Thursday, May 31, 2012

Today we took it easy, we went to the Laurel Falls. It was only 1.4 miles and a 300 foot climb. We thought it was funny to hear people complain about how hard it was. The falls was very nice.

 The falls was easy to get to, but if you ever come to the Smokies you have to try the Rainbow falls. Just kidding, only if you want a real challenge. The Laurel falls will probably be enough for most of our friends.
Our campground is very nice and the pool is clean. We will be moving on to Hurricane Hills close to Boston Ky tomorrow to visit our friends Jim and Cathy Rosenbalm.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012






Today we biked a road in Cades Cove that was closed to car traffic until 10 am.  This road is a 11 mile one way loop around Cades Cove.  In the top pic we have 2 turkeys.  Pic #2 Doug is nealing with a turtle.  Pic #3 shows the beautiful scenery.  Pic #4, believe it or not is a black bear.







We hiked to Rainbow Falls, I did this 40 years ago with a group from Antioch College, The distance is 2.7 miles one way, but the altitude difference is 1200 feet. So actually it is like walking up a 120 story building.We did make it after many stops and the trip down was very easy except for one fall. I'm ok.




When I came down with the Antioch group we stayed in this cabin Easter break 1972.  No heat and it was really cold.
To say the least with biking 11 miles and hiking 5.6 miles including the 1200 foot climb we are really wiped out.


































































Tuesday, May 29, 2012




We drove from Stone Mountain GA toward the Smokey Mountains coming from the south instead of using I-75 we went to North Carolina and drove through the mountains. Tweety made it to Clingman's Dome and we took a break to walk up to the look out. The clouds were coming in from the tropical storm, but it was nice. We then drove the rest of the way down the mountain to Severville TN where we had a camping spot reserved at a new campground. When we got here it rained like crazy for a while and then stopped long enough for us to go to the pool and also play some table tennis.



We decided to go to Dixie Stampede for dinner and a show that was very good. Food was good and way too much. They will not let you take pictures during the show so I took a couple before.

Monday, May 28, 2012

 Today, we hiked to the summit of Stone Mountain.  We had done this once before 24 years prior with Jason and Jodi.





The weather today was clear as you can see downtown Atlanta in the distance.

G
 We had lunch at the top.  The view was spectacular.













We biked the five mile trail around the base of Stone Mountain.  This is the carving of
Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis. Notice no Northerners here.
Think they forget who got them into the mess.



















T
This evening we had a nice roaring fire and roasted Peeps. Yes I said Peeps.


Sunday, May 27, 2012










We went to the Georgia Aquarium today, we have always seen the sign for it on our way back and forth to Florida, but never stopped. I knew it was that larges Aquarium in the US, but until today we never saw it. The pictures say it all, it was fantastic. The Dolphin Tales show was hard to believe. The pictures with the divers and the one before we are in the underwater tunnel actually below them. I have a movie and tried to download onto the blog, but after an hour I decided to quit.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

We made it to Stone Mountain today by 3pm. Long drive by our standards of only going 100 miles a day. The campground is nice, but at a slope going down to Stone Mountain lake.

Stone Mountain is the largest granite uprising mountain in US. Kind of surprising to see it, tomorrow we will go to the amusement park.

We will be able to go to the top of the mountain tomorrow and do some other things like Geyser towers to see if we can keep from getting wet. Of course with 95 degree weather it would be good to get wet.

Friday, May 25, 2012

We Traveled our 91 miles today and arrived at Florida Caverns State Park around 11 am

We rode our bikes to the visitors station where we will be able to take the cave tour.

Becky is cozening up to one of the CCC boys who helped working on the caves and other projects in the park



.The caves were surprising, who knew they have caverns in Florida. It was about a 45 minute tour and well worth the effort to see them. We were amongst only  6 other people on the tour.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

 Above is an Oyster Skiff that was on display at St. George that we saw as we left. 






 We went to Topsail Hill Preserve State Park next, it was about 150 miles, a long drive:) This is a resort owned by the state of Florida. The beach was the best yet  and the water extremely clear. It did have some vegetation floating and little fish would hide in it.


We now are in shrimp country.  So we bought 1 1/2 lbs. of shrimp and had them steamed.  We stopped at Wal-Mart and picked up two ears of sweet corn and a couple of potatoes to round out the meal.  It was a delicious feast.





 We ended the day with sunset on the beach.  The sand  castle stands at around 36 inches.  It must be nice to have such artistic talent.  We enjoyed both the sunset and the art.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012




Before leaving Manatee Springs, we had some visitors for breakfast.  Yes, the person with Squirliosis is feeding the deer carrots.





 Our destination today is St George Islalnd State Park.  After a fabulous swim at the beach we had a late lunch at Captain Snook's.  The oysters were great.  We had them both raw and deep fried.  





We climbed to the top of St. George Island Light House.  The view was spectactular