Category: Road Trip

Lens-Artists #104: Summer

Posted in Photography, Road TripTagged , , 35 Comments

This July “Seasons” will be the theme for the entire month with a different season featured each week. Amy is starting the challenge with “summer”. For this challenge I’m taking a trip down memory lane to some of my most memorable summer road trips.

When I was growing up my family took a road trip every summer to visit relatives. However, the most memorable summer road trip from my childhood didn’t revolve around visiting family. In the summer of 1959, when I was eight years old, my father’s work required him to spend several weeks in California. My whole family went with him on a cross country road trip to see America. I spent many hours sitting between my two brothers in the back seat of our  Ford station wagon as we made our way to the west coast. We stopped at national parks, a Santa Claus village, prairie dog towns, and bought cowboy hats. While in California we panned for gold, went to Disneyland, San Francisco, and Yosemite. On the return trip back east we saw more national parks and many more road side attractions. There’s more about my 1959 adventure at Revisiting My Childhood in Pictures.

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Our family of 5 traveled cross country and back in this Ford Station wagon in 1959
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Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone National Park, 1959 ~ photo from my Dad’s digitized slide
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San Francisco street, 1959 ~ photo digitized from my Dad’s slide

Now flash forward to 2006 when Henry and I made our first cross country RV trip. Our main destinations were the Grand Canyon North Rim, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, three Utah National Parks, the Black Hills and lots of places in between.

Grand Canyon North Rim Roosevelt Point Overlook
Grand Canyon North Rim Roosevelt Point Overlook
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Wandering Dawgs at Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park in 2006
Arches National Park - Delicate Arch
Arches National Park – Delicate Arch (Utah)

Our biggest summer road trip was our four month long RV trip to Alaska in 2013. Truly the trip of a lifetime!

Watching for whales in Haines, Alaska
Watching for whales in Haines, Alaska
Polychrome Overlook, Denali National Park, Alaska
Polychrome Overlook, Denali National Park, Alaska
Mama bear looking for more fish
Mama bear looking for more fish near Valdez
Pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez
A pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez

Sadly, this summer there will be no long summer road trips for us. Stay tuned for more about a short weekend trip we have coming up next week.

Do you have a road trip planned this summer?

Amy, thank you for this weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Summer

Spring Road Trip

Posted in Nature, Road Trip, Tourist Attractions, VirginiaTagged , , , , , , , , 25 Comments

Our latest road trip destination was southwest Virginia. The scenery was spectacular as we drove north from Georgia through the mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

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Eastern Redbud at rest area in Western North Carolina

After an overnight stop in Asheville we continued to be awed by the scenery as we drove north through the Blue Ridge Mountains. The flowering eastern redbud trees added splashes of pink as we traveled to Southwest Virginia.

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View of the Blue Ridge Mountains from North Carolina Interstate Overlook

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Tennessee Welcome Center between Asheville and and Virginia

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Virginia welcome center in Bristol

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At the Virginia Welcome Center in Bristol

On our way to see Luray Caverns we took  a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

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Blue Ridge Parkway Virginia

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Blue Ridge Parkway Virginia

After we purchased our tickets at Luray Caverns we had a short wait before we walked down the steps to begin the 90 minute tour. We followed our tour guide and stopped a few times along the way to admire the spectacular formations (and of course take photos).

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Reflecting pool, Luray Caverns, Virginia

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Wishing Well, Luray Caverns, Virginia

Luray Caverns, Virginia
Luray Caverns, Virginia
Luray Caverns, Virginia

All three generations of our family enjoyed the caverns, even our two teenage grandchildren!

Blue Ridge Scenic Railway

Posted in Excursions, Georgia, Road Trip, RVing, Tourist AttractionsTagged , , , , , , , 17 Comments

For the second year in a row we made a fall trip to River Vista Mountain Village in Dillard to explore the beautiful north Georgia mountains. Last year we explored Black Rock Mountain State Park, visited waterfalls in North Carolina and wandered around Tallulah Gorge State Park.

This year we had adventures in two new places. One day we went to the top of Brasstown Bald. Another day we drove an hour and a half to Blue Ridge, Georgia to take a ride on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway.

Our seats were in an open air car for the hour long ride beside the Toccoa River. The train departed the station right on time at 11:00.

Blue Ridge Scenic Railway, Blue Ridge Depot
Blue Ridge Scenic Railway
Open air seating on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway

As we traveled along at a whopping 10 mph we were able to enjoy the scenery and snap a few photos. A few trees were starting to show signs of autumn but we were too early for the brilliant oranges, reds and yellows that will come later in the season.

The V in the river is a fish trap made of piled rocks by Native Americans over 500 years ago
Blue Ridge Scenic Railway
We rode beside the Toccoa River for most of the trip
The track follows the Toccoa river
It was starting to look like fall
The Toccoa River
The track follows the Toccoa river

Our destination was McCaysville, GA/Copperhill, TN. There was plenty of time to explore the town before the scheduled 2:00 departure. It’s hard to tell which town is which since the state line runs right through the middle of town.

