Road Trip - Day Five

We had a more leisurely morning than we've had in the past couple of days. We needed tickets to the last event of our trip, but the earliest time we could get was 1 PM. However, there were a few things that we could at the event before it was our time to board the bus so we went early.

Where did we go? To the Land of Oz - that's where. It's located at the top of Beech Mountain. This is a big deal around here. The attraction was originally opened back in the '70s. At the time (and only for a brief time), it was the most popular tourist attraction in North Carolina. Eventually, it closed but it does get reopened from time to time. I believe it's now open on select weekends in the summer and this year, there were two autumn weekends that the attraction was open.

We were extremely lucky to be in the area and the date just fit in with the rest of our plans. This was planned by Ronda who is a Wizard of Oz groupie.

It was cold and very windy when we exited the car so the big question was to keep the shorts or put on pants. I kept the shorts for which I was glad as it was hot once we were in the shelter of the mountain.

While we waited, they had a VIP lounge which we had access to. But we also wandered around - there were several vendors who had merchandise for sale and there was a small museum of items from the movie.

At last, it was our turn to get on the bus which would take us up to the top of the mountain. There's a ski resort ion the mountain which is obviously used by skiers in winter and mountain bikers in the summer.

The Land of Oz was very cool. We started off in Kansas with Dorothy's house and the farm. She was carrying Toto and her basket. What was so cool was that there were a LOT of Dorothy's. Mostly little girls dressed up as Dorothy, but a few much older ones as well and a few Glenda's and one wicked witch. So cute. At the first part of the tour, there was a teeny little girl who kept sidling up to the real Dorothy as she was singing "Somewhere over the rainbow."  Too cute.

Then we went into Dorothy's house. Through the tornado and out into the Land of Oz. The transition was very nicely done. Along the BRILLIANT yellow brick road, we saw munchkins, the poppies, and got to meet with all the characters for a photo op. It was very transparent, but there were multiples of each of the main characters.

What fun until we arrived at the gates of Emerald City. The door was closed and we were waiting. Waiting for our turn? Oh - there's a bell. Well - if you watched the movie, you know what happens. We had arrived at the Emerald City. They had a neat little play to finish up the show. I failed at the clicking of my heels - Hey - it's been years since I watched the movie, but we got in anyway!

All in all, it was brilliantly done and what a treasure for all the Oz fans.

At last, we were ready for the long drive home.

We hadn't been in the van for long when we noticed a sign that said: "Welcome to Tennessee". Wait a minute - we didn't think we'd be hitting Tennessee. We needed to get a geocache which we quickly located. What did we do before we had cell phones with apps with maps and other information? Shelly is big into NASCAR racing and there was a major speedway right along the road so we popped in. She got some souvenirs and we were able to get into the speedway and went right down to the track. With permission of course.

Let's just say that the Bristol Speedway is HUGE. Totally huge and steep. We went all the way down to the bottom and then we had to make our way back up the stairs. But what fun - that's the closest I've ever been to a speedway.

Back in the van and we got geocaches in Virginia which some of us were missing. Somewhere along the way, one of the geocaches that we found was to sign a logbook at a tiny church. The places and highways are all blending into each other.

We switched drivers after dinner and I drove until about 10:30 which is very late for me. We had a bit of rain - actually quite heavy at one point. But the roads are good, traffic is light and we were fine. We're now in Virginia and hope to be home later this afternoon.

I finished my ball of dishcloth yarn. When I started out at the beginning of the trip, I found two dishcloths that I had already made. I believe I knit 9 more of them. I had a small amount of yarn leftover so I found the center of it. I then knit to that mark increasing as I went and then decreased. So I got one slighter smaller dishcloth and no yarn leftover. Yeah!!!!!

Oh - remember that Ronda and I were working on a project the day before we left? We were making these cute embroidered pouches. Ronda has a HUGE stash of Wizard of Oz fabric and so we made one for each of us. They were completely made on the embroidery machine including the insertion of the zipper.

