Feb - Apr 2024 MD, VA, TN, NC

Eastern Screech Owl in downtown Pigeon Forge, TN

After a couple of cold weeks in MA in Dec. we decided to head south to TN in Jan. for some better weather, and more mountains to explore. We stopped to overnight at Bob and Wendy’s exclusive “B&B” near Lynchburg, VA. Chief Bob prepared a bountiful breakfast before our departure. 

 

Gatlinburg and the GSMNP

We continued down to Gatlinburg, just outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), where we had booked a timeshare for a two-week period. First the ice came, and then high winds. Together they managed to deposit many dead branches and trees on the park roads.  Before the Park Service could get in to clear the downed trees, the snow came. Of course, they couldn’t plow the roads with all the trees in the road, so they closed all park roads for 10 days, and access to almost all the trails.

                                                    Snowy Day in Gatlinburg

We were left with downtown Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge to explore. Let me describe downtown Gatlinburg (GB), for those lucky enough to have not visited it - their main street is super over-developed with every possible tourist shop or activity. Pigeon Forge is the same animal with different stripes. It has several times more tourist attractions than GB, but the attractions are spread out over miles of endless commercial development. Many of the major shows and attractions (like Dollywood) were closed in January. 

Turkey Road Block

Brushy - at least he had the good sense to get out of the road

Bull Elk near Cherokee, NC

After two frustrating weeks, we headed to the east side of the Smokies and stayed at a timeshare in Maggie Valley, NC., wedged between the GSMNP and the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP). 

Indian Creek Falls, NC

Welcome to Waynesville, NC

Ice sickles near BRP

 On our return home trip, we stopped to have lunch with Floyd and Lauren, and the following day we had lunch with Ann Chab, a friend from our former neighborhood in Accokeek, MD.

Lunch with Floyd and Lauren

We enjoyed Susan and Windsor’s Super Bowl Party with our friends. Bob and Wendy came up from Lynchburg, VA and had dinner with us and Ron and Sarah. We went to a dinner theater to see A Chorus Line; we were not impressed. We celebrated Jen’s and Patrick’s Birthdays in York.  We attended a celebration of Wayne Wiles’ life; it was more like a friendly roast and we learned much about him through his lifelong friends. 

Dinner with Wendy & Bob and Sarah & Ron 

Elizabeth provided a great real Greek meal when we visited her in Hagerstown. We caught up with Kevin and Liz when we had lunch at Tony Locos. Ron gave us a historical tour of the AA county near Beverly Beach as we hiked the shoreline. We celebrated his BD with Sarah at Stan and Joe’s Riverside Restaurant. We set up a luncheon for my canoeing buddies from the last 50 years. Eldon gave a presentation on his canoe expedition to unexplored areas of Guyana, South America.  

Lunch with Liz and Kevin

Pat at Cherry Blossom Festival near the Jefferson Memorial

Pat and I went to DC on the first day of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The trees were already at peak bloom. 

Everything in bloom in DC

Linden's first swing; Look Mom, no hands

Violet - She a swinger too

After luncheons with Pat Scully and Stan, we celebrated Sharon’s return home with a party in her honor. Sharon has completed her missionary work in Albania. We spent Easter at Rick & Linda’s with the family and babies. On April 2 we are off to France, Germany, Austria and Slovenia for a 32-day trip.

Sept 2023-Jan 2024 MT-MD, MA and NL

Hyalite Canyon, MT

Bring a friend to this CCC built Comfort Station

After our return from Washington State, we headed down to the Bozeman, MT and spent some time hiking in Hyalite Canyon, and touring Lewis and Clark Caverns. 

Forest fire about 5 miles from our MT house. It was contained.

 

A herd of deer in our MT neighbor's yard

Checking out a natural bridge at Makoshika SP in MT 

On Oct 7, we started our RV trip back to MD. We hiked around the hoodoos in Makoshika SP and hiked through the Petrified Forest in Theodor Roosevelt NP. In MN we spent a couple of nights at Diane’s.  We played games while it poured outside. We camped at several state parks on the way back to York, PA.

Giant Puff Balls in MN

They over stayed the two week limit

Black River Falls area, WI

top row: Rick, Patrick, Randy and Violet, Alma and Linden
bottom row: Jocelyn, Chris, Linda, and Jenn

The family was gathering at Linda and Rick’s to see the latest additions to the family. In June, Jenn and Patrick had Violet and in Sept, Chris and Jocelyn had Linden. Phil, Randy and Alba flew in to join the party.

Violet

Pat holding Linden

Marbled Orb Weaver aka Pumpkin Spider

A couple weeks later we headed north to a timeshare in Great Barrington, MA. On our way we stopped to have lunch with Barbara and then we visited with Jenn, Patrick and Violet in Spring City, PA. We also had a week at a timeshare in Hancock, MA - from there we hiked and toured the Hancock Shaker Village.  This is a living history museum with blacksmithing and furniture making demonstrations. We toured Hildene, Abe Lincoln’s eldest son’s family home. Robert Todd Lincoln was a lawyer, President of the Pullman Company, Secretary of War and Ambassador to Great Britain. In Albany, we spent a few hours at the New York State Museum and visited the Immaculate Conception Cathedral next door. In Lenox, MA we toured Ventfort Hall Mansion, one of 75 Berkshire Cottages built by the bankers and industry leaders during the Gilded Age. We drove back south on Thanksgiving Day to avoid the heavy holiday traffic. We actually celebrated Thanksgiving a week later at Linda and Rick’s home.

