The day Ned joined the Army

Hammonasset State Park, CT

Blue skies and warm weather sure seemed like a perfect combo for a bike ride. Allaire State Park not only has a nicely wooded campground, but it's also an historic village circa 1830's, has a working railroad, and bike baths galore. We road for about 10 miles on the Capital to Coast bike trail and then decided to take in the Civil War re-enactment that was happening in the village.

Ned and I have seen LOTS of Civil War re-enactments by mostly Confederate camps. Today was a Union Camp and while mildly interested I didn't have great hopes. (One can only see so many of these re-enactments). However, today was quite different and way more interesting than we expected.

What first caught my attention was how elaborate the entire set up was. Most of the Union Soldiers had spent the night in their tents. There was also the women's camp, those who "followed" the soldiers, artillery units, officers riding around on horses, musicians, soldiers marching and several other period costumed actors strolling about. We struck up a conversation with the artillery captain and before you knew it, he "enlisted" Ned into part of his unit.

For the next 15 or 20 minutes Ned was given a very thorough instruction on how to fire a cannon. And let me tell ya, these New Jersey artillery men take their job seriously. "Soldier, only use your left hand to cover the pressure hole, you want to save your good hand if it should get blown off", he'd bark. "Soldier, stand with a manly pose and put your right arm behind your back", he'd say while Ned was cleaning out the muzzle. "We'll keep those Johnny Rebs on the run."

It took many steps to prepare a cannon to fire and a soldier would have to go back and forth behind the cannon since one was never supposed to go in front of the muzzle - for obvious reasons. Hard to believe that soldiers could do all these elaborate steps in 2.5 minutes during battle. Finally, the big moment came and "kaboom" the cannon was fired! Ned my hero.

We then watched the band play while the solider's marched. Ned was really interested in the instruments they were playing. One soldier was playing a 1860's euphonium, which looked like a trumpet but with levered keys and a cool bell shape. When Ned asked him about his instrument the musician said that it had never been worked on. Amazing!

Fortunately, this gal caught her soldier's eye and Ned decided to journey into Connecticut rather than continuing his adventure as a Union soldier. And traveling into Connecticut was no easy feat I might add! We were waging our own battle on the Jersey Parkway/Turnpike. Such obvious novices we were!! I'm sure we paid way too many tolls because we didn't figure out the express lane vs. local for quite awhile. We felt like cannon fodder dodging incoming cars and zig-zagging through the NY freeways until finally reaching the promise land of Connecticut.

We drove Highway 1 up the coast of Connecticut, driving past gigantic mansions until we finally reached Hammonassett State Park. This place is hilarious. It is touted as being Connecticut's largest beach, all 2 miles of it. It has close to 400 campsites, mostly all arranged in various circles in a large, grassy several hundred acre area. We are fortunately off the beaten path a little near a wooded grove. This isn't so much camping as people getting together in someone's backyard. The grills are going, kids are riding bikes, there are several baseball, volleyball, bocce ball games going and the campground host just now drove his ATV by...hooked up to an ice cream trailer complete with the bells ringing. There's even a wedding party with a DJ blasting it out at the beach pavilion. We've also had a couple of friendly folks stop by to check out Winnie. Fun group of people, Americana at its finest.

Jersey Shore

Allaire State Park, Farmingdale, NJ

It's Ned filling in for Debi again. We were psyched when the sun came out this morning before we left our campsite in Lewes, Delaware. We also cracked up to view the campground we rolled into last night: It's a classic beach campground for the east coast, which is designed to line up a bunch of cars on asphalt, all parallel parked in a row. Let's just say that aesthetically it's a far cry from some of the beautiful campgrounds we've stayed at lately in the mountains.

We had camped very near the ferry landing, so we were able to arrive there with plenty of time to check out the impressive ferry building, before we drove onto the ferry for our trip to New Jersey. The hour and a half trip over was very luxurious with nice tall-back seats like in first class on an airplane. It was nippy enough on deck that I took several quick trips outside to snap photos, but was glad to join Debi in the warm comfort of the main cabin for most of the voyage.

