bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday- We ordered an Uber at a little after 8. The driver had trouble finding us, and we had ordered early, which was a good thing, to make sure that we were able to get to our World of Coca-Cola reservation at 10 AM. $25 for the trip. The driver was located was very close, so we did not even get to drink our coffee before we had to walk to the pickup site. It was on the main street of the campground, and about a 5 minute walk uphill.

It was an easy ride into the city, through a very nice area of Atlanta. We arrived and walked right in, as we arrived at about 9:40. We were socially distanced and had to wear masks. We were taken into a room, with numbers on the floor. We had to stand on the number, socially distancing us from others. They had gals who did an intro to Coke around the world.

Below is Cokes moto:

Then we were taken into another room; there was a lot of memorabilia in this room. The employee there kept us entertained by asking us which decade certain objects were from.

Next we went into a movie about Coke. The song is still in my head! From there, we were sent into another area. This is where the Cola bear is located for pictures. We had our pictures taken, and we moved on to look at the various exhibits. 

We ended up in the tasting room. We tasted the various coke products from around the world, after starting with TAB and USA Coke. The gal stopped us at the exit, to make sure that we had seen everything. We realized we had missed the 3D movie, so we went back waited the 6 minutes to enter the movie theater. The movie was silly and cute!

We returned to the exit, which of course, sends you into the Coca-Cola store. Bob had forgotten his hat, so he bought one, as we had more sites to visit.

It was lunch time, so we stopped for lunch at a Johnny Rockets, the place with the shortest line. We ate lunch, then walked over to Centennial Plaza, which is across from the World of Coca-Cola.

I know I took pictures of all 4 of them, but I seem to be missing one. I really am having issues with getting pictures from my phone to my laptop.

Only half of the plaza was open, so we wandered through what we could. By this time, it had started to rain. So we returned to the World of Coka-Cola area and called an Uber to take us back to the campground.

The return trip was not as pleasant, as there was a lot of traffic. I actually fell asleep on the return drive, which took about 45 minutes. All of the Uber drivers have been great!

We walked the dogs and then packed up the motor home and drove over to the entertainment center of Stone Mountain. We paid and entered the facility. It was really a waste of time and money. The park would have been nice, if you have kids; it was really great if you have kids, as they had a large play area, but the rest of the place was not only empty, there was just not a lot there to see! Amazingly, there were a lot of African Americans there. We found that interesting.

We stopped and had some ice cream, then went to the 4D movie, which again, was cute, but really for kids. We rode the 5 mile train, which runs every half hour, around the Stone Mountain, which is not really a mountain. It’s a granite dome.

Other than being a memorial to the Confederacy, I am not sure what the issue is….it is not visible anywhere except in the park. It is low on the stone and trees block the view, except from the lawn in front of the carving.

Stone Mountain itself is very confederate. The streets are named, Jefferson Davis Drive, Stonewall Jackson Drive, Robert E. Lee Blvd. There were no confederate flags. Maybe they were busier Memorial Day weekend, but the place was very empty when we were there.

Each evening they have a laser show and fireworks, which we did not attend. It was an extra cost, and Koda has issues with the fireworks, so we stayed home with her. We could hear them in the RV Park.       

It was looking like rain, so we left and returned to the rig. Bob walked the dogs, quickly, and we left that area. We stopped at the Commons golf course to pick up carry out dinner. By this time it was pouring rain. We returned to our site and settled in for the evening, eating dinner and watching some recorded TV, since there were too many trees for our satellite.  

Sunday- We did not have to be out of the park until 12, so we took our time, doing our usual Sunday tasks. We left around 10, and went to a Walmart and Petsmart, as we needed dog food. We stopped and picked up sandwiches for lunch. We ate them in the rig, then continued on to a COE park called Shell Creek COE Park. I had tried the phone number that I had to find out if they had any open spaces, but the phone number had been disconnected. So I looked the phone number up online, and called. The gal who answered the phone, said yes they did, but the sites started at $46. HUH? COE parks are usually $20, and with our geezer pass, we get the sites ½ price. Obviously I had the wrong RV Park. So, since it was a Sunday, we decided to just show up.

