Virginia Beach - October 2016 - Day 3

October 1, 2016 (Saturday)

It started out as a very rainy morning.  We stopped by the grocery store to get some lunch food before heading north up the Atlantic coast. We took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, which was quite unique. The Bridge Tunnel is 23 miles long! It is one of only ten bridge-tunnel systems in the world. Taking the Bridge Tunnel saves motorist 95 mile and about 1 ½ hours!

Since it was rainy, we just happened to be driving by the NASA missile launch facility visitor center – Wallops Flight Facility is the official name.  Wallops is NASA’s principal facility for management and implementation of suborbital research programs. It was free to go in and check out the exhibits.  We spent maybe 30 minutes to an hour there. 

Wild horse at Assateague Island National Seashore

Lighthouse at  Assateague Island National Seashore

Continuing north, we finally reached our first planned destination for the day – Assateague Island National Seashore – Toms Cove Visitor Center in Chincoteague Island, VA.  There is a $5 entrance fee – or free with pass. There were a ton of mosquitoes in the area.  Lucky for us, the rain pretty much stopped by the time we finished a quick lunch in the truck. On the drive to the visitor center, we did not see any wild horses, but on the way out we saw quite a few! The visitor center was relatively small with just a few displays (mostly aquatic life) and a book store area.  There was a guided walk that was about to start, but we opted not to go on it since we wanted to get to the other portion of the park (about an hour farther north).

Sunset from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Assateague Island National Seashore has a second visitor center in Maryland. There is an $8 entrance fee – or free with pass. We saw lots of wild horses at the Maryland location! We headed to the visitor center first. This visitor center was a lot larger and had more displays and the short video was worth the watch.  We visited the lighthouse, which provided lovely views.

After we got back to Virginia Beach, we had a quick meal at the hotel and then headed out to the boardwalk. It was a total coincidence that the Neptune Festival was going on during our visit. There were art exhibitors, beach volleyball tournaments, fireworks and a sand castle building contest. The fireworks lasted probably about 20 minutes and were okay.

Virginia Beach - September 2016 - Day 1 & 2

September 29, 2016 (Thursday)

After getting home from work, we headed out for another adventure – this time our ultimate destination was Virginia Beach.  We stopped along the Ohio turnpike for some dinner and made it just outside of Pittsburgh for the night. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in North Huntingdon, PA.  The room was fine, nothing overly fancy, but the weird thing was that there wasn’t a bathtub, just a shower.

September 30, 2016 (Friday)

Harpers Ferry NHP

After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.  There is a $10 entrance fee to enter the park.  Once you park there is a small visitor center, restrooms and a bus stop.  The bus ride is free and takes you to the Park area.  The ride is short and there is an auto recording that tells you a little about Harper’s Ferry. The town is very charming.  Many of the buildings are open for viewing. Some of the buildings just have display, but some also have videos. One of the buildings has flood levels recorded, which is kind of interesting. Harper’s Ferry is probably best known for John Brown’s raid on the Armory in 1959 and the role in the American Civil War. John Brown was an abolitionist that led a group of 21 men on the raid of the arsenal. His intention of the raid was to initiate a slave uprising throughout the South. The raid was short lived and did not result in the outcome that Brown had intended.  In the end, Brown was tried for treason against the State of Virginia and was convicted and hung. The raid was a catalyst for the Civil War. Harpers Ferry changed hands eight times during the Civil War.

I had done a lot of research on ways to get around the DC traffic – per TripAdvisor recommendations we opted to pin Winchester, VA has a waypoint in our GPS.  The drive was nice and traffic really only got backed up when we were trying to get onto the road that we had been avoiding (I-95) We stopped in Richmond, VA for dinner.  Mike had heard about the GWARbar (as in GWAR the metal band) and suggested eating there. The reviews were good, so we checked it out. The menu was interesting and the food was good. Service was just okay. 

Finally, we ended our night at our Virginia Beach location – Ocean Beach Club.  The place was right on the beach, we did not have an ocean view.  The room really needed the paint freshened up and the carpet could have used a good cleaning also.

Napa, CA - September 2016 - Days 3, 4 & 5

September 5, 2016 (Monday)

Kule Loklo - Coast Miwok Indian Village

Family outing!  We visited Point Reyes NS, our first stop within the park being the Bear Valley Visitor Center where we watched the introduction film and checked out the displays.  We also hiked to the Kule Loklo recreated Coast Miwok Indian Village. It was a short walk that provided a few nice views.

