Maine and NB Canada

Left: Rockport ME

Right: This photo belongs to previous post.....obviously Hershey PA!

June 30, 2009. The Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, is easy to find and hard to forget. Crossing into Canada at Calais, Maine, past the Chocolate Factory, changing some money (Canada is now a bit of a bargain at $.85 to the $1.00, a 15% bonus for us), visiting the Tourist Center, we learned the tides comings and goings, and bounced (the roads aren't all that good) our way through St. John and along the coast, up to Moncton and down to Hopewell Rocks, in time to see the tide at its highest. The Bay is a huge funnel, with the narrow neck being what they call the Chocolate River. When the tide comes in it all fills up and when it empties it is possible to walk on the ocean floor...or at least the Bay floor. Which we did the next day. Spruce trees grow on top of formations of earth that look like flower pots, so when the tide is out the pots are exposed fully and arches below help give a visual landmark to the ebb and flow. Overnight in the Fundy National Park, in the rain, but beautiful. The experience of being on the floor of mud below what was 30 feet of water yesterday is pretty astonishing. Lots of rock, chocolate mud, tiny snail critters, seaweed, a mild drizzle, and it feels pretty far away from Northern California.
Ever heard of Poutine??? Turns out it is a pile of french fries with gravy and cheese. Passed that one by. Eating lots of seafood. I think I had my last white meal yesterday, of fish and chips (substitute baked potato for french fries) with sour cream, tartar sauce and coleslaw. Haddock is delicious, fish chowder wonderful, lobster rolls terrific. All white. Back to broccoli and salads for me. I anticipate seeing again the things I had become used to: saltbox architecture (no eaves), water everywhere, huge lakes, green marsh to the edge of lakes and bays and oceans, ride-on mowers, turnpikes, thunderclouds and rain, the Atlantic on the wrong side of the car, lots of woods, metal stars on homes, electric candles in windows, shrink wrapped boats in dry dock, church spires, American flags everywhere, on RVs, cemeteries, lining highways, in small towns, along promenades on ocean fronts.
When we were still in New Hampshire, we left in 85 degree (wet) weather, and went to Rockland, Rockport and Camden ME, each one delightful, cool, foggy, 59 degrees and wet. Went through Buckport and over a new bridge of a design I had never seen...looked somewhat like a Calatrava, but with a single center suspension support strung between two towers, with one lane on each side. One tower was the Penobscot Observatory at the site of Fort Knox, where the Brits defeated the US Navy in the war of independence. Through Rockport-Camden ME was a two mile drive of gorgeous homes and a farm of Belted Galloway cows (black with white belts). End of June in downeast Maine impressions: Still blooming, dogwood, peonies, lacecap hydrangeas covering a building, huge copper beeches, impatiens, petunias, hostas. Windjammers (schooners) in the 'haabaa', multiple small towns,...Red barns, garage sales, quarries, cemeteries. Shops advertising Antiques, Books, and Wine.
A couple of days ago we went to Freeport ME where the old barn of the LL Bean outlet we visited 30 years ago has been transformed into an upscale building for their sports gear, and a brand spanking' new square block of shops, including Brooks Brothers, J Crew, Body and Bath...well, you get the idea. Shirts for both of us in BB (one I've been seeking for two years). Every place was dog friendly and Lucy got lots of attention and treats. Acadia National Park provided a loop road, foggy, but a chance to see this magnificient park (green) and stop by a beach inlet (it wasn't raining!). Bar Harbor is charming and provided shop with a raincoat for Lucy. We drove even further down east to Dennysville through Cherryfield, the 'blueberry capital of the world.' A few huge old Victorian homes, one with a model train in the backyard with a man riding on it. Route 1 was the worst road, except for occasional re-paved stretches.
Decided against going to Nova Scotia and/or Ontario at this point. Found a delightful little campground on the shores of a small lake near the border and although it was misty there was no real rain until early a.mm. Back through rural roads to Maine, crossing just beyond McAdam, NB. The US Customs boarded us and looked in the closets, cupboards and refrigerator, confiscating citrus which we had bought in Maine. No matter, if it has been in Canada it can't come back in; goodbye lemon and lime. Going to Bangor, we left the I95 for Route 2, another worst road except for stretches of new paving and some construction; the snow must really do a job here each winter. Small towns with delightful old Victorians; lots of pride of ownership here, things very well kept on the whole. Towns such as Newport, Palmyra, Skowhegan, Norridgewock along the Kennebec River.....Farmington, Wilton, Dixfield with a huge crane unloading logs from trucks and stacking them for processing. Lots of wood up here in these woods. Small grassy campsite had everything we needed, including another Navion like Betsy with a dog named Ruby (Llhasapoo) who romped with Lucy for a while.
We're off to Vermont today, and probably going to Niagra Falls...More later.

