Big Ginormous Thanksgiving Week Update
Hi folks. I forgot to tell you I was going away for the week and wouldn't have access to this internet thingamajig.
Anyway, I spent the week up at Jen's in North Carolina. Let me tell you how it went:
Saturday we drove up making a stop in Chattanooga. Mission: the aquarium. The aquarium now has two buildings: the original river journey and the new ocean journey. The ocean journey wasn't too special, it was mostly a giant reef exhibit in the middle with a few other features along the sides. The gem is the river journey in which you follow a river from its mountain streams, into lakes, and down into the cypress swamps and out into the Gulf of Mexico. This is the first aquarium I've been to that puts most of its focus on freshwater life. So... it starts you off in a mountain forest habitat with our familiar trees... and birds! Yes, the forest atop the building contained our favorite songbirds of Eastern North America. I'm still not sure if I like the idea, but it was fun to go birdwatching and call them in indoors. hehe
There are also tanks exhibiting river systems from other parts of the world. The big tanks, rather than being reefs with sharks, were lakes with sturgeon and gigantic catfish. I still can't believe there are fish that big swimming below me on the lake. Well, in addition to the fish, there's a nice exhibit on turtles of the world and in the basement, seahorses of the world. Anyway, I do suggest this as a must-see. The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga.
Dinner followed at the Big River Grille and Brewery which made one fine stout.
Sunday, Jen and I joined her step mom and little sister for a short hike up the AT and down an unmarked trail back to the road. We brought Henry (the dog) with us. Then, that evening, we had a big dinner at Jen's mom's house which included her dad, stepmom, and little sister.
Sunday night it rained.
...which produced some nice lighting monday. Unfortunately, it also rained on and off on Monday. We went to the Deep Creek parking area of the Great Smoky Mountains NP and traced our way to two of the three waterfalls before the rain got the better of us. I did get some photographs under this perfect lighting. Then we drove out to Sylva, which is a very small town, but the town center is very much alive with a few nice restaurants, a music store, an outdoor gear store, and a nice photography shop. The guy at the photo shop also sells used equipment and has a few lenses fore my old Minolta SRT201. I've got a 50mm. He has a 50mm macro (nice), a 28mm, and a 135mm. I may consider one of these, probably the 28, on my way back.
Tuesday we went to Asheville with Jen's mom and went to see the Biltmore Estate... for free. That house is ginormous, let alone the ammount of land the Vanderbilts owned with it. Its a French castle in North Carolina. Literally. Now Tuesday wasn't better than monday weatherwise. In fact, it precipitated, but it was cold and thus it snowwed. All mountains above 4000 feet had snow on them. It snowed as we explored the garden and my lens briefly fogged up as we went into the greenhouse. We decided that the gardens are much better viewed in the spring and summer when the flowers and greenery are out. So we drove over to the winery for wine tasting. Biltmore Wine is nothing special.
We met up with Jen's brother and his girlfriend who live in Asheville and went to dinner at a noodle house called Doc Shea's (Sp?). Anyway, its owned and run by a friend of Jen's mom, and dinner was unexpectedly on the house. They got a big tip.
Wednesday I got to meet Jen's grandma as we repeated the AT loop that we did on Sunday. The only difference is that the mountains from the one view were white on top. That little bit of snow, even only on the ground, makes the mountains that much more picturesque.
I should back up. Jen's grandparents founded the NOC, which is probably the Southeast's largest whitewater outfitters. The main post is on the Nantahala, which is where Jen lives. The NOC there has several restraunts, an outfitter store, and of course, the rafting facility. The AT passes right through the NOC. For those of you who have hiked the AT through North Carolina, the NOC lies right before the climb up Cheoah Bald and after the Wayah Bald and Wesser Bald. About a mile southbound on the AT is a shelter. The trail then goes up the mountains toward Wesser Bald. Before it reaches the top of the ridge, we veer off and head down and meet up with the road which brings us back to the NOC. Its about a 3 mile loop. The one view along the loop happens because there are no leaves on the trees presently.
Wednesday night we took it easy because Thursday would be a long day...
Jen usually goes to Thanksgiving with her dad's side of the family, who has a big ordeal up in Maryland. This year we stayed with her mom's side in which her grandma plans a hike during the day and then the thanksgiving dinner occurs later that evening. This year's hike took us up to the 4020-foot high Shuckstack Mountain in the Smokey Mountain National Park. This 9-mile hike from the Twenty Mile ranger station to Fontana Dam is a great hike.
