Day Thirteen

It's an early morning and we're on the road again. We have a lot of driving to do today if we don't want to drive a lot tomorrow. It's 6:30 am and it's almost 80. The humidity is 94%. I feel like I have been damp for the last week. Although it's great for the skin! We are driving across the panhandle of Florida today. We have been really lucky with the weather. It rained on us the day we drove across North Carolina, but other than that, we haven't had any rain. There were flood warnings when we were in Tennessee but we weren't sure what county we were in so we weren't worried.

I have to go. Scott is threatening to drive by Starbucks if I take any longer!

Day Twelve

We left Charleston this morning and headed to Folly Beach, one of the few public beaches in South Carolina. Don't be fooled by the pictures. By 9:00 am this morning it was 80 degrees. The water was so warm and the sand was beautiful. We had a really hard time leaving. We could have spent all day.

We then headed to the Drayton Hall Plantation. This place was amazing. The house was from 1738 and is maintained to the way it was when the historical society took over it. We got to tour the entire house and then were on our own to walk around the grounds. Very interesting!

We stopped off at Jekyll Island in Georgia to get one last look at the Atlantic Ocean. Again, it was over 90 degrees and the water was awesome! Now I understand how people could spend all day at the beach. We hit Jacksonville Florida and turned West. We are offically on our way back. That is to say that we still have half of our vacation in front of us.

Folly Beach South Carolina
I can't remember the last time I was at the beach and I wanted to play in the water.

I felt like a kid!

Drayton Hall Plantation. If you click on the picture and make it bigger, you might be able to find the alligator that lives in the pond. (It's a good thing that Scott found it before he went any farther!)

Jekyell Island Georgia

We put our toes in water and in the sand.

Fun in the Sun!

All that was left of us at Jekyll Island.

Day Eleven

This morning started early when Scott got up at 5:30 am to go out and take "sunrise" pictures. He was out for two hours. He got back in time to get cleaned up and we headed off to our tour of Fort Sumter. For those who don't know, Ft. Sumter is on an island so we had to take a boat ride that takes about a half hour. The tour was really interesting and we learned a lot about the history of this town. Did you know that the first shot, and first casualty, of the civil war happened here.

We then came back and took a nap. We knew that things that would not go well if we didn't get a nap. We went on a long walk around the historical part of town and ate dinner at Hyman's. They are famous for their seafood. Charleston is a beautiful city and we only scratched the surface in the day and a half that we had.

Our hotel at 5:30 this morning.
The empty market place.

The US Customs Building. Many people can trace their ancestors coming through this building being brought over and sold as slaves.

An outside shot of the Market.

Charleston Harbor waiting for the sun to rise.

The cobbleston streets. The English ships would come over loaded with cobblestones and then unload them and load up stuff from the planations and sail back to England. When England got wind of this, they wanted to tax the Americans everytime they drove down the road. The Americans took the rest of the cobblestones and threw them in the harbor. There are only a few cobblestone streets.

Fort Sumter

The Old Exchange building. This is one of three places in America where the US Constitution was read out load for anyone to hear.

The trees at Battery Park

Some of the row houses. They were built of brick but brick was a sign of a lower class so they covered the brick with stucko to make them not look like brick.

This one's for you dad, the Parrott gun.

Scott standing beside one of the bigger cannons at Ft. Sumter.

We walked through several cemetaries on our walk. The headstones date back to the 1720's!

One of the statues at Battery Park.

A memorial to Andrew Jackson's mother.

This was just a few blocks from our hotel. This is the Central Fire Station.

We sat at the same table that Oprah Winfrey and Neil Armstrong also sat at at Hyman's.

Day Ten Con't

We rolled into Charleston about 4:00pm. We found the hotel really easy, and got checked in. From what we have seen, Charleston is a beautiful town and there is no way we are going to see everything in the day and half we have. We have tickets for the morning and then can't agree on what to do for the rest of the day.