DC, Philadelphia, NYC, Massachusetts and Beyond

The last 20 days have been a bit of a blur. The Morgans arrived on schedule at Dulles, meeting us the next morning at their hotel. Marvelous sight, the big lovely wonderfully decorated hotel lobby, a bigger space to lounge in than we'd had in 6 weeks or so. Adventure started with driving to Alexandria (actually Springfield, I think), to meet Pauls' Uncle Chet (Col, retired, USMC fighter jet pilot) and Aunt Cam. They welcomed us as family, parked Betsy in the drive, took Lucy while we toured and were the most wonderful hosts you can imagine. We left most mornings about 9 or 10, toured sometimes through dinner sometimes not. They shuttled us back and forth to the Metro, bless their hearts. Wonderful conversations, a tour of the church where Chet has done major research and George Washington worshipped, and a chance to exchange books with fellow bookie Cam.

The time with Barrie, Paul, Kyle and Reed was just wonderful. We travel well together, although Betsy is smallish for 6 of us. The Morgans camped all of three nights, while the plan was to camp every night except for DC and NYC. But it rained. And rained and rained. And rained.

Sights we saw: Mount Vernon, an all day adventure. air and Space Museum, the Castle of the Smithsonian and its garden, the Washington and Lincoln monuments. Gene's injured back and hip gave out, so he and Paul found a pedicab and a beer and met us while we walked the mall. Dinner one night with the Jones in their Georgetown home was a special treat. Their garden is lovely, the house a four story delight, the dinner delicious and their hospitality outstanding. That was also the day the Morgans rented a van so we could drive to see the National Cathedral, emassy row, picnic, park in Georgetown in the Jones driveway (Pete even drove us downtown!), and visit the White House Visitor Center, the Spy Museum, the National Portrait Gallery. Piled into a cab, having noticed the amazing traffic all around, and a long time later landed in Georgetown. That was the day of the shooting at the Holocaust Museum, and it caused a major traffic jam in the center of DC. We sped past the lighted memorials on the way back to VA.

At the end of the week, the Morgans met their friends the Maloneys for a hike/picnic, we took the day off, and next day drove to Gainesville VA so Kyle and Reed could meet Erica and Nate, cousins they didn't even know they had! Steph and Sean are doing so well, beautiful big house and grounds, kids healthy and lively, jobs going well. They hosted us overnight with wonderful food and accomodations, and the kids had a great time.

The drive toward Philadelphia was up highway 15, the History Highway, and a good stop at Gettysburg, Hard to imagine the style of warfare practiced then, with advancing lines of men and artillery, being cut down by fire from those on the hills around. Scary how close the South came to winning the war and how different a country we would be. On to Hershey for the tour, just as much fun as a Disney ride, and souvenirs of chocolate all around. Then a wonderful back roads drive to the campground at Coatesville PA, behind buggies of Amish, fields being worked by families in traditional dress. We stopped to buy eggs, jams, honey. The campground is a 'destination' campground, with locals there for their after-school holiday. The rain held off until we left, although there were major thunderbumpers in Philadelphia which passed Coatesville by. The big grassy sites were great for rvs and tents alike. The camp hosts were nice enough to give us a ride to the train station and pick us up after touring. Independence Square is impressive, the Ben Franklin underground museum a good start on what will be a more complete museum soon, the Liberty Bell did not disappoint, a printing demonstration taught me that our documents have survived because they were printed on cloth, AND I learned a lot more, like why we use July 4th as our day of independence. Reading Market was terrific with more booths and foods than you can count. I guess the Philly cheese steak sandwich was authentic...it was certainly big enough!...too big for both Kyle and me, and delicious. Lucy stayed in camp, being walked and played with by a couple who work there for the summer. Their lifestyle takes them from Florida to Pennsylvania and back again according to season, living in their RV and visiting their kids and grandkids in both places. So many ways to live a life.

