Tail of the Dragon
Tail of the Dragon is a biker's dream. We are their nightmare.
Category United States of America
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Alum Cave Trail
Alum Cave was first referenced in a land grant application by three North Carolina farmers in 1837. The resulting Epsom Salts Manufacturing Company mined alum, Epsom salt, saltpeter, magnesia, and copperas in the area until the salts were depleted in the mid 1840s. Today, it is part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and a popular destination along the Alum Cave Trail.
Clingmans Dome Observation Tower Hike
The hike to the Clingmans Dome Observation Tower Hike is a short but steep half mile hike with an 311 foot elevation gain. It is an incredibly popular path—old and young stop to catch their breaths at the many benches along the path. While we leaned into the incline and trudged up the steep path even we were huffing and puffing with the high elevation exercise.
Back to the Smoky Mountains
It has been nearly a year since we last came to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The first time was specifically to enjoy fall, this time was a pleasant coincidence, returning from the Overland Expo.
Blue Ridge Parkway
The Blue Ridge Parkway stretches 469 miles along the crest of the Blue Ridge mountains between North Carolina and Virginia. The parkway was constructed to connect the Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The resulting thoroughfare is it the longest road planned as a single unit in the United States and the longest linear park. Most any iconic shot of the Smoky Mountains was taken from along this route.
Biltmore Estate
The Biltmore is the largest privately owned house in the United States. George Washington Vanderbilt II was the grand son of the Commodore of industry, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the youngest of his brothers. While his two older brothers took an active role in managing the family empire of steamships, railroad, and sundry, George focussed on books, art, and intellectual pursuits. Perhaps that is why, upon inheriting $7 million dollars and gaining access to a $5 million trust fund, he decided it was time to construct his own "summer cottage" in North Carolina. Architect Richard Morris Hunt was tapped for the job to bring Vanderbilt's old world fascination to North Carolina with a mansion inspired by French Renaissance Chateaus. Construction began in 1889 and concluded in 1895. The final structure spanned 178,926 square feet of floor space within Vanderbilt's 130,000 acre North Carolina estate.
Overland Expo East 2016
Overlanders are world travelers who glory in the road less traveled. They explore on motorcycles, jeeps, and trucks across gravel, dirt, and mud roads and even into regions barely reached by vehicle. They love the wilderness and bring their homes with them, be it a hammock, tent, or truck bed camper. And every year, there is a gathering for those wanderers who may have rolled into North Carolina to meet and learn at the Overland Expo East 2016.
Dog Sitting
Temperature control is a lie you tell your body. That lie dissipates as quickly as sweat droplets form on your skin from the wall of humidity that meets you at the threshold to the outside. The outdoors are for mornings and evenings. But for the next few days, we will be seeking midday shelter in the home of a friend outside of Nashville, Tennessee.
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan covers 22,404 square miles of the earth's surface—slightly smaller than West Virginia—with 1,640 miles of shore line. That makes it the fifth largest lake lake in the world. With 1,180 cubic miles of water, It is also the second largest of the Great Lakes of North America by volume.
Draught House and Mary’s Bistro
Draught House and Mary's Bistro are two gastronomic draws under one roof.