Tag Archives: Stone Mountain

3/31/2017 “Barreling” On Toward the Kentucky Bourbon Trail (no pun intended…well, OK, so it WAS intended!)

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We chose to pop on over to Atlanta so we could visit Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Library. We stayed at the Stone Mountain Park again for a quick 2 day stay. Since our last stop there, they have done quite a few improvements such as adding yurts and park model trailers for rent, erected a large, very nice playground area for the kids, and across the lake a huge Marriott’s hotel sprung up. 

Our home at Stone Mountain Park Campground.
Lakeside yurts for rent, a new addition.
Up close on a yurt, with Stone Mountain in the background… 
Still a little “not hot enough” for pool time.
Part view of the kids’ playground.

The Carter Presidential Library (it is actually called a “Center”, not a library) was OK. I was disappointed not more attention was devoted to the Iran Hostage Crisis. Even the Bush libraries had extensive displays regarding their wars, whether you consider them justified or not. I think the hostage crisis overshadowed the Panama Canal Treaty and even the Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt. It should play a more prominent part in Carter’s Library. Just my two cents…

The entrance to the Carter Presidential “Center”. 
There was quite a display from Carter’s submarine days.
Same old crap. Time does not seem to change behaviors.
Carter’s replication of his oval office. Looks like he was sadly lacking “personal touches”, like family photos. Maybe he had some inkling of his future in politics… 
I just could not stop laughing…that is truly sad.
Jimmy and Roz were able to write their memoirs on this state of the art word processor. 

We had a little bit of spare time so we wanted to do the walk up Stone Mountain. The mountain does not look very daunting, but it is actually a good leg workout, continuous incline with numerous rocks/steps thrown in for good measure. But the view at the top was very nice.

That’s funny, it doesn’t LOOK too strenuous…
We found lots of graffiti all the way up, some dating back to the 1800’s.
We also found a “gum” pole on the path up. Similar concept to the world famous “gum wall” in San Luis Obispo, CA.
A herd of these ladies (OK, 4 or 5 of them) were also doing the hike up Stone Mountain.
A pause for a rest and a view… 
Now we know it was not that strenuous if Jeanne can do yoga routines at the top!

So with another Presidential Library notch in our belts, onward and upward. Weather looked to be getting a bit more mellow, so we decided to start our northward trek. Chattanooga, Tennessee was our next chosen stop. We found a Camping World campground on the south side of town which was actually an OK stop; full hookups, level site, $17 per night, and close to town. We used this opportunity to do a Costco run and load up.

A short trip into downtown found us at the Walnut Street Bridge which is a foot bridge across the Tennessee River. We walked around the area a bit and found a sidewalk that was anything but straight. Not much had changed in the area since we were here last. We have been in the area before and already checked out Rock City and Point Park on Lookout Mountain (Civil War site). This time we were going to visit Ruby Falls, an underground waterfall, but seeing it was a short excursion, we opted instead for a 9.6 mile hike on the Mullen’s Cove Loop Trail in the Prentice Cooper State Forest. That was one killer hike! My hams and quads are still singing…

Walking around downtown at the Walnut Street Bridge which crosses the Tennessee River, we found this sidewalk section. It should give Lombard St. in San Francisco a run for its money… 
The Walnut Street Bridge. 
Baseball art near the bridge.
At the beginning of the 9.6 mile hike. Think skinny and breathe deep!
An unoccupied view of the same stairway.
There I was. Braving the wild. Had to cross the raging river with only a rotten log to tread on. Risking life and limb. But rest easy, my friends, I ultimately survived! 
Gee, another rest. Looking down on the Tennessee River from Snooper’s Rock.
Little Miss “9.6 miles is not long enough” just needed a little more physical work, so “yoga on the rocks” it is.

