Traveling Through Life

Wonderful view from the balcony this morning. We got up early to see the sunrise and it was worth it!  Did not see any dolphins.  Enjoyed the free breakfast before a walk on the beach, then off to see the Wright Brothers Memorial.

The Ranger talk was informative and fun.  Today's jet liners use the same principals as the Wright Brothers' plane, which had its first flight in 1903. Did you know?

(Not the actual plane.)

Beach time in Rodanthe! Got a little sunburned.  Oops.  Sunscreen tomorrow for sure! 

We walked to a pizza place for dinner.  The pizza was taking a long time (oven issues) and the guy felt bad so he gave me a free beer.  On the walk back, we got whistled at!  So that was awesome.

There's that moon over the ocean again. Good night, moon.

Some days are like that

We got a late start today because I was enjoying my visit with Karen and Cassie needs to sleep in sometimes.  A late start turned into a long day of driving.  Not my favorite (though cruise control is my new best friend).  

I do not like driving in the dark. Especially in unfamiliar places.  So we are driving in the near dark, destination Nags Head, and we see a little bear crossing the road, and then a turtle.  Kinda awesome.

We arrive at our destination in the dark, and our balcony room overlooking the ocean with a nearly full moon makes those long hours of driving all worthwhile.

Tomorrow is a beach day.

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah

Welcome to North Carolina!  Sixteen states, just over 6,000 miles so far.  

For breakfast, we found a place in Asheville called Biscuithead.  There were so many choices on the menu we were overwhelmed and ordered biscuits with sausage gravy.  This breakfast may just be the best of the road trip (votes are still being counted).  By the time we got our food, the line was out the door. 

After breakfast we stopped by Asheville Zipline Canopy Adventures to schedule a tour.  They had openings at 2:00, which gave us time to visit St. Lawrence Basilica, the Folk Art Museum, and the Arboretum.  

I didn't bring my phone on the Zipline tour, so I have no photos, but it was AWESOME.   

By 3:30 we were on the road to Boone to visit Karen and Tommy.  After a wonderful home-cooked meal we got to tour Boone, Appalachian State University, and Blowing Rock.  

Me and Cassie with Daniel Boone.  The town is named after him. 

The views from the Blue Ridge Parkway are beautiful.

Alma Mater

I thought we would skip visiting Maryville because Maelea isn't home, but Cassie said she would like to see where I went to college.  Much of the campus looks the same.  A lot has changed.  

We walked around the campus and then headed for the mall.  We ate at Chick-fil-a where we were treated like celebrities. Our cashier was in awe that we are from Alaska, and when I told her I'd graduated from Maryville, she shook my hand. 

Cade's Cove is just as beautiful as I remember.  We saw bears.  Really small bears.  Cassie thought they were babies, but the bears here are just smaller than we are used to.

The downpour didn't bother us (the rain was warm!), but the sign warning of snake activity near the buildings was enough to get us back in the car.  

I said "let's drive to Gatlinburg." I remember that as a fun little town to walk around with cute shops.  Gatlinburg has grown.  It was crowded and commercial and we did not want to pay the $8 to park just to walk through the packed streets. Yikes! 

We overnighted in Newport and will explore Asheville, NC on Saturday -- State number 16!  Looking forward to visiting Karen and Tommy in the evening.

A Coke and a Smile

Red velvet cupcake for breakfast?  Yes, please.  Tara took us to a bakery for breakfast.  There was also bacon.  

Then ... World of Coca-Cola!  Most of this place was really fun!  We could have skipped the 4D movie.  Lots to see and do here.  Learn the history of coke. They will not reveal the secret formula, but they do like to talk about it.  Then taste 100 different beverages from every continent in the Coca-Cola family.  Many were delicious.  Beverly from Italy is nasty.  Look it up on Instagram #itastedbeverly to see how bad it is.

Coke sponsors the Olympic Games.  Here's Cassie carrying the torch. And isn't her outfit super cute today?

Yeah, that red-eyed polar bear is not creepy at all.

Design your own Coke bottle!

Ready for the 4D movie. 

After tasting all those sodas we really needed to walk around.  Olympic Park is right across the street!  

Lunch was Mexican food at the Boneyard Cantina.  The decor was fun.  The food was good.  Then it started pouring rain. 