On to New York. Following the gps instructions to the Lincoln Tunnel, we wondered at the 'no bottled propane' sign, but as our propane is tanked, not bottled, we thought we would be OK. Hadn't counted on the sturdy Parking Authority cop walking briskly to us as we approached the toll plaza, telling us to turn around, where to go, and then stopping traffic in both directions so we could leave and go up to the George Washington Bridge. With pilot Paul at the wheel, and Barrie navigating via a map, we swung around and got out of there.

Approaching Manhattan...now, what to do with Betsy? We heard there was an open parking lot nearby, but not wanting to drive blindly into Manhattan mid-afternoon, Barrie got on her IPhone and found a lot just two blocks from our apartment. Unloading our city bags and some staples, we found the third floor dog-friendly apartment comfortable and well appointed with two bedrooms, two baths, and couches for the kids. We figure our hosts live elsewhere mainly, but as they are both opera singers, their pied-a-terre behind Lincoln Center is an income stream for them and a haven for us. A walk to Central Park and back helped orient us to the neighborhood. Sights: doormen, cabs, construction, shops, shops, shops, services of all kinds, day care centers, pre-schools in matching pinneys on leashes, high schools, theaters, buses, more cabs, moms and strollers, dads and briefcases, nannies and kids, workers of all kinds, pocket parks, dogs, dogs, dogs, flowers, and TALL BUILDINGS, lots of them. Dense, dense, dense, crammed with people, mostly pleasant!

We quickly learned the whys and wherefores of the transit system...imagine having to have $2.00 worth of quarters each time you get on a bus! The natives buy cards, but we jingled all the way to the bus and back. Since it was RAINING, we went shopping the first day, to the Apple Store, a marvel of a glass block above ground. The contrast between it and The Plaza across the end of Central Park was startling! The group huddled outside on the sidewalk under umbrellas were not stragglers from a tour, but in fact early in line for the 7 a.m. sale the next day of the new IPhone. Those Mac people...I don't know....The Deli Cafe we found near Barneys was one of those wonderful New York places where you can get anything....a reuben, roasted veggie sandwiches, mac and cheese, cheeseburgers, etc. in a narrow little building with tables on the second floor. FAO Schwartz drew the boys, Barrie and I hit Barneys and later, the NorthFace. Somehow coming from Hawaii to Manhattan to buy North Face from Berkeley seemed odd, but it worked. A new rain jacket replaced the one Barrie wore for 10 years until it's coating fell off this summer, and Kyle got his sweatshirt, replacing the one that disappeared at SFO on the way over.

The Museum of Natural History was a disappointment. Maybe it's the advent of television and all those nature shows, but dark museums of stuffed people and animals just doesn't do it anymore. Reed particularly wanted to see the Minerals and Gems, which the sign said, was closed after 1 p.m. 'due to budget cutbacks.' The day was saved by a walk to Zabars for the experience, and for dinner goodies. Gene and Lucy had stayed home as Gene's neck was acting up, so cold drinks were waiting.

The Statue of Liberty day was great, with little rain, long lines, but a look inside the statue from the platform. The ferry ride to Liberty Island and Ellis Island (we didn't get off) was wonderful. Landing we stoked up on coffee and treats, subwayed up town and did lots of walking, to the Empire State Building and on to Grand Central Station, where we caught a subway home. Well, we got on the wrong train, an express which didn't stop where we thought it would. But by now we were seasoned enough to get off and walk through the neighborhoods, stopping at the post office open past 5 o'clock on a Friday night, to the wine shop, at the cheese shop, the CVS, and stroll past Lincoln Center with lines forming for performances. Lucy had spent the day at the groomers....pick up and delivery service, thank you...and was returned to us looking like a City Dog.

Then came the time to pack up and head out, done with a minimum of fuss, and off to Boston area, over turnpikes and thruways, with a stop at the oldest motorcycle shop in New Haven CT for Kyle. A beautiful array of bikes inside....wished I'd taken my camera in.

