10 Year Anniversary Celebration Day!

Lake Powhatan USFG, Asheville, NC

For the last several years we've been talking about where to celebrate our ten year anniversary. Every time we'd visit a National Park or one of the Great Lodges, we'd ask ourselves, "Should this be the place to celebrate?" When I began planning this road trip I actually started from our anniversary weekend and planned backwards and forwards from there. We love the mountains, Asheville has a great vibe, and it's the beginning of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Seemed like a good choice and after our big date today I can honestly say we made a great choice!

The campground is only about 20 minutes from downtown Asheville so it made for a pretty easy drive. We were kinda winging it, but that was half the fun. We unloaded our bikes, made a trip to the Visitors Center and took a lap around town scoping out the myriad of activities happening - and quite the mix of activities it was! We rode close to 20 miles going from one event to the next. Asheville is in hill country so it was a lot of going up and down some pretty long hills. Our eclectic day took us to a Mountain Sports Festival located in a park near the French Broad River, a Monsanto GMO protest ''festival", several craft fairs and our fave, the French Broad Chocolate Shop. French Broad Chocolate is a small handcrafted bean to bar shop that has an almost cult like following in Asheville. I was really impressed that they had several shelves stocked with other handcrafted bean to bar chocolate makers as well as their own chocolate, confections and pastries. It was fun to see Videri chocolate was included too. Perhaps one day Cello Chocolate will be on the shelf!! Ned and I bought several (maybe 7?) bars of the chocolate we've been meaning to try, along with a nice tall glass of stout and proceeded to taste a bit from each bar. (Really - it was just a taste!) I definitely believe our chocolate is just as good.

After this afternoon pick me up, we continued to ride our bike thru town enjoying all the people watching. This town could easily rival Berkeley in it's wacky uniqueness.
We saw purple comedy tour buses, pub cycles, musicians on each street corner and jugglers. We had dinner at a sidewalk cafe and listened to some amazing music. Ned captured some on video, when we get a better cell connection I hope to post it on FB.

When we rode our bikes back to Winnie, past French Broad Chocolate, we noticed the line was out the door and up the block. Dang, glad we hit it when we did. I'm so glad we have another couple of days of just hanging around and enjoying this very fun, romantic city. And Molly, Megan and Josh - happy anniversary to all of us. You kids make it so much fun to be a family together!

Seeing Salem times Two

Lake Powhatan USFG, Asheville, NC

Sleeping in Sam's driveway in this swanky neighborhood wasn't exactly optimal but it did have its advantages. The entire time we were in Trinidad and Ecuador with Sam, he kept proudly showing us pictures of his 20 month old son, Salem. Well, now we had a great excuse to actually meet the little guy. And yes, he completely absolutely stole my heart. He warmed up to me right away and cooked me breakfast on his play stove, played some basketball and let me help him get dressed. All of us, including Sam, his wife Star and Salem all went out to breakfast. I can't tell you how much fun I was having walking him around and keeping him occupied during breakfast. Best mistake we've made this trip was not making it into the campground in time, and hanging out with little Salem instead!

We had a 4 hour drive back up to Lake Powhatan and Star suggested we stop off in Old Salem. It's very much like Williamsburg where people are dressed in period costumes and demonstrating trades of the day. I loved the architecture and charm of the village, but what I was really impressed with was the actual college. It's still a working women's college right in the heart of this quaint village. Ned and I had a great time stretching our legs, walking around the village and enjoying the cooler temperatures.

We finally made it back to Lake Powhatan where we will gladly settle in for the Memorial Weekend. After the carousing about until all hours yesterday it's much appreciated! Ned and I are spending the evening battling it out in an epic backgammon marathon session, which is still going on as I type. He's up a couple of games on me, but who's counting...ha!

Raleigh Rally

Not Where We Are Supposed to Be, NC

Meeting up with Sam again was like old homeweek. We got great big bear hugs from him and bam - just like that we were back in Trinidad mode. After a tour of his chocolate factory and meeting all his staff (which was phenomenal) things just kinda happened and chaos ensued. All I know is that we connected at 2ish, it's now closer to midnight and in between were several bars (beers, margaritas, sangria, wine) a couple of restaurants involving fried chicken, schnitzel sandwiches, corn dogs, a very crowded art opening where we connected with 6 Videri chocolate people, and we are now locked out of our campground. Plan B is to sleep in front of Sam's house. Good Times for sure - we always get in trouble when we're with Sam.

