Along the Way with J & J

Sept. 24 – Shenandoah National Park and Harpers Ferry

By jayjazz · Comments (0)

Friday, September 25th, 2015

Yesterday, we had hoped to take Blue Ridge Parkway all the way North, which ends just shy of Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive. However, we ran out of time after admiring all there is to see and didn’t want to rush through like we had to in The Smokies. Skyline drive is 105 miles long and runs the entire length of Shenandoah National Park. We drove about 70 of them, stopping frequently to take pictures of the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains. We also visited the Harry F. Byrd Visitors center within the park for our first passport cancelation of the day.

Unfortunately, we weren’t going to have much time to explore West Virginia so we decided to spend it in Harpers Ferry. Most of the town is part of the National Parks system and we arrived at the main Visitor’s Center just before 5 PM. A shuttle bus brought us down to the historic town, where the Battle of Harpers Ferry was won by the Confederate Army, resulting in the largest surrender of Federal forces in the Civil War. This is also where abolitionist John Brown was captured and hanged after attacking a federal arsenal.

Harpers Ferry has been maintained to conjure the Civil War era and many of the storefronts have been restored to their original appearance. Most of the stores were closed by the time we arrived but we did stop in Cool Confectionaries, a candy store that offers authentic treats from the Civil War era all the way up to the 1950’s. I was psyched to find a peanut brittle made from an original recipe by George Washington Carver that was sans dairy!

Next, we visited St. Peters Roman Catholic Church, a active Gothic style church which is also the meeting place for Ghost Tours of Harpers Ferry, which claims to be the best ghost tour in the U.S. We then crossed the road to the Harpers Ferry Railroad Bridge, which is short a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Potomac. Along the walkway, we saw a number of different locks randomly placed along the fence and had to look up their significance. They are called Love Locks and it was pretty neat to read the inscriptions. Lastly, we walked down to the waterfront, where we watched two huge ducks placidly floating in the river. That is until they heard me open my peanut brittle. Jay and I almost had to make a run for it as these tourist-fed fatties waddled after us and my candy!

Our home for tonight is a Walmart in Charles Town. WV. This may be our last Walmart sleepover on this trip and I think it’s my favorite. Although I already had dinner planned for the evening, we were mesmerized by the intoxicating smell of Chinese food emanating from China Fortune Restaurant, which is less than 300 feet away from where we parked Lady T. While I waited for our takeout, I watched the second most beautiful sunset on this trip from the parking lot.

Check in with us tomorrow as we head to Washington DC to explore the capital city!

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Categories : #RoadTrip2015

Tags : National Park, Road Trip, RV Travel, Virginia, West Virginia

Sept. 23 – Blue Ridge Parkway & Natural Bridge

By jayjazz · Comments (0)

Thursday, September 24th, 2015

I’m embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of the Blue Ridge Parkway before a coworker insisted that we visit it on our road trip. After driving 115 miles on the parkway this afternoon, we fully understand why it has been the most visited unit of the national parks system for almost 70 years! At 469 miles, Blue Ridge Parkway is the longest linear park in the U.S., running through North Carolina and Virginia. We stopped frequently to take pictures and we spent additional time exploring Mabry Mill and Peaks of Otter, where you can also obtain cancellations for your national parks passport.

Shortly after returning to the highway, we began seeing signs for Natural Bridge. I had heard of Natural Bridge before but I couldn’t remember where. The increasing number of signs as we approached the exit suggested something cool, so we decided to stop and check it out.

Natural Bridge is a natural arch carved out of limestone by the continuous flow of Cedar Creek. It was one of the first tourist attractions that Europeans visited when they came to America, was surveyed by a young George Washington, and was once owned by Thomas Jefferson! Natural Bridge is also the name of the Virginia town where the attraction is located.

A set of steps descends onto an open walkway and at first, we didn’t see anything impressive. As the path began to wind, we were not prepared for what was just around the corner. The arch stood looming before us, 215 feet high and 90 feet wide! It was so awesome that we stood there for about 20 seconds in order to process what we were seeing. After passing through the arch, there is a long path, surrounded by woods and wildlife, that ends near a small waterfall.

