Planes, Trains, Mansion, Hippies and the Half Way Challenge

 Aloha all,

for the first month of our trip, we had it easy: There was always a line on a map to follow, first the Blue Ridge Parkway and then the Skyline Drive. All we had to do was look whether there was anything close to that line that might be worth a detour. After reaching the northern end of Shenandoah National Park, we had to do a little research to decide which route to take to get to our friends in New England in time for the 4th of July festivities. 

Planing our trip to Trip & Dora

We usually plan one day at a time and had no idea what special places we would visit: 

• We’re not that much into airplanes, but if we can see the fastest plane in the world, we’ll check it out.
• We are no geologists, but if there is a a mysterious boulder field on our way, we’re happy to go exploring
• We don’t need to see every civil war battlefield, but after hearing about Antietam for years, we had to find out what that was all about
• We are no serious long distance hikers, but if we are a mile from the half way point of the Appalachian Trail, there is no stopping us
• We don’t like spending a day at repair shops, but if Joy calls for help, we listen
• We don’t need to see every old house, but we do if it’s the home of arguably the most important person for Germany’s prosperity
• We are no train buffs, but seeing the largest locomotive ever built was pretty impressive. 
• We also found the place and time I want to time-travel to and the place and time I most definitely do NOT want to time-travel to.

Here is what I learned about history growing up in Germany: There were two options what to do with Germany after World War II: The Morgenthau Plan and the Marshall Plan. Morgenthau would have sent Germany back to a pre-industrial time. Germans would have been allowed to produce food, but not much more. After the Nazi terror, who can blame him? We got closer to that scenario than most people realize: FDR had approved the plan; had he not died, the Morgenthau Plan would probably have been implemented. And after 1945, under President Truman, Morgenthau was the first in line of succession. Had Truman died, Morgenthau would have become president and would have had his way. Fortunately for Germany, Truman lived and chose the Marshall Plan, which generously helped most Western European countries (including the ‘guilty’ ones) to rebuild after the war. So you can see why we like Truman and Marshall: The world and our lives would have been very different without them. I can see why General C. Marshall is the only career military man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Thank you Mr. Marshall & Thank you, Michelle!

The Dodona Manor was Marshall’s home in Leesburg, VA. It was about to be torn down in the 1980’s when local residents (and grateful German donors) stepped in to save it. Now you can tour the home and hear the stories about the man who had two positions that were both very significant for Germany: First, he was in charge of destroying Nazi Germany as the Chief of Staff of the US Army and then he was the inspiration behind the Marshall plan to help Germany rebuild after the war. And if you think we’re weird how much we enjoy touring old houses, you should meet our tour guide; she was at least as excited! I know she didn’t stretch the one hour tour to two and a half hours to make more money, since she was a volunteer…

As much as we enjoy traveling in Joy: Driving into big cities is not our favorite thing, so we had already decided to skip Washington DC on this trip. But after visiting Marshall’s home, we realized how close we were and found two interesting places on the outskirts of DC, which we had not seen on previous trips. First, we went to the Great Falls, because they looked pretty cool on pictures and because it’s a National Park Service site and we try to never miss any of those. They might not be the tallest waterfalls in the world, but for a feature in what is basically an urban park, they are VERY impressive and deserve their name:

The Great Falls Park by Washington DC

We had been to several of the Smithsonian Museums before, including the Air & Space Museum. However, most of the really cool stuff does not fit into their museum on the Washington Mall, so they built a huge hanger by the Dulles Airport. There, they show off pretty much anything that human’s came up with in two centuries of aviation. That includes the ‘Blackbird’, the fastest airplane ever built. On its way to its permanent retirement here at the Smithsonian, it shattered a coast to coast speed record: With an average speed of over 2,300mph (3,700kmh!), it took them just 64 minutes to fly from LAX to DC! That’s pretty impressive for a plane developed in the1960’s. Here is the surprising part: There is not a single modern plane that can fly that fast!

The Blackbird - the fastest plane ever

As fascinating as that and aviation history in general is, our appreciation (and understanding) of the technical details is limited, so we can’t look at old planes all day. We still spent the whole day at the museum, but we took a two hour break watching the new “Top Gun” movie on their IMAX screen. That was a very powerful movie experience especially after seeing all those planes…and the fact that I learnt from one of the docents afterwards which parts of the movie were totally unrealistic did not take away from the enjoyment, but rather added to it. I like feeling smarter than Tom Cruise.