We were to camp at Cape Ann and spend time there on this beautiful bay, visiting Rockport (the end of the world) and Gloucester. But there was no protection for the campers at the campground, so Barrie found a little camp with a cottage. We should have known when we saw the office was a beat-up old house trailer, or when Barrie brushed a cockroach off my shoulder while standing in the moldy trailer, or most particularly when he asked for payment in cash only. But we had little choice at that point, so we parked Betsy in a grassy,muddy spot,and Morgans lugged bedrolls into one room in a string of unoccupied rooms with bath at the end of the hall, in this 'fishing camp' on the Little River. Never mind that there were no showers, we couldn't wait to get out of there the next day. The rest of Cape Ann was terrific, and of course, it kept RAINING. The solution to the wet dilemma was to check into the Cape Hedge Hotel. The solution to the narrow streets was to rent-a-wreck van. The solution to the kids being restless was to send them to the indoor heated pool and let them lay about with TV and soda while Mom and Dad went exploring. The drive around Rockport and Glosta was terrific. Very few tourists there, despite the week of dory races in Glosta, as the weather was so unseasonal. Last year it was 90, we were told.

Impressions: Halibut Point State Park, with a mammoth quarry now filled with water and rocky shores of the Atlantic. Picturesque statue of fisherman wearing sou'wester at the wheel and bronze tablets with names of the many men lost at sea during the height of the fishing years. Settlers were mainly Italian and Portugese. A draw bridge with plaque commemorating the man who dug the canal from the river to the bay, in 1623. Lots of fresh, fresh, fresh, seafood. The Causeway on Father's Day an especial treat, with platters piled high with haddock, lobster, sole, fish and chips, scallops. Bring your own wine and beer as these are dry towns in the restaurants. Rockport is more charming than Belvedere or Tiburon, but similar. Gloucester has a maritime museum, a harbor loop walk, a Coast Guard station with roll-over boats, retail and wholesale fish markets, the HQ of Gorton's fish, multiple bars, a fish shipping business, and a distinct lack of architectural controls. The homes surrounding these two villages are astounding and beautiful, set on large plots of ground, wonderfully landscaped. Prices are Bay Area similar. Marsh land is everywhere. They have preserved their marshes; especially stringent controls were put in after a condo development ate one of them. The dinky Corte Madera marsh doesn't hold a candle to these acres of lush green sponges.

We loved talking to the cook and his wife at the hotel; a former fisherman he gave us the low down on life in Cape Ann. I would go back, and as much as I'd love to see it in the sunshine, it was sooo appropriate that it was misty.

On to Boston for a day of Freedom Walk-ing, graveyards, Quincy Market (what a mess of a tourist place), a walk on the Long Wharf, gaping at the old and the new architecture, seeing dates that are common there when California was populated by Jesuits and Indians, walking on Boston Common. Lucy was carried in her airplane travel bag on the MBTA, while other dogs were just held in laps. The Marriott where the Morgans were staying the night before Hawaii departure provided a shuttle to the airport MBTA and back, so transportation and parking Betsy were no problem. Dinner at an old Italian restaurant recommended by the shuttle driver...'I've been going there since I was a kid!", a couple of $10 tips and he shuttled us there and back on his regular hotel/airport runs.

Saying good-bye to the Morgans was really hard, but we soldiered on and drove to the Concord area for a couple of days of lay-about. The campground was a mud hole and it was RAINING. Which led me to AccuWeather.com and the discovery that mid-New Hampshire was going to be fair the next day!!! So we trundled off to Chocorua and a lovely campsite on the shores of Moore's Pond, in the foothills of the White Mountains. Lovely site, best dog park (with agility equipment no less!), great walking trails, and a chance to clean up and chill out. We're plotting our move to the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, within a day or so. Catch you from Canada!

Hugs,
Gail and Gene, and Lucy too

Virginia

June 6, 2009. Photo tragedy....accidentally wiped out all the photos from the last couple of days, including Appomattox. Sob. Learned a couple of things, though, but probably not enough to keep me from doing it again! Nick will tell me, again, the fail-safe methods, but of course I'll just short cut them in a fit of forgetting.

So no photos of the farmers market in Roanoke, continuously operating since the 1880s. Or of the Taubman Art Museum, which looks like a Gehry gone slightly awry, tucked in between old building, the railroad tracks, and reconstructed market place buildings. Or of the many coal cars we saw sitting on sidings on the railroad. In Lynchburg, we traversed the Jerry Falwell parkway and saw the Liberty College, which I think is his. Huge campus of very impressive brick buildings, spanking clean.