We took a carriage ride tour tonight which was great. The driver really explained a lot of history and pointed out things we definitly need to get back to. Being a Sunday, most everything was closed by the time we finished the tour.

This is the entrance to the City Market which was constructed between 1788 and 1804. It runs three blocks and all sorts of vendors set up. It reminds me of Pikes Market in Seattle.
The Rainbow row of houses.

This is just a sample of the architecture we saw in downtown Charleston.

Scott standing next to our carriage horse, Montegue.

The streets are lined with oil lamps. They have vey strict rules about the houses and businesses in the historic district.

We are staying at the Andrew Pinckney Inn. The room is beautiful. The Pinckney family played a large part it the development of the United States Constitution.

Day Ten

We left Tennessee pretty early this morning. It has rained for pretty much most of the drive. We missed the North Carolina scenary because it was heavy fog and rain. I imagine that it was pretty. Now that we are in South Carolina, the rain has stopped and the temperature has gone up about 10 degrees to 76. According to Maggie, we have about two more hours before getting to Charleston. We stopped at the Visitor's Center and picked up a bunch of brochures. Now we just have to weed through them and figure out what we really really really want to do.

Day Nine (My legs hurt!!!)

Stacy: Today we spent most of the day hiking around the Great Smoky Mountians. We hiked up to the Clingmans Dome, the highest spot in the Smoky Mountain Range. On a clear day, you can see forever. Today was not so clear. If we waited long enough, the fog would roll out for a few minutes and we could see Pigeon Forge, about 15 miles away. The observation tower at the top of the hike is on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, so for a few minutes we were in North Carolina.

We then hiked to Laurel Falls. It seemed like no matter where we were going, it was always uphill!! My legs are tired! Tomorrow is a driving day to our next destination.

It took a while to get this shot without anyone else in it. This place is crazy with people everywhere.
The view from the top of Clingmans Dome.

We found this little guy on the side of the road. We also had another bear cross over the hiking path down from Laurel Falls about 15 feet in front of us. Neither of us had a camera ready and I only got a blur of him.

A picture from the hiking trail.

Another picture from the trail. These don't do justice to the beauty of this place.

A picture of the Smokys. It was foggy the whole day.

View from another pullover.

Day Eight (My Feet Hurt!!!)

We had a lot of fun today. We went to Dollywood!!!! We were pretty much the youngest people in the park. We walked miles and miles. We rode the Dollywood Express train around the park. The weather was about 75 degrees and could have rained at any moment (but it never did).

After a day at Dollywood, we went to Dolly's Dixie Stampede dinner show. Neither of us had ever been a dinner show. The room was laid out like a horseshoe and everyone on one side cheered for the North and everyone on the other side cheered for the South. Then the actors came out and competed in different horse events. There was trick riding, wild horses, longhorn steers, and convered wagons. While we were watching the show, the waiters (dressed in the uniform of the side you were sitting on) brought out dinner. The kicker was that they did not provide any type of silverware. We had to eat everything with our hands.

Tomorrow is another day of hiking around. I need to take a couple of advil tonight before I go to bed. I have a feeling I will need two more in the morning to even get out of bed.

Dollywood!!!!
Reading the map and planning our attack route.

Scott had to get in line with the only children in the park to get his picture taken.

This picture is for my sister. As we pulled into the parking lot, I had a flash of Wally World and what I would do if the park was closed for renovations.

Day Eight

Stacy: Hey all you 9 to 5'ers. We are headed out for a fun day! Just remember that we will always love you!

Day Seven

Stacy: This is not what we expected. We drove from Kentucky to Tennessee today. We saw some of the pretty country. For the first time, we had rain. Now the TV has flash flood warnings at the bottom of the screen. Ignorance is bliss. We have no idea what county we are in, so we aren't worried.