Now, at 4020 feet, you're hardly up there compared to many of the peaks around. In fact, the highest peaks in the park are 2500 feet higher. But nevertheless, the view is fantastic and the climb is a workout. From Twenty Mile, the hike up is gentle, but long. The trailhead starts at around 1800 feet and climbs up to 2040 in 5 miles following an old logging road the entire time. Half a mile before summit, it meets the AT, which goes to the top. The view is fantastic and is aided by an old fire tower. Let me tell you, the wind up there is ferocious and the tower shakes. But that structure was built to withstand the winds of winter storms and it was perfectly safe to go up. Pictures will come soon enough, but from the summit, you can look down on Fontana Lake and the big Fontana Dam (our destination), and over to the snowy Clingman's Dome and Mt. LeConte behind it (two highest peaks in the park and surrounding area). In fact, there was a little bit of snow on Shuckstack, but only in small patches. The hike down is shorter, but much steeper, which made us all thankful we didn't go up that way. The AT crosses Fontana Dam where there is apparently a very nice shelter nicknamed "The Fontana Hilton." The whole hike ended up to be around 9 miles and took us 6 hours including lunch stop on the mountain.
Fontana Dam is the largest dam built East of the Mississippi. While the lake behind it isn't the largest, the dam is 400 feet tall and a good quarter of a mile wide at the top.
So, the turkey wasn't done cooking until about 9:00. You can imagine how exhausted we all were by the end of the evening. Dinner was great. Jen, her mom, and her grandma are all great cooks. I may have stumbled upon something here.
:-)
We lucked out with weather Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday was nice again as well. We went back to Sylva to get a lens for Jen's camera and I photographed the town. We had lunch in a bakery/cafe which turned out to be very good. Soups and sandwiches are made with home-made ingredients, many of which are organic. They carried Nantucket Nectars! Then we headed back to Deep Creek for a relaxing 2.5 mile waterfall loop and visited all 3 falls.
We decided to drive back to camp today to beat what's dubbed "The busiest travel day of the year." And so we drove back taking a short break at the Ocoee Whitewater center, home of the 96 Olympic whitewater course. When we hit alabama, we took a side trip to the Little River Canyon, which is gorgeous in itself. That will require a visit in the spring to see the whole thing. We drove through Gadsden looking for dinner. Its a pretty big town in Alabama with an impressive downtown, except that there are no restaurants and most of the stores are empty. Its a dead city. So we ended up in Cullman at a chinese place. Cullman also has a large downtown area, but is a town that once was.
So here I am, back at camp ready for the last week of craziness and then its back to North Carolina and then home to the Northland.
::takes a deep breath:: Wheww. See me for questions or more details. I'll be around this week, a little. Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving break.
Gas Watch:
$1.89 at a BP off of I-59 in Georgia
$1.91 at a BP off of I-75 outside of Cleveland, TN
$2.05 average in TN
$2.15 average in AL
What's gas like in your area?
Anyway, I spent the week up at Jen's in North Carolina. Let me tell you how it went:
Saturday we drove up making a stop in Chattanooga. Mission: the aquarium. The aquarium now has two buildings: the original river journey and the new ocean journey. The ocean journey wasn't too special, it was mostly a giant reef exhibit in the middle with a few other features along the sides. The gem is the river journey in which you follow a river from its mountain streams, into lakes, and down into the cypress swamps and out into the Gulf of Mexico. This is the first aquarium I've been to that puts most of its focus on freshwater life. So... it starts you off in a mountain forest habitat with our familiar trees... and birds! Yes, the forest atop the building contained our favorite songbirds of Eastern North America. I'm still not sure if I like the idea, but it was fun to go birdwatching and call them in indoors. hehe
There are also tanks exhibiting river systems from other parts of the world. The big tanks, rather than being reefs with sharks, were lakes with sturgeon and gigantic catfish. I still can't believe there are fish that big swimming below me on the lake. Well, in addition to the fish, there's a nice exhibit on turtles of the world and in the basement, seahorses of the world. Anyway, I do suggest this as a must-see. The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga.
Dinner followed at the Big River Grille and Brewery which made one fine stout.
Sunday, Jen and I joined her step mom and little sister for a short hike up the AT and down an unmarked trail back to the road. We brought Henry (the dog) with us. Then, that evening, we had a big dinner at Jen's mom's house which included her dad, stepmom, and little sister.
Sunday night it rained.
...which produced some nice lighting monday. Unfortunately, it also rained on and off on Monday. We went to the Deep Creek parking area of the Great Smoky Mountains NP and traced our way to two of the three waterfalls before the rain got the better of us. I did get some photographs under this perfect lighting. Then we drove out to Sylva, which is a very small town, but the town center is very much alive with a few nice restaurants, a music store, an outdoor gear store, and a nice photography shop. The guy at the photo shop also sells used equipment and has a few lenses fore my old Minolta SRT201. I've got a 50mm. He has a 50mm macro (nice), a 28mm, and a 135mm. I may consider one of these, probably the 28, on my way back.