When we arrived in Cape May, New Jersey, we immediately headed to the easternmost spit which runs along about half of New Jersey's southern coastline, and comprises the "Jersey Shore". The first town is Wildwood, which bowled us over with its abundant array of 1950's vintage motels. Almost every one had it's own dated sounding name (e.g. Gondelier, Carribean, Waikiki, Bucaneer, etc.) along with a matching bright color scheme. We loved in particular the fake palm trees which several motels used to decorate around their swimming pools. Also high on my list was the miniature golf course featuring several dinosaurs. The greatest thing about this area was that, although the themes and decor of all these motels had clearly been chosen in the 50's, almost all of them have been lovingly maintained with fresh paint, etc., which gave us a definite time-warp sensation as we drove through. Several years ago, we had driven on Route-66, in search of the iconic look of a past era. We found that experience much less real than this tour day, which seems much more authentic.

Next up were towns such as Stone Harbor, Avalon, and Sea Isle City. Suddenly, instead of interesting vintage motels, we saw row after row of very expensive looking, large, remodeled beach houses. After a while, the amount of premium real estate which we were viewing along this patch of shoreline kind of blew our minds. At least half of these places display "for rent" signs, so that it is clear that most of this area is used as vacation rentals during the summer season.

Further north we came to Atlantic City, which I was looking forward to after my introduction to its history from watching "Boardwalk Empire". We had both anticipated that it would be somewhat like driving through Las Vegas, so we were horrified to find it a terribly shabby old town, with a few extremely garish, but dated looking casino/hotels plopped down in the middle. The essence of all this for me was seeing, as we passed under one of Donald Trump's "lavish" hotels, that pigeons had built a rather large nest inside the "U" of TRUMP. The whole town left us feeling very sad. Debi wanted to ride our bikes around on the boardwalk which is between the hotels and the surf and see things from that side, but I was driving and never found a friendly looking place to park. Before we knew it, we were headed out of town and never got the bike tour to happen.

After this we headed up the turnpike for a while, but turned back to the shore at Seaside Heights, where "Jersey Shore" is filmed. This was a completely different experience with lots of modest little beach houses, combined with the the typically touristy ice cream, pizza, and t-shirt shops that we had expected further south today.

Our final resting place for the day is Allaire State Park near Farmingdale. It's a very sweet little campground with lots of trees, even though it's situated in the middle of a suburban neighborhood. Debi says this area reminds her from her childhood of typical New Jersey: green, country, with white clapboard houses.

A Day at Mount Vernon

Cape Henlopen State Park, DE

"It was a cold and drur day" (this quote credited to the Polly and Nancy tape-recorded "radio show" circa 1955) when we woke this morning. It had rained last night and our campground was shrouded in fog. As we continued our drive on Skyline Drive, Ned spotted a bear alongside the road. I took some pics, but the bear was only showing me his backside.

We eventually made it to George and Martha Washington's Home, Mt. Vernon. It took us awhile to find it. (Yes, there is a difference between Mt. Vernon Avenue and Mt. Vernon Parkway, oh google maps you perfectionist you.) We spent a good 3.5 hours exploring Mt. Vernon and we could have spent several hours more. The biggest challenge was re-submersion into civilization. After driving for 3 days on a pristine parkway with nary a stoplight or services, it was a bit harsh to be bombarded with fast foods, street lights and commuter traffic. Once we were on the grounds of Mt. Vernon every school child within a 100 mile radius had descended upon this place for their end of school field trip. Yikes. I forgot how noisy and rambunctious large packs of children can be.

Nonetheless, Mt. Vernon was truly remarkable. The grounds, the house, the outbuildings were fantastic, we got a kick out of seeing the "Riding Chair" carriage and the 3 hole Necessary house, but the education center and museum were really spectacular. Things I learned: George Washington pretty much started the French-Indian War single handedly - oops; his dentures were not made of wood but of hippopotamus and purchased slave teeth - he had 9 pairs; he owned 8000 acres of land and had the largest distillery in the country; he had 300 slaves and freed them upon his death; and even tho he was obsessive about good oral hygiene his teeth fell out by the age of 22 due to a mercury medicinal compound given to him in his youth.

The educational center also had several theaters and we managed to take in 3 or 4 small films. I loved learning about the strategy of GW's battles with the British during the Revolutionary War. It gave me such a deeper respect for his military brilliance. One theatre was a multi-media experience and as it told the story of GW crossing the Delaware River on Christmas Eve, a fog machine filled the theatre, fake snow fell from the ceiling and our seats shook when cannons went off. Pretty cool. We were sorry to have left, but we were approaching rush hour and needed to get the hell outta Mt. Vernon.