Appomattox National Park is impressive, beautifully laid out, nicely restored buildings, plaques commemorating Lee's surrender to Grant to end the Civil War, one of the bloodiest in our history. The downtown if this little town is quaint. We lunched at Granny Bee's, which offered a choice of two sides with my flounder, all listed under vegetables, all either fried (potatoes) or creamed (corn) or sweetened (tomatoes), and including coleslaw and macaroni salad. Not a fresh anything under veggies. Gene says the pie was very good.

Driving the back roads, mostly, from there to near Madison, VA, we skirted Charlottesville (we'd been to Monticello some years back and decided it hadn't changed all that much so we wouldn't brave the traffic to see it again). The back roads took us through some gorgeous, GREEN country....it's raining again, does it always rain here???? We went through several hollers, where single and double-wides have been improved in every way imaginable...with basements, porches, additions at either end or in the middle, painted, vined, landscaped, or not. Then into big farms, e.g., Golden Fox on the James, Viewmont, Montecito, all acres and acres of rolling green pasture, raising angus cattle, horses, hay. We were on the Constitution Route, VA 20 until emerging into outskirts of Charlottesville. Very upscale outskirts. Talk about culture shock.

June 6, 2009. The rain seems to have stopped, the ground fog is clearing. Today is catch upday before we drive to Dulles tomorrow to meet the Morgans. Doubt I'll be doing much blogging while we are with them. We plan to be in Alexandria a week, then to Pennsylvania Dutch country and Philadelphia, on to NYC where we've rented an apartment in Manhattan for 3 days, then Boston area, and the Morgans leave from Boston on June 24. See ya!

North Carolina and Virginia

June 2, 2009. So the carrier sitting next to us at patio lunch yesterday contained a dachshund.......convinced me to buy the soft airline regulated carrier for Lucy and to give it a try in public places with No Pets signs. She doesn't go in willingly, but once in she happily joined us in the Craft Guild and Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Gene says it's not hard to carry her on his shoulder.

The Center is both an artists guild and an exhibition of NFS works. The weavings and quilts were beautiful; finally, quilts not from China. But I see why so few are produced for sale; the one I liked was a 52 x 52 wall hanging, priced at $1250. These were not country quilts....very sophisticated. Maybe I should go back to quilting.

Asheville itself is an interesting city architecturally, with blocks of churches and civic buildings that are varied in style and period. Most outstanding: the fully operational Woolworth's, with soda fountain. AND the Kress 5 & 10 a few blocks away. Awesome. Guess some cities stick to the past and what works, and some companies have the good sense to keep a small sample of what worked. I have no idea who owns them now, but they appear very real from the outside. Their Farmer's Market is a year round enterprise of both wholesale and retail vendors, in big long sheds. Local, or almost local: peaches, tomatoes, corn called 'bi', meaning both white and yellow, also known as Peaches and Cream. Broccoli looked sad after its travel from California.

Hickory: furniture manufacturing is not thiving, but there are many large outlets for furniture and enough traffic to make one think they are working. Just off a busy highway we found a Starbucks, a Camping World and a KOA. What more do we need to do the errands and quiet down. Nothing to recommend this campground except the fireflys........love that winking and blinking.

June 3, 2009. Statesville has about 100 homes near the downtown area, 98% of them restored, and of several periods. They've done a good job of keeping them up to date; the town is apparently prosperous as the storefronts are all occupied, but there are many homes for sale or rent...as everywhere we've been. Nearby Winston-Salem offered the mother of all shopping malls, with four parts to it, spread all over the place. A trip to Penneys finished the errands, so we headed for something less 21st century.

I didn't know that John Hus left the Catholic Priesthood one hundred years before Martin Luther's break, and formed the group known as Moravians. G erman speaking, they were from Moravia in what is now the Czech Republic. Having established a spare and simple form of Christian religion, they moved to several parts of the world, one of them being Pennsylvania in what would become the US. They established themselves on the frontier as well, as a group of men with varied skills trekked to North Carolina on the old wagon road and set up Wachovia, thousands of acres of land, starting BaTHARbra (Hebrew, meaning house of passage, or temporary home). The well defended and developing area, women and children having been added from PA, grew and thrived. A closed community, they were organized into social groups according to their sex and marital status, moving from one to the other (status, not sex) as the situation called for. Built in support groups. The color of the ribbon on the bonnet of the women denoted their status: single, married, widowed, perhaps married again. The community accepted refugees from surrounding settlements when Indians attacked, and gradually became an open community. Salem (from Shalom: Peace) became the Moravian community of trading and crafts, and neighboring Winston was big in tobacco and textiles. They combined in1913.