Tuesday we went to Asheville with Jen's mom and went to see the Biltmore Estate... for free. That house is ginormous, let alone the ammount of land the Vanderbilts owned with it. Its a French castle in North Carolina. Literally. Now Tuesday wasn't better than monday weatherwise. In fact, it precipitated, but it was cold and thus it snowwed. All mountains above 4000 feet had snow on them. It snowed as we explored the garden and my lens briefly fogged up as we went into the greenhouse. We decided that the gardens are much better viewed in the spring and summer when the flowers and greenery are out. So we drove over to the winery for wine tasting. Biltmore Wine is nothing special.
We met up with Jen's brother and his girlfriend who live in Asheville and went to dinner at a noodle house called Doc Shea's (Sp?). Anyway, its owned and run by a friend of Jen's mom, and dinner was unexpectedly on the house. They got a big tip.
Wednesday I got to meet Jen's grandma as we repeated the AT loop that we did on Sunday. The only difference is that the mountains from the one view were white on top. That little bit of snow, even only on the ground, makes the mountains that much more picturesque.
I should back up. Jen's grandparents founded the NOC, which is probably the Southeast's largest whitewater outfitters. The main post is on the Nantahala, which is where Jen lives. The NOC there has several restraunts, an outfitter store, and of course, the rafting facility. The AT passes right through the NOC. For those of you who have hiked the AT through North Carolina, the NOC lies right before the climb up Cheoah Bald and after the Wayah Bald and Wesser Bald. About a mile southbound on the AT is a shelter. The trail then goes up the mountains toward Wesser Bald. Before it reaches the top of the ridge, we veer off and head down and meet up with the road which brings us back to the NOC. Its about a 3 mile loop. The one view along the loop happens because there are no leaves on the trees presently.
Wednesday night we took it easy because Thursday would be a long day...
Jen usually goes to Thanksgiving with her dad's side of the family, who has a big ordeal up in Maryland. This year we stayed with her mom's side in which her grandma plans a hike during the day and then the thanksgiving dinner occurs later that evening. This year's hike took us up to the 4020-foot high Shuckstack Mountain in the Smokey Mountain National Park. This 9-mile hike from the Twenty Mile ranger station to Fontana Dam is a great hike.
Now, at 4020 feet, you're hardly up there compared to many of the peaks around. In fact, the highest peaks in the park are 2500 feet higher. But nevertheless, the view is fantastic and the climb is a workout. From Twenty Mile, the hike up is gentle, but long. The trailhead starts at around 1800 feet and climbs up to 2040 in 5 miles following an old logging road the entire time. Half a mile before summit, it meets the AT, which goes to the top. The view is fantastic and is aided by an old fire tower. Let me tell you, the wind up there is ferocious and the tower shakes. But that structure was built to withstand the winds of winter storms and it was perfectly safe to go up. Pictures will come soon enough, but from the summit, you can look down on Fontana Lake and the big Fontana Dam (our destination), and over to the snowy Clingman's Dome and Mt. LeConte behind it (two highest peaks in the park and surrounding area). In fact, there was a little bit of snow on Shuckstack, but only in small patches. The hike down is shorter, but much steeper, which made us all thankful we didn't go up that way. The AT crosses Fontana Dam where there is apparently a very nice shelter nicknamed "The Fontana Hilton." The whole hike ended up to be around 9 miles and took us 6 hours including lunch stop on the mountain.
Fontana Dam is the largest dam built East of the Mississippi. While the lake behind it isn't the largest, the dam is 400 feet tall and a good quarter of a mile wide at the top.
So, the turkey wasn't done cooking until about 9:00. You can imagine how exhausted we all were by the end of the evening. Dinner was great. Jen, her mom, and her grandma are all great cooks. I may have stumbled upon something here.
:-)
We lucked out with weather Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday was nice again as well. We went back to Sylva to get a lens for Jen's camera and I photographed the town. We had lunch in a bakery/cafe which turned out to be very good. Soups and sandwiches are made with home-made ingredients, many of which are organic. They carried Nantucket Nectars! Then we headed back to Deep Creek for a relaxing 2.5 mile waterfall loop and visited all 3 falls.
We decided to drive back to camp today to beat what's dubbed "The busiest travel day of the year." And so we drove back taking a short break at the Ocoee Whitewater center, home of the 96 Olympic whitewater course. When we hit alabama, we took a side trip to the Little River Canyon, which is gorgeous in itself. That will require a visit in the spring to see the whole thing. We drove through Gadsden looking for dinner. Its a pretty big town in Alabama with an impressive downtown, except that there are no restaurants and most of the stores are empty. Its a dead city. So we ended up in Cullman at a chinese place. Cullman also has a large downtown area, but is a town that once was.
So here I am, back at camp ready for the last week of craziness and then its back to North Carolina and then home to the Northland.
::takes a deep breath:: Wheww. See me for questions or more details. I'll be around this week, a little. Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving break.
Gas Watch:
$1.89 at a BP off of I-59 in Georgia
$1.91 at a BP off of I-75 outside of Cleveland, TN
$2.05 average in TN
$2.15 average in AL
What's gas like in your area?