From Tennessee it was up into Kentucky for our next adventure, at the Mammoth Cave National Park. We stayed 4 days at the park campground, right next to the visitor’s center. The park offers several different cave tours and we started out with the Historic Entrance self tour. This was a short walk/tour and pretty uneventful as far as caves go, especially if you’ve ever been anywhere like the Oregon Caves or Carlsbad Caverns. We also took the short hike down the River Styx Spring Trail to see the spring.

Our home at Mammoth Cave Nat’l Park campground. 
The Historic Entrance to Mammoth Cave.
Imagine if you turned all lights out inside the cave. This is what it looks like! (Sorry, no flash allowed…)
River Styx Spring.

While at the campground, we found the Mammoth Cave Railroad Bike & Hike Trail. The bikes got a little work in (NO! My hams and quads got all the work! Ouch!) on the 16 mile ride which included a couple of healthy (read: steep) inclines.

Some of the 16 mile trail was gravel/dirt… 
Some of the 16 mile trail was plank wood…
And at least one of us just had to stop and rest. Numerous times.
Can’t escape without taking a selfie on the bike path.
Got to see some critters on the trek. Say hello to Mr. Turtle.
I didn’t think the snakes were out this early in the season. But this is some type of water snake because he shot right into the water and swam away at warp factor 8.
Mr. Frog said, “Don’t bother me son, I’m busy!”
They also had several graveyard/cemeteries scattered along the trail. Family plots going back into the 1800’s. 

After all that physical exertion, I was ready for some sedentary living and beginning the Kentucky Bourbon Trail was just the ticket. From our base at Mammoth Cave, we were able to start both trails. There is the Kentucky Bourbon Trail that consists of 10 distilleries (the ones I call “corporate”, large conglomerates like Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark), and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour that consists of 13 small distilleries (the mom-and-pop family outfits). All 23 are scattered pretty much around the Bowling Green-Louisville-Lexington triangle. Our start got us visiting 5 of the 23 from our home at Mammoth Cave.

The store front for Corsair Distillery. One of the craft distillers.
One of the big boys.
Woodford has a Double Barrel bourbon that when finished in it’s original barrel, it goes directly into a brand new barrel for a double dose of aging. 
The visitor’s center for Four Roses.
Then there’s good ol’ Jim Beam…
So far, my personal favorite is from MB Roland, another of the craft distillers. They actually have 2 products I like. Their Dark Fired Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey has a heavy smoke flavor to it. They achieve that by using smoked corn in their mash process. Their other product is a moonshine they call St. Elmo’s Fire. It is a cinnamon style whiskey with cayenne pepper. Now that will light y’ur cigar for ye!

We concluded our stay with one more cave tour, the Domes and Dripstones Tour. The name of the tour is more spectacular than the sights along this tour. There are a few cave features at the end of the 2 hour tour, but, if you have seen anything like Carlsbad Caverns, you will be disappointed here.

One of the rare times there was enough light to allow a photo, here of a ceiling of the cave.
This is a mini-waterfall near the Frozen Niagara formation, at the end of the Domes and Dripstones tour.
Oh, and once again, if you turn out all the lights inside the cave, this is what you see!

Time to move along, we relocated to Bardstown with a 4 day stay at the White Acre Campground. We started here with a little walkabout town, steeped in Civil War lore and architecture.

The Bardstown Baptist Church, constituted in 1815.
A shot down one of the main drags. The building at the end is now used as the visitor’s center and there is a traffic roundy-round (AKA: traffic circle) that circles that building. 
Now used as the visitor’s center.
Lots of history here.
This was an early post office printers and cabinet shop, circa 1814. It is called the McLean House. Just a sample of the many historic buildings…

From this stop we were able to snag another round of Kentucky Bourbon Trail stops. Trying to hit up all 23 distilleries is certainly giving us some exposure to back roads and some beautiful scenery. Some of the horse farms we passed were spectacular, especially when your looking at a huge mansion, then realize it is just the horse barn! We should live as well as some of these horses…

It’s terrible that they actually make these poor horsies live in shacks like these…
Makers Mark. 
Gotta get my pitcher[sic] with their sign…
Limestone Branch Distillery
Wilderness Trail Distillery.
Kentucky Peerless Distillery. Some of the craft distillers, like this one, are new to bourbon and don’t have any properly aged product yet, so my tasting was limited to their moonshine products.
Willett Distillery. 
Heaven Hill is one of the big boys. They also own/produce Evan Williams. 
Angel’s Envy Distillery, across the street from the Louisville Slugger Field.