Making the last pouch (the yellow one)

There were a few lines of stitching that we did on a regular sewing machine to close up the cover.

Marking the final stitching lines on the last one

Here's the tally at the end of the day.  One had been made before but needed a bit of work to finish it off. We worked well as a team - I manned the embroidery machine and Ronda did all the finishing work.

The zippered side of the pouches

The end view

The tally for the day!

The insides were all the same.

The inside of the zippered pouches

The plan was not to make as many as we did, however, I goofed on the choice of fabrics for one and then had to remake one.

We also made one for Katherine with a Canadian theme which we supplemented with some Canadian maple syrup and Smarties.

It's time to get ready and meet the others for breakfast so we can get on the road and get home. We had a blast on the road trip, but I'm ready to get home!! Besides, I have a ton of work to do when I get there. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!

Road Trip - Day Four

It was nice to not have to get up early and zip off somewhere. Our sleeping arrangements (one king bed) worked out just fine although we did get moved to a room with two beds for the second night.

One thing we tried or it just happened was to eat in some of the local (non-chain) restaurants. We had a great breakfast at the local cafe just down the street.

Then we were off on a mountain adventure. We went to Grandfather Mountain State Park. Grandfather Mountain used to be owned privately, but when the owner and family died off, the property was sold to the state where it became a State Park in 2009 run by the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation. It's the highest peak on the eastern escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains at 5,946 feet  (or 1,812 M).

 Because it's so confusing, here's a quick geography lesson. The east coast mountain range is called the Appalachian Mountains. Within that mountain range are various chains, one of them being the Blue Ridge Mountains which is where we are now. And of course, within the mountain range are specific mountains.

It's a twisty road to get to the top. We opted to not drive all the way to the top, but take a .4 mile hike to the top from one of the parking lots. Oh, boy - this was NOT a genteel path - this was a relatively rugged path which mostly consisted of rocks that you stepped from one to the other. At some points, it was fairly steep while there were gentle slopes. It was a great little hike.

We arrived at the top to be awarded a spectacular view. There's a suspension bridge which we all danced across. OK - we didn't dance. It's the highest suspension bridge above sea level - 5,280 feet or one mile. Although that is the elevation of the bridge (relative to sea level),  the actual distance to the bottom of the gully was about 80 feet. Some people were sitting on the ridge on the other side of the bridge so we went over to chat with them. The suspension bridge isn't really a suspension bridge any longer. It's fairly well tied down with steel cables and larger sections of steel for the floor of the bridge. They have had winds of 124 MPH on the bridge. The original one was almost destroyed by high winds.

The people we saw were employees of the Stewardship Foundation and their job was to watch for migrating hawks. Now that's a cool job. We could see two golf courses below us carved out of the forest and quite a few houses as well. A few of the places were HUGE. And then there was the albatross of this area - a HUGE and I mean HUGE condo complex perched on a hill across from the mountain.

The previous day as we took pictures of the mountain, I spotted something "square" along the top of the mountains. What the heck is that? A power plant? No - that would have been this condo project. It was built in the 70s and wasn't supposed to be so large but that was in the days when people turned a blind eye to this kind of thing. It's awful.

There was a small museum so I popped up to see that which consisted of pictures of the history of the Mountain. A small gift shop was also at the top where we picked up a couple of small things. Some of the boulders along the way were HUGE - I mean HUGE and the whole rock formation thing is amazing.

The top of the mountain was also the trailhead for some additional hiking, but we weren't equipped for that kind of hiking. I'd love to come back - actually, I'd love to do some hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Just for the fun of it.

We didn't stop at the animal sanctuary or the restaurant on the Mountain but decided to head back to Blowing Rock. It was about 1:30 at this time and the group was getting cranky because of not eating. We decided to eat at a small brewhouse. Hmm - there was a wait because the kitchen couldn't handle the people fast enough. They had a large area to wait in the lobby so I got us glasses of water and some beer. Seriously - no waitress would offer us water. There were nice cushions on the benches so I decided to stretch out. Guess what - we had a table very quickly.

