Late Spring on the Blue Ridge Parkway

The second to last day on the road to Chapel Hill for graduation was our Blue Ridge Parkway day. On the recommendation of our friendly (and rather old-ish) innkeepers in Virginia we opted to skip a chunk of the parkway via the interstate and got on at Blowing Rock, North Carolina. If you haven’t been to the thrilling town of Blowing Rock, I’ll go ahead and spoil it for you- the average age of anyone walking down the street is probably about 60. After some very unsuccessful boring shop browsing and one pretty tasty break for lunch, we stopped in the tourist office to get exact directions onto the parkway from Main Street. There, the guy sitting at the front desk in the building that was otherwise entirely devoid of other people said what everyone else was already thinking- “You guys are like 50 years too young to be hanging out in this town!” After a little more ribbing, he gave us quick directions and a short hike recommendation, which brought us to the sprawling granite vista pictured above.

The Parkway itself was actually quite stunning. It takes a lot to impress a Coloradoan mountain-wise, and the Appalachians along this chunk of the drive definitely exceeded my expectations. Since we went in the off season- there was neither extensive fall foliage nor blooming rhododendrons while were there (unfortunately for us on that last one- they’re supposed to be beautiful!) we pretty much had the place to ourselves and next to no traffic until we were within just a few miles of Asheville. I haven’t said before that I’ve really enjoyed a drive, but the gentle curves and scenery along the parkway made the actual act of driving the road a pleasure. It would be great to get up there with a really nice car.

By the time dinnertime rolled around we had just arrived in Asheville- the little stretch of the parkway we did was just enough scenic driving for us and both Katelyn and I were glad we hadn’t done much more. We finished off the evening with wandering around Asheville, visiting the Screen Door (an antiques store) and Tupelo Honey Cafe for dinner. Overall, I’d say it was a successful day 🙂

Laura’s Guest Post: San Mateo and Yosemite

Laura, my younger sister, is a great photographer and fun travel buddy. She wrote a guest post about our trip that I thought I would share before I start in with all my photos. Happy Friday! And thank you Laura 🙂

I have always disliked staycations, and California was the perfect place to seize my week off of school. Throughout the winter, I was occupied most of the time by skiing, and Spring Break acted as an inaugural passage into warm weather adventures.

After a  few chilly, foggy days in in the city, we made our way in the direction of San Mateo. I haven’t experienced many beaches that I would gladly stay at for extended periods of time, and the pleasantly secluded beach we visited was a exception. I guess one could call it a postcard beach, as it had a flawless appearance. I typically would find the urge to sprint down the sand strip, because I always found some indescribable joy in pretending I was galloping horse in a gorgeous seascape, however, my maturity found the best of me and I hunted for sea glass instead. For the first time, I felt very relaxed near the water. I was always borderline terrified of the ocean when I was little, but the time spent in the sand on this trip changed my mind.

Yosemite was the absolute highlight of our California adventure. As grand of a statement as that may be, it is completely true. I have a huge soft spot for the National Parks, and even have a pile of Junior Ranger badges and patches. Although I left Yosemite without another one for the collection, I still fell in love with what the park had to offer. After paying a visit to the glorious Sequoias, we made our way back to the inn in which we were staying for cards and cocktail hour. I had nearly forgotten how heated a card game can get! Anyway, we debated seeing the sunset for a good half hour, since we thought that being tired and worn out possibly outweighed seeing the sun and the valley part ways. Luckily, we came to our senses and raced out to Tunnel View Point, blasting Whitney Houston jams along the way. Even the light through the trees during the drive was magical, and the brief glimpses I caught facing West into the sun were breathtaking. Little did I know what was in store for us. The tunnel we finally drove through opened up into a stunning view, as the name of the point implies. No photograph could do justice, but we still made our way through a barrier of DSLRs and iPhones held up to see Half Dome and Bridal Veil falls. We watched the alpine glow in awe, and I did my best to equal out what I saw through my camera’s viewfinder and what we witnessed in the raw.