Next we went to Antietam National Battlefield, even though the minute details of battles don’t really interest us all that much. But the civil war is such an integral part of US history that we try to visit at least the sites managed by our beloved National Park Service. They always do such a good job in explaining the historical context and the different perspectives of any historical event or place. Antietam was no exception. I love that whatever questions I come up with, there is a ranger to give a knowledgeable answer…usually leading to the next question. So I am glad we went to Antietam, not because it was the bloodies civil war battle, but because now we know more about the context. The Union victory against the first attack of the Confederacy in the North was the catalyst for Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Did you know that the states in the South were given a 100 day warning to rejoin the Union? And since the proclamation only affected slaves in states in rebellion, they would have been allowed to keep their slaves had they re-joined the Union. As much credit as he gets (and maybe deserves), Lincoln was far from being an abolitionist.

Thanks to rangers like him, it's not just a field

Pennsylvania turned some of their former iron mining and furnaces into state parks. That part of the Pine Grove Furnace SP history was interesting, but I have to admit, I was even more fascinated by the somewhat random fact, that it is also the halfway point on the famed Appalachian Trail. I’ve been intrigued by the AT ever since I read Bill Bryson’s book “A Walk in the Woods”. I like everything about the Appalachian Trail: The history, the environmental protection, the community of through hikers, the scenery…if it did not involve so much walking, I definitely would hike the whole Appalachian Trail!

The Appalachian Trail Museum at Pine Grove Furnace SP

But because we are lazy and like to be comfortable, we do the trip from Georgia to New England in Joy. With all our side trips and detours, it takes us about as long as some of the faster through hikers on foot. There is an “Appalachian Trail Museum” in the park, which tells the story of the creation of the trail, serves as a “hall of fame” of notable record holders and gives lazy people like us an insight into the through hiker culture. 

I'm so proud we made it to the Halfway Point of the AT ;-)

If you hike the whole thing, tradition is to mark the half way point at a little general store at this state park by eating half a gallon of ice cream. And indeed, when we got there, several through hikers were working on their buckets of ice cream. Just to give you an idea how important that “Half Way Challenge” seems to be: When I asked one of the girls whether she was “doing the whole thing” (referring to the trail), she replied full of shame and disappointment “No, I just couldn’t do it.” The fact that she had just completed 1,100 miles of mountainous hiking did not seem to matter in light of her failure to eat half a gallon of ice cream…

The John Harris Mansion that wasn't a mansion
when John Harris lived there

When we find a historical home that offers guided tours, we often go there, not knowing anything else about it. So when we came to the John Harris Mansion in Harrisburg, it could have been a trap. It could have been that nothing notable ever happened there. But you know when people say “If these walls could speak…”. Thanks to all the dedicated docents, volunteers and tour guides, I feel the walls often do speak: The John Harris Mansion told a colorful story how it was built as a pretty simple farm house by the founder of the town and how it was expanded over the years to become quite the elaborate mansion. Most of the upgrades were done by the later owner Simon Cameron, Lincoln’s first Secretary of War. At one point the floors of the whole house and surrounding grounds were lowered by 4 feet, supposedly to accommodate the 14 feet tall mirrors he bought in France.

While in Harrisburg, we also went back to the Pennsylvania State Capitol, which is just slightly too spectacular to visit only once.

The Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg

The Hickory Run Boulder Field is pretty impressive by itself. The fact that it is surrounded by lush green forest makes it very intriguing. We’ve been driving for weeks through forest like this, but never saw anything like this. We are glad we came, because we did not only learn how it got there, we also learned that in about 5,000-10,000 years, it will be gone. That’s only a second and  a half in geological time, we were lucky to get there just in time!

I suggest you visit the Hickory Run Boulder Field before it's gone!

I’m glad that we skipped one day of exploring to take care of a light, but unusual vibration when Joy was going over 35mph. Of course those things happen on the weekend and the first four repair shops had different kind of excuses for not even looking at Joy. But at the 5th shop we found out that one of her tires was about to blow. That was a pretty important, but easy fix. The repair shop even provided us with a comfort dog while we waited. And even on that day, we still did a walk to a pretty waterfall in the morning and watched a movie in the evening. What felt like a “lost” day would still have been a pretty full day at home. I love road trips.

