Twelve Feet, Six Continents, One Year

One picture captures these last few days in the Appalachian Mountains of western Virginia and North Carolina: From an itinerary point of view, here's the recap: Monday: Wake up in Luray, VA. Avoid the northern terminus because there is a 12'9" overpass and we are 12'6" (but told to round up to 13'0"). Enter parkway at MP 90 (after harrowing ascent from Buchanan, VA) and drive four miles north to Peaks of Otter campground. Tuesday: Breakfast and schooling in Peaks of Otter lodge; hike to the top of Sharp Top Mountain. Campfire. Sleep. There's an entire entry dedicated to this day here . Wednesday: Drive south on the parkway for about 25 miles then exit to Roanoke; eat lunch, use laundromat and do school in a dubious parking lot; take interstate into North Carolina and get a little wayward (not lost!) en route to absolultely gorgeous Stone Mountain State Park. Thursday: Return to Parkway via numerous hairpin turns and drive north, back into V...

In case you were curious, Skyline Drive is the primary feature of Shenendoah National Park (with parkland on either side) but Blue Ridge Parkway is synonymous with Blue Ridge Parkway National Park; all the green space on either side is National Forest, State Park/Forest or private land. See, now you know. Although our pre-RV troubles plan was quite different, our new plan put us at Peaks of Otter Campground at milepost 86 of the BRP for two nights. We arrived mid-afternoon on Monday and didn’t have to move the RV again until Wednesday morning. So what does that mean for Tuesday? A big pile of POO, that’s what. There’s a privately operated lodge at POO and just enough cell service in the campground to lure us with the promise of waffles. We loaded up our homeschooling supplies and walked about a mile to the lodge. No waffles. There's the POO Lodge across Abbott Lake  From POO Lodge, the view of Peak #1: Sharp Top Mountain (if you enlarge and zoom, Henry is visible fishing...

Early in our relationship, Elise taught me a phrase that I still think is peculiar to the Pacific Northwest: "The mountains are out." She would say this to me after flying from our home in Boston to see friends or family in Seattle and the approach to SeaTac had yielded spectacular views of Ranier and others. For me - at the time, a lifetime east coaster - this phrase didn't make any sense. The mountains are just there and they always seem to be beckoning to me to pull my car to the side of the road and just walking up them, something you can't do on Jefferson, Hood, Adams or St. Helens. Well, you could (we have relatives who do, regularly) but 10,000' feet is quite different than 3,000! But now we are in Shenendoah National Park in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains. Have you ever seen a geological map of the United States? This part of the country looks insane. Like pouring several dollops of oil paint in a line on a canvas and then smearing them sort o...