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