It took us several hours (much longer than anticipated) to get out of Washington, D.C., cross thru Maryland and reach the shores of Delaware. (Hey George, we'll be crossing Delaware Bay tomorrow and thinking of you!) Tonight we are having crab cakes at the Surfing Crab. Dang, just when I was getting used to the Southern drawl and everyone talking kinda slow, it took me a minute to adjust to our fast talking waiter with his Eastern clipped accent. Goodbye land of BBQ, hello world of seafood.

No Easy Answers

Shenandoah National Park, VA

First thing we did this morning was jump on our bikes and continue to explore this awesome campground. We rode our bikes a short way to this sweet little lake that was surrounded by soft white sand, landscaped lawns and CCC built structures. (Terry, it so reminded me of the place we camped at in Arkansas, only there was no "By the Book Betty"). Free tip from me, if you're ever driving in Virginia stay at Cave Mountain Lake USFS campground and pick site #6. Just about every campsite is next to the stream, but this one has a little hand built dam made with rocks so it's a sweet swimming hole.

Since we were just a few miles from Natural Bridge we decided to become tourists and take a look. Thomas Jefferson was so enamored with this natural wonder that he bought it from King George for just a pittance. (A little over $2 in today's money). Legend also has it that George Washington surveyed this and even carved his initials in the rock. (Yes, our first president was a graffiti vandal). It's also touted as one of the true wonders of the world. We had to go. I have to admit Ned and I are spoiled by National Parks and Monuments. You usually pay a nominal fee and get a great outdoor experience seeing something pretty awe inspiring. For whatever reason, this Natural Bridge that our 3rd President was so in awe of, wasn't set aside or given to the Government, instead it fell into commercial hands. And that was sad.

When we drove into the town we drove right by the entrance to Natural Bridge. We thought it was an enormous bank - seriously. We entered the world's largest gift shop selling more snow globes and magnets than I thought was humanly possible, and purchasing our tickets for $18 each (ahem), we began the self guided tour. We opted out of the Wax Museum Tour. We descended into the basement of the structure and had to go through Jefferson's play land. (Rolling in his grave, I'm sure). After walking past the outdoor snack cafe we rounded a bend and there she was! I must admit it's pretty amazing. It's hard to grasp the enormity and scale of this natural bridge. A small creek runs through it and you're able to walk alongside the path and through the several story high arch. I guess the concessioners felt guilty about taking $18 for this short little tour so they added in a couple of other extra features, like George Washington's supposed initials being carved in the wall. Of course they were across the creek and about 60 feet away so we had to take their word for it. We also walked past a make believe Indian village (closed), next to a roped off saltpeter mine, near a "lost river" and read sign after sign of "inspirational" quotes. The path finally ended at Lace Falls, which were nice, but nothing spectacular. We enjoyed the morning walk, but it made me sad and so appreciative of our National Parks. No matter what your politics, you have to admit that our National Parks are a treasure.

After that little outing we got back on the Blue Ridge Parkway and drove forever. This end of the parkway doesn't have as many Visit Centers, etc. as the southern end. We finally crossed from the Blue Ridge Parkway and onto Skyline Drive in Shenandoah Park. The views from Skyline Drive are just as spectacular as from the Parkway, but the actual drive, while beautiful, isn't quite as stunning. We finally made it to about half way to through the Park and decided to call Big Meadow our home for the night. (Amenities like laundry and showers beckoned).

We took a ride on our bike checking out the Big Meadow Lodge and Visitors Center. This lodge is reminiscent of the great lodges of the West and has the ubiquitous fireplace and an enormous back porch that looks over the entire valley.

At the Visitor Center we watched a movie about the CCC and spent some time learning about the history of this National Park. Unlike the National Parks in the West where there is some incredible geology (Yosemite, Zion, Yellowstone, Glacier, etc). Shenandoah was created. Yep, pretty much the whole thing is fabricated. FDR and Stephen Mather, the first Superintendent of National Parks, wanted to create a big western feel National Park in the East Coast like the West. So, they went out in search of one. They decided upon Shenandoah. It was close to populated areas, but the problem was "Shenandoah" was pretty much Appalachian farmland and barren of trees. When FDR created the CCC the largest group of young boys were sent here and they created this park. The CCC planted over 100,000 trees, built the road and structures. Basically, what we have today is a National Park that is made up of completely planted trees. It was also heartbreaking to read the stories of all the families that were misplaced (many of them not compensated) so that this National Park could be built.