Jerry fixed Joy!

I like trains, but mostly to go places. We skip most train museums, but luckily made an exception for the Steamtown National Historical Park in Scranton, PA. Besides a large collection of old locomotives and train cars, they have a great exhibit about railroad history. To my surprise, the very first “rail roads” were wooden rails in Germany, out of all places. The only explanation I have for never having heard that before is this: The German word for rail road is “Eisenbahn” which means “iron rail”. So since those early rails were made of wood, we can’t claim to have the first “Eisenbahn”, we’ll give that credit to England. And of course the prize for the biggest locomotives ever built goes to the US. Here’s one of only eight remaining “Big Boys”:

Big Boy and his distant cousin Joy

Steamtown NHP has a large steam locomotive that is cut open, which makes it a little easier for laymen like us to see how it actually works. We also took a little train ride and we got to attend ranger programs about the Pullman history, about train safety during the industrial revolution, the variety of locomotives and a tour through the machine shop where the National Park Service maintains and restores trains from the past 200 years. 

Ah...that's how that works!

You wouldn’t know from just walking or driving around Scranton, but the whole area has many hundreds of miles of abandoned coal mine shafts under it. In large areas, they left just enough standing that it holds up the ground above it, sometimes not even enough for that. We took a tour through the Lackawanna Coal Mine in Scranton. Our tour guide was awesome, he gave us a better understanding of how coal mines actually worked…and how terrible the working conditions were. Thanks to him, I know now, that I never want to work at a coal mine, at least not in the 19th century. Those miners (some were just kids!) might think it’s a total fantasy that you can now make a living by driving other people around Maui or booking them in vacation rentals. I can’t say I disagree. We felt very blessed anyway, but even more so after learning about the work in a coal mine. I have mixed feelings about unions today, but I can see why it was (and probably still is) necessary to have them. 

Tour guide would be the only job I ever want to do at a mine

Here is a shocking quote from one of the lawyers of the coal barons who exploited children and men, including thousands who died in preventable coal mining accidents: 

“The rights and interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for, not by the labor agitators, but by the Christian men to whom God in His infinite wisdom has given control of the property interests of the country”

The only reason for me to time travel to a coal mine in 1902 would be to shove this guy in a mine shaft, lock it and let him think about that for a while. 

On our way northwest, we stopped in the cute town of Honesdale. They have one of those breweries that lets you stay in your RV overnight “for free”. Unless you are hungry and thirsty, then it ends up being a $100 campground, but still well worth it.

We also spent almost $100 on two pickle ball paddles and balls at the beginning of this trip...and finally got to use them last week. But it was so much fun that I'm sure we'll get more use out of them sooner or later.

First ever Road Trip Pickle Ball for us!

We went back to Bethel, better known as the place where the “Woodstock Music and Art Fair” took place. When we were there in 2008, the museum was brand new. It would have been worth it to visit again just to remind us of all the things we had forgotten over the years. For example that not even 10% of the people who were at the festival in 1969 stayed to see Jimi Hendrix. He was one of the main headliners, but didn’t perform until Monday morning! They also added a few things, for example a new fancy outdoor amphitheater to bring back music to the old dairy farm. They currently have a special exhibit about the forgotten “and Art” part of the festival. When we were here in 2008, we talked to a guy who showed us the original site. We now learned that the guy’s name is Duke Devlin since there now is a video exhibit just about him in the museum. They say that Woodstock changed the life of many people who were there. This might be most true for Duke Devlin. In 1969, he hitchhiked from his home in Texas, not necessarily to the festival, but ended up there anyway. He enjoyed himself so much, that he just stayed there, long after the festival was done and long before the museum opened. But when the museum was finally built, 39 years after the festival, he became one of their first interpreters. 

The field where it happened

I have a pretty good excuse for not making it to the Woodstock festival, since I wasn’t born yet. But if I ever get the chance to time travel, August 15, 1969 seems like a pretty good destination. Hopefully, the crazy traffic jam, the lack of food, the long bathroom lines and the tremendous rain will not stop me from enjoying the peace, love & music…and hopefully I’ll make it all the way to Monday morning to hear Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. 

