Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas

 Petit Jean was an 18th century French woman. Her fiancé was going to explore in America and did not want to marry her until he returned. So, she disguised herself as a boy (Little John) and joined the expedition, unknown to him.  Once near here, she became ill and, as she was dying, revealed herself to her fiancé.  She died and was buried here.  

In 1923 this high ridge land above the Arkansas River became a state park.

Today Trish and I went on three little hikes.  First we went to the Bear Caves, an amazing collection of rock formations with cave like indentations.  The rock striations and color streaks were amazing.

Afterwards we thought we were going to a waterfall, but it is do very dry that there was no water at all.  All dried up.

The real treat of the day was our hike to the Cave House.  It was an amazing deep cliff overhang that was occupied by early native peoples.  It could actually be a very usable place to a large number of people to live.  There were even petroglyphs on the cave walls.

Now we are back at our CCC cabin for the afternoon.

Paducah

 After leaving Opryland, we came to Paducah, home of the National Quilt Museum.  I have been here before, but this is Trish’s first visit.

Paducah is an interesting little town that is historically dominated by the river. Here the Tennessee loses itself into the Ohio and a few miles away the Cumberland joins before they all become part of the Mississippi.  There is a series of murals on the river flood wall beside town that tell of the town’s important river history.

The Quilt Museum is downtown two blocks from the river.  There are constantly changing exhibits here and right now the two dominating are a giant wall with over 3,000  squares, one named for every person killed on 9/11.  This is leading up to the Twentieth Anniversary.  There are also a series of COVID quilts.

Full wall with 9/11 quilt panels.

There are few traditional quilts on display at this time.  Most of the work we saw was very contemporary.  What I really learned was to appreciate the possible artistic additions possible with good mechanical quilting.  I had thought this to involve only patterns of quilting but learned that a good long arm person can paint with thread and texture in amazing ways to totally finish the quilt top as beginning place.

The texture of the wood is all added by the long arm machine.

We both had a wonderful appreciative and educational visit.

 

At the Opryland.

 Our next stop after the Smokies has been Nashville, Tennessee, or at least as close in to Nashville as the Opryland Hotel.  We love to stay at this place with its marvelous indoor gardens and water features.

Since we were here and since the Grand Old Opry has opened back up full scale, we got tickets to the Friday night show.  There is a walkway directly from the hotel to the theatre and it takes less than ten minutes to walk over there.  There was rain predicted, but, we saw and felt none of that.

On our way!

The most fun about going to the Opryland is being part of the live event itself. We had seats on the front row of the balcony just over the side edge of the stage so we could see the audience as well as the performers.  They both provided us with a great show. Rhonda Vincent did a good job and a real treat was stand-up comedian Brad Upton.  Check him out.

The headliners were Crystal Gayle and Billy Ray Cyrus, but, there were several fine performers throughout the show.  The Opryland stage band and backup singers are always amazing as they accompany and back up anyone who is in the limelight.

Crystal just keeps going!

When we got to the headliners, Crystal Gayle upheld her reputation as a long-term and consistent star.  Then there was Billy Ray Cyrus.  We could have gone home happier if he had stayed home.

In face, he almost did! He brought with him his Pentecostal preacher brother and sister in law to sing Pentecostal songs with him.  They were awfully happy to be there!  Then he turned a whole song over to an Australian girl named Firerose whom he found somewhere.  Finally, after daring the audience to not ask for  Achy Breaky Heart, he got everyone standing up and screaming the song along with him to cover up his absent voice.  It was not a good ending! (And security had to come in to settle things down in one corner.)

Rough!

All in all, it was a great show of music, jokes, and people watching. Not like the old days at the Ryman!

Finishing Gatlinburg.

 The night before our last day in Gatlinburg, Trish and I went to Dolly Parton’s Stampede Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge.  I had been to this show long ago when it was called The Dixie Stampede…of course by now Dixie has been removed from the title.

There was lots of food!  Couldn’t do it justice, but a lot of the people we saw there were well capable of cleaning their plates. The best part of the evening was the horseback riding with riders who were really comfortable and artistic in what they were doing.  It was beautiful. (Secretly, though, my favorite part of the show was the pig racing!)

Closing patriotic salute at the Stampede.

On our last day we discovered a sweet place we had never heard of before.  It was called Parrot Mountain and is located beyond and above Dollywood.  This is a privately owned park filled with hundreds of exotic birds from around the world.

There are dozens of parrots and macaws just perched out in the open all over the place in a wooded park.  You can walk all among them and even feed many of them.  Some like to perch on fingers or sit on shoulders.  In addition there are scores more, many more rare and exotic, in their own cage environments.  We got to visit the baby birds as well and touch many of them.

Trish feeds a friendly bird.

These were some of the teenagers.