After 4 days and a couple of very large thunder/lightening spectacles, we motored a bit north to the Louisville area. We found the Add-More Campground actually in Clarksville, Indiana for a short 2 day stop to finish up this area’s Bourbon Trail participants. Besides the distilleries here, Jeanne found an area of downtown called 4th Street Live! which we took a stroll through. It was daytime as we did, but it looked more to be a happening place for the nightlife. The area is similar to Fremont St. in Vegas, sans the freakazoids, with stage area for bands and all the food and liquor you could imagine.

Kentucky Artisan Distillery another of the craft folks.
Some of the grounds to Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience.
Inside the visitor’s center at Evan Williams Bourbon Experience.
Fourth Street Live! Only, more of a nighttime thing…
Where there is a Hard Rock Cafe, there is good times being had by all!
Had to take this shot. Guy Fieri was a fellow Sonoma County/Santa Rosa (CA) boy who made it kinda big. Found his restaurant here in Louisville. 
When the Colonel offers chicken, you just cannot refuse! 
Home of the Louisville Slugger. 
It’s almost opening day! 
Jeanne and Woody stepping up to the bat…

There was also a foot bridge called the “Big Four Bridge” that crossed the Ohio River and gave good views of downtown. That bridge was a railroad bridge built in the 1880’s-1890’s and in 1929 they built a new bridge inside the old frame. 42 workers died while building the bridge, so now it is considered a monument to those who died.

As we begin our journey across the Big Four Bridge. 
A look along the Ohio River from the bridge.
New bridge on old bridge…
Looking across the highway to downtown. 
Ahhhh, the green grass of Kentucky.
The bridge from below.
There was a nice tribute to Abe on the Kentucky side of the bridge. 
Jeanne getting cozy with ol’ Abe. 

Well, it’s moving time again. Headed east now, gotta finish the Bourbon Trails with the Lexington area stops. Lookout, Lexington, here we come!

9/23/2014 Jenn and Max find us

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So Hardeeville RV Park was our next stay, still burning time until Jenn & Max arrive. This place is severely over-priced for what it offers, $50 normal night fee (even the $25 Passport America price is high, no frills just a parking spot with hookups). We traversed into the Hilton Head area, a very nice hoity-toity vacation/tourist spot. And we took several trips into Savannah, GA from here, checked out the River Walk and historical district again. Temps were still high and lots of humidity, the puppies were having a hard time, not to mention the Misses who REALLY hates humidity. 9 days of this and time to get set up for the grandchild.

The beach at Hilton Head
Pretty nice walkway to the beach at Hilton Head
The historical squares in Savannah have lots of statuary.
There’s something around 24 historical squares in Savannah, all from Civil War history.

We found Lake Aire Campground just outside of Charleston, SC. Small campground with lots of long term local residents. Real quality folks, the epitome of which was a 6-8 year old young man who screamed out, “You Bitch!” at his much younger sister as he chased her through the park. Wow…We stayed here just long enough to pick up Jenn & Max at the airport, make a quick spin through downtown Charleston, then leave at first light.

Pirate Land RV Resort was our choice for a 5 day stay with Max. It is right on the ocean, Pirate themed, and just south of downtown Myrtle Beach. This is a pricey place to stay, but was worth it for Max. They have a really cool splash pool, normal swimming pool, and a “Lazy River” for tube floating. Max & Jenn had a blast here. We went walking the Boardwalk in Myrtle Beach, walked the downtown area and Max took in some of the rides at the amusement park there, and we took in a local dinner/show called Pirate’s Voyage, put on by Dolly Parton’s conglomerate corporation. Max immediately turned into a pirate for the rest of their stay.

