Monsoon Rains hit Asheville, NC

And what do we do in the downpour?

First, we head to the city's farmers market.  Ruthie checks out all of the pumpkins and squash.....and of course the 14 varieties of apples grown down here along the Blue Ridge.  Hardly got wet.

Then we try to park in downtown Asheville.......impossible.  Narrow streets, meters (which aren't designed for 30 ft RVs), and hills.  So we drive across the interstate to Harris Teeters grocery and park in their lot.   Morey does go into the store and asks the store manager permission; because Morey KNOWS RETAIL!     AOK.

Next a walk in the driving rain 3/4 mile to the Wicked Weed, one of the many microbreweries in Asheville, the craft beer capital of the US.  Recommended by Danny; well worth the stop for a brew and some lunch.

Then the fun begins when we board the LaZoom purple bus.  Being naive older people, did we know we boarded the "drunk bus?"  We had a 90 minute tour of Asheville with a bee, a nun, and some
other interesting creatures jumping on and off the bus.  And of course, a stop midway for a refill.  Crazy....in all the rain.

Ted, our tour guide.  He wanted to get to Broadway, but only got to Broadway Avenue in Asheville

Ended our day at Lake Powhatan Recreation Area run by our National Forest Service.  NICE campground, full hookups, so we watched TV.

Camping and Hiking along the Ridge

We've completed 390 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and are now camped at Lake Powhattan, a few miles from Asheville.  What a great week of camping and hiking.  Even though we had a goodly amount of rain, most of it was at night and didn't impact our hikes.  Watching the fall leaf colors continue to get more vibrant as we traveled the week, was definitely the highlight!

All of our campsites were fabulous.  Our favorite was Doughton Park where we had incredible views (and even a very level campsite).  Linville Falls was another nice place to park BIW, and walks to the Linville Falls with all of the fall color was awesome.

A highlight included our stop at the Blue Ridge Music Center where we listened to some live, blue ridge music....where the German Dolcimer and the African banjo come together to make great sound.

And today, we drove through really thick fog up at the highest point of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Craggy Garden near Mount Mitchell (elevation 6,684 ft).  A white knuckle drive, but took it slow and found the sun breaks as we headed down to Asheville.

Another highlight.... the great apple pie that Ruthie made from the fresh apples we picked up along the way!  Amazing what she can cook up in our RV kitchen.

On the Blue Ridge Parkway

Just arrived at the Lodge at Peaks of Otter....We walked in seriously driving rain, the half mile from our campground.  All for a special dinner of fried chicken; and maybe some apple pie.  What could be a better destination in inclement weather.  Plan to dry off a little before dinner; the rocker looks mighty comfy...just need a fire in the fireplace!

Had a great day here on the Blue Ridge.  Hiked down from Sharp Top Mountain.  Could have hiked up also, but climbing 2600 feet was more than we decided our bodies would take.  So up the shuttle to the top (almost), then hiked to the summit and then down to the base.  Great hike!

And to add to our outdoors activity; we next hiked to Johnson Farm; way up in the hills.  Another great walk!

We continue to head down the Blue Ridge tomorrow.  Fall color is just starting to pop. Next week looks like the peak.

PS  Hope the rain slows down before our walk back to BIW; in the dark.  FUN.

Rambling in Vermont

Arrived in Vermont to check out the local healthy products and get in some exercise...

First we stopped at Cabot Cheese to learn how this Vermont dairy coop has been making and selling cheese for almost a hundred years ...and then samples, of course - good. 





Then on to Hill Farmstead Brewery where they make the #1 rated beer in the world.  Is that why we stood in line for almost 2 hours to place our order and get our official HF growler?  And, no, we didn't try the #1 beer, but did purchase some "Aaron",
$20 a half liter. 
Beer was especially good on this hot Fall day, after we had biked uphill to visit.
                                                                                                  

SHOULD THIS BE OUR NEXT RV ?

