North Carolina Mountain hiking, music and BBQ

Today we decided to travel to Grandfather Mountain via the Blue Ridge Parkway. What we didn't realize was the leaves have started to turn beautiful shades of red, yellow and orange. Driving north on the parkway was gorgeous. Every turn we made was even more colorful than the last and believe me, there were LOTS of turns.

We stopped and hiked Mount Mitchell and then saw an advertisement for a fruit market that was having mountain music. That was a great stop. We bought apples, fudge, and cider and listened to music while eating. The day was absolutely gorgeous, beautiful blue skies and warm.

Next we decided we needed to hike a little ore or we wouldn't get our 10,000 steps. So we stopped at Linville Falls. After about a 2 mile walk we saw the falls from 3 different locations. With the fall foliage, the view was even more spectacular.
The last stop of the day off the Blue Ridge Parkway was going to be the swinging suspension bridge at Grandfather Mountain. Yes, it did sway but we all made it across AND back. The bridge was renovated from a wooden bridge in 1998 We can't even imagine how much the wooden bridge swayed.














The consensus of the group was southern BBQ for supper. Found a nice little restaurant outside of Grandfather Mountain that had BBQ and music. It just doesn't get any better than that.

Drove back to our little getaway and sat outside at the fire for about a hour.


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Location:Linville, NC

A visit to Old Salem

While Drew and Erin were at school, Linda and I toured Old Salem, a town that was founded in 1766. The Moravians are a Protestant group who came from what we now know as Czech Republic. They first settled in Bethlehem, PA and later to Salem, NC. We really enjoyed listening to our tour guides who were dressed in period clothes tell us what their life was like back then. 


Soon it was time to meet Erin and Drew who took us to their favorite winery for a wine tasting--Junius Lindsay winery. We talked with the owner for quite awhile, (while drinking wine). Drew and Erin spent some time picking grapes one Saturday at this winery in return for some wine.
Next it was back to Drew's apartment for a delicious home cooked meal by Drew--Moravian crusted salmon, green beans and cheesecake. 
A leisurely walk back to our hotel finished off our day.

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Location:Winston-Salem

The girls turn 60

Since Linda and I turned 55 five years ago, we have made it a must to take a vacation together with one of these criteria: 1) somewhere that one or both of us has wanted to go or 2) do something that we've wanted to do. This year, we decided we should take a llama trek. There's a winery in Winston Salem, the Devine Llama, that packs up llamas with a lunch and wine and takes us on a hike. So that's where we headed on Oct 5 ... but first a few other sights to see along the way.
On the drive down, we chose two quilt shops to stop, the Traditions of the White Swan in Hagerstown MD, and Patchwork Plus in Dayton VA. If you are a quilter, we definitely recommend Traditions. Beautiful fabric, large, bright shop and very helpful staff. We found lots of quilting things we needed!

Made it to Winston Salem and checked into our hotel room at the Brookstown Inn. A beautifully restored cotton mill. A must stay. They serve cookies and milk and wine and cheese. What more could anyone want or need?


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Location:Winston Salem, NC

Moving the CA kids to Brooklyn, New York

I know some of you will just love hearing about our sojourn to Brooklyn, NY, with Shuffy's truck and cargo trailer. You will quickly learn (which we would have learned BEFORE we left) why NOT to take a truck and trailer through the streets of New York.

The first indication that maybe this wasn't one of our brightest ideas was when we headed through the 1st tunnel. We saw a sign that said "trucks with more than 3 axels couldn't go through the tunnel." Remember, we saw this sign seconds before we needed to turn to go another way. Cars, taxis, people were all going by us very quickly so we asked Shan, what should we do? She said, "I don't know. I've never had to worry about that before." So, Shuffy made a good executive decision not to try to go through the tunnel which was a good one since we found out that the police would have escorted us out of that tunnel had we tried.

Another thing you need to know, we didn't have a map, just a GPS. And that GPS doesn't think fast enough. So, here we were going through the streets of New York, trying to read where the GPS wanted us to go (and the GPS didn't know that we had a truck and trailer that wasn't allowed to go just anywhere).

Where 2 hours later (and a lot of stress), we ended up where we needed to be -- Shan and Carl's new apartment. Here are some photos we took, just in case we ever forget.

Here's the one tunnel we were allowed to go through

 Yeah, here's the Brooklyn Bridge. We're closer

 We're here and unloading. It was a beautiful, WARM (HOT) day.

 Shan, you forgot to tell me about the narrow staircase, Shuffy says.

 Can you tell how hard we worked?

