Congaree National Park, SC

Just after we left this beautiful park in the Blue Ridge Mountains they got 3 inches of snow. So far we have been very lucky with the weather.

On our way out of the mountains we had to stop and take a last look at some mountain streams before we head to the lowlands of South Carolina and Georgia.

We arrived at the Congaree National Park outside of Columbia, SC this morning and took the 2.5 mile boardwalk through the swamp and rain forest. Congaree is the newest National Park (2005); as a matter of fact we just found out about the park about a month ago and added it to our trip.This is the largest floodplain forest in the world. Part of the eco-system of the forest is to have insects eat out the center of the trees as they age. We reached in and snapped this picture up through the center of one of these 150 year old trees.

The swamp walk was very pleasant since all of the bugs were asleep from the cold. We had beautiful blue sky and 50 degree weather. Just perfect for a walk in the woods.

The boardwalk allowed us to walk the swamp comfortably and still see much of what there was to see. We saw some wild pigs, many birds and squirrels all over the place. The best way to see this park would have been in a canoe along the many guts and sloughs but (thankfully) there were no canoes available.

Next stop, Charleston, SC.

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

We can now say that we have been to the most visited National Park in the entire NP System. We were very surprised to hear this fact since Yellowstone and Grand Canyon are so popular but GSM gets more than twice the visitors than any other park.

While there is no doubt that this is a very beautiful scenic park, the traffic and crowds (even in October) were terrible. Bumper to bumper with parking on every usable shoulder. Perhaps if we could have gotten into some of the back country it would be different, but every trail head parking lot was jammed.

The name Smoky Mountains comes from the blue tinted clouds that form in the valleys and look like smoke. Pretty cleaver, huh?

Take away the crowds and this would be very much like our Olympic NP. It has one of the highest concentrations of deciduous trees anywhere else in the world.

Outer Banks, North Carolina

On our way out to the Outer Banks of North Carolina we came across our first cotton field. More than likely we will be seeing more of these but we promise not to post pictures of them all.

The Outer Banks are the chain of coastal islands and sand bars that we hear about everytime there is a hurricane off the Atlantic coast. We drove almost all of the 120 miles of this barrier. There as not been any major storm for several months, but, because the land is so low, we still had several places where the surf had broke through the dunes and flooded the roadway. It must be incredible to be here during a storm.

Almost everywhere that is not a protected wildlive preserve is covered with homes like these. The bottom floor is open to allow the sea and sand to pass through without obstruction.

There are the occasional crazy person out here too.

The Cape Hatteras lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in the world. It was recently moved 2900 feet inland to protect it from errosion.

The cape is also the site of the Wright Brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk but we got there too late to go see the monument....

but this is what it would have looked like had we been there before it closed.

Virginia & West Virginia

We have spent the past several days parked in a very quiet rustic camp in Lexington, Virginia while we explore Virginia and West Virginia. Both of these state hold wonderful historical parks, National Scenic Byways, living historical towns and, of course, the continuing fall colors that we have had for the past serval weeks.










One of the many colorful trees....and how about that garage.



The more red the leaves the more sugar was trapped in the leaves when it got cold.





We visited historic colonial Williamsburg which was the capital of the Colony of Virginia prior to the revolution. It has been restored and is a living historical site where actors play the role of 18th century citizens. Here an attorney is talking about how trials were conducted in this colonial courthouse.










The local blacksmith actually make nails, hinges and other items to be used in the reconstruction and maintenance of Williamsburg. In fact, all the craftsmen's products, such as wigs, shoes, guns, etc are all used in recreating the life of colonial Williamsburg. It was very impressive....a bit commericial but well worth the trip.








The next day, we took the Blue Ridge parkway north to Shenandoah National Park. On the way we came across another, living historical site. This one depicts the life in the Blue Ridge mountains around 1750 or so. Very interesting lady who was very cold at the time. Our temp went from 85 on Tuesday to 45 on Wednesday.

When we leave Virginia we will take the Blue Ridge Parkway which runs along the ridge of the Blue Ridge mountain all the way from the northern border of Virginia to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in Georgia.

Here is the root cellar.














This is the only humpback bridge still standing the the US. Robert E Lee marched his troops over this bridge on the way north during the Civil War.













And our roads just keep going.....












and the colors just keep getting brighter.

Mt. Vernon, Virginia

We visited George Washington's home at Mt. Vernon, Virginia. The line to tour the house was over an hour long but it is one of those must see sights as part of American history.

The building looks like it has a stone exterior but Washington devised a method called "rustification" whereby white sand is rubbed into the white paint on the surface of the wood siding to give it a stone appearance.

The view of the Potomac River from the back porch is beautiful.












Old George owned over 200 slaves who lived in houses like this. Apparently he was personally opposed to slavery but was not legally able to emancipate his slaves without breaking up families, which he refused to do. All of his slaves were set free upon his death.

Washington, DC

We arrived at our RV park just north of Washington on Thursday. It took us longer than expected because they consider our propane tank on the RV to be hazardous cargo and would not let us go into the Baltimore harbor tunnel. They diverted us onto the streets of Baltimore - ouch! We had a white knuckle drive out of that situation but with Millie's expert navigation and Lee's ability to do what he is told we made it without a scratch.