We paid $20 to visit Natural Bridge, which we thought was a bit steep, but what we didn’t know is that the price included a light show. On the way back up from our walk, the ticket taker informed us that the show would begin at 8 PM. Since we hadn’t eaten, we decided to have our dinner in the parking lot and return for the show.

The second time around, we opted to ride the free shuttle bus down to Natural Bridge. There are a number of benches on each side of the arch and we sat on the side closest to the exit. As soon as it was dark, the show began. A deep voice recounted the “Dawn of Creation” as told in the Bible while classical music boomed in between the narration and a myriad of colored lights flooded the archway. It was truly a sight to behold!

It has been a long day and we are presently resting at a Walmart in Staunton, Virginia. Follow us tomorrow as we visit Shenandoah National Park and another famous road, Skyline Drive!

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Categories : #RoadTrip2015

Tags : National Park, Road Trip, RV Travel, Virginia

Sept. 22 – Diamond Caverns and The Smokies

By jayjazz · Comments (0)

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2015

After we settled in at the campground, I wondered if we should have kept moving. The Great Smokie Mountains were about 5 hours away and we would be shaving time off of our visit there by staying in Kentucky to check out Diamond Caverns.

Well, I’m happy to report that it was TOTALLY worth it! We were up super early this morning to catch the first tour but we ended up missing it. Diamond Caverns actually opened at 9 AM but the off season hours were posted online already, so we arrived just after they first group went down. Bummer, but it worked out because the first group was huge. There was only one other couple with us and we didn’t realize what a benefit this was until we had to maneuver the cavern. This tour is a bit more strenuous than Frozen Niagara and there are a couple of very narrow spots that we barely slithered through.

However, the cavern itself was stunning. There was so much more to see here and we must have taken a zillion pictures! We visited Meramec Caverns last year on Route 66, which was cool also, but Diamond Cavern has been the nicest cave/cavern we’ve visited so far. So much so that our tour guide, Mikel, mentioned that during the “cave wars” back in the day, employees from other caves broke in and stole stalactites from Diamond Cavern to sell them in their gift shops! By the way, do be sure to spend some time in the gift shop if you ever visit Diamond Caverns. They have a stunning array of stones, rocks, and minerals, plus your usual tourist fare.

After the tour, we hopped in Lady T and drove straight to Tennessee without stopping. We drove for about 20 miles in Smokey Mountain National Park but of course, we arrived at the Sugarlands Visitor’s Center two minutes after they closed. As I pressed my sad face up to the glass, I noticed movement inside. I knocked on the door to get the Ranger’s attention and held up my passport. He was nice enough to come out through a side entrance with the stamp and ink pad so we could stamp our books!

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay in the Smokies overnight so we decided to drive into Gatlinburg. We figured it would be a small quite town and were surprised as we drove through the downtown area. Gatlinburg has to be one of the biggest tourist towns we’ve ever seen! By now, it was about 7 PM and the place was packed. Thankfully, we found a safe place for Lady T to rest while we scoped out the place. Candy shops, restaurants, theme parks…you name it, Gatlinburg has it.

We were strolling along, taking everything in, when we came upon the Gatlinburg Sky Lift. The lift consists of 2 person seats that shuttle you 1800 feet in the sky to a small gift shop and overlook. Since we weren’t going to have an opportunity to explore the mountains, this was the next best thing. If you are even the slightest bit afraid of heights, you should probably not even look at the lift. I am not and I could barely breathe the entire ride up. Once you reach the top, though, you have a birds eye view of pure beauty, especially at dusk.

If you do decide to ride the lift, calm your nerves afterward by visiting one of the several moonshine distilleries on the strip. We stopped at two, Ole Smokey Distillery and Sugarlands Distilling Company. We also passed a third one but two was enough! On the way out of Gatlinburg, we drove through Pigeon Forge, which is like Gatlinburg but several miles long! It was fun to look at all of the pretty lights.

We just pulled into a Flying J rest area in Wytheville, Virginia. Check back tomorrow as we visit two of the most scenic roads in the country!

