Sleeping Bear

We started out on a long trip going all the way to Goshen, Indiana.  We were attending the Heartland RV Rally.  It was put on by the Heartland Owners Club and the Heartland Manufacturing Co.  They are the maker of our Sundance fifth wheel.  We attended seminars on various rv related items which were very informative.  There was also a lot of food and entertainment.  On Saturday the 18th we went to the Heartland main campus in Elkhart for a tour of the factory.  Going through the plant and seeing the units in the various stages of construction was very interesting.  They come in one end of the building as a metal frame and exit the other end as a completed unit.  It takes two days to build a unit and they produce about 14 a day in that plant.

From Goshen we left Sunday morning and drove pretty much straight north to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  We had reservations at the Platte River Campground within the park.  We got set up and went in search of the Melton Clan.  They were camped in the loop next to ours.  We found a couple of young boys that looked familiar running through the woods, their campsite was nearby.  

There was a trail leading from the campground to the beach about a mile away so we headed that direction.  It would have been a little shorter if Grandpa had not went the wrong way on the trail but we caught it soon and got turned around.  The trail followed an old railroad bed that was used to transport logs to the little bay where the beach was.  Here is a picture of the shoreline with Grandma taking a walk.

This is a picture of the shoreline looking the other direction.  There is a natural little bay here formed by the dunes jutting out into Lake Michigan.

Cole looks like he is having fun playing in the sand along the waters edge.

Quinn was hauling sand up to a project he had going on the beach.

We had a marshmellow roast and you can see everyone is intent on getting them done just right.

Brian says his looks just right but Cole is not sure.

Cole showing his marshmellows done to perfection.

Quinn taking care of a marshmellow.

Sleeping Bear is a beautiful park and one we will no doubt return to.  We took a drive the next day along the scenic route and it was just as it's name implies.  There were overlooks and trails through the dunes with lots of wildflowers in bloom.  I forgot to take my camera so unfortunately there are no pictures.

We had quite a bit of rain so the last two nights we had what Quinn called snuggle nights.  Brian, Jennifer and the boys stayed with us in the Sundance.  We had a great time and hope everyone else did as well.

Shenandoah

Traveling north on the Blue Ridge Parkway you enter Shenandoah National Park.  Here the Parkway becomes the Skyline Drive for it's last 105 miles.  As the name implies it follows the skyline along the top of the mountains at elevations from 3000 to 4000 feet.  Although not as high as the Smokies the mountains here were further behind as far as foliage.  The leaves were just starting to emerge on the trees which gave kind of a ghostly appearance to the landscape.  All of these trees standing grey in the mist of the Applachian Mountains.

The first photo is from the ridge looking out across the Shenandoah Valley.

We stayed in the park at Big Meadows Campground which is near the middle of the park.  They had a nice Visitor Center which told a lot about the formation of the Park.  The people that were already living here did not like the idea of having to move.  But the government prevailed and we now have a lovely National Park.

This picture is in our campsite.  There were deer everywhere in this area of the Park.  They were not afraid of us at all.  We backed into our site, got all set up and they stayed right there feeding.

This next photo is the beginning of a trail we took along this little stream.  It was only 3/4 mile long but it was about a 1/2 mile drop in elevation -- well that may be a slight exaggeration but it was quite steep.

We were hiking to view a falls but there were falls all along the path.  This one was a smaller one but still very pretty.

Another little falls but also quite pretty.

This is the falls we were actually going to see.  It is supposed to be about a 70 foot drop.  It was a beautiful place.

This would be Marcia giving Dewey a heart attack.  It bothers me as much to see her walk too far up to the edge of a cliff as it does to walk up myself.

We saw several bears in the Smokies and lots of deer in Shenandoah.  As we were leaving the park along Skyline Drive we came upon this fellow in the road right ahead of us.  By the time we could get the camera out to take his picture he was up into the trees just off the road.  We got a couple of shots but you could not make him out nearly as well as when he was right in front of us along the side of the road.  He appeared to be very healthy with a nice slick coat.

That is Shenandoah as we saw it.  It is a beautiful park and we would love to return here at some future time.

