Aloha all,
this year’s road trip is ending on a high note. Several high notes actually: We finally made it to the most popular National Park, we took a boat tour on America’s largest underground lake, we saw the best mushrooms ever, we visited the birthplace of American forestry, we took the laziest tubing tour, enjoyed the bluest mountains and I slid down a 60 feet natural water slide. On top of all that, after discovering our most favorite town last month, we now also discovered our least favorite town in America! That’s not even all, but if you want to know everything, you’ll have to read the whole thing:
We won’t even try to make it to all 10,000 caves in Tennessee, but “The Lost Sea” Cave sounded too unique to skip. They have America’s largest known underground lake. Part of the tour is actually a boat ride. Every time we visit one of these easily accessible show caves, I am in awe of the courageous people who discovered them. I’d be way too scared that a rockfall or rising water level traps me to go this deep into an unknown cave. However, I am more than happy to pay $20 for someone to make sure it’s safe, put some lights in and in this case, even bring a boat down there.
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| "The Lost Sea Adventure" cave tour in Tennessee |
The Great Smoky Mountains are America’s most popular National Park. That does not mean they are the most dramatic or even the most beautiful park. But the park is free, it’s the most easily accessible national park in the east and it sure is gorgeous, so I am not surprised they get the most visitors. And it’s actually not the most crowded park. We did several hikes where we did not see anybody for miles. Even in America’s most visited national park, there are plenty of areas remote enough to go skinny dipping. We did a tiny portion of the Appalachian Trail and met some serious hikers, they said they had stretches of several days without seeing any other humans.
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| Carefree bike tour on the car free Cades Cove Loop in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park |
The Cades Cove is probably the most congested area in the park, but we got lucky to get there on a Wednesday, when the road is closed for cars. We rented bikes and explored the beautiful 11 mile loop that way. Cades Cove is also the best place to see bears, or so they say. So we did another loop the next morning since we did not see any bears the first time around. That time, Sandra might have seen the back half of a bear crossing the road and I saw a tree stump that looked like a bear until I got the binoculars out. But mostly, we talked to people who told us that we should have been there yesterday or even two hours ago. We did see plenty of bears… on iphones of other people who had better timing than us.
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| Just because we didn’t see any bears, doesn’t mean we didn’t see any wildlife |
The creation of the Smoky Mountain National Park in 1934 was very controversial. It was the first national park on previously private land. Obviously, we enjoy the end result, but I’m not sure how I would have felt if I lived on a farm in Cades Cove or had a second home in Daisy Town. I might have been upset, too that I have to give up my property just to make a park for other people to visit. I guess they found a pretty good compromise: Most people were allowed to use their properties for the rest of their lives before it all became part of the national park. Originally, most of the homes from the 1920’s were slated to be torn down to bring the national park back to its more natural state. In 1934 those were just modern encroachments into the natural beauty. However, it took a long time until the original residents passed away (the last one in 2001!). By now, these homes are a century old and historical themselves, so instead of tearing them down, the National Park Service renovates them to show that part of the park’s history.
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| Hiking in the Smokies |
The Smoky Mountains are not as breathtaking, unbelievable, dramatically out-of-this-world spectacular as some of the national parks in the West. But they are gorgeous and after we stayed at three different campgrounds and did a half dozen day hikes, we started to understand why for several people we talked to, it’s their favorite place in the world.
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| Chimney Tops hike |
The beauty of the park is probably also the reason why Gatlinburg, just outside the park, instantly became our least favorite town in America. We usually pride ourselves to find something fun or interesting about any place and we enjoy visiting any place from tiny villages to big cities. But we saw nothing redeeming about Gatlinburg. It did not even seem like a real town, just a row of the cheesiest and tackiest tourist attractions. The contrast to the serenity of the park was just too much for us. Of course it did not help that we got there on a Saturday afternoon during peak season. One drive through tour of Gatlinburg was enough, we never even set foot in that town. We promised ourselves to keep it that way forever.
We had plans to visit Dollywood, but changed our minds after seeing the crowds in Gatlinburg. But we’ll give Dolly another chance whenever we get there during a less busy time. Luckily there is a bypass road around Gatlinburg, so when we come back, we can go from Dollywood to the Smokies without breaking our promise.
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| Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina |
The North Carolina part of the Blue Ridge Parkway is the most scenic drive we have done east of the Rockies. The first time we drove on it was such a glorious day that it became immediately clear why these are called the Blue Ridge Mountains. At one point we generously counted 15 ridges in different shades of blue between us and the horizon.
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| Can you see why they call it the Blue Ridge Mountains? |
We enjoyed the view, the campground, the hiking and the restaurant at Mount Pisgah the best. So we decided to plan our trip in a way that we returned on the same route on our way back to spend another two nights there. We got one more beautiful day and the 15 shades of blue turned orange. The next day, it all turned into one shade of grey.
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| Mount Pisgah on the Blue Ridge Parkway |
The Blue Ridge Mountains are also home to the “Cradle of Forestry”. We got to visit the schoolhouse where the first foresters were taught and we learned about the history of forestry in America. Throughout the 1800’s, forests were considered an infinite resource. 100 years ago, the Blue Ridge Mountains were a clearcut wasteland. The Vanderbilts owned most of the land and realized that something needed to change. It sounds like they did not do that for selfless reasons. They were no tree huggers, but wanted to ensure they would be able to continue to make money from selling lumber. So they brought in Dr. Schenck from Germany, where they needed to start managing the forests much earlier. Judging by the vast, healthy looking forest in this area today, they were very successful in replanting, managing and protecting the forests.