Tara took us to see the Cathedral of Christ the King.  Beautiful!

The stained glass windows were amazing.  

And then we stopped to see the fish sculpture at the Atlanta Seafood Market.  It's SO BIG!  I was not expecting it to be this big. Huge.  

And then we drove by the CDC!  It's still there!  

See?  And not a zombie in sight.

By this time the traffic was ridiculous and it took forever to get to the Farmers Market.  We bought bread and cheese and fruit for tomorrow's brunch, though we may never eat again because after the market we had corn dogs and tater tots at Palookaville.  So much food.  Really we just need more time in Atlanta because there is so much to eat.

Art

We said goodbye to Dawn and Kevin, then headed for Atlanta. 

Welcome to Georgia!

Passed the Kia factory.  It is unclear whether there are factory tours or not.  Nothing said "factory tours!" so we just waved as we drove by.

Our main reason for visiting the High Museum of Art was to see the Mo Willems exhibit.  If you have not yet read the Knuffle Bunny books or the Pigeon books, please put them at the top of your reading list.

This is the roof of the elevator.  Our excitement is building!

But there is so much more to see!  Like this ceramic fish dish from the 1750s.  What!!?!?  

Polished my wings.  

Maybe somebody can explain this one to me? 

Really big art.

I thought this was a giant salad bowl.  But look closer!

At last, Mo Willems!

Hello! The pigeon is everywhere.

Giant fruit!

These things spin.  You can sit in them.  Fun.  And pretty. 

The whole Coke bottle exhibit did it's subliminal advertising job and we had to have a refreshing beverage after visiting there.

And then... Dinner with Tara, Pat, and Amy!  So fun to catch up!  Margaritas and BBQ.  Mmmmm.

Our after dinner walk to the Yogurt Tap made this girl happy.  

Another fun day!  Exploring more of Atlanta tomorrow with Tara.  

An Electrifying Day

While our hosts spent the day in Atlanta, Cassie and I wandered around Auburn and Opelika.  First stop --breakfast at the Barbecue House.  Then we got much-needed pedicures and went to a movie.

There was rumbling in the theater that I assumed was coming from another movie? But it turns out it was yet another thunder storm.  They seem to be following us.   The  power went out briefly while we were watching Tomorrowland.  There was only one other person in the theater with us.  We just waited and eventually the movie came back on.  

We left the theater in a light rain with some thunder and lightning.  Found the handmade Popsicle place, stopped at one more shop, then back to Kevin and Dawn's for a delicious dinner.

I had missed Letterman's final show because we were making that scary drive into Houston at the time, but Dawn had recorded it so we watched it together!  Awesome!

Memorial Day

It was nice to wander around Montgomery, Alabama this morning.  Most places were closed for the holiday, which made it very peaceful, but also a little disappointing, since we didn't get to go in the Alabama Cattleman's MOOseum.  That's right.  A museum about cows.  They even have cowboy dress-up in there.  But it was closed.  We took a picture with their van.

The Civil Rights Memorial is NEVER closed.  You can't tell in the photo, but water is pouring down the face of this wall and over the round piece next to it.

This section of the memorial lists the names and dates of people who lost their lives.  It was very moving.  

To the side of the Capital building are flags of all the states, and at the base of each flag is a large stone from that state, etched with the state name.  Very cool.

The first White House of the Confederacy is across the street (not in its original location). Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived here.  There's a Jeff Davis street in Sitka and I didn't really know who he was until yesterday.  

There is a fun map of Alabama showing where all the really great stuff is, and you can walk on it!  The sign said it was okay to walk on it.  

Pretty cool, right?

We thought we were done wandering since everything was closed, so Cassie wanted to drive by Chris's Famous Hot Dogs to take a picture and then we saw this fountain and I wanted to stop and see it.  Right across the street from this fountain is Rosa Parks' bus stop.  Wow!

Martin Luther King's church is a few blocks away, and up the road is a river walk.  We didn't go there, since most things were closed.  We went to wander some shops instead, then drove to Auburn to visit with Dawn and her family. 

Dawn showed us around the town and the campus (go, Tigers). It's very pretty here!  We were liking it a lot and then Dawn showed us pictures of the snake skins she found in her back yard. Heebie Jeebies much?