Seed Pod or Mouse Recliner

Harbor boats lite up for Christmas in Newfoundland

After a Christmas party at Carol and Cordale’s home, we flew to St John’s Newfoundland.  We spent most of the time at my Aunt Catherine’s home, but we also had a couple days in Conception Harbor, at Jason and Elysia’s (Catherine’s daughter) holiday home. We had a white Christmas and a family Christmas brunch at Jason and Elysia’s. We watched 11-year-old Priya play in an ice hockey tournament and her team won a Silver Medal. We caught up with my cousin George and his wife Pam before we had to head back to MD. 

Christmas Brunch at Jason and Elysia's home

Pat and Don with Reindeer Catherine

Elysia, Priya, Aymon, and Jason enjoying the lights at the Memorial Gardens in St. Johns

On our flight from Toronto to BWI, we had 5 screaming kids in the row behind us. It was a very long one-hour flight. We relaxed the next day at a New Year’s party at Carol and Cordale’s home. Pat went with her Aunt Ann to see Tom’s newest addition to his decorated yard - a workshop for Santa. We celebrated Christmas with my family in MD on Jan 7 at Barbara’s house. Sharon had just flown back from her home in Albania.

Trish, Scott, Sharon, Don, Barbara, and Pat

Unfortunately, we lost two family friends recently; our friend Cornelia, whom we visited with over the summer, and Helen at 97 yrs. old. She was a longtime companion of my late father.

Trip Update June-Sept 2023 MD, MT, ID, OR and WA

Bitterroot-Mt State Flower

We arrived in Helena in late May, after driving up from Yellowstone NP. Two weeks later, we drove to Anaconda, MT and spent the day with Art, Susan and Windsor. Art led us on a hike overlooking the town. We also took a city tour in a vintage 1936 Yellowstone Park Tour Bus. The highlights included a visit to the 585’ Anaconda Stack, which was used with the copper smelters when “copper was king”. The stack is so big, the Washington Monument could fit entirely inside it. We also got an insider’s tour of the Washoe Theater, one of the most beautiful in the US.

1936 Yellowstone Tour Bus

Butte's colorful strip mine

The next day I had to fly back to Maryland for a minor medical procedure. Instead of flying right back, I spent a few days at the ocean, something I had been missing while we RVed full time. I also had lunch with Barb and Sharon before Sharon had to fly back to Albania. While I was in MD, Pat started hiking with the Helena Outdoor Club (HOC). When I returned, I joined her on some of the club’s hikes.

White Mariposa Lily

In mid-July we started a RV trip to ID, OR and WA. First stop was Montana’s Old Prison Museum in Deer Lake, MT. In addition, we checked out the classic cars in the Montana Auto Museum and the Frontier Montana Museum. Before entering Idaho, we hiked the trails at Big Hole National Battlefield. The Nez Perce had been chased across Idaho by the US Army with orders to put the Nez Perce in a reservation. Chief Joseph and others hoped to get the tribe to Canada. In the early morning hours, 150 years ago, the army launched a surprise attack, while most of the native Americas were still sleeping. Many Nez Perce were initially killed, but the Nez Perce launched a counter attack and pinned the solders down, until most of the tribe could safely leave the area. Chief Joseph was one of approximately 90 Nez Perce that died that day.

Montana Auto Museum

Instead of taking the interstate, we took a scenic drive through the mountains of Idaho. It was a beautiful drive with lots of wildlife. We saw big horn sheep, turkeys, sandhill cranes and a large herd of elk. It was also very hot, great if you were there to raft the rivers, like most of the tourists there. We did get to Eagle Island SP and enjoyed some lake swimming after a short and hot hike.

Stanley Lake, ID

When we got to Ontario, OR, I found out that my inside dual tire was flat. Luckily there was a Commercial Tire store around the corner. It turned out to be a loose valve stem extension connection. They fixed it-no charge! When we got to Redmond, OR we checked into Eagle Crest timeshare, which was a very nice resort. We hike at Smith Rock SP which is a very popular and beautiful park. Unfortunately, there was considerable smoke in the area, so we tried to limit our outside actives to a few hours per day. Bend, Oregon (just down the road from us) had the dubious distinction of having the worst air quality in the Western Hemisphere, during our visit. BC, WA and OR all contributed to the air pollution from forest fires. 

Falls on the McKenzie River, OR

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's a Columbian Monkhood Flower

Smith Rock SP, OR

After a week in Redmond, we moved up to Whispering Pines timeshare in the Mt Hood area. The air quality improved and the hiking among the large trees was impressive. The only downside was the number of hikers on the popular trails, so we tried to pick less well-known ones. I was excited to go into Portland one day. We did hike in Washington Park which was large and beautiful, but the traffic getting there and back, hardly made it worth it. We had to stop at the North American Bigfoot Center in Boring, OR. We watched a couple videos of Bigfoot sightings, but nothing substitutes for a live sighting.

Mt Hood, OR

American Asters

Timberline Lodge, Mt Hood

Before heading home, we took a side trip to Renton, WA to see our friend Cornelia. We enjoyed a lunch out at a local golf course with a couple of her friend. We parked the RV next to her house and one day she said she smelled gas near the RV. We found a leak at the bottom of our gas tank. This was the same gas tank that had been ripped open when we had that big accident 18 months ago. The tank had been repaired, and now the repair failed. After numerous attempts to stop the leak, Cornelia found a YouTube video that demonstrated that soap rubbed into the crack would stop the leak! Pat succeeded in getting the soap into the crack and stopping the leak. We still had a 9-hour drive to get back to Helena and many miles through hot eastern Washington. We did not know how well the soap would hold up with heat from the road and the RV, so an epoxy was applied over the soap. This held up for a few days, but we noticed it leaking by the time we got to Missoula. When we got back to Helena, the soap was applied again and held. A new gas tank was installed a few weeks later. Our trip back from Washington included a stop at the Historic Savenac Tree Nursey to see our friend, Robert, whom we volunteered with at Savenac back in 2013.

That's a big tree

Montana Sunset