Driving from North Carolina to Colorado: heading home!

Happy 27th of December everyone! I just got back from visiting family in and around Aspen, and it was lovely to enjoy part of my white Christmas in the mountains. My holiday was fairly uneventful, but I did get a copy of this book about baking, which I’m pretty excited about. I don’t want to accumulate more and more stuff as I prepare to head overseas again, so it’s been nice to chill out on the gift-giving this year.

I took lots of pictures on the drive back from North Carolina, which I completed with my uncle over the course of 3 days. We went through a little bit of West Virginia and Kentucky this time around, whereas Emily and I had driven the length of Tennessee when I first moved in August. 

It’s kind of tricky driving back from NC, because all of the exciting stuff along this route is right at the beginning in this direction (the Blue Ridge Mountains, Nashville, Lexington, etc.) and all of the boring stuff (aka all of Kansas) is at the end when you’re really sick of driving.

Our first stop was about 4 hours away from Chapel Hill at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC, which, if I’m not mistaken, was the largest privately owned home in the United States when it was built in the late 1800’s at 175,000 square feet. It’s HUGE!

Tickets are wicked expensive- about $70- so this was definitely a treat. They decorate the entire house really ornately for Christmas, which is absolutely gorgeous.

The house is amazing, but you’re not allowed to take any photos of the interior (or even sketch while inside!) on the self-guided tour. The estate is stilled owned by the Vanderbilts and they are definitely running the place for a profit, with gift shops and expensive restaurants all over the place. 

There are also huge gardens, which weren’t blooming since we were there in December. It must be extraordinary in the summertime or spring as well.

The whole place was built for just 3 people. Isn’t that insane?! 

The estate is several thousand acres and situated right in the middle of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which aren’t nearly as big as the Rockies, but still pretty beautiful. The views from the house were breathtaking.

It’s always strange to visit places in the winter. I usually don’t like it, but the Christmas decorations at Biltmore made it much more festive and fun, which made up for the lack of greenery outside.

 

We made it all the way to Lexington, Kentucky that night, after passing through Tennessee again briefly….

 

Kentucky is a weird-looking state. It’s really rocky, and apparently full of lots of caves and cool rock-related things, which was interesting to see from the highway. Plus…. tons of horses! What a horse-crazy state. The next morning we visited Kentucky Horse Park, which is where they host the Rolex Kentucky (a huge three-day-eventing competition). Sadly, the place is pretty dead outside of the summer months, but we did stop by the International Museum of the Horse, which is located on the grounds. It’s actually a branch of the Smithsonian Institution and was pretty well done!

 

They had this funny horse mannequin (horsequin?) hanging to display how horses were brought to the New World (hint: it was done very dangerously and with lots of equine casualties).

 

In the summer they also have tons of different breeds of horses living in the complex, as well as some old “champions” such as Funny Cide (a Kentucky Derby winner) and some other famous horses that you can go visit. Pretty neat!

Next up we drove about an hour down the road to Lexington, where Churchill Downs is located and where the Kentucky Derby is run each year! As you walk up, there’s a new(ish) statue of Barbaro at the entrance, which was sweet, since the Derby winner’s story was so tragic.

Again, since it was winter…. nothing was happening. Oh well! We actually entered into an area where you can distance gamble on other racetracks (which was really depressing to see) to get to go look at the track and finish line, thanks to some friendly gate attendants who let us in for free since we weren’t actually trying to gamble. It was perhaps even cooler that we got to go out into the stands with no one else around- it’s amazing to think of the horse-y history that has been made there.

We had some fun hanging out in all of the reserved box seats…

 

I have to wonder- do the people in Kentucky involved in horse racing do it for the money or for the animals? It’s kind of sad to think of racing as a profits game instead of being about the animals, but as a casual fan I’m obviously a little biased towards the ponies.

