Cumberland Trail Hall Road Trailhead

Jennifer and I met at the trailhead on Hall Road. The parking lot is good but the dirt road getting to it, not so good. There is no sign anywhere on the main road or this dirt road about the CT. We took our time, me nursing a sore back. But that helped us enjoy all the blooms and fungi.  Flame azalea, Mountain laurel, and Rhododendren were all blooming along with Magnolias. There was a magnolia that had fallen in the forest and we got a close up look at the blooms. These trees grow so tall that you usually don't see the blooms unless you are looking up.

This is from the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy: In the upper watershed, the hike from the Hall Road access point to Barker Camp Road consists of 10 miles of trail that runs along North Chickamauga Creek above the Cain Creek Confluence. This section passes the legendary Helican Blue Hole.

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Savage Gulf

Today Lora and I hiked at Savage Gulf. We hiked the Day Loop trail and three miles on the South Rim trail. Yesterday when we were at my parents home in Maryville we heard the Cicada's and today the woods were full of them. Made for a loud hike. We saw lots of flowers and the water was up for the waterfall. When we left you could see the Cicada's in the road that had been hit.

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Lexington Virginia

Day 20

We drove to Natural Bridge SP and hiked the Natural Bridge trail including cascades, cave, and waterfall. We saw a couple of water snakes on the rock walls. Then we drove to the visitor center in Historic Lexington. From there we walked the town seeing the historic buildings, Washington Lee University, and Virginia Military Institute. We walked to the cemetery where Stonewall Jackson was buried. When we got back we did a little river time and later enjoyed a campfire. 

Day 21

We drove back to Sugar Hollow Park in Bristol VA for our last night of camping. 

Day 22 

We arrived back at our house after a wonderful trip!

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New Market Virginia

Day 19

With time on our hands we took the scenic drive across the mountains between West Virginia and Virginia. We ended up at the Virginia Museum of the Civil War. They were having an reinactment which was really cool. We visited with Surgen, cooks, blacksmith, fired cannons, troops shooting, and the museum. We made it to the Swedish Lilac campground in Vesuvius for the night. It's a really beautiful campground along the river. After visiting with the owners we went down to the river for a swim. 

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Winchester Virginia

Day 17

Drove to Winchester Virginia and camped at Candy Hill campground. Relaxed at the pool, walked campground, and read at campground. Nice to relax

Day 18

Drove to Luray to find Lora's history. We found the house, the monument, and the old meeting house that her great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was involved in. The rock house is now a B@B thats on the James River. After that we went downtown to the visitor center, Singing tower, Little white house, and the Shenandoah Heritage Village. Then we drove back to Winchester. We saw Confederate Statue, Blues Brothers at the Historic Taylor Hotel, Fort Louden where we just missed an reinactment event but a guy showed us all the stuff he found in a dig on the fort property. We saw Stonewall Jackson's Headquarters, Library and had icecream at Red fox Creamery. 

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Washing DC day two

Day 16

We had trouble with the Metro machine. Took VFE which did not stop at the Arlington cemetery so went to L'Enfant station. We went to the Archive building to see the paperwork. Declaration, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and more. Then we went to the Smithsonian of Natural History followed by the Smithsonian of US History which had the flag that flew over Ft. McHenry. After that we did the tour of the Ford Theater which included the house where Lincoln died. Really cool tour. Our last stop was Arlington Cemetery. We got there late and visited JFK Memorial and tomb. Finally we made it to the tomb of the unknown soldier where we watched the sentinel march. He stopped and faced us yelling THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER IS NOW CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC! RETURN TO THE VISITOR'S CENTER NOW! So away we went sadly.

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Washington DC

Day 14 and 15

It rained during the night and still sprinkling as we packed up to head West. We drove in the rain to Pohick Bay Regional Park just South of DC. It was too rainy to tour Mt. Vernon and they were doing work on the inside of his home. We got laundry done with short walks in between rain.

Wednesday was our first Washington DC day. We drove to VRE and missed tram. We took a bus to Springfield and caught tram there. We did a monument day seeing all the monuments by walking too far. The Washington monument was closed of course but after a little excitment we got a tour of the capital building. We had of course removed pocket knives, but we got busted for a pair of sissors in the first aid kit. Lora was trying to tell the security where the sissors were and he kept telling her DO NOT TOUCH THE BAG everytime she pointed. She was then excorted out of the building to the trash can to throw them away. While she was gone, someone walked by smelling like pot and all the agents got excited. I got accused of having pot in the backpack. He told me twice to go outside and throw the pot away. I kept telling them that I didn't have any. Anyway we finally got our tour in! 

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Delaware- Magnolia and Dover

Day 13

We drove to Magnolia where I used to live to find our old house. We found the house and then went into town. After that we drove to Dover AFB to see the aviation museum which was closed. One gate was open so we walked through the desplayed aircraft. A guy drove up and let us know that we were not supposed to be there. My bad! We drove on to Dover and visited the First State National Historical Park also known as the Green. We walked to see all of the historic buildings and then toured the Capitol Building. Then we went to see the John Dickinson Plantation which was closed. We walked the grounds here as well. Then we went to St. Jones Reserve and hiked the boardwalk trail.

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Delaware

Day 12

Drove up the coast of Delaware. We stopped to see Fenwick Island Lighhouse and buildings on Finwick Island. Then we stopped to see Discoversea Shipwreck Museum upstairs of Sea Shell City. It has an amazing collection of shipwreak items. We next stopped at Indian River Life Saving Station Museum in Delaware Seashore SP. After that we headed to Killens Pond SP for the first of two nights. Had pizza at Poliseno's.

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Assateague Island National Seashore

Day 11

We drove to Snow Hill and over to Furnace Town to check it out. They were having a Furnace Fairies and Gnomes Festival. Had a lot of old buildings and it was the sight of an Iron Furnance. From there we headed back to Snow Hill and had lunch at Byrd City Park. They have an island there that they keep goats on. It's a beautiful park. Then we headed to Assateague Island National Seashore to see the wild horses and deer. We hiked the trails and boardwalks.

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