We arrived at the RV Park, and there was a sign, advertising the Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville Senior Housing off I 95 in Georgia. We thought that was odd, but we went in. The COE had sold the park to Margaritaville Enterprises!

We asked about the other COE Park, Vanpugh South, and the gals did not know anything. So Bob called and they said we had to check Reserve America to find out if there were any sites. We drove up there, about 10 miles. Yes they were a COE park, but now all of the COE parks reservations HAVE to be made online at RA. Usually RA charges for the reservation, but they did not this time. We are guessing that they do not charge extra for the COE parks, although they really charge ridiculous amounts for state parks. Especially if you are only planning to stay one night. We paid $11 for the night. We had water and electric. Our issue, was of course, since the hot water heater was not working, we had to use their showers. UGH! They were pretty awful!  The ladies room only had the regular shower working, not the handicap one. There was no shower curtain, although there was a door. I had to put everything as far away as possible, so the items would not get wet. Bob said that the men’s room had water all over the entire room on the floor, and he had the same issues that I did. After how clean we kept the showers in Michigan, when we were work-campers, we can really spot the issues! We can’t wait to get the part to fix our hot water heater!

Monday- We left around 8:30 and traveled north in Georgia. We stopped in the town of Sylva for chocolates at a pretty good chocolate store, Baxleys. Bob knew about Sylva, because a speaker at a seminar he had attended was from there, and he remembers, because the speaker bragged that they never have mosquitos. Somehow that stuck in his mind!

We drove north to the Town of Tallulah Falls. We stopped at the falls and walked the dogs. There is a Georgia $5 state park parking fee. We parked that walked down to one of the falls. Below is upper Tallulah Falls.

There was a second falls that we were thinking of visiting, but there was a big dog going bonkers, barking and trying to get to our dogs. So we turned around and walked back.

I went back thru the Visitor Center and Bob walked the dogs around the building. We continued our drive north to Black Rock State Park. Whew, did they have a mountain to climb, in the rig! By the time we got to the Visitor Center, we were exhausted with the uphill drive. We were both very glad we were in the small RV and not our big Alfa. We had already paid the parking fee for the Georgia State Parks, so we did not have to pay again.

We crossed the Eastern Continental Divide on the drive up the mountain.

The views were spectacular from the top of the mountain, at the Visitor Center.

The plan had been to travel thru the park and continue our drive through the northern mountains of Georgia. We decided instead of heading to the Harvest Host Winery we were planning to spend the night at, we would stay right there in their RV Park. (I called and cancelled). We signed up for a site in the Visitor Center and went and parked. It was a nice campground, with water, electric, and cable TV. Bob suddenly realized, we did not have a cable TV cord for the rig. One of the neighbors had one that he loaned to us. We certainly were not driving back down that road to the Walmart to get a cord! It started to rain, and we settled in for the night.

Tuesday– We drove back down that very steep hill, without any issues. We turned north on Hwy. 441 to travel into North Carolina. We entered the Blue Ridge Parkway in Cherokee NC.

This is the southern most entrace to the park. We drove slowly on the Parkway. The speed limit is 35, but we were usually slower than that. We arrived at the highest peak on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We stopped at Big Witch overlook, at 4160 elevation. Bob walked the dogs while I took a picture.

While we were at the overlook, a group of motorcyclists drove into the overlook, and from each direction. The ones coming from the north told the ones coming from the south to turn around. The ones coming from the north were drenched. As soon as we started our drive down this mountain, it started raining very hard. That slowed us down even more! I had texted Nancy that we were going to be later than expected!

We went straight to our friends Nancy and Dave Shambaugh, at their house in Biltmore Lake NC, which is west of Ashville NC. As we made a turn on their street we saw Nancy sitting on her porch reading. We waved, as we passed the house to turn around in the cul-de-sac and parked in front of their beautiful new home.

We took the tour of the outside of the house with the dogs. Then we put them back into the rig with the air conditioner going, and took the inside tour. We sat and talked and they cooked us a nice dinner.

