Winterthur

On the last day of our trip, we visited Winterthur, the home of a division of the du Pont family in the Brandywine Valley of northern Delaware. The last du Pont owner of the estate had a college background in horticulture and turned the former farm into decorative gardens in the naturalistic style; no formal gardens here.

The day that we picked for our visit was fortuitous. It was 'peak' for the azaleas and rhododendron blossoms had burst into bloom in that afternoon's bright sunshine.

Sarah enjoys the blossoms in various locations @ Winterthur.
Clicking on a photo should enlarge it.

As a contrast, while Winterthur has a large garden staff (as many as 89) to maintain the grounds under the direction of a Master Horticulturist, Sarah says, "Allen, dig this plant up" and "Allen, put that plant in the hole that you just dug." I mow the lawn, too.

The Winterthur garden staff get good salaries. Sarah's gardener gets 'perks.'

Sarah enjoys the blossoms in her front garden @ home.

The three story home that you see in the photo above is misleading. It is built on a hillside. There are four stories below these on the other side of the hill.

The 176 room home displays the du Pont's collection of American decorative arts, very much like my house: old furniture.

You can't see the entire house from the inside at one time. There are separate tours for different parts of the house. You have to pay for each separately.


Also on the grounds are several galleries. One is a permanent collection displaying soup tureens.

Both of these are centuries old.




The another gallery has changing exhibits. The current one shows quilts (yawn).


Regards,

Allen & Sarah

The Apalachians

Sarah enjoys the flowers along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Roanoke, VA

May 5, 2007

We picked up the Blue Ridge Parkway outside of Gatlinburg and headed further northeast. We stopped off at Asheville, NC. for the Herb Festival @ the WNC Farmers' Market, then drove into town for the Pack Place museums.

Pack Place houses several small museums: the Asheville Art Museum, The Health Adventure, and the Colburn Gem & Mineral Museum. The Health Adventure is for kids; the art museum is for adults; and the Colburn has something for everyone, just not too much.

In the Colburn, one can push the plunger in a 'dynamite charge' and enter the 'mine' One hears the miners exclaiming about their finds. “There's a lot of beryl (pronounced “bur' el”) over there,” etc. They do have the largest piece of beryl that I've ever seen. (Emeralds, morganite, and aquamarine are some of the gems that are classified as beryls (aluminum sulfite)

In the art museum, several small floors display art. Nothing from anyone really famous. If they are famous, it's only in Asheville.

Of special interest in Pack Place was an exhibit that was originally seen in several locations in downtown Asheville: The Family Store. The exhibit chronicled the history of Jewish-owned businesses (more than 400) in downtown Asheville from 1890 to 1990.

We've been to Asheville before, so we passed up the Thomas Wolfe Memorial (It's a house.) and the Biltmore Estate (It's a really big house and really expensive to visit.).

We returned to the Blue Ridge after an afternoon in Asheville to see more scenery. Unfortunately for us, rain and fog prevented us from seeing too much. Both Friday afternoon and all day Saturday we were driving into and out of (either above or below) clouds. Many of the over looks looked over what looked like whipped cream. Picturesque perhaps, but not the bucolic countryside that we came to see. Also, most of the spring flowers weren't quite ready at the altitude that we were driving.

As for the bucolic countryside, we had seen much of that while visiting with the family east of Atlanta: An area where food walks around uncooked.

With the visibility less than the van's stopping distance even at a reduced speed, we decided to leave the BRP before some wild creature jumped in front of us and damaged our grille. [We did see some deer and turkey as well as some harmless varmints that couldn't cause us much damage [squirrels and opossum (known locally as 'possum.')]. Some of the opossum were “playing 'possum” alongside the road. At least that's what it looked like they were doing. I guess the best way to tell for sure if they are “playing 'possum” or really dead is to pick them up by their tail; not something that I was going to do. Sarah isn't too keen on the idea, either.

