Part 3 - vacation diary

part 3: After leaving DC we ventured to Virginia Beach for some sun and surf. It was not hot, but very pleasant most of the time with a little drop or two of rain. The first day there, Lilli & Effy wanted to do some shopping, mainly for clothing. The prices here are far less than in Denmark. So to Costco we headed. They loaded up on stuff and we headed to Macy's and loaded up on stuff there. It was a very nice and relaxing break to our trekking around museums and historical sites. We did moon lit walks along the boardwalk and pier and enjoyed a brew or two. After two days of this, we headed to the Great Smokey National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee. We detoured from the freeway to the Blue Ridge Parkway and wined our way along this small two lane road, stopping frequently to take in the sights and colors. Our first night there we stayed in the Cherokee side of the national park in a small valley called Maggie Valley. We visited the Cherokee Indian Reservation and a 1800's working village they have to show what life was like back then. The next day we entered the National Park again wining our way up and down the rolling mountains see the change of the season with the beautiful red and yellow leaf changes. The fog that rolls in and up the mountain is very weird, I can see now why they call it the Smokey Mountains, as it looks like smoke blowing up the mountain. Lilli & Effy did a little hiking on the Appellation trail. Judy and I enjoyed reading about the history of making the park while waiting for them. The next day we drove the Sweet-water loop road and saw many of the old homes and building left by the inhabitants who lived there before the National Park was established. We stayed a couple of nights in Gatlinburg, TN, which is a major tourist trap. The traffic is as bad as the Las Vegas Boulevard on a weekend. It is near Pigeon Forge were Dolly Pardon has several amusement parks, including DollyWood, which was not on our to do list.

After our Smokey Mountain tour, we trekked down to Atlanta, GA for our final leg of our trip. We cruised through the high rent district of the wealthy and the Governors Mansion before settling down for the night. The next morning before Lilli & Effy had to fly home we went down town Atlanta to visit the Olympic Centennial Park & CNN studios, then up to a shopping mall for a final day of purchases. We dropped them off at the airport and headed back home.

We left the airport at 3:30 pm on Sunday and arrived home in South Jordan at 5:30 pm Tuesday. Long days behind the wheel, but not a bad drive, until we got near the western Nebraska border. It started to rain and freeze so we spent the night in Sydney and had to thaw out the car the next morning. We had fog and wet roads all the way west to near Rock Springs, then it lifted to just high overcast clouds and it warmed up to near 50 from a morning low of 32.

Part 2 of Vacation

... part 2: Philly was great. For a political advocate, standing in the room were our independence and constitution were created was like a religious pilgrimage. I stood in awe and imagined the many arguments for and against treason against the King. We also visited the boarding house were Jefferson wrote the declaration and Washington stayed while planning the war against Britain. Benjamin Franklin has always been a idol of mine. It was his calm and wisdom that we have the great constitution we have today. He also was one of the greatest inventors of that time. Just standing in the spots these great people stood brings alive our history. After visiting these great sights, we had dinner at this market next to the convention center and about 8 blocks away from our hotel. As we were walking back, a strong wind came up and down came the rain, in buckets. We rushed into a covered bus shelter for cover. We asked this 20's something guy if the bus went in our needed direction. To our relief it would stop only a hundred feet from our hotel. When it arrived, we jumped on and headed for our lair. It would have been nice to have more time in Philly, but Washington DC was awaiting our arrival.

In DC we stayed in a motel in the out skirts, Falls Church, VA. We took the Metro into DC for our walking from museum to museum and monument to monument. We had requested the special tour of the White House and Capital from Rep. Matheson's office, but we did not make the OK list, so we saw it from afar. We did get to go up in the Washington Monument and see it from that vantage point. I think Effy said we walked about 11 kilometer that day. We also visited the new American Indian Museum, Natural History, Air & Space, and both Art Museums. Judy and I have been there before, so we wanted Lilli and Effy to see what they found most interesting. That is another place you can spend a week and not see it all. On our route to Virginia Beach, we stopped at Mt. Vernon and again I was in awe being in George Washington's home and plantation. They have a new museum with forensically created wax models of George from his youth to his 50's.

More in later posts...

Part 1 - Vacation Diary

part 1: Judy and I just returned from a 3 week, 5,984 mile, sojourn across the country. I started out driving to Chicago on Sept 23rd to pick up Judy who was attending a meeting there Sept 26th. We then left mid-day Sept 26th for Jersey City, New Jersey to pick up our Danish friends, Lilli & Effy, who had flown into New York a week earlier. We did not know how far we could drive, so we did not make motel reservations and hoped to find a room around midnight. However, the area we wanted to retire for the night was the location of the Penn State football game and every room was booked. We traveled to the next county in search of lodging, only to find a county fair going on and no rooms available. By then there was not much available until we hit the New Jersey state line. So since I loaded up on coffee, we headed for a final destination for that part of the trip, Jersey City. As we traveled through Pennsylvania, it rained and rained, with no moon light and rush hour traffic from the Penn State game to the New Jersey line, this is @ 2 AM. Unfortunately the bridge on the freeway to the Holland Tunnel was closed for repair. We were detoured to an industrial part of town and the signs directing the detour had vanished. At one point we were on the street in front of a prison. Finally I found an open truck stop and asked directions. It worked and by 5 am we made it to the hotel we were going to meet our friends @ noon, but did not plan on sleeping there. But now that we were there 6 hours early, we hoped to get a few hours of sleep before they arrived at noon. But the room was way too much money, near $300, for 5 hours of sleep, so they offered their couch in the lobby. I offered half the price, but the clerk could not make a deal. We took advantage of their hospitality and crashed there until brunch was served. We awakened to the smell of fresh coffee, so we eat brunch, and by the time we finished, our friends had arrived. We loaded up their bags and headed for Philly. PS: total cost for the sleep on the couch, $20 parking fee. More to come in later posts...