 This is taken from one end of the living room looking at the dining room

Looking into the bedroom. Two nice closets for storage on either side.

 Here's the living room (without boxes!!) looking into the dining area.

Last night at Yosemite and Sequoia National Park

Here's some pics of our accommodations at Yosemite. Anyone want to join us next time?











What more could we want .... Maybe a couple more blankets???

As we were leaving Yosemite, Drew snapped a few more shots of the beautiful landscape












Decided that our last full day in CA would be spent in Sequoia National Park so the drive began. Take a look at what we came upon once we got to the park.


















If you've never seen these huge trees, it's hard to give you perspective. I had read and saw pictures, but nothing prepared me for their immense size and girth. Walking in the beautiful forest was quite humbling.







General Sherman, the giant Sequoia was taken on our hike through the Giant Forest. We drove down the General's Highway and saw many more giants.





Here's one that had fallen so a tunnel was cut to give you an idea of its size. We also saw a momma bear with her two cubs right along the highway






Time to head back to LA to say goodbye to this beautiful country and Shan and Carl. Wonder what our next adventures will be with their travels.


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Location:Yosemite and Sequoia NP

Damn you Shan and the road less travelled

When I was planning our trip west, Wedding daughter, Shan said, "oh, you haven't really experienced Yosemite unless you stay in a tent cabin." So like a dutiful mother who thinks her daughter is so smart, I called up the park and reserved a tent cabin. Thank heavens I had done a little research first and found that I could reserve a heated cabin. That became VERY important as we prepared for bed and it was 36 degrees ( yes not kidding). We each had 2 blankets and even with the "heat," it was still cold BUT we couldn't see our breath Yes, Shan, it was an experience, and, one we get to experience yet again tonight.
After waking up and taking a hot shower and having breakfast, we headed out to hike. We decided to take the Mist Trail. WOW!! If you've not experienced it, it's hard to imagine what we had to hike AND what we saw. The pictures don't do it justice but it will give you an idea.











During our walk on Mist Trail, we turned around and captured this rainbow off of Vernal Falls below.





Drew talked us into continuing our climb to Nevada Falls. It went straight up and as you can see below, the stone steps were wet. It wasn't any easy climb but thankfully there was a handrail on this section. Linda and I didn't think we would have ventured if there hadn't been one.





Then instead of going back down the way we came up, we decided it seemed a little safer to take the John Muir Trail which ascended some more but the descent was easier. Here are some more photos of Nevada Falls on the way back.





We ended up hiking about 6.5 miles on that hike. Got some lunch and headed back out to see Yosemite Falls, the longest falls in the US about 2,500 feet.





We're all so tired and it's only 6:30. Not sure we can keep awake until normal bedtime. Tomorrow we are thinking of driving to Sequoia National Park to see more redwood trees. Stay tuned. Night.

Location:Yosemite National Park

On the road again to Yosemite NP

Leaving the desert of Pioneer Town was very bittersweet. We had such a wonderful time at the wedding house. But we have a new adventure. Lin, Drew Bill, and I left early for our drive to Yosemite. Everyone else were leaving the wedding house but going back to Shan and Carl's house. Not quite sure what all they will be doing. If it's up to Winter, it will be more rock climbing. If it's up to Kristen, it will be a stop at the Cactus Mart to buy some cacti. We shall see. I'm sure there will be some interesting stories for us when we return.

Ok, who's idea was this to come to Yosemite in the spring? As we were driving closer and closer, the clouds kept getting thicker and thicker. Then as we drove to Mariposa Grove (one of my "planned" hikes, it started snowing and throwing in a little ice. The temperature started to fall from a balmy 58 down to 39 when we got to the grove. But would a little snow and sleet stop us? No, BUT we weren't able to drive up due to the weather. We put on some extra layers of clothing and away we went. We had to hike uphill 2 miles to the trailhead





and then a couple more miles to the Grizzly Giant, one of the largest trees in the Mariposa Grove and is estimated to be 1,800 years old. It's the one in the middle of the picture. One of it's limbs is 7 feet in diameter


Then we hiked further to the California Tunnel Tree, cut in1895 to allow horse drawn stages to pass through.


When we finished the trail, we noticed they had opened up the road. Before that we were only saw 2 other groups of people walking up the road. But those people in cars wouldn't have seen this interesting tree


Well that's it for now. We are on the road again to find our tent cabin. Yes we are staying in a tent. Shan said that it's the only way to experience Yosemite! We'll let her know, I'm sure.

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Location:From Pioneer Town to Yosemite