On the way back to the Blue Ridge Parkway we stopped in Mt. Airy, NC, with its streets named Andy Griffith Parkway, Mayberry place, etc. and found coffee. Interesting buildings of stone, some with false fronts, in varied styles. People nice, but one couple stood out. Just outside the pet store was a large older couple with a tiny Papillion in a pink tutu. They had her near a dog stroller, also pink, with lots and lots of other clothes and toys in it, and they were carrying large pet store logo bags with paw prints on them. That baby was coddled!

In a few minutes we were in SW Virginia, looking none too prosperous, but green and gorgeous land, and back on the parkway. Mountain Laurel is blooming (looks like a cross between a rhodie and an azalea). Driving under a canopy of large hardwood trees, elm, hickory, oak, maple, we rolled along with no billboards, few cars, occasional gaps like Orchard Gap with a small store, and a lovely old small stone church. Paralleling the parkway are local roads, so the backs of farms and small towns off to the side can be seen occasionally. This Appalachian Mountain country is gorgeous, with views and land that are so picturesque it's hard to believe. An overnight in Meadows of Dan, with thunder rolling and a major rain during the night. Local admonishments: watch out for the 3 Bs...bears, bees and bats and the 3 Ss...snakes, skunks and spiders.

Asheville North Carolina

Little White House at Warm Springs GA

West Point Lake, GA

Very small portion of Biltmore home, Asheville NC

The Vanderbilt estate, Biltmore, is the highlight of this area. Completed in 1895 it is the largest private home in the country. Opened to the public in 1930, its 8,000 acres were landscaped by Frederick Law Olmstead and the home, 255 rooms, is kept in top condition by the foundation of family members which owns and runs it. Beautifully maintained, restored, managed, we were treated wonderfully....the 1800 employees do a magnificient job of herding us all around and making us feel welcome. It's spectacular in all respects.

Driving here from northern Georgia along the Blue Ridge Parkway (begun 1935, completed 1987) was a twisting, turning, up and down experience. Speed limit at 45 mph was plenty fast, and at every turn there was a new sight of mountains, valleys, plants, trees, vistas. Once twice the height of the Himalayas, eroded over millions of years, the Great Smokies are on their way up again due to the upthrust of the Atlantic tectonic plate. The things you learn from rangers. I think we won't do the rest of the 400 some odd miles.

May 29, 2009, evening. How can I lose a hairbrush in 70 square feet? It's gone, disappeared. I didn't take it anyplace, but it's gone. I've searched the closet, the trash, the bathroom, where it is supposed to live. It's gone. Luckily i have another not-so-good one in my purse, But for right now, it's gone.

We spent the morning paying bills not on line, as it's not secure, but on the phone with Citizens Bank in NC....wonderful people who took care of us and allowed us to email them the amounts they need to write checks to our online payees. Have to write one check to the US Treasury, and discovered that the postal rates have gone up.....next stop, buy 2 cent stamps. Which reminds me, Kyle graduated 8th grade and we hardly noticed! It was an affirmation ceremony of some sort,so we didn't 'get it', but we are very proud of his being able start his freshman year of high school at MidPac in Honolulu. Way to go, Kyle! Gifts are forthcoming!!!!

We traversed the outskirts and burbs of Atlanta today, following highways past strip mall after strip mall, and development after development;...they apparently haven't heard of the depression here yet. Thought we would go to Athens, but decided we'd seen enough canon, so backtracked from Stone Mountain through the greater metro Atlanta area, miles and miles of it.
Stone Mountain is a very developed theme park, with lots of touristy attactions, and fairly attractive for all of that. The worst campground for the most money yet. BUT, the surroundings were lovely. Stone Mountain is a monolith of granite stuck up in the middle of northern middle Georgia, with a carving on it that claims to be the largest bas relief on granite in the world...everyone has to have the largest of something. This one features Jeff Davis, as they call him in these parts, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. Lunch at Poco Bistro was a BLT, but with fried green tomatoes instead of regular...heartburn special for Gene, intriguing for me, but then I'm medicated. Escaping the confines of the outlying areas of Atlanta, we headed to the southern Appalachians, on the Foothill parkway. Suddenly beautiful, large trees, blooming wild azaelas, green everywhere. This part of the world has been experiencing a drought, but although they are not planting flowers, things are still green. What little rain they have had has sufficed to keep it so. We have done our best to bring the big downpours from Arkansas east, but we've been without rain for two days now.