Monticello

After a lovely time in Great Smoky Mountain National Park we left North Carolina and drove into Virginia.  We got just across the state line and stopped at a beautiful Welcome Center where they were very helpful.  They had several suggestions and provided some brochures to help us in our journey.  We drove just up the road and spent the night in a nice KOA in Fancy Gap, Virginia.  The next morning we started up the Blue Ridge Parkway which had an entrance just outside of the campground.  The Parkway is a beautiful drive, we had driven some of it in North Carolina without the the Dancer but we had the Dancer in tow on this portion of the Parkway.  We were assured at the Visitor Center that about 100 miles of the Parkway from Fancy Gap to Roanoke, Virginia was not too bad to pull an RV on and there were no low tunnels.  They were right and we were treated to some spectacular scenery.

The first place we stopped was Mabry Mill.  It was a restored water powered mill that an enterprising person had built and operated until the park took over the area.  The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Monument along it's entire route.  The mill had a sawmill in one end, a grist mill in the middle and a woodworking shop in the other end.  Mr. Mabry had everything he needed to live, work and build his needs for his little settlement.   It was all powered by the waterwheel you see in the picture with belts and pulleys running everywhere inside to operate the various machines.  Here is a picture of the mill and it's overshot(the water flows over the top) waterwheel.

We stopped overnight near Lexington, VA after being nearly rear ended by a semi while stopped in a traffic jam.  We decided it was time to get off the road and there just happened to be a campground right at the exit we were stuck at so we headed for out nights lodging place.  The next day we traveled to Charlottsville, VA and got settled into a KOA a few miles out of town. 

The next morning we traveled a short distance to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home.

This is a beautiful place which continues to give testament to Jefferson.  He was a thinker, a farmer, a statesman and the third president of The United States.  The grounds of Monticello(pronounced like the musical instrument, chello) are maintained by a nonprofit organization.  They have done an excellent job of maintaining the integrity of the structure and the grounds surrounding it.  They also have a great Visitor Center with displays, a theater, a cafe as well as a gift shop.

This is a view from the rear of the home.  I think it is actually prettier than the one from the front.

The above is another from the back of the home looking across the large lawn Jefferson maintained.  His office was in the lower right of the back of the home so he could look out across the lawn which had flower beds all around it and beyond that trees from various regions he had brought in and planted.

This photo is of the garden or more accurately the field.  The home was built on a mountaintop which fell away on all sides.  His complete attention to detail in all things was in evidence here.  He laid out a huge garden, 1000 feet long and 80 feet wide, built into the side of the hill with the bank acting as a reflector to warm the soil with it southern exposure.  This picture was taken May 6th and you can see how far along the plants are already.  The garden is still used to supply food for the cafe as well as the volunteers who work at Monticello.  Below the garden were grape vines and berry patches to supply these for the farm.

The property on which Monticello sits is now owned by the nonprofit that takes care of it.  There is a burial plot on the property which is still owned by the family of Thomas Jefferson.  That is the monument at Jefferson's grave. 

We had a great time here and I cannot begin to describe all of the things Jefferson did in creating this beautiful home.  I would highly recommend a stop here by anyone if you are ever in the area.

Great Smoky Mountain National Park North Carolina

I am sorry that I have not been able to post updates on our progress.  We have been staying in wonderful places in the mountains but have not had internet access or phone service most of the time.  That is a mixed blessing.

We moved to the east side of the Smokies and stayed in the Park in a lovely campground.  Smokemont was the name of the campground, it was along a stream with great trees all around us.  The first place we went was actually just outside the Park near Cherokee, NC.  It was a lovely water fall.  

The next shot is along the stream which ran beside our campground.  It was a chuckling, bubbling, meandering stream that we could hear all the time.  It was very soothing to fall asleep listening to the sound of the water.

From this campground we went up up up to the top of the world.  At least it was the top of the world in the Smokies.  Clingman's Dome at about 6600 feet it is the highest point in Smoky Mountain National Park.  On a clear day you can see for miles from the observation tower(yes I went up).  As you can see the mountains are called The Smokies for a reason.  We could see for several feet.

While we were on top of old Smoky we decided to hike some of the Applachian Trail.  It passes right next to the observation tower at the top of Clingman's Dome.  It is the highest place on the AT.  That is the actual trail Marcia is standing on.

Not to be outdone by my lovely wife I too ventured onto the AT.

You can see from the photos how overgrown the AT is.  It was like walking in a tunnel most of the time.  I am sure the "smoke" added to the feeling of being in a tunnel.  Just to show we were actually there here is a picture of a trail sign.  It is pointing the way to a couple of the shelters which occur along the trail for overnight stays.

