Catching Up From Abingdon, Virginia

It's been a few days so I will do my best to update what we have been up to. We arrived in Florence, AL and on our first morning there we set out for a loop tour of Florence on the provided bus. The tour got off to an inauspicious start as we discovered that the entire area of the loop had no power, so we decided to stay on the bus, make the loop, and hope the power would come back on. On our second go round we got off the bus and went to the art museum that was the first stop. Here the inauspiciousness continued as there was still no power and no art on display because the museum was between exhibits, so we made our way on foot to stop 2, Popes Tavern. It was at Popes Tavern that the lights came back on. The docent told us Popes Tavern was probably never a tavern, so the truth was stretched a tad to make it a more interesting sounding tourist stop. It did serve as a hospital for both Confederate and Union troops in the Civil War and had Civil War artifacts on display. Feeling encouraged by the power being back on, we made our way on foot to the downtown area that was stop three. The downtown area with its shops and restaurants was pretty much buttoned up thanks to recovering from the power failure. We did find a stores that sells outdoor equipment open so we went in, but the prices of merchandise seemed to be quite big city rather than small city in Alabama so I did not buy the store out, tempted though I was. We were thinking that this tour was a real bust, that is until we got to the W.C. Handy Museum. W.C. Handy is the Father of the Blues and was born in Florence. The museum is filled with photos and memorabilia from his career. The two room log cabin built by his grandfather is also on the grounds and certainly gives one the chance to be thankful for all that we have and take for granted. We were about to make our way out when we had the honor of meeting Charles Handy, the grandson of W.C. Handy. According to the docent, he comes to the museum two or three times per year, so we got very lucky. He gave us a tour as well as personal insights into the life and times of his grandfather. He was  very personable and gracious. He is a PhD in Physics and is department chair and teacher at a college in Houston. We felt very blessed to meet him. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. In the afternoon we took a short bus ride to Tuscumbia to visit Helen Keller's birth place which is now a museum. The house is beautiful and indicates that Helen's family was well off. Some of her clothes, books, writings, braille typing machines are on display as well as posters of The Miracle Worker. Her story is amazing and we give the museum four thumbs up.

The next day we disembarked and boarded busses for Huntsville, AL and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. The complex is huge and filled with displays of rockets and information about the history of the space program as well as interactive displays. I tried one that simulated landing on the moon and was as successful in that endeavor as I am at golf, so I think I will just eliminate that one from the bucket list. We found it really fascinating, but not fascinating enough to book a trip to the moon for future travel. Huntsville is also the location of Space Camp and there were quite a few camper groups as well as school field trips with us.  Highly recommended. After space camp we were back on the bus for our transport to Chattanooga, TN. In Chattanooga we checked in to our hotel and then went on a dinner cruise on the Tennessee River. The food was good, but the best part was going up top and enjoying the view and sunset as we lazily cruised along the river. We were even allowed to go into the pilot house to meet the captain and first mate who was manning the rudders and engines. It was early to rise next morning as we boarded busses for the airport where we went to Hertz to pick up our rental car. We had a bit of an adventure finding the gear shift that was hidden in plain sight. Once we found it, we took off for the road trip portion of our trip. Our first stop for the night one was Pigeon Forge, TN. 

With a name like Pigeon Forge, we were expecting a quaint town with historic buildings. Boy, were we ever wrong. There is nothing quaint about Pigeon Forge. The big attraction is Dollywood which is not inexpensive to enter. It is a theme park apparently with lots of rollercoasters. I like rollercoasters, Patti, not so much. We both thought there might be a section about Dolly Parton we could access, but it was not to be, so we opted not to enter Dollywood and instead made our way to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Entrance to the park is free because the road is a link between Tennessee and North Carolina and the park straddles both states. Like most of Tennessee that we saw, the park is densely wooded and very green. We stopped and got some photos and got a taste of the park. There are hiking trails throughout the park but we stayed in the car and decided to check out Gatlinburg, which was much more to our liking than Pigeon Forge. It is very touristy but has charm. We were looking for a place to eat and were given the name of a place that actually closed months ago, so we started looking for a place called Peddler that we could not find either, that is until we were back at the car and about to return to Pigeon Forge, so we walked to the restaurant where we had a very healthy dinner that consisted of dessert, raspberry cobbler with ice cream for Patti and a huge mud pie for me. Suffice to say I was up to the challenge of consuming the whole mud pie. I still need to do LOTS of walking to work that one off. Final note on Pigeon Forge: if you have young children or young grandkids, Pigeon Forge is for you. If not, you might want to take a pass on Pigeon Forge unless going to Dollywood is on your bucket list.

We left Pigeon Forge and went to Sevierville for a look around and breakfast and found a good restaurant as well as a quilting shop. There were some really beautiful quilts in the store and Patti, quilter that she is, bought a little pack that shows how to make a quilt she plans to make once we get home. We set out for Abingdon, VA with a planned stop in Johnson City, TN to see if we could find the Quilt Trail, roads that wind through farmland where the barns are decorated with paintings of quilts. Greta Google directed us to Quilt Trail Information Center which may have been hidden in plain sight because when Greta told us we had arrived neither of us could see it. I know we are old, but not that old. Since we were unsuccessful  Quilt Trail Trail Information Center finders, we continued to our next overnight stop, Abingdon, VA.

After settling in to our hotel, we set out to find the historic district of Abingdon, and we were not disappointed. By the time we got there most of the district was closed merchant wise, but we enjoyed riding around and enjoying the architecture and the feel of old gentility that still survives in Abingdon. We found a nice restaurant for dinner, the Peppermill,  and actually had a real dinner rather than just dessert, but did not pass on dessert. Abingdon gets four thumbs up from us.

Today we head up the road to Roanoke, VA, our last stop prior to driving to Lake Frederick, VA where we will stay with my sister Cathy and her husband, Gerry and end our trip the way we began, visiting and reconnecting with family.