Heading to the Lighthouse from the Bear Valley Visitor Center is about a 45-minute drive. The drive provided lovely cattle ranch views as well as ocean views. Once we finally arrived to the lighthouse, the parking was out-of-control. The parking lot is quite small and additional parking is along the side of the road. Luckily, we were able to find a space near the parking lot along the side of the road. We had our picnic lunch along the roadside on some rocks before heading to the lighthouse viewing area.  The hike down to the lighthouse is 308 steps.  The lighthouse itself was not too impressive.  The cool part was that we saw a whale!  Once done visiting the lighthouse, we headed to the Drakes Bay Beach.  We wondered the beach, enjoying some sand castles; built in the previous day sandcastle building contest.

Baby Muir with a sand sculpture

Drakes Bay Beach

Leaving the park, we stopped at Point Reyes Station for some ice cream before heading back to the hotel. We had dinner near our hotel at the Hilo Hawaiian BBQ. I was excited – since while we were in HI, I had the Kalua Pork with Cabbage pretty much every day.

September 6, 2016 (Tuesday)

Muir Woods

After checking out of the hotel, we dropping Mike’s parents off to spend the day with the baby. Mike and I headed to Muir Woods NM.  Muir Woods was quite busy in the parking lot areas.  We were able to find a space after maybe 10 minutes of driving around. After a quick lunch at the on-site café, we ventured out on the trails. We opted to check out the Hillside Trail. It was an easy hike.  The site was a lot drier/duster than when we had previously visited.

Our next stop, the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front NHP. The plan was to visit the SS Red Oak Ship.  It was supposed to be open, but we arrived to find it was closed for a few days since work was being done in the area leading to the ship.  Maybe the third try will be the charm…  We visited the Education Center and watched the film about the Port Chicago Disaster. Port Chicago Naval Magazine is on our list of places yet to visit – they have limited hours and require clearance to gain access to the active military base site.

Jill, a friend I used to work with, met up with us for dinner at Zachary’s Chicago Pizza on College Street in Oakland. The pizza was pretty good. For dessert, we went to Smitten Ice Cream, which was also yummy.

Our trip was wrapping up, we headed back towards Sacramento, meeting Mike’s parents near Fairfield.  We stayed at the Best Western Sandman Motel in Sacramento – total dive.

September 7, 2016 (Wednesday)

We had a 6:40am flight back to Flint with a short layover in Minneapolis. After landing in Flint, we headed home, but not before stopping in Clarkston for some of the best BBQ ever at the Union Woodshop.

Napa, CA - September 2016 - Days 1 & 2

September 3, 2016 (Saturday)

Deciding to be adventurous this time, we flew out of Flint. Flying to Sacramento involves a layover regardless of flying out of Detroit or Flint. The Flint flight had times that worked for us and was $40 less!

Our flight was bright and early – 6AM!  To avoid waking up quite so early, we spent the night at the Best Western on Hill Road in Flint. The hotel was very nice, but we were on the freeway side of the building – very loud!  Flying out of Flint was way easier than flying out of Detroit. Parking was super close and the security lines were pretty much non-existent.

Our layover was in Atlanta and we had more than enough time to grab some breakfast before hopping on our flight to Sacramento. Both of our flights were smooth sailing!

 Using an online travel site to book a car, we got a $91.13 deal thru Hertz for a full size car. Hertz only had a Jetta available - we were supposed to get an Altima. We ended up having to get a larger vehicle – I feel like we got stuck paying more because of this. In the future, we will deal directly with the rental company and not use a 3^rd party.  Another negative was that we had to wait 30 minutes for an available vehicle which made us change our afternoon plans.

We ended up heading to the Jelly Belly Factory Tour. The tour had changed since our last visit. It was self-guided! The only disadvantage, during this visit was that the factory was closed for the weekend.

Mike’s parents were along with us on our travel adventure since the main purpose of the trip was to visit our nephew, Muir, who was born back in June.

We had hoped to rent a house during our trip, but nothing was close to where our family members live, so we ended up staying at the Holiday Inn Express in American Canyon.  The hotel was great and the area around it was nice too – lots of restaurants and shopping.

After checking in and unloading our luggage, we headed to Napa to visit the baby! We had a homemade dinner at my sister-in-law’s mom’s house.