Now we are off to Hyde Park, NY to visit a few more old houses. To be precise, the homes of Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR and the Vanderbilts. And just in case something interesting happened there, I might write another blog post in a week or two.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra

Shenandoah and other Shenanigans

Aloha all,

if you really like nature, the logical thing to do after reaching the northern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway is to simply continue on the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. If you also like beer and presidential history, it gets a little more complicated. We took a little detour, first to the fabulous Wood Ridge Farm Brewery, our newest favorite brewery! We talked and drank with fellow ‘Harvest Host’ RVers all evening. Then we had to return to some of our favorite presidential sites, before heading to Shenandoah National Park for a week.

Not just the LOVE sign, but the whole Wood Ridge Farm Brewery
is built out of wood grown and milled on site.
And they brew very good beer, too!

From 1801 to 1825 America was ruled by three Virginian neighbors: Presidents Nr. 3, 4 & 5; Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe all lived very close to each other just outside of Charlottesville, VA. We had visited all three of their homes in 2008, but decided to go back because we found it so interesting…little did we know how much had changed in all three places:

Whether you like history, gardens or Contradictions,
Monticello is a great place to visit!

Thomas Jefferson’s “Monticello” is by far the most popular of the three presidential plantation homes…for good reason: It’s spectacular in every way: Spectacular location, spectacular architecture (designed by Jefferson himself) and one of history’s most spectacular contradictions: How can the man, who famously declared that “All men are created equal” also hold hundreds of men in slavery, including his own children, who he fathered by sleeping with one of his slaves? When we were here 14 years ago, they mentioned that contradiction, showed us where the slaves lived and then quickly went back to the happy part of the story about the founding father, architect, gardener and visionary. 

Now they show both sides in a lot more detail: Any ticket to Monticello now includes a dedicated tour through “Mulberry Row”, where the slaves lived and worked. It’s not just because it’s the politically (and historically) correct thing to do, it’s also because there are fascinating, empowering stories to be told: For example that of Sally Hemings: A teenage slave who was raped by Jefferson (at least that’s what we would call it today), but negotiated with him - one of the most powerful men in the world - to eventually gain freedom for her/his kids. To make the whole situation even more absurd, the slave Jefferson slept with (Sally) was the half sister of his deceased wife, because his father-in-law was also in the habit of impregnating his slaves. Slavery was also often mentioned on our in depth ‘Behind the Scenes” house tour and even on the separate tour of the gardens at Monticello. Overall, I think they do a great job, showing the obvious contradiction, while still honoring the contributions and achievements of Jefferson.

Traveling back to 1822
to meet Thomas Jefferson

For me, the biggest improvement at Monticello was that they brought back the man himself. Actually, they did not bring him back, they made us travel back to 1822 to meet Thomas Jefferson under a tree in his garden. There we were able to listen to what he has to say and visitors can even ask him questions. One lady repeatedly asked him about his sexual relations with his slave. His answers were that of a classic politician: Making you think he’s answering the question while actually saying nothing. I got to ask him the question that had bothered me since we were at the “Peaks of Otter”: How could he think that 3875 feet tall Sharp Top might be the tallest mountain in North America, two decades after he sent Lewis & Clark over the Rocky Mountains to the West Coast? He answered that they did report of tall mountains, but had not been able to determine their height. Had he not been so busy with presidential duties in Washington, he would have loved to go along and he would have taken some more precise measurements. But for now (with “now” being 1822), he still assumes that there is no taller mountain on the continent than that little hill by his second home in southern Virginia. 

When we toured James Monroe’s “Ashlawn Highland” estate in 2008, we toured his home…which they since found out, wasn’t his home. It was the guest house that he built shortly before selling the place and moving away. We now know that his actual home stood next door, but burnt down. They found the foundation of his home, but it’s partially covered by a “modern” 1870 house, which they might or might not move at some point in the future to dig a little deeper into where Monroe actually lived. 

So it turns out, the James Monroe did not live
in the house we visited in 2008, but somewhere
 in the area now outlined by the rocks in the front lawn.

A similar thing happened at James Madison’s “Montpelier”: When we were there in 2008, the house was still in the early stages of being restored to Madison’s time after almost two centuries of other people living there, including our friends; the DuPonts from Delaware. But the one thing we remembered was seeing the ink stains on the floor where James Madison had written the drafts for the constitution of the young United States. Well, it turns out they weren’t his ink stains after all. I guess sometimes we go back to places not to learn, but to “un-learn”. I’m not even sure they mentioned his slaves in 2008, now they have an award winning exhibit and they reconstructed several of the slave quarters. I’m looking forward to visiting Jefferson, Madison & Monroe again in another 14 years to see what else we can learn… or unlearn.