The rest of the drive was extraordinarily uneventful. Kansas, man. It’s a doozy. I would genuinely prefer to never have to drive that again.

 

And then we were finally there! Welcome to Colorful Colorado.

 

And that was that! One interesting thing we noticed once we got into Colorado is that you can tell that you’re getting closer to the mountains by how the clouds are looking. They certainly get more interesting as the ground gets bumpier and weather forms over the Rockies.

I’m going to be busy getting ready to leave again (!!!) on the 11th for Berlin- and there’s plenty to do before that. Friends to visit, dentist appointments to make, bags to pack, possessions to pack that are staying here for the next year, and maybe even some skiing to do. Plus New Year’s Eve! It’s so strange to think that this time last year I was hanging out in the ‘Staufen with my German relatives and getting ready to celebrate 2012’s beginning in Munich. What are your exciting NYE plans?

 

 

 

 

1,679 miles, and counting.

Hello again all! It’s been a major 2 week hiatus for me, consisting of multiple states, flights, people, towns, and a substantial amount miles driven! I got back on the 4th, spent some time with the fam (and) in Boulder, which was wonderful as per usual.

Boulder, Colorado

As you can see from the above photo, I also got my phone back (so I have my ol’ digits if you’re trying to get ahold of me) and promptly downloaded instagram, to my inner hipster’s great delight.

It took 3 days for Emily and I to drive 1679 miles from Denver to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I’d never driven this route before, so even Kansas wasn’t too bad. It’s also nice that that’s the first state you hit coming off of I-70- get the boring stuff out of the way first!

We ended up waking up extra early our second day (somehow we managed to get up at 5 am Colorado time every day of the trip, even though we were technically sleeping in in each consecutive time zone… darn it!) to go see the arch (which is actually a monument to westward expansion in the United States) in Saint Louis. It was gloriously empty of other monument gawkers at 8 am and the weather was lovely.

Saint Louis, Missouri

We didn’t end up going up to the viewing area inside the structure, but just walking around the surrounding park was really cool. For a little perspective, notice teeny-tiny Emily at the base of the arch in this picture!

Saint Louis, Missouri

We went briefly through Kentucky on our way out of Missouri….

Kentucky

And then into Tennessee, which we were going to be driving the entire length of…

Tennessee

Our next big stop that day was in Nashville, TN. What a pleasant little town! We had lunch at a really cool restaurant called Monell’s, where they serve lunch family style (all around big tables for about 12 people) so you get to sit with a few strangers and eat TONS of random Southern dishes. A few highlights from our table were sweet tea (the first time I’d ever had it) banana pudding, some sort of cheddar with pineapple thing, peach preserves, fried chicken, biscuits, corn bread, beef stew, green beans, and more!

Nashville, Tennessee

A preview of the table, before the rest of our lunch group arrived:

Nashville, Tennessee

We stopped for the day just short of the North Carolina border in the beginning of the Great Smokey Mountains so that the next day’s drive would let us actually see the scenery. So around 9 am, we finally passed into North Carolina! Woohoo! It was an exciting moment.

North Carolina

The Smokies aren’t necessarily my mountainous scene (let us never forget my Rocky Mountain roots), but they were definitely something different and I’d still like to go back and hike parts of the Appalachian trail. The fog rolling through the mountains as we were driving was actually really cool and looked beautiful.

Great Smokey Mountains, North Carolina

After that, we continued through Asheville and onwards to Chapel Hill after a stop at the Screen Door, an antiques store that had tons of great stuff. I haven’t gotten the chance to run around campus snapping pictures yet, but here’s a little sneak peak for ya:

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

That’s the old well on campus, which is sort of UNC’s “thing”. I started classes this week (which are going great) and am trying to learn how to navigate without a GPS (that’s not going so great). It’s been a great first few weeks back in Amerika and I hope to have more North Carolina posts a’comin’ for y’all soon. 🙂 Gute Nacht!