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