Day 5 - Brevard, NC - Columbia, SC

In typical fashion for us, we took our itinerary for today and put it in the shredder this morning!  HA!  We still ended in Columbia, SC, but the journey here was somewhat different than planned.  We accidentally missed a car museum that Jason and Lena wanted to see yesterday, so instead we drove 30 miles up into Asheville, NC to visit the Estes-Winn Antique Car Museum.  Vansen soon rolled up into the Historic Greenwood Village (which we accessed via residential roads in a very posh area).  Established in 1966, the museum was founded by local legend Harry D. Blomberg, Asheville’s Cadillac-Pontiac dealer for over half a century.  It features Harry’s prized collection of antique and vintage automobiles, including a rare 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham and Asheville’s own 1922 American LaFrance fire truck.  It also has a 1959 Edsel Corsair which is similar to an Edsel Lena and Jason will rebuild back home.

While they visited the car museum, Caroline, the kiddos, and I walked around the other buildings which used to make up the weaving and woodworking operations of Biltmore Industries, a force in American craft that was originally backed by Edith Vanderbilt.  We were soon in the Grovewood Gallery, a great place for local art.  Not only were there great handmade crafts, glasswork, and art, but the furniture was amazing!

For the remainder of the afternoon, we were on a timetable because we had scheduled a pointe shoe fitting appointment for Lena at 5:00 pm.  After Grovewood, we headed to the Folk Art Center just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is kind of like a pilgrimage for us.  I have several pieces at home that were purchased here.  Today I picked up a really cool spoon holder.

We soon headed south to Hendersonville and its Mineral & Lapidary Museum.  Sylvia is fascinated with rocks so we made a little detour for this nice, small, local museum.  The kiddos picked out geodes and had them cracked open on sight.  We got an amethyst one, a white crystal one, and one filled with red.  The museum was located downtown and the local townsfolk (and maybe tourists) were certainly out and about in this happening place.  We picked up another local meal, this time from Mike's on Main, and we were soon headed east.

About an hour and half later we arrived in Charlotte!  We pulled into the parking lot at The Sock Basket at exactly 5:00 pm.  I've only ever visited Charlotte's airport, so this was a rare treat to visit a new city.  Lena picked up some really cool new pointe shoes that she can't get in Arkansas and had the best salesperson (a fellow dancer) help her.  The smiles were huge, for sure.

The nice folks at the dance store suggested we try Viva Chicken for dinner.  Before heading there, we popped into REI.  I'm on the hunt for a blue Tilley hat, but looks like I'm just going to have to order it online.  After shopping a bit, we loaded up and headed towards the south part of town.  Viva Chicken is a fast casual charcoal-fire Rotisserie Joint specializing in the authentic Pollo a la Brasa found on the streets of Peru.  We picked up our order and headed to a small residential park nearby and enjoyed a summer evening picnic.  The chicken was some of the best I'd ever had.  To wrap up our meal, we picked up shakes from Shake Shack (I'd only seen these on TV).

On the way out of town, we spotted a Carvana vending machine.  If you don't know what that is, Carvana is an online car marketplace.  They'll deliver a used car to you at home or you can visit a vending machine to "pick" your car.  Franklin was entranced and he took several selfies plus video to capture the moment.  Next up, we jumped back on I-77 and soon crossed into South Carolina, arriving at our hotel in Columbia much later than planned, but wow...what a fun day!  Tomorrow we spy the Atlantic for the first time and our beach time begins.

Day 3 - Chattanooga, TN - Helen, GA

Because of our late night, we slept in a bit this morning and had a slow start.  Having throughly enjoyed Puckett's for dinner last night, we decided their breakfast menu looked equally as good (if not even more so).  Lots of mmms and yums could be heard in our room this morning for sure.  With full bellies, we soon headed out for the Coker Museum in Chattanooga's Historic Southside.  Inside this 13,000 square feet space is Corky Coker's personal collection of over 100 vintage cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, and even 3 airplanes hanging overhead.  Lena and Jason were in car heaven for sure!

After a quick stop at Starbucks we headed east on I-75 and soon turned off in Cleveland, TN.  This suburb of Chattanooga is somewhat of a sprawling area.  Because of our late start, we hadn't eaten lunch yet so we ordered some early afternoon food from Aubrey's and soon parked Vansen in the shade at a local park to enjoy another great local meal.  We found another outfitter store (less local and more corporate to walk around to work off lunch...ha!) and then headed east.  We were soon driving along the Ocoee River alongside whitewater rafting company buses full of either dry or very wet customers.  We soon came upon a pullout along side a TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) generating station with a walkway bridge overlooking Hell Hole Rapids.  A group of kayakers was taking advantage of this fast moving water to dart in, out, spin around, and sometimes flip.  Soon a flotilla of rafters arrived from upstream and the familiar calls of the raft captains/river rats could see be heard.  Impressively none of the rafters fell out, although all got thoroughly soaked.  Once COVID passes, we'll for sure return here for some fun with the kids!

A bit further along the road we came to the Ocoee Whitewater Center which was the venue for the canoe slalom event during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.  The river was narrowed and boulders were cemented in place to create a somewhat natural environment for the event.  During the weekends, water is released at a higher rate at this area becomes more "rapidy," but while we visited today, it was more of a fast moving stream that allowed the kids a chance to burn off some energy, cool off, and have some fun on this warm summer day.  As our time here ended, Sylvia realized her watch was no longer on her wrist.  We scoured the riverbed and surprisingly Lena found it upside down, submerged, and partially under a rock.  Tears turned into a happy smile as Sylvia was reunited with her favorite watch.

After crossing into Georgia, we drove through McCaysville which was crawling with people.  I haven't seen that many people together since before the pandemic.  We still can't figure out why they were all there, but every restaurant was packed and folks were out enjoying themselves.  Arriving in Blairsville, we grabbed some light dinner and soon turned onto the Richard Russell Scenic Highway.  After a bit of beautiful countryside, we began ascending a mountain and finally reached a turnout with a vista overlooking Hog Pen Gap at about 3,500 ft.  The air today was very hazy (maybe from the wildfires out west) and the sunset provided a colorful backdrop.  On the east side of a the road, a thunderstorm had blown up with the top getting lit from the sun, which made for a powerful image over Vansen.  This is also where the Appalachian Trail cuts through the gap; we even saw a family coming off the trail with their backpacks and loading up for a drive to a hotel or home.  A short time later we arrived in Helen, GA for the night.  We'll get to walk around tomorrow to get a better sense of this "alpine" village.