Posts Tagged ‘Travels’

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Scenic Sunday #115: We Had to Settle for a Rainbow

September 26, 2010

Rainbow at Cumberland Falls State Park, Kentucky. September 25, 2010.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

Betsy and I spent a couple of days in Kentucky enjoying the beautiful scenery and doing some hiking.  We first went to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, where Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia come together in the mountains.  We visited a historic community, enjoyed the view from the Pinnacle, and hiked along the Wilderness Road.

The reason we went to Kentucky when we did was we wanted to see the moonbow at Cumberland Falls State Park.  Cumberland Falls is one of two places in the world with a predictable moonbow.  A moonbow is a rainbow produced by the light of a full moon hitting mist rising from the base of the falls.  In order to get a moonbow, the moon has to be full and the sky clear.

As luck would have it, we were at Cumberland Falls on Friday night — a night with cloudy skies and a few sprinkles.  There was no moonbow that night, but we will probably go back in the future to try again.

Even though we did miss out on the moonbow, we did see this pretty rainbow when we visited the falls the next morning.  That was impressive enough to make up for the lack of a moonbow.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 17 Comments »

Down Memory Lane: Georgia Waterfalls

September 23, 2010

Betsy and I rarely travel anywhere without working in a few visits to waterfalls.  In August of last year we went to Florida to see Betsy’s brother and to celebrate Betsy’s birthday.  Along the way we stopped near Turners Corner, Georgia, to visit four waterfalls that we found in one of our waterfall books.

The first waterfall we saw came as a surprise.  We found Trahlyta Falls when we rounded a curve and saw it through an opening in the trees along road.  We got a pretty good look at the falls from the side of the road, even though it is actually in a state park.  We decided to settle for this view rather than enter the park and hike.

There were two waterfalls along Waters Creek.  The first (Lower Falls) was on private property and we couldn’t see it very well.  Getting to the main waterfall involved a drive along a Forest Service road.  Those roads are always a challenge, but our faithful Prius handled it without any problems.

The last two waterfalls involved a very pleasant hike through a woods.  There wasn’t much water going over either Middle or Lower Desoto Falls, but they were both worth the visit.

To see these pictures and others of the waterfalls we visited, click HERE.

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Posted in Waterfalls | 9 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #106: Hurricane Falls

September 22, 2010

Hurricane Falls, Tallullah Gorge State Park, Georgia. June 23, 2009.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

Hurricane Falls is one of the major waterfalls in Tallulah Gorge State Park in Georgia.  It is the waterfall that a visitor can get closest to, but getting close involves a hike down 600+ steps from the rim trail.  And after enjoying the waterfall there are the same 600+ steps back up to the rim.  But the steps were worth it in my opinion.

This picture was taken during a June, 2009, visit to Tallulah Gorge.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 18 Comments »

Our Smokies Adventure

September 13, 2010

The track of our trip to the Smokies. September 9, 2010.

I’ve mentioned our GPS unit several times and have talked about how much we like it.  This past Thursday we got a lesson in how much we rely on it.

Our GPS got recalled by Garmin, and we sent it in to be repaired a couple of weeks ago.  So when we went to the Smokies on Thursday we didn’t have it.  We were going to drive Rich Mountain Road, a road we had never taken before.  But we knew it was a primitive, one-way road out of Cades Cove, a place we’ve visited several times.  The sign at the entrance to the road said it went to Townsend, a place we’ve been to many times, so off we went.  I did have my geotagger with us, but that only showed (after the fact) where we had been, not where we were going.

We had no problems in the park.  After leaving the park the road became paved and two-way.  When we came to a four-way stop, we knew we were back to civilization.

That’s when the fun began.  We came to a ‘T’ intersection with no signs.  We figured we were west of Townsend, so we turned right.  A little later we came to a ‘Y’.  The right branch looked like the main road, so we took it.  We drove along enjoying the scenery — and eventually we arrived back at the four-way stop.

Trying to find our way home. September 9, 2010.

We tried again.  This time we took the left branch at the ‘Y’.  That led to more beautiful scenery — and a dead-end!  We turned around and followed the road in the other direction.  Eventually it led to the highway that got us on our way back home.

After all of this ‘fun’, we were delighted to get home and find a package on our doorstep.  Inside the package was our GPS!  We wasted no time getting it put back into our car.

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Posted in Travels | 19 Comments »

Down Memory Lane: Ledford Mill

September 9, 2010

Betsy and I did some waterfalling on Valentine’s Day back in 2009.  We didn’t stray out of our part of Tennessee, but we still saw several new waterfalls.  Two of those waterfalls were at Ledford Mill, in Wartrace (near Tullahoma), Tennessee.