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| Little kid Chris having fun on the Sliding Rock |
Another attraction in the area is the aptly named “Sliding Rock”. This is a 60 feet long natural waterslide. I had read very conflicting reviews before, which only makes sense: If you expect a waterpark kids slide, it’s pretty rough. But for a natural rock, it’s surprisingly smooth. The water was a little bit too cold for Sandra, so I had to take her turns, too. Of course there were other kids of all ages enjoying the slide. But I didn’t mind waiting in line. I met a very nice family and I also have to admit: If nobody else were sliding down that rock before me, I’m not sure I would have dared to do it.
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| Triple Falls in the DuPont Recreational Forest |
If sliding is not your thing, the Dupont Recreational Forest has some of the best waterfalls. It was actually more crowded than the Smokies, but I can see why: There are lots of spectacular waterfalls all within easy hiking distance from each other.
I’m not sure whether we just pay more attention or whether this area really is a mushroom mecca. We have seen some spectacular ones. Considering how happy I can get just seeing a mushroom, it’s astounding how little I know about them. Definitely too little to pick any. To eat, the mushrooms at the store are still my favorite. But I now have a few hundred pictures of mushrooms in all kinds of shapes, colors and sizes. Maybe some day I try to identify them all. Sound like a good project for one of those ‘long winter evenings’ which never come. Until then, we use our own names:
The Big Kahuna
Orange Stick Mushroom
The Mellow Yellow
The Indian Ghost Plant
The Jumboshroom
We came to Asheville pretty unprepared, but it worked out great. We visited the Thomas Wolfe home and museum. When we got there, I admitted right away that we knew nothing about Thomas Wolfe, even though he is one of the most famous American authors. As an excuse for our ignorance, I mentioned that we grew up in Germany. Well, that excuse backfired immediately as the docent told us that for some weird reason, Thomas Wolfe was even more popular in Germany than in America during his lifetime. He managed to get himself blacklisted in Germany in the 1930’s but that’s obviously rather a badge of honor. Thomas Wolfe wrote mostly autobiographical novels. His first novel “Look Homeward, Angel” made him an almost instant star in Germany and in America….anywhere except in his hometown of Asheville. Apparently too many people in Asheville recognized themselves in his books and did not like what Wolfe wrote. The local library actually banned his books before the Nazis did.
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| Rooftop Bar in Asheville , NC |
After the house tour and museum, we had a very fun lunch at a rooftop bar in downtown Asheville. We met some lovely people and stayed a lot longer than anticipated and drank a little more, too. Sandra got so drunk that she agreed to come to the “Shindig on The Green” with me, which is a local tradition in Asheville, celebrating Southern Appalachian music and dance. Most other things we do on our road trips, Sandra and I enjoy about equally. Not so much “The Shindig on the Green”: Sandra is not a huge fan of fiddles whether they are Irish or Appalachian. She said it took all her strength not to cover her ears when some of the younger musicians fiddled. I thought it was a super fun, feel good party, which apparently is the definition of “Shindig”. Sandra stayed with me for two hours of fiddling, maybe because of the drinks at the rooftop bar, maybe because of tired legs from our hikes or maybe because she loves me more than she hates fiddles. I suspect it’s all three.
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| "Shindig on the Green" in Asheville |
Another popular activity in Asheville is tubing. What’s better than lazily floating down a river? Well, how about lazily floating up a river? At several times, the wind upstream was stronger than the current downstream, so our 2 1/2 hour tour lasted over 4 hours, making the $25 price an even better deal.
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| Zen Tubing on the French Broad River |
I also want to mention something we didn’t do in Asheville, even though it’s their number one attraction. The Biltmore Estate is America’s largest private home. One of the Vanderbilts had this 250 room mansion built in the 1890s and it’s open for tours. Sounds right up our alley, right? But the admission is $80 per person and it’s just an audio tour, so I wouldn’t even be able to get my money’s worth by asking the tour guide 100 questions. We did so many fascinating house and mansion tours for a fraction of the cost that we decided to skip this one. I guess that’s the one drawback of taking these super long vacations, you got to watch your expenses a little bit. But if any of you have been there and tell us it’s worth that much money, we’d be willing to come back to Asheville some day. It sure is a very fun town in a beautiful area. Actually, if it had a more fun name, it might have become our new favorite town on the mainland, but for now that’s still Chattanooga.
Now we just visited the cute little “RM Rose Whiskey Distillery”. Kind of a weird history: They’ve been around since 1867, but had to close when prohibition started and it took about a century for them to reopen in 2016. They only have 6 employees so far, but already make 9 kinds of whiskey. It’s another one of those places where we ‘had to’ drink to get our ‘free’ campsite.
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| Whiskey Tasting at the RM Rose Distillery |
We only have a few more days before we have to get Joy ready for her winter hibernation. Then we are off to Germany before we are heading back to Maui with a quick layover in Colorado for a wedding. No detailed plans for Germany yet; other than finally seeing our families again and going to our all time favorite restaurant in the French Jura. But we hope to see some of you along the way, especially the ones willing to look at the 2,500 pictures that didn’t make it onto the blog.
This might be the last road trip blog post for a while, but hopefully, we get to do this again next year. We realize that we will never see everything in this incredibly diverse country, but we sure enjoy trying.
Aloha,
Chris & Sandra