The desk where James Madison wrote the US Constitution,
but as we know now, did not leave any ink stains.

On his tombstone at Monticello, Jefferson wanted only three of his achievements written in stone for the ages. Being President or the Louisiana Purchase were not among them. Apparently he was more proud of writing the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statue of Religious Freedom and of founding the University of Virginia. That sounds surprising since there are thousands of people who founded universities, but only 45 people who were presidents of the USA. Inspired by Monticello, we visited the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and we have to admit, it is really one of a kind. Looks a little more impressive than the old barracks and the containers in which we attended college at the FH München. I can see why Jefferson was so proud of it. And it combined his love of architecture (he designed the main buildings and campus) and his love of science (he built his school around a library rather than around a church, as it was common back then). When we were there, they were just hosting a reunion. We got to talk to an alumni who got to live in one of the original dorm rooms designed by Jefferson right on the main campus. He’s been coming back to host kind of an open house during reunions for 52 years! Looks like Jefferson is not the only one proud of UVA.

The Rotunda at Jefferson's University of Virginia

Charlottesville made it on the short list of places we would consider moving to if Haleakala were to erupt badly enough that we have to leave Maui. Besides the UVA campus, the presidential sites and the national park around it, Charlottesville also has a beautiful pedestrian mall in the Historical downtown, which felt very European. So nice to associate something more positive with this town than that awful march in 2017 when people did not seem to understand the irony of flying the Stars and Stripes together with the confederate and nazi flags. 

I don’t know whether it’s because of the high gas prices or because we are getting older, but we are definitely slowing down: In 2008 we spent one afternoon in Shenandoah National Park, this time it was a whole week. We love staying at national park campgrounds. They are usually pretty, you can hike right from the campsite and they often offer evening ranger programs. We are so happy to have those back after the last two years without. We try to attend as many ranger walks and programs as possible, which was ten this week. If we could remember all the things they tell us, we would now know a lot about the history of the park, the CCC, bears, scat and tracks, wild flowers on the Big Meadow and more. Since we can’t remember all of that, we just have to keep coming back for more to replace the lost knowledge.

Ranger Karl with Iron Mike on the CCC walk

It’s rare we get to combine our love for national parks with our interest for presidential sites, but Shenandoah offers such a place.  When he became president, Herbert Hoover built Rapidan Camp here as a getaway deep in the woods and above the heat, but close to Washington DC. He then donated it to the newly established national park. It was meant as a retreat for future presidents, but his predecessor was FDR and let’s just say Camp Rapidan was not ADA compliant. That’s why FDR built another, more accessible retreat, which we now know as Camp David. Presidents all the way through Carter still came to Camp Rapidan, but apparently most preferred Camp David, so this camp fell into disrepair. Only tree buildings of Hoover’s camp are still around, but it made for a great destination after a beautiful hike.

"Camp Rapidan", or "Hoover's Camp David"

We did several other hikes in Shenandoah NP, usually either down to waterfalls or up to viewpoints. The scenery is very pretty, but not all that different from the Blue Ridge Parkway: Seemingly endless lush, green forest stretching over miles and miles of mountains. In the exhibit about the creation of the park, the National Park Service is very honest: Obviously, this is no Grand Canyon, there are no geysers and no out-of-this-world sandstone formations. But they wanted a National Park in the style of the ones out west that was accessible for people on the East Coast. The park and the "wilderness" we enjoy today is mostly man made: Most of forest had to be replanted, hundreds of residents had to be relocated, roads and view points were strategically placed to maximize the visitors enjoyment. It wasn’t meant for people from the West Coast or Hawaii, even though some of them come here anyway and enjoy it tremendously. 

Just another room at The Luray Caverns

The Luray Caverns are located just outside of Shenandoah NP. We are not serious spelunkers, but we enjoy an occasional cave tour. If you had asked me a few days ago, I would have told you that the Carlsbad Caverns are my favorite…now I am not so sure anymore. One billboard in Luray said: “Nature’s Finest Interior Decorating!”. That’s not just a clever slogan: We have never seen so many amazing formations. It’s a huge cave and every room and passage way is full of stalagmites and stalactites. Many other caves have one big rooms with impressive formations that they put on every postcard and in all their advertising. I took about 100 pictures in the two hours we were in Luray Caverns and every one of them could be a postcard. That’s not because I am a good photographer; these caverns are so spectacular, even a caveman could take great pictures of it. 