We left around 7, to go to our campsite, which was unfortunately a ½ hour away. We arrived and set up the rig. We have a full hook up in small park along the Pigeon River.

Wednesday- Dave and Nancy arrived to pick us up. We went to Maggie’s Valley. We stopped in at the Visitor Center to find out what interesting places were in the area. We found a Barn Quilt Trail. There were a lot of them, but because we were driving, it was difficult to find them. They are small and not necessarily on barns. They were on houses and businesses.

There was not a lot in Maggie’s Valley, (it’s more of a winter skiing destination or summer hiking), so we went to Waynesville. This was a cute little town, with a nice Main Street. We found parking and wandered down Main Street. Our first stop was at the Kitchen Store. I had a great time there! We purchased an orange peeler, microwave covers for the rig, and small covers (it was a 2 pack) for my wine glasses. We also found some cute napkins for Bob’s beer tasting scheduled in November in Lake Havasue, AZ.

We wandered a bit more, and decided to go to lunch. We ate at The Patio, a dog friendly restaurant, only open on their very nice patio. We each had sandwiches, which were all very good. Mine was so big I took ½ home and had the second half for dinner.

We went down one side of the street and back up the other. We stopped in at the Mast General Store which reminded us of the Stowe Vermont General Store. They had a section just for shoes and hiking, they had a section for clothing and hats, downstairs was candy and kitchen items. Upstairs was outdoor equipment and clothing. We did not end up buying anything. Bob needs a new hat, but they did not have any in his size.

We wandered down the first side of the street, and at the turn to the next side, we found these items. We took pictures.

On the second side of the street, we wandered into a Chocolate store. There were various prices for the chocolate. The gal at the counter just charged us the lowest price for all of what we purchased. She got a nice tip!

We stopped in at The Blue Ridge Beer Store. They had a lot of single beers, which is what Bob likes to purchase, as that way he can try various beers. He bought 8, and he drank two ½ pints of beer, from their counter. He had a nice chat about various beers with the guy who worked there. The store also had some wines and ciders.

We returned to Dave and Nancy’s house, and ran back to the motor home, to walk the dogs. Dave and Nancy had graciously let us use their pick-up truck for the rest of the time that we are here.

We went to dinner, in the town where we are staying, Canton, to the Bearwaters Brewing Company. Bob had a flight of beer. I just drank water. Bob had a BBQ sandwich and I had a flatbread pizza. It was made with apple butter, caramelized onions, chicken, cheese and some BBQ sauce. It was excellent!

We returned home to happy dogs!  We are streaming season 4 of The Handmaid Tale.

Wednesday- We returned to Nancy and Dave’s house. They had a gutter guy coming to the house, we stayed at the house waiting for him to come. Nancy made some really awesome sandwiches for lunch, with some wonderful rye bread.

It was nice to have a quiet day. I worked on the blog, using their excellent ATT internet. The internet at the park is extremely slow. It had taken 15 minutes to transfer 1 picture.

We returned to the park, and had a quiet evening, cooking dinner and walking the dogs. We continued watching the The Handmaid Tale.

Thursday- We went to the Nancy and Dave’s. We all left and went to at The Moose Cafe for lunch. The food and service were excellent. We all went to a Farmers Market.

This market is open daily and had all the usual items. It was inside, which was nice, as the weather has been very rainy, most of the week. I was able to purchase some canalope ( awesome tasting) and some peach salsa. From their we went to pick up some items for Dave at a garden store and we stopped at a Super Walmart. We returned to the house, then returned to the RV park.

Above the two pictures are looking different ways from our RV site. This was the Possum River.

Friday- We all went to downtown Ashville. We parked in the Cathedral parking lot and walked over to The Grove Arcade.

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I am still having problems with picutres. Nancy had purchased her new hat at a very nice hat shop in the Grove Arcade. The Grove Arcade opened in 1929. It is still the largest building in Ashville. Originally, it was going to be a hight rise, but that never happened. The building was taken over by the government during WWII. Now there are retail stores on the first floor and businesses on the second floor. The Woolworth above, is on another block, across from the Grove Arcade. We also went to the Visitor Center while we were in town.

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