September 4, 2016 (Sunday)

We met up with family at the Oxbow Public Market.  While there we got some yummy cupcakes at one of the little stores inside.  Since we were there we also took a stroll along the Napa River.

Heading north, we had brunch at a place called Sam’s Social Club in Calistoga. The food was okay and was mostly priced between $15-$20.  I had the cheeseburger and fries.  The fries were good; the burger was just okay.  The décor was really nice and the surrounding outdoor area was also enjoyable.  After we were done eating, we walked thru town before heading to Sterling Vineyards.  The plan was to go on the Gondola ride – once we arrived there was no parking and the mile was very long.  We ditched the plan for the Gondola ride and went to the Bale Grist Mill.  The tour was $5 a person. The tour group we were on was very large and it was hard to see some things. The guide was very informative and was quite passionate about the mill.

**I was unable to find my photos from these days! - Sorry!

North Carolina - July 2016 - Day 4 & 5

July 3, 2016 (Sunday)

Whiteside Mountain View

Another early morning – this time we went to Whiteside Mountain to take a hike.  The hike was quite nice and offered great views. We opted to start the hike going up the stairs, which turned out to be the right choice. The return trip was a nice downward slope. When we arrived the parking lot was quite full, but when we left there were National Forest Staff turning people away. There is a $2 fee, or you can display the National Park pass.

Whitewater Falls

Next we were off to a waterfall – Whitewater Falls. The waterfall is 411 feet high, making it the tallest in the eastern part of the US. There was plenty of parking available.  There is a $2 fee, or you can display the National Park pass. The falls were a short walk from the parking lot.

Mice on Main

Falls Park on the Reedy

After leaving the waterfall, we headed to Greenville, SC to meet up with our SC friends!  We met at the Falls Park on the Reedy. After walking around the gardens and falls we headed to Main Street.  The city has a cute installment called “Mice on Main” (located between the Westin Poinsettia Hotel and Hyatt Regency).  We found five of the nine mice that are hidden about (we did not walk all the way to the end, if we had we probably would have found all of the mice). Per recommendation, we had dinner at Tupelo Honey. Dinner service was slow. We arrived at 4:15 and did not get out of there until 5:45. They messed up two of the orders, but they did remove one of the two from the bill.

After dinner we headed back to Sapphire for the night.

July 4, 2016 (Monday)

Glen Falls

We headed out early for our last day of vacation – destinations near Highlands. Our first stop was Glen Falls. There are three different viewing levels, each with an 80 foot falls. The trail is 1.4 miles one way; the first falls is about 15 minutes into the hike. The trail was moderate. The parking area was not overly full during our visit.

Nearby we visited Bridal Veil Falls. These falls were 150 feet tall, but overall the falls were not very impressive during our visit.

Just down the road from Bridal Veil Falls is Dry Falls. Dry Falls was quite pretty and definitely worth a visit. There is a large parking area.

Heading back towards Sapphire, we searched for the Hurricane Falls. We were not able to find the spot along the road to view the falls, but were able to find the approximate location of the fall.  The road was recently reconstructed – possibly the pull off area was eliminated.

Before our last stop for the trip, we went to check out Toxaway Falls.  You must park to see the falls. We drove by and determined even if we did stop the view would be less than stellar.

Dry Falls

Rainbow Falls

Our last stop for the trip – Gorges State Park. There was no fee for entering the park. The visitor center was very nice – lots of interesting displays. We hiked to Rainbow Falls (150 feet tall) – the parking area was a little crazy but the trail was not overly packed.  The trail is considered strenuous and is 3 miles round trip (lots of ups and downs).  Many people opt to swim around the falls area.  Just past Rainbow Falls is Turtleback Falls. Turtleback falls is a great natural waterslide and very popular! Rainbow Falls is 125-feet high and is known as one of the most beautiful falls in North Carolina.

Turtleback Falls

We stopped in Knoxville for dinner. We selected Stock & Barrel, which was ranked #3 of restaurants in Knoxville.  There was a parking deck right around the corner from the restaurant. Burgers and Bourbon are their name to fame. The burger and bourbon choices are very numerous. We ordered the fried pickles, the steakhouse burger and the Elvis burger. The Elvis burger is what you expect - Peanut Butter, Fried Bananas and Bacon.