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GA/TN state line

As we wandered around the town we crossed back and forth between Georgia and Tennessee several times. The state line even runs through the middle of some buildings. “Dine on the Line” is the motto for the Copper Grill restaurant where we had lunch. Their address is Tennessee but the state line goes right through the restaurant.

The GA/TN state line runs through the towns of McCaysville, GA and Copperhill, TN
Georgia/Tennessee line

It was nice to sit back and relax on the return trip to Blue Ridge. Before driving back to Dillard we walked across the street from the depot for some fried apple pies from the Mercier Orchard downtown restaurant and store. These pies have been featured on the Food Network and are melt in your mouth delicious!

What’s not to love? A scenic train ride, cool mountain air, beautiful scenery, fresh trout and catfish for lunch, going back and forth between two states just by walking through town, and delicious fried pies! A great day!

Brasstown Bald, Georgia’s Highest Point

Posted in Georgia, Road Trip, RVing, Tourist AttractionsTagged , , , 9 Comments

Located in the northeast Georgia near Blairsville, Brasstown Bald is the highest point in Georgia at 4,784 feet.

Just getting there is quite an adventure. We drove west from Dillard on beautiful Georgia mountain roads. The last few miles we drove on narrow Georgia Spur 180 with sharp turns, switchbacks, and steep grades before arriving at the parking lot for Brasstown Bald.

The parking lot is located .6 miles below the top of Brasstown Bald. We could either hike up a steep trail or take a shuttle. We chose the shuttle.

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The observation deck as seen from the parking lot

After the shuttle dropped us off at the top we walked up a few steps to the observation deck where the views were spectacular in all directions. On a clear day visitors can see 4 states. It was cloudy that day but we were able to see three states – Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. We also toured the museum and watched a short film about the mountain.

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Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia

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The tower is closed to the public

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View from top of Brasstown Bald

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View from top of Brasstown Bald

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Wandering Dawgs at the top of Brasstown Bald

Florida Vacation without the RV

Posted in Florida, Road Trip, Tourist AttractionsTagged , , , , , , , , , , 16 Comments

For the first time in many years we took a vacation without our RV. Instead, motels and a condo were our home for the week.

We decided to break up our trip to Orlando and spend a night near a beach to take a drive along A1A. Flagler Beach sounded like a perfect place. It’s a small beach town on the Atlantic Ocean that still has that old Florida feeling. Driving down A1A the Atlantic Ocean is on one side of the road and beach houses and locally owned restaurants are on the other. Heaven! After a walk on the fishing pier we ate fish sandwiches with an ocean view at the Funky Pelican next to the pier.

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Flagler Beach Fishing Pier

Our home for the rest of the week was a condo in a resort in Lake Buena Vista. We enjoyed the screened porch with a view of the fountain and pond.

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Our home for the week

We had the condo to ourselves for the first three nights. We celebrated my birthday at Bongo’s, a Cuban restaurant at Disney Springs.

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We started off with a mojito at the bar at Bongo’s

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Birthday Dinner at Bongo’s at Disney Springs

On Wednesday we picked up our two oldest grandchildren at the airport. After a long travel day they enjoyed a dip in one of the pools.

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Pool at the resort

Going to Universal Studios to see the Harry Potter attractions was at the top of their wish list so the next morning we got up early to be at the park as soon as it opened.

Universal is made up of two separate theme parks with Harry Potter attractions in both parks. We purchased the park hopper tickets so we could ride the Hogwarts Express train between the parks. The train ride was fun and when we disembarked we were in The Islands of Adventure Park in Hogsmeade. We cooled off with a Butter Beer before riding any more rides.

The kids loved the two Harry Potter thrill rides. Henry liked the Escape from Gringotts. Our 14 year old grandson said the Forbidden Journey was his favorite. Our granddaughter liked them both. I’m not a fan of thrill rides. The train was more my style.

After our epic day at Universal we took it easy the next day. While it rained all afternoon we played some games and enjoyed hanging out with our grandkids.

One evening the kids enjoyed the pool while I enjoyed the evening sky.

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Sunset at the pool

On our last day we put on our bathing suits and went to Blizzard Beach, one of the Disney water parks. We were able to enjoy a few rides before the afternoon thunderstorm came through. Just as predicted, at 1:00 the lightening was so close they closed all the rides.

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The Summit Plummet at Disney’s Blizard Beach is on the right where the flags are.

One thing that is almost guaranteed if you travel to Orlando in late June is the daily thunderstorms. The only day we didn’t get rained on was the day we went to Universal. How lucky was that?

What a great week making memories with our two oldest grandkids!