Madison, VA

May 8, 2007

We overnighted outside of Roanoke, Virginia Saturday night and went into town in the morning. There is a Farmers' Market in the historic downtown area adjacent to the building which houses several museums. We visited the Science Museum of Western Virginia, which has expanded since the last time we were here, and the Art Museum of Western Virginia. Both are small and had few attendees, but had interesting displays. A multi-room exhibit shows how insects are used to help solve crimes (a la CSI). Insects can help indicate time of death even years later. The art museum has a few works on display from several well-known artists. (I suspect that there are a lot more works in their inventory as they are currently building their own building a few blocks away.

Roanoke's Science Museum of Western Virginia has a science-themed miniature golf.

The zoo is small, too. If you don't have much time and only want to see a few animals, this is the place for you: two dozen animals, half an hour, and you're out. They do, however, have the only wolverine that I ever saw unstuffed. We watched it being fed. A keeper moved the wolverine from the cage into its house, then entered the cage and hid pieces of meat under rocks and logs. Searching for food helps keep the wolverine's mind alert; hiding food helps keep the keepers' minds alert.

We returned to the BRP, the weather was clear and sunny, over nighted in a BRP campground, and continued northeast.

Views from the Blue Ridge Parkway

We are on our way toward the Brandywine Valley of southeastern PA; a day's drive from home. What we find between here and there or there and home may alter our ETA.

Regards,

Allen & Sarah

Georgia State of Mind

You know that you're in Georgia when you see the 'peachoid' in Gafney.

April, 2007

We hustled to get down here for a wedding and plan to take our time returning to New York.

While waiting to pick up Dan at the Atlanta airport (Carrie & Genevieve flew down last week.), we spent some time at the Atlanta Botanic Garden and saw the opening of their new exhibit: Big Bugs. There was also an exhibit of carnivorous plants and flowering orchids. We also hung out with our nephew Adam.

ABG's orchid house

We could have danced all night.

We came to Georgia to attend Rocco (Carrie's cousin) & Shannon's wedding about 80 miles east of Atlanta. We had a really good time at the wedding. I didn't know too many people there, but it didn't matter: I danced, I drank, I schmoozed. I talked to lots of people. I don't know how many may have been insulted by my humor. The groom's family may not be able to show their faces around town for a while.

At the beginning of the ceremony, the minister asked the couple if there was any reason why they couldn't be married. I thought to my own wedding day. It was a good thing that I wasn't asked that question. It would have put me in an awkward position. You know what it's like: You had a few drinks on a hot 4^th of July and the next thing that you knew it was Labor Day. Can you get a postponement to ask your friends if they remember what happened that year? Maybe they have photographs. (Maybe they'll sell you the negatives to burn.)

If it happened now, I'd still be in trouble. It's getting to the point where I won't know what I had for breakfast unless I look at my shirt.

Genevieve and the most important men in her life.

ON THE LAKE: Genevieve's at the helm. Stay out of the water!

The day following the wedding, we relaxed for a few hours on Lake Oconee at the lake house of a family member, then drove Dan, Carrie, & Genevieve to the Atlanta airport and headed south to Macon.

The cost of gasoline is making an impact on our travel plans. At about 25 cents per mile to drive the van, it is sometimes less expensive to stay at a motel in town than to go back and forth to a campground.

In Macon, we visited Ocmulgee National Monument.

At this site, which had been occupied for 10,000 years, paleo-Indians built earthen mounds for reasons yet unknown. One of the mounds, built earth-filled basket by earth-filled basket, is 55 feet high and 300 x 270 feet; that's a lot of dirt to carry in wicker baskets. It must have been a government project.

Macon is known for its antebellum homes.

Macon is one of the few cities in Georgia that were not burned by Gen. Sherman. Also, only one cannon shot was fired at Macon by Union forces. (The cannonball still sits where it landed in the front hall of a stately home now known as The Cannonball House. Because of these two non-attacks, Macon has more antebellum homes (among its 5500 individual structures that are on the National Register of Historic Places) than other city in Georgia. We walked around and took pictures. We also bought a Hebrew National hot dog from a street vendor; the only Macon eating establishment with New York City ambiance.

