Secret Get Out of Town Free Trip

So we were going crazy cooped up in the house with our adult children so we left.  Don’t tell anyone but we googled what was open and found The Great Smoky Mountains could accommodate us. So we got in the RV and rolled out of the neighborhood at dawn…

They, The Great Smoky Mountains, are amazing!  Good thing I had started the walking per my last post because we did some real hiking.  One trek took us on the Appalachian Trail.  We stopped and turned around at one of the overnight shelters and out-door toilets – not for the faint of heart.  My dream of hiking the entire run of this trail will require significant resources to either have a chase car with facilities or easy hiking from one bed and breakfast to the next with large swaths of the trail missed due to lack of plumbing.

Our last hike took us to the highest peak in Tennessee, Mount Conte and Myrtle Point.  The view was just like you see on the website with the mist among the peaks.  Note of warning the trail sign said it was 5 miles, it was more like 8 according to our fit bits! 

Not only is the road through the park worth the drive (in case the hiking is a turn off) but the wild life was abundant.  We saw wild turkey, bear, deer, and bunnies.  So next time you are cooped up with your family remember camping is solitary and somewhere in America you can probably do it.

Gettysburg

We spent 3 days in August at Gettysburg National Park and Museum.  It was amazing.  I am not a civil war buff or even a history buff, and I enjoyed it.  The visitor center houses a museum, movie theater, food, book/t-shirt store.  They also have a cyclorama!  In the 90’s I worked in the Cyclorama Building in Buffalo, NY.  A cyclorama is a picture in the round that people used to pay to view, like going to the movies today.  I just worked in the round building, which made the cubicles a challenge, but I had never seen a picture that was displayed in one.  The visitor center houses one of the battle at Gettysburg.    The oil painting is 377’ long and 42’ high.  Learn more here: https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/gettysburg-cyclorama.htm.

The battlefield is littered with monuments.  Each statue commemorates a person, regimen, brigade or state; the emotional part is they each say how many fought, died, were wounded or missing.  Even with this accounting it is impossible to imagine the carnage.  I think I was most reassured by a deeper understanding that our country had endured a struggle, survived and was improved by that struggle.  Is it perfect today? No, but it is better than yesterday.

My first camping review:  We stayed at Artillery Ridge Campground.  Showers and toilets were clean.  The roads are stone so no mud even though it rained.  Mature trees so there was nice shade.  Spots were too close together, in my opinion.  There was a horse path that led to the battlefield very near the Pennsylvania monument, we rode our bikes in the park a lot.  Overall the town is not very bike friendly.  There are no bike lanes and in many places no shoulder.  On some roads bikes are specifically prohibited. 

RV’er

I married my husband for two reasons 1) He seemed like he was going to do the income taxes and 2) He hated camping.  Well 20+ years later I don’t think he has ever done the taxes and we are the proud owners of an RV.  We got the bug while hiking at various national parks out west.  Now don’t go thinking we are outdoorsy types.  I use the word hike euphemistically – it is more like a vigorous walk.  When there is an elevation change I call it a hike.  But after sleeping in our hotel outside Zion National Park we were envious of the campers inside the park – they could wake up right here!  So now we make monthly payments on a beautiful Class B or maybe it’s a C motor home – it is the size of a full size van.  I don’t know that I recommend it, we could have committed to spending $6000-8000 a year on a vacation, but where is the adventure in that?