Over the Blue Ridge and through the Smokies, to my sister's apartment we go...

This is an account and some pictures from a vacation trip Anne and Bill Murphy took, June 27 to July 6, 2004. We hiked and camped the long way South from Michigan, (East) to Shenendoah National Park, down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, then on to Jacksonville, Florida to visit Anne's sister Sarah. We capped off the southern part of the trip with a visit to Savannah, Georgia on the fourth of July, then headed back home to Ann Arbor.
	Ohio We didn't take any pictures in Ohio. But we did stop there, to camp Saturday night. From Ann Arbor we went down 23 to I-90/80, the tollway, and through Ohio until we got to 14, a highway we took at a southeastern angle toward our destination for the night, Beaver Creek State Park. We had called a park ranger the day before and gotten a recommendation for a place to stop for dinner - Lock 24 Restaurant. There used to be an extension of the Ohio/Erie Canal in that part of Ohio, and ruins are still around. The restaurant is right where Lock 24 used to be on the canal. Read More...
	Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia: Five Hours or So... Read More...
	Shenandoah: Sunset Picnic Read More...
	Shenandoah: Early Morning Hiking Read More...
	Roanoke and back onto the Parkway Read More...
	Into North Carolina: Rest Stop A nice stop on the parkway is made even nicer by live dulcimer music and the tranquil presence of a landscape painter. The dune buggies were just the right ballance. This was a place where we stopped and sat and I enjoyed the simple act of breathing in the air and the view at the same time. Read More...
	Linville Falls We got to the falls shortly before sunset, took the hike, took some pictures, and went on to camp in the Linville Falls campground. Read More...
	Toward Ashville I honestly thought this was the prettiest part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It helped that we just about had the road to ourselves and the weather was beautiful. Read More...
	The Biltmore Estate Read More...
	A Lovely Waterfall This is in Smoky Mountain National Park, on the Tennessee side. We hiked to a waterfall and got back out shortly after sunset. Bill's head-mounted flashlight came in handy on the way out. Along the way there were signs warning parents to watch kids. Best to remember that a steep drop is unhealthy. Read More...