Sunset at the beach at Pirateland RV Park.
Max and Oma funnin’ at the splash pool at Pirateland.
More of the splash pool… 
The beach at Myrtle Beach from the pier.
Max trying to figure out how he is going to get on THAT ferris wheel. 
Max, Oma and Opa at Moe Moon’s, the boardwalk at Myrtle Beach.
Max doing his thing at one of the Myrtle Beach arcades
C’mon, Max, we gotta git you a cool pair of board shorts! 
Sunset at Myrtle Beach. Mr. Moon came out early…
One night at Dolly Parton’s Pirate’s Voyage and Max is a full fledged pirate.

Next stop on the tour was Stone Mountain, GA. I could not figure out what Stone Mountain Park was all about, it is not an amusement park, but it is a busy tourist spot. There is a plantation there to tour, the old quarry area of the mountain where they cut lots of granite blocks, a laser light show area where they do some type of laser show on the mountain, and some memorial areas related to the Civil War.

Skipping rocks at Stone Mountain campground.
Life is GOOD!
The carving in the side of Stone Mountain. 

The campground here at Stone Mountain was OK, if not a bit pricey. There is a lake for fishing, a store and a pool, and the bath/showers are very nice. We still had some high temps, and the usual short term thunder/lightening storms, but the mosquito population was noticeably absent.   

Killing time while doing laundry.
Max and Opa at Stone Mountain campground. Who picked your wardrobe?

Atlanta, GA has a very nice aquarium that we took Max to. He had a good time checking out the sharks and enjoyed the dolphin show they put on.

Max trying to scoot out of the shot. Sorry kid, you’re not fast enough!
Look at all these cool fishes!

From Atlanta it was on to Nashville, TN. With Max in tow, there is no other choice but to stay at the Jellystone Park just down the street from the Opry. The park was kinda a drag this time around, being the “off season”; the pool was only open on weekends, the “hey rides” were over, and the visiting Yogi Bear characters were done for the season. But we made the best of it, Max still got his kicks taking the dogs for their multiple walks around the park. We took Jenn & Max into downtown Nashville and walked around the Broadway area. It was a Saturday and it was PACKED! Lots of drunks and tattoos on parade. We also ventured into the Murfreesboro area to show Jenn the area for her possible relocation. We even made it to Rock Island to visit the good folks still at the state park there. They did some good work on the park campground since we were there as campground hosts a year ago. Paved sites, upgraded electrical, added dump station, and revamped bathrooms just a few of the improvements. Good folks there, we miss them.

Max going to town at the playground at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone park in Nashville.
Max cruising Gaylord’s Opryland Hotel and Convention center.
Jenn’s having fun at Gaylords Opryland.

Saying good-bye to Max and Jenn is always a downer. Max had a blast this visit, we played pirates and LOTS of baseball, not to mention all the quality beach time and pool time. He is going to follow in his Uncle Bubba’s (Chad’s) footsteps and become a quality baseball player, that being my crystal ball prediction. But for now, back to California it was for Max and his mom. And after a quick, yearly physical exam from my primary physician good ol’ Dr. Cobb in Murfreesboro, it was sayonara to Tennessee for now.

The sun sets on Jenn and Max’s visit in Nashville, TN. 
We’ll see you again soon, little warrior!

Thanks to our inept Fearless Leader (B. Obama), Jeanne got her health insurance cancelled, effective after December. And unfortunately, South Dakota has severely limited choices for individual health care (that would be reasonable and affordable). Jeanne did some checking and found much better options available out of the state of Texas. So we decided we are going to change our domicile location from Sioux Falls SD (Alternative Resources, soon changing to Dakotapost) to Livingston TX (Escapees, we are already members). That being decided, it was off toward the great state of Texas.