The caves playing tricks with our minds at "The Dream Lake",
the bottom half is just a reflection!

The Luray Caverns are so big, beautiful and accessible, it’s no surprise they are “America’s most visited cave”. The ironic part is that for most of the self guided tour, we were by ourselves. We even got a private demonstration of their “Great Stalacpipe Organ”. That’s an automated organ that produces sounds by tapping on stalactites throughout the cave, making it what they claim to be ‘the world’s largest musical instrument’. Early in the season, on a weekday, late in the afternoon, just before they close seems to be a good time to visit the most visited cave. By the end of the tour, just as they were closing behind us, we met an American-German couple who just happens to live in Emmendingen, about 15 miles from my hometown! 

Speaking of hometowns: We have just booked our flights to Germany for July. We are so blessed: Maui in the winter, road tripping in the spring and autumn and a long stay with the family in Germany in the summer.….we are so glad we get to enjoy the “Best of Three Worlds” again this year. 

"Shenandaloha" from Virginia,

Chris & Sandra

America’s Most Iconic & Ironic Drive

Aloha all, 

the National Park Service, who manages the Blue Ridge Parkway, describes it as “America’s most iconic drive”. There are two reasons, why I also call it the “most ironic”: First of all the name: "Blue" Ridge Parkway...it’s one of the Greenest places I’ve ever seen! Almost every acre we’ve seen over the past two weeks along the parkway is covered with green trees, green shrubs and green grasses. Glancing at the mountain ranges in the distance, I can see why they call it the Blue Ridge Mountains, but wherever we are, it is striking how green everything is. After the dry winter back home on Maui, we would have to drive most of the 617 sharp turns on the Hana Highway to see this much green. 

The Green Blue Ridge Parkway

The second ironic thing about the Blue Ridge Parkway: It is supposedly the most popular unit of the National Park Service: Last year it had 15.9 million visitors; more than the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite combined! Yet, we often drove miles before seeing another car. We did hikes without anyone else on the trail and campgrounds not yet open were a bigger issue than campgrounds being full. Of course it helps that the Blue Ridge Parkway is free and it is 469 miles long, connecting the Great Smokey Mountain National Park with the Shenandoah National Park. Depending where you come from or where you are going, it’s almost impossible not to visit the Blue Ridge Parkway. Heck, some lucky people might “have to” get on the Blue Ridge Parkway for their daily commute. Since the last post from Asheville two weeks ago, we progressed only about 330 miles on the parkway, but not because we were lazy or can't afford the gas, more because there is so much to see on and around it: Mountains to climb, history to be discovered, heroes to be honored, music to be heard, people to meet:

You might have heard the old John Muir quote: “The Mountains are calling and I must go”. For us it’s a little more complicated and depending on which mountain is calling, we must go, climb or drive: 

When the Grandfather Mountain called, we climbed

When Mount Mitchell called, we drove...

 

When Sharp Top Mountain called, we hiked

The trail to the summit of Sharp Top is pretty steep. And I am sure when the 72 year old Thomas Jefferson climbed up there over 200 years ago, the trail wasn’t even as well maintained as it is now. So I am not too surprised that Jefferson thought this “might be the tallest mountain in North America”. At only 3875 feet, it’s not even the tallest of the “Peaks of Otter”. Just down the road, Mount Mitchell is almost 3000 feet taller. People in Colorado wouldn’t even call Sharp Top a mountain, but merely a hill. I imagine the fact that Denali is more than five times as tall as Sharp Top would have blown Jefferson’s mind….but Lewis & Clark never made it that far. 

Sharp Top, one of the "Peaks of Otter":
Not the tallest mountain, even when you count the reflection!

There is more than "just scenery" on the parkway. There are some delightful places to rest, eat or drink along the route: The Pisgah Inn just south of Asheville is still our favorite, then there is a chalet hotel in the tiny town of “Little Switzerland” and the Marby Mill, where we had delightful lunches and the very idyllic Peaks of Otter Lodge with a view of the definitely not tallest Mountain in North America. 

