ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

Thursday, October 6 – We drove the MH about three hours East to Asheville, NC, this morning. We are staying at Cove Creek RV Park which is about 25 miles east of Asheville. Pretty bare-bones campground, but they accept Passport America everyday all year round! We are certainly out in the country! Should be good and dark out here when the sun goes down. Beautiful countryside. The leaves are just beginning to turn colors. Will be astonishing here in about 10 days!

Looking up at our site

We took a ride to Asheville this afternoon to stop at the visitor's center and pick-up some brochures. We have too many things planned for the six days we will be here.....have to set our priorities!  While in Asheville we took a self-guided tour of downtown. They call it the Urban Trail/Public Art Walking Tour.

Most streets are narrow and crowded with stores, cafes and specialty shops.

Let me just say the hippie movement is alive and well in Asheville. There are hundreds of young people dressed accordingly (think 1966)  just hanging out downtown. The parks are full, the benches along the streets are occupied, they are playing musical instruments for handouts, many of the stores and street vendors target their eclectic choice of shopping, and there are an abundance of artsy shops, restaurants, and bars to hang out with their friends.

Can you see the tie dye clothing?

Indoor shopping.

Flat Iron Architecture is a replica of one used by a local laundry.

Appalachian Stage…five bronze figures of dancers and musicians celebrate the significance of Appalachian culture in the community. 

Cat Walk…this station is a favorite on the Urban Trail.

We did see some interesting historical sights. Our favorite was the Basilica of Saint Lawrence. What a beautiful church. It has some amazing architectural features. Especially, the dome in the main cathedral. It is constructed from individually laid bricks. How was that built and how does it stay up there? Amazing!

This is one of only 56 Basilicas in the United States. Basilica is a special designation given by the Holy Father to certain churches because of their antiquity, dignity, historical importance or significance as a place of worship.

The lunette over the main entrance represents Christ giving the keys of the kingdom to Peter and appointing him head of the Church.

The ceiling is a huge dome stretching out 82 feet by 58 feet and is considered the largest free standing elliptical dome in North America.

You can see the dome roof from this angle.

The walking tour was nice, but a bit confusing to follow. If you want to see the city though, this is the way to do it. It took us about an hour and half to see the sights.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

NORRIS DAM STATE PARK

Wednesday, October 5 - We vowed to take it easy this week at Raccoon Valley and not do any excessive sightseeing. We've succeeded fairly well with this goal. We've enjoyed relaxing around the campground, sharing time with fellow Escapees, meeting new friends, working on our hobbies, and “veggie out” in the wonderful fall weather.

One thing we have discovered is Knoxville is a pretty cool city, and there is quite a bit to see in this area. We look forward to returning when we are in a more “touristy” frame of mind. We've already added several sights to our “to see next time” list. Things like Cumberland Gap, Alex Haley Statue, WDVX Blue Plate Special live radio show on the square, Bush's Best Beans, University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge Nuclear Museum, and the Museum of Appalachia.

We went up to Norris Dam State Park today to enjoy the area and the fall colors. The trees are just beginning to change......getting beautiful. Norris Dam, what a wonder area. We're disappointed we didn't find this area earlier. This 4,038-acre park, located on the Norris Reservoir, began in 1933 as the first Tennessee Valley Authority project. They have tons of hiking and walking trails, a Grist Mill, picnic areas, and a campground. We would be a little tight getting into most of the campsites, but smaller units would have no problems. We saw deer grazing in the woods next to the campground.

Views of Clinch River.

Miles of trails.

18th Century Rice Grist Mill.
 

The Trigonia Elm was declared to be the largest American Elm I the U.S. on page 39 of The New Yorker magazine for July 15, 1961. It was way taller than either of us.

Can you see the little one reaching up for leaves while mother looks on?

Don't miss this great area! You can hike a different trail everyday for a week.

We spoke to a gentleman that was volunteering at the Dam Visitors Center. He worked on the crews that built most of the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) Powerhouses in the area. What a great guy and a wonderful source of knowledge.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is the nation's largest public power provider. The TVA completed Norris, its first dam, in 1936. By the end of World War II, the agency had build 16 more.The Norris Dam is 1860 ft. long and 265 ft. high. 

Clinch River that supplies the water.

Norris Lake on the other side of the Dam.

Here comes Paul over the Dam.

We did have a scary experience on the way home. Driving down one of the back mountain roads, we came upon a boy and dog running in the middle of the street. The boy, about eight years old, was completely naked and appeared to be chasing the dog in and out of traffic. It was really scary. We thought for sure they were going to be hit. Amazing, people weren't stopping! After stopping and trying to talk to the boy, we discovered he was autistic and couldn't really communicate with us. After several other motorists stopped, we were able to get him to put on a ladies sweatshirt and got him in the back seat of our car. We called the police and waited about fifteen minutes for them to arrive. They luckily knew the boy and have had similar problems in the past. Evidently his parents are not very caring, and it's a bad situation. Child Protection Agencies are involved so hopefully he will receive some help. What a sad situation. We were both very shaken up over this.

A quick comment about our last blog's title…BELLA IS IN HEAVEN IN THE WOODS! We knew perfectly well what we meant by the title BUT can now see we should have reworded it to BELLA IS IN HEAVEN WHEN IN THE WOODS. We are sorry we caused undue worry to several of our readers. We appreciate the concern for Bella. She is alive and doing super. Also, she enjoyed another day in heaven WHILE taking another walk in the woods today.

NEW…Thanks to Bob's comment and help from Rick of Rick and Paulette's RV Journal, you can now click on any graphic, and it will enlarge for better viewing. At least it is suppose to work that way!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

MISS BELLA IS IN HEAVEN IN THE WOODS

Tuesday, October 3 – We are trying to relax a bit while here at Raccoon Valley RV Park. They have three trails that wind through the woods just behind where we are parked. This is our third time here, and we think Bella likes this place the best of all the places we have stayed. As soon as we let her out of the MH, she heads for the woods. She enjoys walking on the path and off the path.

She always has to get a drink out of the icy stream.

And of course, leaving her scent is mandatory. She wants to make sure all the other critters in the woods know she is here.

After talking with several people at the Ice Cream Social last night, we decided to take a drive to Melton Lake. It is only five miles west of the campground. It is a peaceful three mile one-way waterfront trail along Melton Hill Lake. It is great for biking, walking, running and skating. Paul rode his bike, and Marsha walked the trail. It was a beautiful day for activity.

The leaves…they are a changin'.

Views of the Lake.

It was nice to see this sign when we returned to our car.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!