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