The Final Leg Home

We headed north along the Outer Banks through Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, through Virginia Beach, across the Chesapeake Bay Bride Tunnel      http://www.cbbt.com/    and up the Delmarva Peninsula.

We planned to stay in a campground near Salisbury, MD but our GPS sent us on route that led to a 5 ton capacity ferry over the Nanticoke River.  Since our 7 ton weight wouldn't work and the re-calculation was confusing, we decided to push on to Marlton, where we spent the night.  The next day we landed the RV at it's home in Branchburg, NJ.

The trip was wonderful and the girls were great travelers ......   and J.J. was an extremely relaxed passenger.

"On the Road Again"  with Grandpa at the wheel and Emily keeping an eye him.

......... ZZZZZZZZ .....

The Outer Banks

OBX Bathing beauties.

We've spent the past couple days at the Ocean Wave Campground in Wave, NC on the Outer Banks.  It's a great little park with full hook-ups located just north of Cape Hatteras.  The beach is just a short stroll over a dune from our rig.  It's hot but breezy and the ocean temperature is delightful 82 degrees.

Emily & Barb catching up on emails.

Caroline & Barb in the OBX surf.

J.J. not thrilled with a bath in the RV.

Wes & Caroline at the beach.

Back to Calabash

This morning we left the Blue Ridge Mountains and headed east through the North & South Carolina piedmont regions back to Calabash to pickup our grand daughters and J.J. the wonder dog after their week long visit with their Grandma & Grandpa Reger.  Here's a shot of sunrise in Calabash.

The Biltmore Estate

Today spent the whole day visiting the Biltmore Estate.  It was wonderful.  Here's a link to their web page

                    http://www.biltmore.com/

Put it on your 'bucket litst ......  if you're anywhere near Asheville, NC ..... make time to go see it ...... it's a "must see".

Our Lazy Daze with the "what-ya-ma-call-it" estate in the back ground.

Nice front porch.

One of the Biltmore's several gardens.

Great Smokey Mountains National Park

This morning we took an hours drive to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.  It's the most popular National Park with 9 million visitors annually.  After a stop at the Park's information center we drove 20 miles that climbed over 2,500' up to Clingman's Dome.  We then hiked the very steep half-mile trail to the Dome's Observation Tower.  At an elevation of 6643' above sea level, it's one of the highest points east of the Mississippi.  It was breathtaking with the streaming clouds, mist and breaks in the clouds giving constantly changing views.

Clingman's Dome parking area

With the half mile we hiked here at Clingman's, added to the tenth of a mile we did a couple of years ago on Skyline Drive, we only have 2,183.4 miles to go before we complete the Appalachian Trail.

Clingman's Dome Observation Platform, 6,643 ft. above sea level.

Blue Ridge Parkway & the Pisgah Inn

Stuck in the clouds at the Mt. Pisgah Inn

The clouds parted .......

Today we took a ride up the Pisgah Road to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Unfortunately the visibility was severely limited because we were driving in a cloud.  For safety sake we exited the Parkway at the Pisgah Inn, a neat hotel sitting near the top of the mountain at 5000' elevation.  We visited the hotel gift shop, the nearby mountain top campground and general store and hoped the cloud would lift.  Out patience paid off ....... we were treated to a magnificent vista.  We resumed our Parkway drive and then headed down through Asheville.  It's a lovely city, built of hilly terrain and very busy with lots of tourists having a grand time.

Pisgah Mountain Road

We took a ride up the Pisgah Mountain Road.  We stopped at beautiful Looking Glass Falls.  Further along we came to Sliding Rock, natures own water park.  It was incredible watching the speed that people were propelled down the rock into an 8' deep ice cold pool at the bottom.  They had life guards on duty but it still looked like an awfully wild thing to do ...... we passed on it but got a real kick out of watching the show.

Looking Glass Water Fall

Sliding Rock

Natural Bridge to Calabash to Pisgah National Park

We departed Natural Bridge and headed East along the James and Mousy Rivers, through the Blue Ridge Mountains, all the way to Calabash, NC on the Atlantic Coast just north of Myrtle Beach, SC.  We delivered the girls to their other grandparents, Dick & Michele Reger.  We had a lovely dinner in their new home and the next day drove back west toward the Blue Ridge & Smokey Mountains.  We arrived at the Davidson River Campground in Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, NC by 5:00pm.  The Campground is beautiful with very large, paved sites but once again we were dry camping.

Davidson River Campground Pisgash National Forest 

Yogi Bear Jellystone Campground, Natural Bridge, VA

After leaving Cranberry Lake, we traveled to the Villages RV Resort in Verona to attend the
Trunko-Cmaylo-Danko Family Reunion in Sherill, NY.  We had a great time with our 115 family members.

On Sunday, July 8th, we collected our two grand daughters, Emily & Caroline Reger and their dog J.J., and headed south on Route 81 toward the Shenandoah Valley.  After a stop in Hagerstown, MD we continued on to Natural Bridge, VA.  The purpose of the trip was to transport the girls to their paternal grandparents in Calabash.  The campground had all kinds of activities for the kids.  The highlight though, was swimming in the James River (J.J. Included).  Here are some pix of our stay.

Wes, J.J., Emily, Caroline & Barb with Cindy Bear, Yogi's "main squeeze"

Caroline ....... the miniature golf champ

Caroline & Em enjoying breakfast

J.J. exhibiting her excellent swimming form doing the ...... you guessed it ...... the dog paddle.

J.J. & Emily

Cranberry Lake State Park, Happy Birthday Wes

We left the Thousand Islands and headed to Cranberry Lake State Park in the Adirondack Mountains.  On the way we drove through Canton to visit Wes's Alma Mater, St. Lawrence University.  Needless to say, it's changed quite a bit.  Cranberry Lake is another beautiful park (see map link below).  We had a delightful two day visit in a very pretty place..

Cranberry Lake

Wes with the State Park beach in the back ground

Thousand Islands, Happy 47th Anniversary Us

We left Fair Haven Beach State Park on July 1st and headed further north to Wellesley Island State Park in the Thousand Islands.  This is great campground right in the middle of the St. Lawrence River.  Our site overlooks a pond that joins the Park's marina.  The only drawback is that it has no hook-ups but that's why we have a Lazy Daze with a solar panel, generator and house batteries.  During our stay we took a "cruise" on tour boat through the Islands.  It included a stop on Heart Island that gave us a chance to tour Bolt Castle.  We'll let the photos tell the story.

Bolt Castle

..... on one of the Castles many balconies

Bridge span over the Canadian channel in the St. Lawrence River