We were waiting for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from the time we turned south in Maine on our Precious Venture.   The hype and fascination with the park is one reason it is the most visited National Park in America with over 10 million visitors per year, twice as many as the second closest.  But does it live up to the build up?

We only saw the park over our four day stay in late Autumn, but we certainly were excited with the park.  Please look over the pictures noted in the links at the end of this blog to see if you are also 🙂

Now to be truthful, there were 12 forest fires on mountains east of the Great Smoky Mountains which heightened the smoky haze that settled between each ridgeline.  Back in the days before the white man in this area, the Cherokees noted the blue smoke which made these mountains so beautiful.  The haze was a byproduct of all the vegetation producing hydrocarbons that reacted to produce the blue haze.  Now throw in 12 forest fires and the blue smoke turns much more intense.

We camped near Gatlinburg and endured / enjoyed the commercialization, sampling great food and fun touristy items.  But just minutes from there was the gateway to truly an awesome National Park.   There were health warnings of not exercising while outdoors from the forest fire smoke, but it was hard to say this environmental presence was detrimental to our enjoyment.

We loved our time in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and wished we had more  time but winter seems to keep pushing us south 🙂

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John and Roni

As I said in my previous post my daughter, Mallory and granddaughter, Jaedyn along with Steven, Skiler and Macie (our first time meeting) were able to drive from West Virginia to visit with us.  Unfortunately Steven may not have been too impressed with us as our propane ran out in the middle of the night and I didn’t realize it until about 6am when I looked at the thermostat and it read 54 degrees and they all looked like popsicles  🙂

I did not raise my two oldest daughters so time like this is cherished beyond words.  Mallory is a caring and compassionate person who always gives you the benefit of the doubt.  She may even give it to you a few times before she finally will have enough.  It’s an endearing quality for the most part.  Her heart is very big.  She is going through some changes at the moment so we were really happy to take her and the gang to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home.  Taking my granddaughter somewhere educational made me HAPPY too!  I love doing that kind of stuff with kids.  I think they all enjoyed it!

Of course John knows how to win the kids over with food!  I was happy to meet Steven and his daughters who were a pleasure to hang out with.  Don’t wait or put off being with your children and grandchildren and doing stuff together if you can help it.  They make memories for a lifetime and are priceless.  I love you Mallory and you have been and forever will be in my heart as will Jaedyn who I thank you for!

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The first time I visited Monticello, I was doing on the job training for USAirways in Charlottesville, VA.  My mother had flow up from Florida to spend a few days with me.  She chose one of the places for us to go to as Monticello.  I’m happy she did because I was impressed with the history that was laid out before my eyes.  Out west we just don’t have the older history they do on the east coast due to obvious reasons.  The states gradually moved west.

I was then as I am now still in awe of how the history is preserved.  This visitor’s center  has been upgraded but still the magical air that whirls around makes you imagine what life may have been like.  No pictures are allowed inside of the actual residence.

There was a tour that spoke of the history of slavery on the estate which was very educational. A lady in the crowd asked our tour guide, “Was Jefferson a kinder than normal master”?  He responded with something I wont forget. “There are no kind masters, only different levels of cruelty”.

Like many wealthy men, Jefferson had a few business ventures. Wine, beer and produce were explored in self-guided tours of the basements, cellars and slave quarters.

I love going to Monticello, especially with my mother.  It is a fond memory and that’s why I was particularly excited to bring my daughter, Mallory and granddaughter, Jaedyn along with Steven, Skiler and Macie on this great trip.

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Let’s face it, most of you familiar with our National Parks in the west think of pristine lands preserved for wilderness and not necessarily friendly to automobiles.  Shenandoah National Park was quite different, created by purchasing private lands already farmed and forested for years to become transformed into as David Lambert calls it, “a re-cycled Wilderness”.  On top of that, the skyline drive running down the center has endless pullouts and viewpoints to permit you to enjoy the park from an automobile.