North Carolina - July 2016 - Day 3

July 2, 2016 (Saturday)

Goat at Carl Sandburg National Historical Site

The day started with a stop by the Carl Sandburg National Historical Site.  The site is a bit of a hike from the parking lot.  Carl Sandburg was most famous for his writings about Abraham Lincoln and poetry. Sandburg won the Pulitzer Prize for History for his Lincoln writings.  The home, known as Connemara, is currently in the middle of major renovations, but home tours were available for $5. There are also two videos available – we watched both, but honestly they were not really that great. The fun part of the site are the dairy goats! Carl’s wife Lilian was quite famous for her prize-winning goats. We spent about two hours at the site.

Cowpens National Battlefield

Next stop was the Cowpens National Battlefield.  There were a lot of extra activities going on due to the 4^th of July holiday. There were weapons firing demonstrations, ranger-guided battlefield walks, and the reading of the Declaration of Independence. At the visitor center, we watched the fiber optic presentation (shown on demand). The other video available is played on the hour and it did not really work well with our timing.  After the video, we hiking the American Revolution War Battlefield.

We stopped at Strawberry Hill for some tasty homemade ice cream – I tried the strawberry and peach flavors. Yum! The portions are quite large.

Biltmore Estate

Biltmore Estate

We  were lucky to nab the last tour (4:30) of the day at Biltmore Estate. We arrive around 3:30 so we could check out some of the gardens before our tour.  The place is very pretty! Biltmore Estate was completed in 1895 and was a family home built for George W. Vanderbilt.  The home took six years to build – the footings are 26 feet deep!  The estate is the largest privately owned house in the US – 178,926 square feet of floor space! The estate property is very large – 8000 acres! The estate was opened to the public in 1930 in response to requests to increase tourism during the Depression and to generate income to preserve the massive estate. The tours are self-guided – you are given a booklet when you get your tickets that has a descriptions of the rooms, or for $11 you can rent a hand held unit that tells you about the rooms. We just followed along with the guide book.  Photography is not allowed in the home – but a ton of people were snapping away without being scolded. Being the rule follower that I am I did not take photos. It took us about an hour to make it thru the home. Often there are special displays – during our visit it was “Fashionable Romance – Wedding Gowns in Film”. After the tour, we headed back out to check out the gardens some more – Mike really wanted to go to the pond. We spent about three hours at the Biltmore Estate.

North Carolina - July 2016 - Day 1 & 2

June 30, 2016 (Thursday)

Hooray – another vacay! This trip took us to Sapphire, NC.  The area has a bunch of waterfalls and beautiful gorges. We left after work and made it to Richmond, KY. We stayed at the Best Western (using a $50 off award we had received from the out west trip). The hotel was nice – great breakfast spread!

July 1, 2016 (Friday)

Cumberland Gap NHP - hiking

After a quick breakfast, we were back on the road. We attempted to join the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park Hensley Settlement Tour (represents 20^th century Appalachia).  We had called the previous day, but the tour was full and we got on standby. Needless to say, everyone showed up and we were not able to take the tour.  We could have taken the Gap Cave Tour, but we had done that during our last visit to the park so decided to skip it. The Cave tour is $8 ($4 with select passes) and lasts about 2 hours.  We did not recall the Settlement Tour being available during our last visit. The Settlement Tour is 3.5 to 4 hours long and is $10/adult ($5 with select passes).  We checked out the visitor center and watched one of the two videos that were showing. The staff at the front desk recommended some trails for us to hike – Object Lesson Road Trail to the Tri-State Trail. Once to the top of Tri-State Peak, you can stand in three states at once – Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. We also drove up to the Pinnacle Overlook for some lovely views.

Great Smokey Mountains - Oconaluftee

Next stop – The Great Smoky Mountains!  On our previous trip we stayed on the TN side of the park, this time we checked out the NC side. The visitor center, Oconaluftee, was a new building since we last had visited the NC side back in 2008.  Besides just checking out the visitor center area, we also visited the Mingus Mill.

Mingo Falls

Just outside of the Smoky Mountains, there is a nice waterfall – Mingo Falls. It is a bit of a hike to the falls (lots of stairs). The parking area is a little small, but there seemed to be a steady flow of people leaving when we arrived.

Lastly, we headed to our Sapphire destination – Fairway Forest. The accommodations were okay – they could definitely use some updating.

We had dinner at Mica’s – which is rated as the best restaurant around. It was just okay, nothing too crazy with the menu.