Up and Down the Hollers

Lake Powhatan, Asheville, NC

We left Tennessee and headed for the Appalachian Mountains. Rather than drive thru Smokey Mountain National Park, which we've done before, we decided to drive through little mountain towns. We stopped several times along the way to play in and check out the Ocoee River. (And yes, Tom you are right - all owned by the TVA.) Interestingly enough, we also saw a fair amount of solar farms so maybe that's the new trend toward rural electrification.

One of my bucket list items (yes, they are fairly modest) was to bike the Little Tennessee River Rails for Trail. I'd read an article about it a few years ago and it looked so quaint meandering next to the Tennessee river with several bridges criss-crossing over the river. As luck would have it we just "happened" to drive thru Franklin, North Carolina. It's a fairly easy 11 or so mile bike ride, but what it lacks in mileage it makes up for in scenery. The trail was heavily scented with thickets of blooming wild honeysuckle, the sweet perfume so strong it was almost heady. This trail hooked up with a couple of other little trails all hugging the Little Tennessee River. The temperature was just about 80, so even though we were riding this in the mid-afternoon it wasn't too hot or oppressive. It's a great ride, up and down and a couple of fun hills, over a covered bridge and just enough variety to keep it interesting. Definitely the highlight of my day!

After this little escapade we drove for about another hour and a half and are camped just outside of Asheville in an awesome USFS campground. Ironically, this is the place we will be over Memorial Weekend so it was kinda cool to check it out. First thing we did was hop on our bikes. This place has so many mountain bike trails it's ridiculous. We rode down to the beach area and then took a trail through the woods. We didn't have a trail map so it was a bit confusing (not to mention a work-out) to figure out where we were. Safely, but exhausted, we made it back to the campground in time for a "Cheers Norm's Amber Ale" for Ned and a glass of Pinot Grigio for moi.

Tomorrow we head to Raleigh, NC to meet up with Sam the owner of Videri Chocolate. Sam was one of the other chocolate makers with us on our recent trip to Trinidad and Ecuador. We are really looking forward to seeing his operation and spending some time with him before heading back up to Asheville. My only regret is that we won't have any time to see my niece, Cassie, and my great-nephews Jessie and Brent. Such cute boys!!! Next time, Cassie - I promise!

p.s. I also threw in a couple of pictures that show we are definitely in "Cue" country - pork bbq that is. I love all the interesting regionals areas that make up the US. So fun!

Tennessee Whiskey Trail

Harrison Bay State Park, TN

It was sure hard to pull down the top and roll out of this camping spot. I especially enjoyed the different type of bird activity that was going on this morning. Without even trying you could spot colorful woodpeckers tapping away at the tree trunks and summer tanagers flying by. I'm not a birder and completely ignorant about bird life, but I was really getting a kick out of listening to their various calls back and forth.

We left "Bama" behind us and drove due north into Tennessee headed into the general direction of the Tennessee Whiskey Trail. Several years ago we took the Jack Daniels Tour in Lynchburg and really enjoyed it. Since we were close enough to the Whiskey Trail (what's a couple of hundred miles when you're driving across country...) we thought it was an excellent excuse to check out another distillery. We decided on George Dickel Whisky Distillery. Note that there's no "e" in the Whiskey at this distillery. It's because George claimed his whisky was so darn smooth that it tasted like Scotch Whisky, which is spelled without the e. Sounded good to us.

The drive through the backroads of Tennessee on this gorgeous hot summer day was pretty fun. I had no idea that so much wheat was grown in this part of the country. We drove up and down thru rolling green hills, past newly planted green wheat fields and too many trailer homes to count.