Dawsonville promised a quilt show, but it was too late when we arrived, and besides,they only had one quilt on display, probably not Chinese. So on we went to near Cleveland and a campsite on the river, with the highway just beyond.....with motorcycles and trucks trundling by. Bucolic it is not, but lovely it is, although noisy. We're waiting for the inevitable train to toot by. They have a thing for motorcycles here, one with nitro in the gas tank passed us in a flash. There are motorcycle museums; the man in Warm Springs who served us ice cream has one. He travels all the states to buy things and when I asked if he did so to sell them, the antiques, the motorcyles, the junque, he said, well, not so much. He just likes to buy.

Tomorrow we are going to Asheville, North Carolina, and while we would have liked to go further into the deep South in Georgia, (next time), We are heading for the Great Smokies and redezvous with our Morgan family. But y'all come back, yu hea.


May 30, 2009, evening. Campsite next to the river, pretty to look at and hear, enough so I could almost forget the road beyond it , favorite curlycue road of motorcycles. They went to bed early, as we didn't hear them later, but again this a.m. they were buzzing. Probably going to Helen, Georgia...a Bavarian village (not kidding) in the north Georgia hills. They really have the tourist thing down pat, with the cutesy village created in the late 1960s after Helen had declined...it was absolutely swarming with tourists on motorcycles, rvs, buses, cars and horsedrawn carriages....I counted six, Restaurants doing a booming business, and I suppose likewise the shops. We looked, laundered, headed out. Undecided about which direction to take, I thought a jaunt to Cherokee would be informative, as it is the head of the Cherokee Nation and has a two hour presentation on the Trail of Tears, which brought the Cherokees from Oklahoma here to North Carolina. Wrong. Not informative. Crawling with gamblers; how come I didn't figure that out? The Harrah's Casino is huge, with an equally huge parking garage under construction
.
The Great Smokies are truly beautiful, rolling hills, wild rhodendrons and azaelas, forested/wooded. At some summit, my ears popped, which meant we were higher than 3,000 feet...and then there were the 6%, 7%, and 8% downgrades, whoooo--eee. With Brer Fox at the wheel, we were in good shape. The Happy Holiday RV Park (no, I'm not making this up) is grassy, spread out, lovely, and brings its own entertainment right to our windows in the form of a country group singing ala Dolly. It's nice and cool and we're comfortable after a round about way of getting here...When I realized we were going to the gambling capitol of the Cherokee Nation, I suggested we turn off before and follow Amy's (our new GPS) advice to the TreeTop RV Park. Well, we went round robin's barn, on small roads, country roads, over highways, off the Parkway, on the Parkway, and finally up a steep road, past a country club (imagine that 19th hole, on this twisting turning road), and past the TreeTop which was up such a steep driveway and had a For Sale sign on it that we didn't bother. Now, how to turn around? Up and up and up through gates to a gated community (who in their right mind would live here?), past an empty big house, an occupied big house, and not much more. The gates were open and beautifully landscaped, but the road was not to be believed.

We consider ourselves sorta mountain folk, living in Nevada City and years in Mill Valley, Mt. Tam, and surroundings. No strangers to the Sierras we are unafraid of mountain roads. But this was tough...Gene likened it to the time we drove our rented RV up as far as we could go up the top of Mt. Whitney. Managed to find a turnaround place and scrambled back down. No wonder Happy Holiday looks good to us.


We have reached here via US 64, a North Carolina Scenic Byway, and not incidentally, part of the Appalachian Highway. Along the way, we have sampled boiled peanuts, fried peanuts, peanut brittle, muscadine cider. We have seen the Confederate flag flying more than once, and the Ten Commandments on billboards and at the end of driveways. The North Georgia and southern North Carolina hills are gorgeous, and peopled with all kinds of folks....trailers, large houses, gated communities, shacks, farms, horse ranches, decrepit wood barns, water and its attendant boats, marinas, ski-doos.


Asheville tomorrow.