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Categories : #RoadTrip2015

Tags : Kentucky, National Park, Road Trip, RV Travel, Smokey Mountains

Sept. 21 – Spelunking in Kentucky

By jayjazz · Comments (0)

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015

Today, we spent the afternoon at Mammoth Cave National Park in central Kentucky. We found this park listed in our national parks passport and thought it would be fun to check out. We had no idea how immense the property would be!

Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world, with over 400 miles of explored area. The NPS offers several tour options, ranging from lighted tours to 6-hour crawling expeditions illuminated by headlamps. We opted for the Frozen Niagara tour, which is about an hour long. Unfortunately, the 2 PM slot sold out just after we arrived so we had to wait for an hour and a half for the next one.

A shuttle bus picked us up from the Visitors Center and brought us to the mouth of the cave. The Park Ranger leading the tour was pretty funny and shared a lot of cool info about the caves and surrounding area, We learned about stalagmites, stalactites, and pillars (the things people sleep on in Kentucky!). Frozen Niagara is the shortest and least strenuous tour but if you’re super tall or are uncomfortable is small spaces, you may want to think twice about going into the cave.

By the time we arrived back at Lady T, it was almost 5 PM, so we decided to stay at the Mammoth Cave Campground tonight. The campground has over 100 sites but there are only a couple with water and electric, so we are pretending we are at Walmart in the woods 🙂

Tomorrow, we’ll be up bright and early to visit Diamond Caverns, another cave within the park that’s supposed to be spectacular. Stay tuned for more spelunking fun!

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Categories : #RoadTrip2015

Tags : Kentucky, National Park, Road Trip, RV Travel

Sept. 20 – Nashville Cats

By jayjazz · Comments (1)

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015

We were up and out early this morning to make our way toward Two Rivers Landing RV Resort in Sevierville, Tennessee. Two Rivers is one of a few big RV parks in the area but we chose them because they offered a shuttle service to Downtown Nashville. Checking-in was a breeze and we received a 10% Good Sam discount!

Unlike the other shuttle services we’ve used on this trip, you need to call ahead for a pick-up. The shuttle arrived quickly and dropped us off directly in front of the Country Music Hall of Fame, which is exactly where we wanted to begin. There are a few different tour options and we chose the one that included an audio tour and RCA Studio B. We decided to start with the Studio B tour and waited a short time for the shuttle, which picks you up in front of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

RCA Studio B is probably the most famous recording studio in the world, having recorded over 1,000 American hits. Of course, it was also who Sam Phillips sold Elvis Presley’s recording contract to for a mere $35,000. The tour guide was very pleasant and shared interesting stories about Roy Orbison and Charlie Pride. We then saw the famous, acoustically superior recording room. The guide told a cool story about Elvis’ recording session for “Are You Lonesome Tonight” and then we listened to part of the song in the dark…very cool!

The Studio B shuttle picked us up as soon as we exited the tour and in a short time, we were back at the CM Hall of Fame. Since it was getting late, we decided to walk to the historic Ryman Theater, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry. The price of the self-guided tour is $20 per person but if you’re a country music fan, the auditorium will leave you in awe. We watched a short, very cool movie about the history of the Ryman and then we were free to walk around inside. There are tons of displays showcasing country music artifacts and you can have your picture taken professionally on stage for a small fee.

In case you didn’t know, Jay is a big country music fan so this was a real treat for the both of us. We soaked up as much as we could and then we bolted back to the CM Hall of Fame for our final tour. By the time we got there, we had less than an hour to check out two floors of the museum! Notable exhibits were “Flying Saucers Rock And Roll: The Cosmic Genius of Sam Phillips” and the Nashville Cats exhibit with Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan.

After a busy day of touring, we were now ready to see what we really came for. Broadway Street, the hub of all live music in Nashville! There are so many cool music venues here, it’s difficult to choose one. So, we just walked up and down, stopping at every other place, picking up a few doodads along the way. We had a drink at a place called Whiskey Bent where the band, who’s name I regretfully didn’t get, was awesome.

We picked up the last shuttle back to the campground and are about to crash. Nashville was amazing but tomorrow, we are on to the next adventure. Stay tuned to see where!