There was table space when I went into the bar to get the beer and water, so why they didn't seat us then was beyond me. The food was decent but the special of the day was grilled cheese and while it came with tomatoes and bacon, there seemed to be very little cheese on it. Oh well - it was food and that's all that counts.

We were off to visit the Mountain Thread Company which was our original destination when the trip planning began. This was the one thing that we were NOT allowed to drop off the agenda. I met the owner at Quiltcon in Nashville. Katherine was my swap partner in the "make a mini, make a friend" swap. She made me the bicycle quilt and I made her a quilt of the Blue Ridge Mountains. After looking at the real things - I love the quilt I made for her. I also love the one she made for me!

Mountain Thread Company is a small quilt shop in a building filled with artisans. I know there are tons of these small towns throughout Canada and the US, but this one seriously reminds me of Salt Spring Island. Anyway - we had a blast visiting with Katherine and her specialty is coiled rope baskets. Her shop was filled with pre-made baskets in all sizes and shapes and colors.

We got an awesome demo and I love her industrial zigzag sewing machine which made basket making a breeze. Now we all want a machine like that. However, a regular sewing machine works just fine.

You can watch her videos on Youtube.

After that, we walked back to the motel and several of the group stayed to chill out for the remainder of the afternoon. Shelly and I went back to check out some of the other small stores. I wanted some more backyard art. I had seen some things earlier in the day but they turned out to be wood and wood just doesn't last. I wanted metal. I ended up purchasing a small sunflower for $10.

There's a store here - not even sure what they sold, but they started a prayer tree some time ago. There are 13,000 + prayers on the tree. The store had a fire, but none of the prayers were destroyed. I left a prayer for my friend Teresa. It's her funeral today and I won't be there to say goodbye. It's amazing to see this place - you can check out this link.

The couple we had met the previous night had recommended a restaurant in Boone which is a larger town close by. So the ladies wanted to check it out. OK - I'm not a complainer (most times), but this restaurant was weird. The service was good, but the soup that two of our group ordered was cold when it arrived. One sent it back to be reheated and seriously it took almost 15 minutes before it came back. The menu was a tad confusing and the salad bar turned out to be a one-time thing. Even though it stated on the salad bar that if you returned you needed a clean plate according to North Carolina state law. Oh and let's not forget the dirty plate that arrived on our table in place of a clean one.

It was just a weird place and this couple looked to have somewhat high standards so we were quite taken aback. Next time - do our own thing - do NOT take recommendations from strangers!!!

Back to Blowing Rock where we stopped at the ice cream place. This is the same ice cream chain that we stopped at in Chicago. This time we had ice cream instead of just window shopping and I bought some fudge to take home. I walked back to the motel while the others drove in the car.

It was a 14,000 step day yesterday. We've been trying to figure out why Ronda gets so many more steps than we do. While she was close to 10,000 (or whatever number it was) at lunchtime, the rest of us were at a significantly less number. We figured out that her stride is relatively short compared to us so for the same distance, she takes a lot more steps. We checked her stride length in her profile and it was even longer than ours. Hmm - that's sketchy - so we nixed the stride length. She will always have more steps than us because of her shorter steps, but hopefully, the mileage will be more in sync with us.

Thankfully our rooms were now close to each other as we were back and forth for the remainder of the evening as we sorted out who owed whom money and made a valiant attempt to pack the van of stuff that we were not going to need for the remainder of the trip.

And it's hilarious to see each other's rooms. Shelly and I are neatniks. We got things sorted out and packed and into the van. We don't turn on the TV. Shelly's only "fault" is that she likes the temperature cool. I'm OK with that. However the TV was on in the other room and OK - so we did watch some of the tennis matches last night. They had a lot more stuff to pack. We are paired up just fine!!!!

I also got my second item at the Walmart that I couldn't get the day before. I have one more thing on my list and hopefully, since we have some time to kill this morning, I can try another store to see if they have it.

On that note, we're going to be starting back home later today. We do have one more thing on the agenda today.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!