverty stricken families on the Cumberland Plateau to small farms centered on what is now known as the Cumberland Homestead Community. The park itself was acquired in 1938 to provide recreational area for the 250 families selected to homestead and it is still a stunningly beautiful park even 78 years later. The park centers around the man made lake and in addition to 140 campsites there are furnished cabins, a golf course, large pool area and backcountry camping. 

 Our second day there we took a day trip south to visit Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee's largest and most visited state park, 26,000 acres. We hiked along gorges and waterfalls and through lush hardwood forests. Fall Creek Falls , at 256' is one of the highest waterfalls in the eastern US. Thanks to the amazing work of the CCC in the 1940s work began restoring the forest and constructing park amenities which include an 18-hole golf course, horse stables and Olympic-sized swimming pool in addition to cabins and 222 campsites.

 Before leaving Thursday morning we took a beautiful walk around Byrd Lake and across this best know landmark stone bridge, the largest masonry structure ever built by the CCC.

 Just outside the park is the visitor center for the Cumberland Homestead Project and only a short distance away we could see one of the remaining 250 houses built of the locally quarried sandstone.

 The designs included gabled roofs and one or two chimneys, covered porches and interior pine paneling. absolutely darling!

Our next stay would be a week at Cedar Creek Campground on Old Hickory Lake, just 15 miles NE of Nashville. This was another wonderful COE Park, a perfect place for Paul and Foster to spend a few days while I flew back to California. I was joining family members for a special time honoring and saying our last good byes to my brother Harry, spreading his ashes in his favorite place, Morro Bay.  

I loved sharing memories and time with my nieces and nephews and a chance to enjoy time along the coast in absolutely gorgeous weather.

 But as always the days went by too quickly and soon I was on the shuttle back to LAX and my flight back to Nashville.

 There were so many things to see and do in Nashville and we started with a visit to the Cheekwood Gardens and Art Museum, featuring  the unique sculptures of Jaume Plensa of Barcelona. The museum has its origins with the Maxwell House coffee family, who later purchased 100 acres of woodland in West Nashville and built a country estate in the 1930s. The property later became the botanical gardens and art museum of Nashville in 1960.

 We drove on into town to visit the Frist Center for Visual Arts where we saw additional Plensa works. This is one in a series called Silent Faces.  The museum is housed in the city's historic U S Post Office building which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a fascinating art deco building.

 The following day it was time for our history lesson and a visit to The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson.  Visiting most of the day we toured the mansion, the garden and grounds including the slave quarters finishing with Jackson's tomb.

 We still had a good part of the afternoon left so we toured the state capital building. It's one of Nashville's most prominent Greek Revival buildings and it is one of only twelve state capitols that does not have a dome.

Not far from the capitol building was the Parthenon, a real replica of the Parthenon in Greece and originally built for Tennessee's 1897 Centennial Exposition. The most interesting sight was walking into the main building and being greeted by the 42-foot statue of Athena!  Huge, absolutely huge!!!! The building also serves as Nashville's art museum on the lower level which features a group of 63 paintings from 19th and 20th century artists donated by James Cowan, a fabulous collection.

 A real treat for us as we travel is reconnecting with new friends we've met along our travels and so we spent the next morning having breakfast at the Loveless Cafe with Ann and Chuck Niver, very fun. We had met several years before while volunteering at Hunting Island State Park in SC.

After a week's stay it was time to move to a new campground, so on to Cages Bend COE Park, close enough to Nashville to give us another three days to explore. We had reservations for the Grand Ole Opry Friday night and what a blast!!! It's one of those iconic places that must be experienced at least once in a lifetime. Great fun, great music.  

 Saturday we were back in the city for a tour of the Ryman Auditorium. Built in 1892 as a great tabernacle it soon became the center for community events, political rallies and entertainment hosting such amazing talent it was often called the "Carnegie Hall of the South". In 1943 The Ryman became the original home of the Grand Old Opry until 1974. It has been recently renovated and continues as a  performance hall for the concert industry.  After the tour we spent a couple of hours along the famed Honky Tonk Highway, catching music at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, Legends Corner and Layla's Bluegrass Inn, a perfect way to finish our week in the number one country music city.

 Our Nashville stay ended with a beautiful sunset followed by a bike ride the next morning before moving eastward. So on we went to Defeated Creek Campground, an awesome Corps of Engineers Park and lucky us...we got the best campsite in the park, #71. Three days to just sit and enjoy a gorgeous view and walks or bike rides; we stayed out of the car completely. A nice break from big city sight seeing.

 Three days later we were back at the Douglas Dam Tailwater campground for just one night.  This time water had been released from the dam flooding some of the borders of the campground. Reading this sign did unnerve us a bit, especially when the siren would sound and we knew that there was going to be a water release. Don't think I'd want to stay there much more than an over night.

Even though we'd only been in Tennessee for two weeks we needed to get back to Asheville so I could meet with an eye surgeon to discuss the process of removing a growth on my eyelid...so we returned to our sweet friends at Lake Powhaten for just two nights, planning to return to a new part of Tennessee once we had the doctor appointments. 

ST LOUIS, MO. May 7-9, 2016

Oh, this is exciting for me...I just figured out how to post from my iPad without going through the computer. So, I'm trying a post I put on FB yesterday and hoping it posts as well on the blog. If this works, I'll be thrilled. For whatever reason, everything is easier done on the iPad than the laptop, at least for me. My only concern is how much data this might be using but I'll figure that out too. So, with months of nothing recorded on the blog, here is our yesterday!