Selma AL, Montgomery AL, Stone Mountain GA

May 28, 2009. A terrifying almost rush hour ride on the Atlanta freeways, under construction, heading for Stone Mountain yesterday. Gene at the wheel did a fine job of being squeezed, cut off, braking, while I nervously navigated, overriding Amy, our new GPS. Speed limit was 50 mph and everyone was doing at least 65-70 mph. Stone Mountain is a huge entertainment complex built around a 'big ole' granite mountain,' with carvings of Confederate generals, etc. Fireworks last night, sight seeing today.

Yesterday we drove through the Garden District of Montgomery, an area of homes large and small, in stles ranging from neoclassical to bungalow and everything in between. Most of these homes built between 1870 and 1940; strict architectural controls keep them in their periods. Still home to area business people, civic leaders, etc. and their families, it's a vibrant mix of styles, races and socio-economic groups.

Entered Georgia, another wonderful Welcome Center, meandered into a COE campground at West Point Lake. Blue Heron flapping and gliding, red cardinals flashing, poor, slow ,dead armadillos, a turtle or two on the road. Lucy went swimming after sticks so had her second bath of the trip. Learned kudzu can grow 12" to 18" a day. Tick score: Lucy 2, Gail 1, Gene 0.

Yesterday we went to Pine Bluff, Georgia and ate grits with breakfast. Warm Springs was our destination....a very lovely setting, interesting small house where FDR retreated, and where he died (his mistress Lucy Mercer and the portait painter left when he suffered a stroke). I clearly remember the shock of adults when we received word (I was about 11?) and we were living in NYC. I still have great admiration for the man.

Callaway Gardens is a very impressive development of thousands of acres, including gardens, butterfly house, veggie garden, golf course, homes just being developed, a Birds of Prey section and show (which was fun). Did you know owls have longer necks than giraffes, in terms of numbers of vertebrae? They have 11 as opposed to our (and giraffes) 7, and can turn their heads 270 degrees. The rhodies were all gone, several stands of azaelas remained, oak leaf hydrangeas in full glory.

Warm Springs town is somewhat ragged; entered a funky complex of junk shops in search of promised ice cream, and found a man who opened the shop for us, talked our ears off, and gave Lucy a tiny vanilla cone, which she loved. Found a roadside stand with fresh veggies and gorged on just picked silver corn and Georgia peaches.

Then the terrifying freeway thriller, to Stone Mountain.

May 26, 2009. Here we sit in Soggy Selma, enjoying the muggy morning, looking at the 6 Mile Creek as it joins the Alabama River. At least the temp is only 72, while the humidity is 79. Brief foray into Selma yesterday produced little of interest except wonderful old houses and a wrought iron balcony on the hotel. Word is the town died about 20 years ago, so I guess it can't be blamed on the WalMart. But the bridge from which the famous march to Montgomery started is still there.

This campground is a paradise for catfishers, bullfrog hunters, boaters and gatherers...lots of families gathered here over the weekend. Industry: still some manufacturing in this town which made half the munitions, a major canon, and an iron clad boat for the Confederates.

Wildlife: dead armadillos on the road, guess they are really slow. Live turtles, noisy bullfrogs, mosquitos, snakes which we haven't seen, large bugs, no-see-ums, possum and racoons.

Architecture: Pre and post Civil War; the railroad depot, now a museum, Romanesque and really ugly, of brick with a false front, a turret and tower, painted bright red. Came past a prosperous lookiing development in Demopolis of large homes on several acres, perhaps around a golf course judging by the golf cart dealer on the highway.

People: Sunday morning breakfast at the Western Skillet in Meridian was an experience..watching the after church crowd come in, and trying to understand what the waitpeople were saying. This is truly another world where the local dialect is a unintelligble to us. And where everyone is friendly beyond belief, so the guy who inadvertently pulls his cart in front of us in the market, turns with a big grin and says "HI! How y'all doin' today?" and the woman who checks us in to the campground gives us her life's story woven through a short history of Alabama. The women and men who came in for brunch were dressed, dressed, dressed. The women, uniformly large, were in chiffon, silk, polyester dresses with matching shoes and hats. Wonderful hats. Dresses of all colors, some print, some with spangles, all flowing. The men were in suits, with softly colored shirts (yellow), lovely ties (blue), with stick pins (diamond). The white women were marginally less flashy, and less interesting. If only we could understand what they were saying! Can I help you? sounds like 'kin ah hep yew?' but it takes twice to get it. We're embarrassed; they think we're both deaf.

Of all the things we knew about Alabama, no one mentioned that it's very pretty, and green. Of course, it's raining.