On our way out of PA we came across this hard working Amish farmer. You have to admire these people for holding true to their heritage and beliefs in the face of technology that would certainly make their lives easier.

On Friday, we used the metro bus/subway system to get into DC and then took a Hop on - Hop off bus tour around all the city buildings and monuments. We managed to get around to all the major attractions like the capital building and the Lincoln Memorial above.

We we also visited the Washington Monument and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

When he heard that we were in town, President Bush came out with a couple of his friends to say hello to Millie.

This is a beautiful capital city that is relatively easy to get around in, it is clean and safe (much safer than the last time either of us were here). All the museums and buildings are open to the public (almost) and they are all free. One thing that we noticed is how modern the interiors of the buildings were while maintaining the same outside historical structures. It is a Capital that we can all be proud of.

We finsihed our last day in the city and were riding back on the metro bus, feeling quite proud of ourselves for having successfully negotiated the subway and bus system of a major city. We managed to see all the sights we came to see and visited some wonderful museums and displays. Then, to our horror, the bus pulls to the side of the road and the driver turns to us (we were seated in the "senior" seats right next to him) and asks us if we knew where he should go to get us home. We just looked at him until we realized that he was not joking. While he was a qualified driver, he had never driven this route before and did not have a clue where he was or how to get us home. Luckily by now we had driven the route and with the help of several other passengers got everyone where they needed to go.

On to Mt. Vernon to see George Washington's home.

Gettysburg, PA

We spent the day walking this Civil War battlefield and what cannot go unnoticed is the shear size of area that was impacted. The battle raged over a total area of 10 square miles. This National Military Park has an excellent visitor center that just opened last month. Inside, visitors are shown a film that walks them through the events leading up to the battle and breaks the complicated 3 day battle down into parts that can be readily understood. There is also a wonderful museum with stories and displays for each day of the battle. They do a very good job of explaining what led up to the civil war and what followed.


This is the view from one of the Union battery positions overlooking the battlefield. The entire battlefield is criss-crossed with access roads that lead to literally hundreds of monuments that honor each division of the various armies involved.



This is the site where Lincoln presented his Gettysburg Address. This monument is the one that Lincoln was there to dedicate in honor of all the soldiers who were killed during the battle.



It took the town of Gettysburg over 5 months to find and bury all the dead from the battle. Over half of them were never identified by name and lie in these unmarked graves.

This park was very well done. The various displays, tours and monuments are an excellent way of teaching people what took place here. The tributes that are engraved on the various unit monuments, from both the north and the south, successfully honor the soldiers on both sides, who fought here and played an important part in reuniting the states after the war.



Now on a lighter side, each of the major areas of the battlefield are named after people who played a memorable part in the battle. As we drove around the area, we came across this sign that caught our attention. Now Lee's brother, who is the keeper of all Shultz history, will need to find out if it means anything noteworthy.

We're back on line

We have been out of touch with the internet for the past week so the following posts will bring you up to date with what we have been doing. We are still having a wonderful time with every minute filled with new sights.

Pennsylvania

Some of the trees are turning purple which nearly matches the motorhome colors.





As we drove across Pennsylvania, we found ourselves at the front end of a street parade, complete with marching bands, TV cameras and many, many people waving at us like we were suppose to be there. We just waved back and blew our horn.



Our route took us close to the site of the United Flight 93 crash so we stopped to pay our respects. It is just a temporary memorial at this point but it is filled with little notes and mementos from visitors from all over the world. Very moving.



PA is a beautiful state. Much more rural than we thought it was. Here is one of our backroads that gets the motorhome a bit dusty but it is so much better than a freeway. So far the only freeways we have taken are those necessary to get around big cities.

Tomorrow we are on to Gettysburg Battlegound.

New York City

We made it to the Big Apple after taking a very scenic trip through the northern part of Connecticut. We stopped about a hour north of the city at a KOA that offered tours directly into the city. We were NOT about to get any closer with the motorhome. We went out to the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island.

We drove by the site of the World Trade Center and saw the massive construction project that this site had finally becoming. This 9/11 damaged structure is the temporary memorial to the victum of the Trade Center disaster. The final memorial has now set to open on the 10th aniversary.

We also went to the top of the Empire State Building for a fabulous view of the entire city. We seemed to be of little consequence to the pigeons that make there home up there.

After driving through the financial district we stopped at Times Square for a walk around and a street hot dog. We then headed for home after a very long day in this very busy city. One problem, the Holland Tunnel (our way home) was in the middle of a bomb scare and was closed. So what should have been a 1 hour drive turned into a 4 hour additional tour of Harlum, The Bronx and points north before we managed to cross back over the Hudson River.

Rhode Island

After Cape Cod and lots of rain we headed south to the rocky shoreline of Rhode Island. We found several wonderful little nooks that held some great chowder and fish and chips; and a few unexpected surprises like President Eisenhower's summer cottage.



The trip just keeps getting better.




























..... and the fascinating mansions of Newport, RI. While the entire shoreline of RI seems to be the site of some magnificent summer homes, these "cottages" in Newport are in a class all to themselves.