The last photo shows the beauty of the mountains with the "smoke" and the clouds hanging over them.  

The views throughout the Park are incredible.  It is hard to choose a few to try to show the natural beauty of the area.  We have truly enjoyed our time in the "Smokies". 

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

We arrived in the Smoky Mountains Wednesday amid the storms they were having all around. We did stop at the Tennessee Welcome Center on I-75 for a break and when we checked their weather radar we decided to just stay in the rest area for a little while. It had been quite windy on the road and the radar showed a huge storm right over us. It is a beautiful welcome center so we just took our books in and set by an unlit fireplace and read until the storm passed over.

We decided to stay at a KOA just outside of the park in the little burg of Townsend. It is much quiter than Sevierville or Pigeon Forge.  We went into the park Thursday and checked out several places.  They have a very nice visitor center at the main entrance as well as smaller ones at other entrances.  We also checked out a couple of the campgrounds in the park and they are nice but have no hookups.

I took this picture of Marcia next to one of the huge tulip trees that abound in the park.  We were on a trail through an area that was supposedly not cut when they harvested the timber early in the last century.

Then Marcia took a picture of this mountain man she found wondering in the woods.

This is just one of the many little drainages that all flow down to the river eventually.

We toured the Cades Cove loop yesterday and this was one of the earlier cabins in the cove.  It was remarkably well preserved.  The cove is one of the few areas that they have left some of the original structures when the park was formed.

There are several little churches on the cove loop.  This one was very interesting as it is similar in size and design to the Powers Church.  We toured the church and the cemetery behind the church and discovered some fairly recent grave markers.  As we proceeded around the cove loop we came to another little church with probably fifty cars parked along the road and I realized they had funeral markers on the cars.  They were having a funeral in the little church.  I later asked about that and was told that funerals and burials are still allowed as long as the person is a direct Cove descendant.

A picture of the interior of the little church.  It is a little more rustic than Powers Church.  It was built about ten  or so years after the Powers Church.  It replaced the original log structure.

The picture does not do justice to the scene.  This was looking up the valley in Cades Cove.  You can see why they are called the Smokies.

This couple was at the Cades Cove Visitor Center on the porch playing mountain music.  It was very entertaining and Marcia even bought a cd they had produced.  He played the dulcimer, banjo and guitar and she played a barrel base.  It was homemade from a cardboard drum with the strings running down and attached to the drum.  It produced a good base string sound.

We are enjoying our time here and will be moving to the North Carolina side of the park tomorrow and staying a couple of days in Smokemont Campground in the park.

I have edited the blog entry to update the photos.  Apparently they did not load the first time with the shortcut I used from Picasa so I have reloaded them from a drive.  We have not had cell service or internet connection for several days so it has taken me awhile to get it done.  Hope you like it with the pictures.

Powers Church

I have spent some of the cold weather months working on a website for the Church.  I have it mostly complete but there are a few tweaks yet to make it look a little better.  We are currently planning this year's services and they will be updated on the website as they become finalized.  Here are a few pictures of the Church.

These are a few of the photos of the Church.  The link to the website is www.powerschurch.org.  I hope you enjoy the pictures as well as the website.

Winter 2011

2011 has started out quite cold and snowy.  We have more snow than we have had in several years.  It has pretty much had the ground covered most of the winter.  The first picture I like to call "Storm On".

 This is another one taken from the same place but zoomed out for a different perspective.

 Next day or "Storm Off".

 This was after another 7-8 inches last Saturday.  I had to plow a path to the shop because it was too deep to shovel all the way.

 Looking toward the road.

 Several piles here.  The first ones in the foreground are Marcia's burning bushes better known as rabbit food.  They were eating them right down to the stems so Marcia decided to pile the snow over them to protect them from the poor hungry rabbits.  The next pile is by the pumpkin patch and the far pile is out in the log yard.

 Another view of the pile in the log yard.  It is really big.  To bad Cole and Quinn are not here to climb the mountain.

 A nice shot of the house.

 This is another huge pile out behind the garage.  It is actually bigger than it looks because I push it down over the hill.

 Looking down the drive to where I have pushed snow across the road and piled it up.

 I snapped this as I was returning to the house and thought it turned out well.

That's all from the frozen north.  Matt might have a different opinion on that matter.