Ledford Mill is a historic  gristmill at the head of Shipman’s Creek.  It was built in 1884 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Several years ago it was converted into a 3-room bread and breakfast.

One of the rooms, the Falls Room, opens to a garden that contains two waterfalls, Ledford Mill Falls and Pond Falls.  While neither waterfall is especially large, the garden is very pleasant.  Although we didn’t spend the night at the mill, the owners graciously allowed us to visit the garden and the waterfalls.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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Posted in Travels | 9 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #104: Genesee River

September 8, 2010

Genesee River, Letchworth State Park, New York. August 31, 2002.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

I went to my archives to get this picture from Letchworth State Park in New York.  It shows two waterfalls on the Genesee River below the railroad trestle in the background.  Middle Falls is in the foreground, while Upper Falls is partially hidden further upstream.  There is a third waterfall, Lower Falls, which is further downstream behind me as I took this picture.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 18 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: Clouds Over the Lake

September 3, 2010

Lake Ontario at 30 Mile Point, New York. October, 2008.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

Sometimes rainy days give the most interesting sky pictures.  I went to my archives to get this picture of Lake Ontario in New York.  It was taken in October, 2008, at 30 Mile Point Lighthouse.  The skies were threatening most of the day, but we didn’t get any rain.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 17 Comments »

My World: The John Oliver Cabin

August 31, 2010

Cades Cove with the John Oliver cabin in the background. August 27, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Betsy and I went to Cades Cove in the Smokies on Friday.  We hadn’t driven the Loop Road since it was re-paved and we wanted to see what improvements had been made.  Of course we stopped several times to take pictures.

One of the places we stopped was the cabin of John and Lurena Oliver, who were the first permanent settlers in the cove.  They arrived in Cades Cove in 1818.  Their cabin was most likely built in 1822.

The picture above shows the cabin and its setting in the cove.  The cabin is quite a way from the current Loop Road, but the setting is beautiful.

The John Oliver cabin, Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

The cabin was built in a style that was fairly typical along the eastern frontier at this time.  Perhaps the most interesting feature is that no pegs or nails were used to build this cabin.  Gravity locks the logs together and the chinks are filled with mud to seal out wind and rain.  The small windows and doors help conserve heat and maintain the cabin’s strength.

Gravestone of John and Lurena Oliver, Primitive Baptist Church, Cades Cove, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

John and Lurena Oliver are buried in the graveyard of the Primitive Baptist Church which they helped establish and which is fairly near their cabin.

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Posted in History | 18 Comments »

Technology and Cades Cove

August 30, 2010

The track of our visit to Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

One disadvantage to taking lots of pictures on a trip is that it is not always easy to remember where a particular picture or series of pictures was taken.

My blogger friend Neal brought an AMOD geotagger to my attention and I got one a few months ago.  While I have used it to tag the location of some of our pictures, I really haven’t experimented with it to get a good idea of what can be done with the data.

Betsy and I drove to Cades Cove in the Smokies after running an errand in Knoxville Friday morning.  The park service has repaved the Cades Cove Loop Road and we wanted to see how the project turned out.

As we got near Cades Cove I turned on the geotagger.  The yellow line in the screen shot above is a track of where we drove or hiked.  The screen shot is taken from Google Earth and I can put in waypoints and descriptions as you can see.  On Google Earth I can also zoom in or out to give different views of the area.  I could post the track on Google Earth so others could manipulate the view as well, but I’m inclined not to do that.  I have enough trouble posting my current web pages and blogs without adding more.

Map of places in Cades Cove where we took pictures. August 27, 2010.

This second screen shot is from another application that uses the tracking data.  The red dots on the Google map of Cades Cove represent a picture that we took.  When I’m in this application (JetPhoto Studio) I can click on a dot and the associated picture opens up.  This information could also be posted, but again I think I’ll just keep this to myself except for an occasional screen shot.

Hopefully, now that I’ve experimented with some of my new technology I’ll have some pictures to post in the near future.  And if I don’t get pictures posted soon I know Betsy will!

Stay tuned.

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Posted in Technology | 15 Comments »

Down Memory Lane: The Smokies in the Spring

August 26, 2010

My Beautiful Bride is a mountain girl at heart and is one reason she moved to Tennessee from Texas back in 2000.  (I’m glad she did!).  In May, 2001, we visited the Great Smoky Mountains for the first time.  Betsy had been there many times before, but I had only driven through it once.

We spent a weekend exploring Cades Cove, Little River Road and Newfound Gap.  We also added a waterfall — Meigs Falls — to the collection we had just started.  We were even able to experience some good mountain music at the lodge at which we stayed.

We’ve been back to the Smokies many times since then — it’s much more convenient to get there now that we live in the Glade.  But this first trip in May, 2001, was — and still is — very special.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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Posted in Travels | 15 Comments »

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