How good it feels this morning to be traveling WEST after a long weekend in St Louis, MO. We've finally reached blue skies after 3 hours of driving and hoping we're out of touch  from the thunderstorms and tornadoes. Today we'll get across Missouri and into middle Kansas. A long day but so worth it. Waiting in St Louis for the weather to clear in Kansas gave us 2 days of unexpected sight seeing. My favorite was Sunday at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Founded in 1859 it's the oldest botanical garden in continuous operation in the US and a National Historic Landmark. Plus it is just absolutely beautiful! Yesterday we started at the Grant Farm, once home of Ulysses Grant and his family, then time in the historic village of St Charles and its role in the Lewis and Clark adventure. I'm sad to be missing more of Missouri but the weather is definitely determining our travels this week.

The iris were in full bloom at the gardens, amazing colors

This yellow glass art work by Chihuly was stunning and topped both gates at the end of the garden.

Our visit to the 1850's home go General Grant. His family shared it with his wife's slave holding family; 

an avid abolitionist and a southern land owner...such different perspectives in the same house. 

Loved this quote

St Charles, MO and its place with the Lewis And Clark adventure.

ASHEVILLE, NC June 15-30, 2015

My blog is definitely going to take a turn and become more of a photo journal of our life as I finally get back to posting the last six months of memories, and much less to read.

Our destination was Lake Powhaten National Forest Campground for the middle week of June.  Fortunately for us, that week became a three month stay as park volunteers for July, August and October; talk about being in the right place at the right time!!

Once we checked into our campsite, getting the last one in the park that Monday, we were off to visit Sierra Nevada Brewery about 20 minutes south of us.  The brewery had just opened and was absolutely gorgeous! It became our "go to" afternoon stop during our longer stay at Lake Powhaten

 The outdoor patios are so comfortable as well as beautiful.

 Beer bottle chandelier!

 From our campground it was only a 3 mile drive to reach the Blue Ridge Parkway. We took a full  day to explore a southern part of the roadway.

 The rhododendrons were losing their last blooms but we did catch a couple of pinks.

 Stopping at The Cradle Of Forestry Visitor Center gave us a look at the very beginning of forestry in America and it's relationship with the Biltmore Estate.

 After the walking tour of the historic buildings at the Cradle of Forestry we stopped for an ice cream at this very popular spot.

 Thinking we'd only have these 5 days in Asheville, we tried visiting all the highlights of the area. So, of course, we went into town and visited the Asheville Art Museum right downtown.

 And, right next door was the French Broad Chocolate Lounge. A wonderful find, chocolate of every kind, coffee and wine. Perfect combo for PK and me.

 Back at the park, relaxing after running pretty hard each day.

 Up early again to spend the next full day at the Biltmore Estate and Gardens only 20 minutes from us. A beautiful day, warm and as was typical, the afternoon rain clouds moved in and soaked everything before moving on.

 I guess this was also the time I finally took photos of the new interior colors we'd done during the last few weeks. Gone were the red walls in the living room, now changed to a softer mocha brown with an added teal blue accent all around. I love it!

 Before leaving the campground we spoke with Manager Bill and told him we'd love to return to the park as volunteers. He contacted us the next day with the necessary online application to complete and in just 5 days we were returning to Lake Powhaten as Campground Hosts. How lucky for us to be spending the next two months in a gorgeous park with so much more to see and do!

But in the mean time, I had flights back to CA for my annual getaway with my teacher friends. So, we moved east, dropped out of the mountains and PK and Foster spent a week outside of Rutherforton at 4 Paws RV Park. We had met the couple who own it several years before and knew they were Corgi lovers, and we'd always wanted to stay. They offer doggie activities and training, so while I was in CA Paul and Fsoter tried some new tricks.

 After a crazy couple of flights, over 30+ hours of planes, hotels, shuttles etc,  I arrived in SLO, exhausted.

 Diane picked me up, we gathered things from her place and headed for Paso Robles and our beautiful rental for the 12 of us.

 Every year there is always a special reason for a party/celebration and this year, Diane was to become a Grandma for the first time, so we had a surprise Grandma Shower.

 Also spent an afternoon wine tasting at a wonderful winery in west Paso. Such a fun afternoon.

 I love these eleven wonderful women!! We've been going away together each summer for over 20 years! Something that started out as an end of the school year celebration when we were all teaching, has become a yearly time to reconnect and enjoy time together. Now nine of us have retired and some moved away, leaving just the three youngest still in education. Our ages span from the mid forties to mid eighties!

The week in San Luis went by so quickly but wouldn't have been complete without spending time with my sweet friend, Sheri.  We enjoyed an evening in our old hometown of Arroyo Grande, things had sure changed in the years we've been traveling.

 I also had a chance to celebrate another Los Ranchos School Retirement, this one for Marty Warde. So fun spending the afternoon with wonderful friends and colleagues.

 Even ran into old friends I hadn't seen in many, many years, Don and Joyce Wells.

 I squeezed so much into that one week, including annual doctor visits but soon it was time to return to the airport and my life back in NC.

 Flights home were defintiey smoother and easier taking a red eye back to the east coast. PK picked me up in Charlotte, NC. It was still early in the day so we spent a couple hours at the Daniel Stow Botanical Gardens. Beautiful, but a very hot day.

 In addition to walking the gardens we also saw the special exhibit of sculptures from Zimbabwe.

A perfect afternoon at the gardens before making the climb back up to Asheville.  We now were ready to begin our next two months volunteering at Lake Powhaten Campground.