East Coast Trip

Plan A was Virginia and then up the East Coast to Maine. Plan B was Virginia, Southern Michigan, Northern Michigan and on to Maine. Actual plan was straight up to Northern Michigan. My Uncles health was failing fast and we needed to be with my Aunt as he passed on into heaven. Mission accomplished!

We left on August 20 and drove up to Kiser Lake SP in St Paris, OH for the night. Nice little campground on the lake. Clean and the camphost were very friendly. We only walked the campground so didn't see the rest of the park. The next morning we headed North to Elk Lake to stay with my Aunt and Uncle. My Uncle passed on the 28th and we stayed on getting my Aunt ready for life on her own. 

On September 4th, we headed South to my brothers in Lowell Michigan stopping at Newaygo SP for a hike along the lake in between. Pretty park with a couple of campgrounds. Arrived at my brothers for a good visit. 

Friday we headed to P.J. Hoffmaster SP and North Ottawa Dunes for some hiking. We hiked the dunes and along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful day with some high winds. Big waves on the lake made for some beautiful scenery. We might have had some ice cream afterwards to rebuild our strength.

Saturday we visited Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. 158 acres of art and gardens. Amazing place to visit and have lunch. 

Sunday we headed to Fallasburg Park in Lowell Michigan. We hiked the trails, crossed the bridges, and saw the wildlife. It was a beautiful day and we covered around four and half miles of trail. Luckily Kathy had brownie's and ice-cream waiting for us so that we could recover.

Monday we hiked at Muskegon SP. We hiked five miles through the dunes and seeing all the things that the park offered. Another great day.

Tuesday morning we were off to Canada.

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McGill Creek on the Cumberland Trail

We took advantage of the weather and hiked in August in the high 60's to McGill Falls on the Cumberland Trail. It was still hot due to humidity so we took a swim at the falls to cool down.

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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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