Peaks of Otter Lodge 

Long before M&M’s were invented, the people of Appalachia mixed "Mountains & Music". That’s why the National Park Service established the “Blue Ridge Music Center” on the parkway. They have live Appalachian music every day. Those of you who know how Sandra feels about fiddling might be surprised to hear that she not only stayed for almost three hours, but even seemed to enjoy it! The surroundings were so pretty, the people so nice, I would have listened to anything…but I’m glad it wasn’t rap. 

Live music at the Blue Ridge Music Center

Patrick Henry and Alexander Hamilton might have been the two most overlooked founding fathers. One of them fixed that with a hit musical. Patrick Henry is still a bit more obscure, even though his "Give me Liberty or give me Death" quote is well remembered. We were not familiar with Patrick Henry until 2008, when we heard him speak at the Living History museum at Williamsburg. And boy, did we listen! No wonder Jefferson called him "The Greatest Orator the world has ever seen". But for some reason we missed visiting his "Red Hill" plantation in 2008. Yes, he had a plantation with slaves. Just like "All man are created equal" did not mean all man, "Give me Liberty or give me Death" apparently applied only to white people, too.

We got to Red Hill on a very special day. We were practically alone there (as mentioned before, Patrick Henry is still a bit obscure). Then we got a private tour by the great great great great grandson of Patrick Henry who loved talking about his great great great great grandfather as much as we loved listening. And to top it all, while we were there, they made an exciting discovery: While digging a hole to place a marker at the site where they thought Patrick Henry's grandson might have built a law office, they discovered the bricks of the foundation of that very building! Sandra was the first visitor to see those bricks after their discovery:

History being made at Patrick Henry's Red Hill

One of our favorite things about being on a road trip are the "colorful characters" you meet along the way. Here are some of the characters we met during the last two weeks: 

Reiner from Berlin with his German RV,
which he has taken through Europe, Africa, South America
 and on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

At the Booker T Washington National Monument,

this gentleman told us about this inspiring 

"Slave to Scholar" story of Booker T Washington

Maybe the most colorful character we met,
the Red Spotted Newt

We got to talk to Mr. Hicks at Appomattox Court House.
He was the owner of the tavern and the sheriff in town
when Lee surrendered to Grant here, ending  the Civil War.
Ironically, the surrender took place in the private home
of Mr. Mc Lean, who had moved to this remote place
after his old home in Manassas was destroyed at one
of the first battles of the war that then ended in his new home.

Patrick Henry Jolly,
showing us where he fits into the family tree

We came through Virginia on our 2008 road trip. There were a few places that we enjoyed so much that we could not simply drive by without visiting again. Poplar Forest is such a place. This is the country retreat Thomas Jefferson built for himself to get away from the hustle and bustle of Monticello. It still works today: Instead of the crowds common at Monticello, we enjoyed the serenity of Poplar Forest and an informative, intimate tour that lasted much longer than scheduled because the guide seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. And between the further restorations they have done and the things we forgot over the past 14 years, it was well worth to come here again. 

Thomas Jefferson's "Poplar Forest", the "Little Monticello"

We had also been to the National D-Day Memorial before, but it’s probably the most impressive memorial we have ever visited, so we went again. You can’t acknowledge those heroes who liberated Europe from the Nazi horror often enough. This time, we were not lucky enough to get a guided tour, but Mr. YouTube helped us out to explain the symbolism and backstory. 

It is a somber experience to visit the National D-Day Memorial for anyone.
But as a German, I can't help but think what would have happened to our
home country if these brave heroes did not liberate Europe 78 years ago.

Then there are places we thought we had visited…we must have seen so many pictures of the Natural Bridge in Virginia that we thought we had seen it. But since we couldn’t quite remember and because Thomas Jefferson called it “the most sublime of nature’s work” (and he is never wrong), we went again and realized that we had never been there before. It was very impressive standing under the bridge, very pleasant walking along the river, amazing how many snakes we saw and it was very befitting for Memorial Day to attend “Taps Across America”, when they played taps right under the bridge. 

Three Snakes meet by a river...

"Taps Across America"
under the Natural Bridge

Now we have arrived at the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. But no need to feel blue, we could have continued on the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park, but there are some breweries and some presidential sites close by, so we’ll take a little detour. 

Aloha, Chris & Sandra