Pulled together by many purchases of land after the Great Depression, the park was created with a few holdouts who were allowed to live the rest of their lives to be spent in the park, before their lands became part of the National Park.

We entered from the south entrance to the park, driving so slowly we pulled over frequently to let others pass.  I made Roni pull over at so many viewpoints we lost track, taking pictures using the magic of the late autumn afternoon light.

We wove our way up the curving Skyline Drive to the Harry F. Byrd Visitor’s Center to find a snack and relax as the sunset.  Our timing was perfect as the Supermoon was rising when we finished eating.  What a nice treat 🙂

We felt so at home in the Shenandoah National Park.  It was the first National Park we had seen since Acadia National Park in Maine.  They don’t come to often in the Northeast, so we treasure them more 🙂   The fact that it was regenerated from “used land” made it all the more special to enjoy the beauty.

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“Do me a favor, for the rest of the day work beneath your desk”.  Those are the words said to John Yates from his wife during a phone call discussing the planes that had flown into the WTC’s and the likely hood of another going to Washington, D.C.  He worked at the pentagon.  Fortunately, he survived (barely) after being thrown against the wall during the impact and burned badly only minutes after this phone call.

So here we are.  Again.  Our last visit to a 9/11 memorial.  Flight 77. We are surrounded by beautiful Crape Myrtle trees that are a vibrant color due to it being autumn.  It’s a thought provoking place. There is no visitor’s center.  You are there to take it in.  Look up to the pentagon and see where the impact took place.  You cannot help but try to imagine the sheer horror that ran through the hearts and minds of those who were actually experiencing the event.  The benches and time walls are uniquely placed with small pools of water beneath each to reflect upon.

184 persons died between those on the plane and those at work in the pentagon their ages between 3 and 71.   Benches pointing towards the pentagon establish they were in the pentagon and those pointing away were on the plane.  Reading how this memorial comes together would be well worth your time as it was well thought out.

It still wrenches at my heart at how it didn’t have to be.  So I have no final thoughts, only a final picture I have placed below.

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The uninformed of you, of which I count myself, may have always wondered how the state of Delaware came to be.  This tiny state with Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey on all sides, how did it all happen?

The Dutch had the first settlement, changing hands several times before the British claimed it.  New Castle was the first major town in the area and William Penn landed in the colonies here.  He brought with him many Quakers and established a large colony.  Being so large, it made sense to split off Delaware from Pennsylvania .  New Castle was the main town in the large original Penn area until Philadelphia became supreme.  So look at a map of Delaware, see the large arc that marks the northern border?  The King of England had determined it to run in a 12 mile radius from the Court House of New Castle, seen below.

The three signers of the Declaration of Independence came from New Castle and Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution, hence the name “The First State”.

The small town is wonderful because the economy fell on hard times and people couldn’t afford to tear down the old buildings for new ones, hence  creating a nice preserve of original structures.

As happens with us often, we are always closing the day while exploring and running out of time, lol.  Here is a sunset taken from New Castle.

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John and Roni 🙂

This park was a surprise to us!  Our main purpose was to visit with Sue (my cousin) and Darrell, and they were wonderful 🙂

They told us about Assateague Island National Seashore so we explored it over two days and we were so grateful for the chance to witness this awesome park.  The National Park Service as well as the local Maryland State Park have done a great job in preserving raw nature on the seashore, including wild horses!  We totally thought of our horse loving friend Kathy McNames as we enjoyed the horses 🙂

The constantly changing beach sand makes the island appear fresh and fascinating.

A large part of the island can only be reached by four wheeling or hiking but with the sun setting we decided not to pay the fee to venture out on the sand roads.

We still had a wonderful time as the orange and purple hues lit up everything.  Wandering a boardwalk we had 360 views over marshland teeming with life.  This Great Egret entertained us for a long time getting a meal before settling down for the night.

Our day had to end though, so we finished our board walk, taking in the beauty of this National Seashore.