Being in this part of the world, we would be remiss if we did not stop in and say howdy to our family members living in Branson, MO. We drove to the big city of Mayfield, KY for an overnight stay at the Walmart, then westbound through southern Missouri. I would like to take this opportunity to warn anybody driving in this area of Hw. 60 and Hw. 62 going W/B, you will encounter 2 bridges as you cross into Illinois (all of several hundred yards worth) and then into Missouri, crossing the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. These are heavily used trucking routes and the lanes on these 2-lane roads are about 18” wide (a bit exaggerated, really probably at the bare minimum allowed by law). It was an EXTREME white knuckle drive over them, passing an unending string of truckers, and surprising myself that we did not tear off some side mirrors in the urban “joust” we were in. I will NEVER return to that route again, I would drive 3 states north just to avoid it if I had to…

We stopped for a couple of days at the Ozarks Mountain Springs RV Park in Mountain View, MO, a Passport America park. This was a short rest stop seeing it was out in the middle of nowhere with nothing really to see. Then it was on into Branson, where we stayed at the SKP/Rainbow park on Turkey Creek. We had a great visit with Denise & Don, Savohna & Robert, Cedric, Cooper the rock and roll drummer, Brody, and Khloe. Thanks to all for the good eats and quality family time. Sorry, Denise, I think the boys raided all of your printer paper for our paper airplane extravaganza…

Another Walmart stop in Conway, Arkansas, then we hit Hot Springs Nat’l Park in Hot Springs, AR. We stayed at the park campground for 4 days. There were some very cool thunder/lightning displays while we were here, but in between it was still a bit warm and steamy. We busied ourselves with several of the park walking trails which gave some nice mountain top views of the area and toured one of the bathhouses in the historic district. There are several that are still open to the public for baths, massages, hot packs, etc. The area seems to have been a big stopover for visiting  baseball teams and gangsters during the 20’s/30’s.

Jeanne at one of the natural springs.
More of the springs around town.
And the water…it’s REAL hot!
View from the mountaintop trails at Hot Springs, AR.
Jeanne doing her Indiana Jones thing on the hike.
Woody, our guide dog for the hiking trails.
The music room inside the Fordyce bathhouse.
A tub used for non-ambulatory clients at Fordyce.
The exercise room at the Fordyce.
Downtown in front of the Ohio Club.
This guy and his cronies used to hang here as well.

We decided to drive all the way to Livingston from Hot Springs. Not a bad drive, only about 7 hours or so. We set up at the SKP headquarters campground. Then it was just a matter of lining up our ducks for the domicile switcheroo. Signed up for the mail service, got the bus and Jeep “safety inspected” (a Texas requirement for registering vehicles), registered and paid the fees for both at the county tax office, then got our Texas drivers licenses at the Dept. of Public Safety office. Well, sort of. Jeanne took care of hers, as a standard drivers license. Texas is one of the states that requires RV drivers driving motorhomes over 26,000 lbs. to have a non-commercial Class B drivers license endorsement. So I began that process. I got the Texas commercial drivers license (CDL) handbook and they told me I needed to study section 14 for the 20 question written test for the endorsement. Well, I looked over section 14. It was all about tech stuff for commercial drivers, truckers, farm equipment, and a whole lot more that, in my infinite wisdom, I could not see having to be tested on such stuff for driving a stupid motorhome. So, when we went in to do the licenses, I just took the computerized written test willy-nilly. HOLY SHEEP DIP! I don’t know how I did it, but I squeaked by by the skin of my teeth! I guess I shoulda listened to them when they said to study section 14, all questions were straight from section 14 and all were very technical trucker questions that will have little bearing on my being able to drive a bus. Oh well, pass is a pass. Now it is on to the road test, I guess I will try to memorize the youtube video demonstrating the Texas school bus air brake test.

Well, now you are caught up to our present time. Another week here, hopefully a pass on the drive test, then onward and downward toward the Gulf coast…

Sing with me – “And, the wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round, ‘round and ‘round, ‘round and ‘round…”