The George Dickel Distillery is not an easy place to find. It's definitely tucked in the back hills of Normandy, TN in a place called Cascade Hollow. It's much smaller than the Jack Daniels Distillery, but very charming. One side of the road is the General Store, Post Office and Visitors Center - all in one building. Across the way is the very small distillery. The big difference between this operation and the Jack Daniels is that everything is done by hand. Their motto is "handmade the hard way". No kidding. As a bean to bar chocolate maker we sure appreciate when something is handcrafted. However, we don't go out of our way to make it particularly hard. It seems like they pride themselves on doing things the exact same way it was done in 1959. For example, the charcoal ricks are burned in the open (up a hollow), hand bagged with shovels, driven with a pickup to the distillery and then walked bag by bag upstairs.
Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the distillery so the only shots we have are of the outside. The warehouse where the barrels are being aged and stored smells AMAZING! It was one of the best parts of the tour. We also learned that Sterling Winery in Napa gets their used barrels, which are only used once.

As far as distillery tours go we enjoyed the Maker's Mark and Jack Daniels tour better. I think George Dickel whisky is darn good, but our tour guide was a bit of a sourpuss. There were only 4 of us on the tour, so it wasn't as if we were an unruly crowd. The best part was the whisky tasting at the end. After 4 shots our guide did seem to loosen up a bit. (Feedback to George Dickel Visitors Center - have your guides take the shots BEFORE giving the tour). Ned and I had a great time being whisky connoisseurs - sniffing, sipping, swirling and smacking our lips. The barrel select is their very finest, (for the very discerning whisky drinker), but obviously we don't have discriminating palates when it comes to whisky. Our favorite was No. 12. It had great buttery notes. Ned took one for the team and drove this afternoon. He was in much better shape than I was. Go Ned!

Enjoying the Southern Hospitality

Joe Wheeler State Park, AL

It was as if a switch was thrown and we went from cool days, always chasing a storm, to the hot days of summer. We woke to birds singing their hearts out, almost ridiculous with the amount of noise they were making. I think they too were thrilled that summer had finally arrived.

Ned and I were up past midnight playing backgammon (yes, we've become addicts) so it felt good to just take our time getting up, enjoy the bright summer day and have this heavily wooded campground to ourselves.

Our first stop of the day was the small Mississippi town of Holly Springs. As far as small towns go, this one was somewhat thriving. The ubiquitous court house in the town square was humming, there were cars parked everywhere and the shops around the square were definitely open. Nice. After driving thru so many Texas and Oklahoma towns where the town square was nearly vacant and the shops boarded up this felt hopeful. After a quick visit to the Chamber of Commerce, we picked up a map of the antebellum homes in the town and decided to do a bike tour of them rather than the driving tour. This town was occupied fairly early in the Civil War and it's amazing how many of the homes survived. It's not a particularly affluent town, but the huge magnolia and mimosa trees lining all the streets really added to the ambience of Southern charm. One antebellum house that particularly struck me was occupied by General Grant and his family for a year during the War. Just think of that, "Hey, honey I'm going to war. Pack up the household, servants and kids and join me." One of the brochures made a point that General Grant brought with him his slaves. I'm definitely going to do some research on that to see what that was all about.

After our antebellum biking jaunt, we continued to take highway 4 across Mississippi driving through one sleepy Southern town to another. We eventually hooked up with the Natchez Trace for awhile. Several years ago we took the Natchez Trace for several hundred miles. I'm still in awe of the beauty and history of this stretch of land. Just imaging first buffalo, then Indians, then trappers walking this trail.

Crossing into Alabama our next little adventure was visiting the birthplace and childhood home of Helen Keller. We've seen some pretty cheesy "birthplace" spots before (Judy Garland in Grand Rapids I'm looking at you), but this spot was amazing!
Besides being able to tour the home, cottage and see the original pump where Helen Keller made the connection to water, the photographs and documents were quite interesting. Some really fascinating facts I learned: The basic system of sign language was first developed by Spanish monks to communicate without breaking their vow of silence; Braille was created in 1825 by 16 yr. old Louis Braille for night reading by the French army; Alexander Bell met Helen when she was a child and helped make the connection between Helen and her lifelong friend and teacher, Annie Sullivan.

Our final destination is Joe Wheeler State Park in Alabama. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this is the best campsite of the trip so far. We are camped right on a lake and as I write this blog Ned is cooking up some brats and yams on the grill. We are talking about doing a bike ride tonight to check out this expansive State Park. Goodness knows I need to get in some saddle time so we can keep up with Owen and Brian (my great-newphes) when we visit them in a few weeks!