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your travel companions, John and Roni 🙂

If you have followed our “precious venture” across America, you have seen our fascination with cemeteries everywhere we have traveled.  Well Arlington National Cemetery pretty much is the ultimate experience for us in many ways.   First, the history here covers a broad swath of American History.

I was a 12 year old lad living in Japan when my father came in to wake me around 6am to tell me that John F. Kennedy had died.  I still have newspaper clippings of the event and books commemorating him, but at Arlington, I was standing at his grave and viewing the eternal flame.   I cannot tell you the depth of my feelings to remember back to that moment.

We moved on using the Trolley when convenient, exploring the cemetery and realizing the enormity of what this sacred ground is.

I grew up idolizing one of the fixtures in the movies of the the 1950s, Audie Murphy.  What impressed me was he was one of the most decorated heroes of World War II at the age of 19, and I was seeing him on the silver screen in westerns and his autobiographical movie, To Hell and Back.  Now I was standing before his gravesite, a very plain marker like all the other soldiers around him, an unassuming man who was so large in the lives of young boys like me in the 1950s and 60s.

Another stop, perhaps the most moving to us, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, had us quietly observing it for a long while.  The Changing of the Guard truly showed the Honor we hold for all the fallen soldiers who have served our country.

Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God

We could go on and on noting the graves that meant something to us.  Each caused us to stop and remember, that is what happens to you as you walk the cemetery.  You remember bits of your past, of things you have heard, learned, read that mean something in connection with the monument or grave marker that you are standing before.

One thing that caught my eye, while standing on a hillside looking over the grave markers, over the trees with the color of autumn in their leaves, to see the Pentagon in the distance.  We were heading there the following day to visit the Pentagon Memorial.  The aircraft that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11 flew over the Naval Annex Building, which has since been demolished to make more room for Arlington National Cemetery.

See what we mean?  You visit this cemetery to honor and to remember, we were grateful for the chance to visit this hallowed ground again.

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Although you don’s see it in the above picture the other side of this beautiful home is also wonderful on the backside as it sits on the Potomac River. In fact in order to preserve the view across the river the government was persuaded by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association to buy the land over there as several businesses wanted to take advantage of it.  The story of the MVLA is intriguing and a good read if you have the time.

The estate still has a farm with heritage breed animals on it along with gardens producing flowers and veggies.  It is an absolutely relaxing and educational walk.  This includes the boardwalk to the pier and it explains how of Washington’s many businesses the fishery was one  of the more successful.

George and Martha are buried on this property in the above tomb which was built in 1831 right before they moved them from the original vault that’s also on the property.  If I remember correctly we were told they were buried along with 21 other family members in this tomb.

The burial ground of many slaves is marked by a memorial honoring not only their lives of but also the contributions of the over 400 men, woman and children enslaved by both George and Martha Washington.  As with all places John and I have been that tell the history about slaves here in America, we were taken aback by some of the means of which Mt. Vernon came to obtain these people and further more the conditions as to how some were set free.

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OK, now for something completely different.  Roni decided to spend the day doing useful things around the trailer so I hopped the subway into Washington DC and walked through the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.  I have always had a fondness for Natural History Museums and this one was the best I have ever been through.  Everything from learning about Mammals, about life in our Oceans, Geology and Rocks (well the Hope Diamond is a rock, isn’t it?) , dinosaurs and two exhibits I was not expecting.

The first was the Natures Best Photography exhibit of the Winsland Smith Rice International Awards.  I was awestruck at the beauty and thought that went into the award winning photographs.  I really need to get some of my work out to these venues (well dreams are what make us wakeup each morning and start anew  :))  An additional photographic exhibit featured primordial Iceland.

The next was a Butterfly Pavilion.  You walk into the greenhouse and are surrounded by butterflies going this way and that, landing on your head as well as the lovely plants all around.  I stayed in there for a very long time photographing and just being thrilled by the lovely insects 🙂

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