My lesson for today is that there are no easy answers. It's sad to see a natural phenomena being so crassly commercialized, especially when our National Parks do such a great job. On the other hand, it was just as sad when the government kicked people off the land and made up a forest!!

Blue Ridge Parkway - Day 2

Cave Mountain Lake, USFS - Natural Bridges, VA

As usual, we slept on the upper deck of Winnie last night. It was magical feeling the cool night breeze, listening to the creek and for the first time of this trip watching the fire flies light up the night. As we were lying there in the pitch dark, just us and the fireflies. about 12 people walked by with multi-colored glow sticks around their heads, necks, arms and legs. By the height differences, I'd say they ranged in age from about 5 or so to adult. It was surreal seeing these glow in the dark "Michelin Tire" looking people with their different gaits, weirdly floating past.

I was so excited to see the Blue Ridge Music Center that I was up a little after 6 and trying, not so very hard, to be quiet. Ned finally rallied by 6:30 and we were on the road by 8. When we at last arrived at the Music Center it was 9 and our hearts sunk that it didn't open til 10. I told Ned, it didn't matter we'd catch it on the next road trip or so. Ned drove about 10 miles, pulled into an overlook, and said, "Debi, we've driven 200 miles out of our way for fried chicken, we can wait 45 minutes for the center to open." (Reason 1001 why I love this man). So, we turned around and headed for the locked gate. By the time we got there we had about 15 minutes to wait and chatted it up with some friendly motorcycle guys also waiting to get in. At a quarter past 10 our buddies decided not to wait any longer and took off. Several other cars also came in and left. I was NOT to be detered. I pulled off my bike from the back of Winnie, slipped through the locked gate, and told Ned to wait there. The Music Center was just a ways down the hill and I was pleased to see a young Park Ranger open the door for me. I asked him if he was open and he said yes, but was amazed that no one had shown up yet. I told him about the locked gate and he was shocked! Oops, after that little snafu the gates were opened, Ned drove in and joined me. Sometimes, it pays to be bold.

I'm so glad we took the extra effort to visit the Blue Ridge Music Center. It was more than I had hoped for. The interactive displays not only told about the history of Blue Grass, but had amazing audio and video. Ned especially loved some of the old instruments on display, like the wooden and gourd banjos. It was so cool to listen to some of the early recordings of the ballads, some dating as far back as the 1700's in Scotland, Ireland and Germany. Playing around with the sound board mixer was also tons of fun. There was also a live performance by a couple of local musicians playing guitar and banjo. We spent close to 2 hours there and I could have easily spent the whole day. Best part yet of the Parkway for me.

By this time, it was early afternoon, we'd worked up an appetite and headed for Mabry Mill. It's a historic sawmill, blacksmith shop and grist mill that still grinds flour to make their pancakes. Their speciality is buckwheat cakes, but they also serve sweet potato, cornmeal, oatmeal, and traditional pancakes. Ned and I couldn't decide so agreed we'd try the sweet potato, buckwheat and cornmeal. The only one we really liked was the sweet potato pancake. The others tasted like sawdust. I wasn't impressed.

The best part of Mabry Mill was walking around the grounds, taking photos of this famous mill and listening to the rangers describe how the mill worked and demonstrating certain crafts. We both got a kick out of the old still that was beyond the fence and near the creek. After visiting some distilleries and seeing this old timey still, Ned wants to try his hand at making some moonshine. (Oh lordy, food science majors).

As we drove further up the parkway we continued to see breathtaking view after breathtaking view. You almost become jaded seeing so much beauty after every bend. As we drove farther into Virginia the parkway topography definitely changed from mountainous to pastoral with lots of wild flowers lining the road. The highest point on the parkway in Virginia was a little over 3950 ft. At one point we were driving down the ridge of the mountain and you could see the valleys from both sides.