Late in the afternoon of that last day we took a ride around the Historic Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park above Gatlinburg.  This single-lane driving trail connects several Mt. LeConte trail heads which I used quite a lot in my growing up years.  

As we drove along we saw a total of four bears. Two were adolescents eating some kind of plants.  Then there was a mother with her little baby.  What good luck on a single day!

This ended our time here in the Smokies for this trip.  It was lots of fun and plenty of good walking.

Mama and baby pay no attention at all to us as we pass.

Visit to Gatlinburg.

 On our way again, Trish and I are resting for a few days in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  Yesterday we slept late and then visited around downtown.

Of course we had to be total tourists and go to Ripley’s “Believe It Or Not.”  My Dad loved to read to us the little Ripley’s cartoon box than came with an unbelievable picture in each Sunday’s Asheville Citizen newspaper.  I wish he might have gone through the museum with us to see more than many of those things I remember his reading about.

Which one of these characters is in the museum collection?

After we finished at Ripley’s, we walked on down the street to visit the Ripley’s Aquarium.  What a wonderful surprise!  I have visited aquarium locations over the world and this one is as good as they get.  If you are ever around here, do not miss it!

We arrived just at penguin feeding time and loved the personal touch shown in the care and feeding.  Each of these little critters had a name, a story, and a definite personality.

He feeds each bird while she records exactly who eats what.

Afterwards we got on a long slow conveyer that takes you through tunnels that go under and through the gigantic salt water tank.  This is extremely well done.  Everyone passes face to face with the glass and you see everything.  Besides, the aquarium itself totally surrounds you with sharks and other fishes beside, over, and above.  We learned that there are 350 varieties of fish here and more than 10,000 individual living fish.

Sharks right over our heads!

Besides the moving tunnel, there are many individual tanks that house specific and separate varieties of fish as well as other ocean critters.  

Beautiful fish of every color.

Trish and I loved this aquarium and will certainly come back here again anytime we are in Gatlinburg!

A Little Delay and A Great Visit!

 We ordered our new car in December, but, due to the world-wide computer chip shortage, it finally arrived in the US for us to pick up only two weeks ago.  It was just in time to learn to pack it and head out on our six week trip.

Our first stop was to be in my home town of Waynesville.  From there we would travel to Morristown, Tennessee, for a visit with my 93-year-old Aunt Nancy.  Her husband, Uncle Jim, had died in July at age 95, and we were not able to travel to the funeral, so, we were looking forward very much to this visit.

We had just passed Old Fort and were  almost to Asheville when it happened.  I did not even see whatever we ran over in the road.  A tire picked up a “whocking” sound which lasted only seconds before something flew off into the air and all of air went out of the right rear tire.  

I tried to seal it, but the sealant went right out the big hole in the other side.

Attempts to seal and reinflate the tire failed, so, we ended up being hauled to the dealership in Asheville.  It was Saturday afternoon and everything was closed until Monday. So, no trip to Aunt Nancy’s and no weekend in Waynesville.  We were now in the motel near the car dealer, waiting for Monday for a new tire to be ordered and installed.

You can see the flat tire in the rear as we are loaded and ready to be hauled to the dealer.

Later that evening my Uncle Steve and Aunt Norma called.  Unknown to us they were in on the planned visit, so, the new plan was that they would pick us up at the motel on Sunday and take us to the dinner visit at Aunt Nancy’s house. It was so very nice; we got to visit with them going and coming. When we arrived there was another surprise: my cousin, Nancy Carol was there from Texas.  She and her husband, Gordon, are retiring and building their retirement home nearby.

My Aunt Nancy, age 93, and my cousin, Nancy Carol, age variable!

We had a wonderful dinner visit which included looking at loads of family photos and remembering so many things.  Trish got a whole new semester of my mother’s family.  It was worth a blown tire to have this fine time!

My Grandparents, Grady and Zephie Walker, in the early 1950’s.

On The Road Again!

 While festivals are opening back up as live events, Trish and I are still not flying this year.  We simply do not want to put ourselves into the uncivil and potentially unhealthy space of airports and airplanes.  So, we are driving everywhere.

Besides those considerations, Trish and I love to travel side by side in the car across the beauty and variety of our country. And, if we plan time correctly, we have opportunities to see family, friends, and favorite places along the way.

A main consideration is packing for six weeks away from home in a variety of climates and events The main things to think about are: upcoming events, weather along the way, and, maximum times between laundry opportunities.

We end up with two suitcases each: one for daily casual travel (this one comes in from the car each night), and one for dress-up and performances (this one stays in the car until needed).  Then there is the back-up pharmacy bag, the office bag, and extra coats and shoes.  Wow! Does this all fit in the trunk of the car?

After several rounds of adjustment and elimination, we made it!  Now, will the trunk lid close?  It did.  So, we are off on our way for both play and work.  Maybe we will see you somewhere along the way.