St. Joseph's Church

There are many churches (and three synagogues) in Macon. Irish immigrants built St. Joseph's R.C. Church, an imposing edifice, at the end of the 19^th century. Temple Beth Israel has a gas-fired ner tamid, one of only three surviving in the U.S., and a stained glass eye in the ceiling probably representing the all-seeing eye of God. (There's one on the back of a dollar bill.)

Rose Hill Cemetery

Rose Hill Cemetery along the Ocmulgee River has been in use for nearly two centuries. It is know for its terraces. Two members of Georgia's Allman Brothers Band are buried here. I think that they were dead at the time. It's hard to know what some people will do after they've had a few too many. If they weren't then, they are now.

We headed north bypassing Atlanta and passing through Alpine Helen. Several decades ago, the small northeast Georgia town of Helen tried to increase tourism by renaming itself Alpine Helen and taking on the look of a Bavarian village. [Hansel's Motel, Gretel's Restaurant, O'Reilly's Bier Haus, etc.] The scheme worked; people come. Even chain restaurants and motels are done in the Bavarian motif.

'Bavarian' and standard Huddle House.

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Babbling Brook

(Click here to hear it 'babbling.')

Continuing north, we drove through and stayed in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Within a day's drive for half of the U.S. population, the GSM is the most visited national park in America; but not right now. The campground was at less than 10% capacity. This means that the flies had fewer people to bite, so had to concentrate on the few that were there. Although we sprayed ourselves with the most powerful insect repellent that we could get (29% DEET);the starving flies held their noses and dove right in.

Fortunately, the flies were not on the trails. We did several miles; half up hill @ 6,000 ft elevation. As we hadn't brought our bikes, we did the trails on foot. The ten mile Roaring Fork Nature Trail we did in the van. We saw two bear; one while walking and one while driving. We were about 25 feet from the one that we saw while walking, but it was young; Sarah could have taken it. (Two out of three, at least.)

In GSMNP are buildings built and used by the early inhabitants of Appalachia. We visited several of them in several locations.

Allen meditates on the porch of an old Appalachian cabin.

Listen to what he is meditating about by clicking here.

We stayed overnight in Gatlinburg, “The Gateway to the Smokies,” or, from our direction, “The Exit of the Smokies.” We've been to Gatlinburg [along with nearby Pigeon Forge] several times over the last 30 years and it is bigger every time that we visit. There are more hotels, restaurants, theaters, and shops. The shopping has changed, too. Once primarily a place for non-campers to stay while visiting GSMNP or for a break from camping, Gatlinburg became a destination in itself. T-shirt shops have changed: The Big Johnson line seems to be gone, Christian and Redneck are in front.

Country singer Dolly Parton's “Dollywood” is a big attraction as are the religious-themed and country music shows. www.Dollywood.com www.MiracleTheater.com www.ChristusGardens.com www.FiddlersFeastDinnerShow.com www.CountryTonitePF.com www.DixieStampede.com www.AmericanJukeBox.com www.ComedyBarn.com www.BlackBearJamboree.com

The t-shirt shops have a “no refund” policy. It's like a tattoo. 'It seemed like a good idea at the time.' At least with the tee, you can toss it in the back of a drawer; you don't have to wear a large Band-Aid when you go out with short sleeves or while swimming.

The weather has been good for us: plenty of sunshine and warm dry air. The farmers would like to see some rain; it's been one of the driest years on record. In the GSMNP, some waterfalls are not falling, some brooks are not babbling, some cascades are froth-free.

We're taking the opportunity to walk more and eat better. Rum & Diet Coke: 0 trans fats, 0 cholesterol, 0 carbs. Who knew that it was health food?

Regards,

Allen & Sarah