While we wanted to camp on the Parkway, none of the National Park campgrounds have showers. While planning this trip I had located a USFS campground not too far from the parkway that looked like a good candidate. From the parkway there weren't any road signs on how to get there nor did the park ranger we spoke with know anything about it. There is no cell service on the Parkway, so it was a bit sketchy to find this campground. As Ned drove down a heavily forested windy gravel road, down, down, down into the holler I became a bit skeptical and suggested we should perhaps turn back and just stick with the National Park campground. Ned said he had faith in my research and wanted to keep going. After about half an hour we passed a group of really sketchy looking folks swimming in the river. I must admit that scenes from "Deliverance" passed through my mind, but then I remembered how I look when I've been swimming in the Yuba all day. Yeah, they looked like me after a day at the river. We finally found this campground and it is a winner!!! We knew it was the right place when the first thing we saw pulling in were two VW minibuses, both giving us the thumbs up. Ah, kindred spirits. Once again we are camped right next to a very noisy stream. The campsites are really spread far apart and look like they've were built by the CCC. Some campsites even have little bridges over the creek. The amount of wildlife around here is ridiculously noisy. The frogs were so loud it was hard to hear and now some kind of large winged insects keep attacking our screens. This place is deliciously wild and I'm so glad Ned is camping with me.

Blue Ridge Parkway - Day One

Stone Mountain State Park, Roaring Gap, NC

Our plan is to take our time driving the Blue Ridge Parkway from Asheville, NC into Shenandoah National Park, VA. We figure it'll take us two or three days depending on all the things we do. After our first day on this parkway I can see why it is one of the most iconic drives in America. Every view, every turnout, every overlook is completely stunning. As far as you can see are just mountain ranges against silhouettes of more mountain ranges. The parkway is also lined with thickets of wild rhododendron getting ready to bloom. Along the lower elevations we were greeted with vibrant purple rhododendrons and bits of orange honeysuckle. There are numerous tunnels and bridges all built with beautiful stonework. It took decades to build this parkway and you can see why.

The hardest part of today was figuring out what we wanted to do. There are so many choices! Our first stop was the Visitor's Center in Asheville where we talked with a park ranger and watched a movie about the parkway. We had somewhat of a plan, but we kept stopping at every other overlook, until finally we realized we wouldn't make any progress if we kept up this pace. Some of our stops along the way for the day were great and some we just so-so.

The Crafts Center outside of Asheville is quite stunning, both in the design of the building and the actual Appalachian folk crafts. I was expecting something more hokey like cornhusk and apple dolls, but was blown away by the gorgeous furniture, quilts, glass work and pottery. There are some very talented artists that come from this part of the country.

We also really enjoyed stopping at Linville Falls. It was great to take a hike and stretch our legs. The park ranger suggested we continue on to the highest point rather than just stopping at the first Falls overlook. So glad we did!! The first stop had all of humanity and not much of a view. We were quite underwhelmed. But the higher we hiked the more impressive the falls became. By the time we reached the third and last overlook we were treated with a view of the upper falls along with the lower falls going through the gorge...and there were only 4 other people there. Sweet reward.

We had a picnic lunch at one of the overviews, which was quite fun. The Moses H. Cone Memorial Park and house was also recommended to us. Apparently there are miles and miles of carriage roads and we were looking forward to riding our bikes on them, much like our favorite National Park, Acadia. Unfortunately, the carriage roads are only for horses and hikers. Bummer. I was also hoping this historic home, the wealth of which came from denim manufacturing, would be as cool as the Ehrdman Estate at Sugar Pine Point in Tahoe. Meh. The home wasn't in great shape and had been commandeered as a gift shop and craft museum. We weren't impressed.

Our final destination is camping at Stone Mountain State Park near Roaring Gap. We have the best camp spot in the park, right next to a creek and back under some trees. Sweet. When we went out for a bike ride after dinner (a very modest dinner it was too. Left over BBQ chicken and a can of soup) the campground host suggested we take a hike to the falls. We rode our bike a bit and then took another hike. At this point it was close to dusk and we felt a bit foolish and unprepared. We had no insect repellent, no water, no flashlight and forgot the keys to lock up the bikes. Nonetheless, the hike was quite pleasant through the woods and the water fall was pretty amazing. It was more like a huge water slide over granite slabs. Several signs are posted that there have been fatalities and you can definitely see why. The ride would be awesome, but the landing not so much.

The best part about this campground is the shower after all the hiking and biking we did. Dang, that felt great. I'm excited about visiting the Blue Ridge Heritage Music Center and Mabry Mill tomorrow. Bluegrass and folk music is some of my favorite and the Mill looks absolutely charming - not to mention that they're famous for buckwheat pancakes. Guess where we are having a late breakfast tomorrow?