We ended in Gatlinburg, TN tonight. Wow, we had no idea that this place would be this crazy. We drove through Pigeon Forge (about 10 miles north of here) and got caught in the largest old car show for the year. I am not exaggerating, there were thousands of old cars. The entire length of the town (about three miles long) there were cars parked in every parking spot, in every resturant, motel, and tourist trap parking lot. To top it off, the sidewalks were lined three/four seats deep with people sitting out to watch the cars cruise up and down the main street.

Then we got to Gatlinburg and it is like Vegas for old southern people. We drove down the street to get to dinner and there where thousands of people walking all up and down the sidewalks. There are hundreds of tourist shops. Ripley's, Wax Works, Aquariums, you name it, it's on the main street. We thought this place would be laid back, but no, it's crazy. And, because it 80 degrees at 9:00pm, everyone is still out and about.

We are excited about our plans for tomorrow! We finished making reservations online tonight to guarantee our tickets. Let's hope the rain holds off.

Leaving Mammoth Cave this morning,
Visiting Abraham Lincoln's birthplace in Kentucky. This monument was built in 1909 for Lincoln's 100 birthday. The monument in Washington DC is a replia of this one. Inside the room at the top of the stairs is a symbolic cabin that represents what Lincoln would have lived in.

Talking to the park ranger inside the monument.

Tobacco fields. It took us a while to figure out what this was. Neither of us has ever seen tobacco growing.

Tobacco that has been harvested and is hung upside down to dry. This scene was all along our trip. They hang them from barns, fences, clothes lines, anything that is high enough.

Day Seven - More Driving

Stacy: We headed out this morning and took a side trip to see Abraham Lincoln's birthplace. It was really interesting. They are getting ready to close it down for major renovations so we got to see it the way it was when it was created in 1909. Watch for pictures later.

We are driving through rural Kentucky right now. We are amazed at how green everything is. The houses are all different kinds (big and little) but no matter what they are either red brick or painted white. Also, everyone's yard is so well kept. We are laughing about how many people we have seen mowing their lawns. It must be part of the culture here to take care of your place. We are headed south to Albany, Kentucky where we will cross over into Tennessee. It's sprinkling a little. We have been watching the weather and have seen the flooding advisories for pretty much all of the south. We are expecting to get wet the next week, but we have decided that it won't stop us from doing the things we want to do. You got to take your chance when you can.

Day Six (Loving Kentucky!!)

We had a great day! We didn't have to get in the car once! We finally stretched our legs. Everything is so green here. There are these bugs, I haven't actually seen them, but they are so loud. They sound like giant sprinklers. As you walk down a path, the ones right by you stop making the noise, but then they start again as soon as you have passed. They are in the trees above and in the grass. It is a sound I have never heard.

After getting a good nights sleep in our cute cabin, we walked over the lodge and had breakfast and then went to join our tour group for our 4.5 hour, 4 mile cave hike. It was really fascinating. Our guide, Ranger Rick, was one of the best tour guides we have ever had. He told stories, gave facts, and told a lot about the history of the caves, the area, and the national park.

After the tour, we gathered our dirty laundry and headed over to the campgound to wash it. Now we are in our room planning our trip for tomorrow. We have alreade changed our plans and are excited about what's coming next. Stay tuned.

Ranger Rick. There is just something about a guy who spends his life giving cave tours.
Graffiti inside the cave. This was done sometime in the 1800's using candles. They would hold them up close to the ceiling and the black from the smoke would stain the rock. These were found during the removal of the black soot caused by the lanterns they used to use to light the tours.

One hour into the tour, we stopped for lunch in the Snowball room, deep in the heart of the cave.

A view from the tour.

Another view from the tour.

Another view of the tour.

I was starting to think we were the only ones going on this tour. Eventually about 25 other people showed up.

A shot of the cottages. These were built between 1936 and 1940 by the CCC, who rebuilt most of the trails inside the caves. Our cottage reminds us of the cottage where I lived in Salem with the big wood windows and doors.

Taking a break from hiking all around the park (let me tell you that this humidity is great for someone who usually has no body to their hair. I could spend hours at home and not get my hair to have this much body!