Next on to Waterbury for an overnight at Little River State Park {where some upgrades and tree trimming is required}.  On the following morning we headed to Green Mountain coffee and then the highlight of our Vermont product tour; Ben & Jerry's.  We learned all about how two guys from Long Island created the world's best ice cream, how they manufacture this creamy stuff, and then...again....a great sample of a special made flavor for our tour.  [Sworn to secrecy, so we can't divulge this new flavor.]


After all of this eating and drinking it was time to roll into Grand Isle State Park, north of Burlington, but first we made a stop at Ethan Allen's homestead where we learned that no one knows what Ethan looked like, what his homestead actually looked like, and even where he is really buried.  This made for an interesting tour. 

After setting up at our camp sight overlooking Lake Champlain, we made plans for our biking adventures. 

Biked a total of 38 miles on the Island Line Trail, to and from Burlington.  Followed the rail causeway, which included a short bike ferry across the 250 of open water where the rail bridge had been taken out in a 2011 hurricane.  Great biking on a beautiful day.

Next day we did a 22 mile ride around part of Grand Isle up to North Hero.  Our destination was Hero's Welcome General Store, advertised as the world's most unusual....well, it wasn't that unusual, but the peanut butter cookies were pretty good!

Now BIW is heading home for a month before our drive through the Appalachians to check out the Fall leaf extravaganza.

Skowhegan Indian is being restored!

Drove across Rt 2, four years ago, and the native american was looking pretty old and tired.  But, now the Skowhegan town officials have decided to restore this carved wood statue; the largest in the WORLD! back to its glory.  Scaffolding is still evident, but the new paint job looks great.  Thanks!  {Compare to our blog post of June of 2010}

Ahhhhhhhhhh......ACADIA !

Back to Acadia National Park after only four years.....we had forgotten what a wonderful place this is.  Lobster, wild blueberries, ocean, rocks, trees, camping, biking, hiking......WOW, all good.








This time we spent 5 nights at Blackwoods Campground, and then moved to Seawall Campground in a quiet part of the island for three more nights.  To add to our terrific time, our friends Marc & Susie, joined us in their new trailer (and the first time for them dry camping).

We biked over 40 miles of carriage paths, stopped at Jordan Pond
(twice!) for popovers & blueberry sweets, rode many miles on the Island Explorer buses with and without our bikes, wandered Bar Harbor (good ice cream), and enjoyed our walks along the ocean crashing on the granite rocks.


After our move to the Seawall campground, more biking and more eating.  Yes, our eating was definitely one of the highlights of this visit.  First the Seafood Ketch in Bass Harbor (foggy biking and viewing).  Then, Thurston's Lobster Pound in Bernard, the best.  And we biked there in only 4.2 miles...

Thurstons

Seafood Ketch

Can't believe that Summer is almost over!

Wow, time goes by quickly when you're having a good, actually GREAT, time!  After arriving back home in the Spring; fixing screens, staining the deck, and planting a garden; it was time for our family and friends to join us.

Camp Nani-Baba celebrated its third year with Jack and Logan.  Also many weekends with Shane and Anna; and the special birthday weekend for Morey with the addition of Jordan arriving from NC......and of course in addition to our grandkids, our kids came and enjoyed the Jersey Shore with us.

Hard to believe, Summer's almost over.....................

Hershey Park; Logan loves the Super Dooper Looper roller coaster, and we all eat lots of chocolate!   Nice campground with an easy shuttle to the park.











Camp Nani-Baba goes West...to the North Cascades.  Still plenty of snow to slide on.  Thanks to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mel for loaning us their pop up camper.

4th of July at the Shore. A special cake, yummy lobster, and great boogie boarding....

 

Morey's birthday weekend with the 2nd annual Saturn V launch; OOPS, the parachute didn't deploy... Good thing the ground was soft....already repaired and ready for takeoff next year.

Nice to have all our kids and grandkids to celebrate.....
.

 

Our annual "raisin box" photo