Griswold 2010 - HOME!

Yes...a few minutes after 6:00 PM EDT, we made it HOME!

We found that the heat that New England has been having, along with watering bans and such, had left our lawn brown, but we found this critter and another one that looked just like him in the back yard, enjoying some of the vegetation in the woods.

Even though we celebrated Rebecca's birthday on the real day...yesterday...we had a cake for her once we returned home. For the record, she got all of the candles out at one time, even though they were pretty well spaced.

Anyway, we can't believe it, but we're home. In the end, Griswold 2010 saw us venture through at least parts of Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. Of those, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia were new to the family as a whole, so now the family has made it to 47 states. (We're missing Alaska, Hawaii and California.) It took us over 5,000 miles and about 18-1/2 days to add these seven new states, but we had a great time!

Griswold 2010 - Day 18 - Part Two

We began our last full day of vacation by taking turns wishing Rebecca a very happy 18th birthday! (Wow...that was a fast 18 years!) Then we made about an hour drive to Cumberland Gap National Park. We began the day taking a 2.4 mile hike to a place where three states come together.

Here are three of us...each signaling the state they're in. Anne in Tennessee, Erik in Virginia and Rebecca in Kentucky. (That's a "K" Rebecca??)

Once we finished our hike, we went to an overlook where we were able to look out on a lot of the park, including the place we'd hiked. Then we went to the Visitor Center to see films on the park and on Daniel Boone. Once we were done with the films, we hit the road towards Roanoke, VA, where we're spending the night. On the way, we stopped at a convenience store, so that Rebecca could take advantage of her new age and purchase a lottery scratch ticket. She went to the counter and when she tried to purchase the ticket, she was carded. She finally got out to the car and scratched the ticket. (It wasn't a winner.)

We made our way to Roanoke, checked in to our hotel and then went out for a birthday dinner. After dinner, we picked up an ice cream cake and headed up a Roanoke hillside to the Roanoke Star, which we also visited two years ago when coming through this area.

In front of the star and overlooking Roanoke, we all had cake. Some young children even came over to us to give their own rendition of "Happy Birthday", which was incredibly precious!

Though it was a bit windy, we finally managed to get the candles lit and Rebecca blew them out.

It was a wonderful ending to another terrific day. We've been very lucky on this vacation with most things working out as planned and with the exception of some difficult heat in some places, even the weather mostly cooperated.

Tomorrow morning, Sunday, we'll leave Roanoke early to head home. If all goes well, we should be home in the evening. Thanks for sharing our travels with us and once again, HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY REBECCA!

Griswold 2010 - Day 18

HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY REBECCA...more later!

Griswold 2010 - Day 17

No pictures today...we spent most of the day at Dollywood and by the time that we left, from the upper-90's heat (some places said it was over 100!) and all of the walking, we were exhausted. When we walked out of the park, we noticed that everyone else was just like us...the walking dead.

A little post-park dinner helped, but once we checked into our hotel, we crashed!

Griswold 2010 - Day 16

We began the day at Chimney Rock State Park in western North Carolina. We started with a hike to Hickory Nut Falls, which were pretty falls cascading down a large rock face.

Steve got right down under them, but only a little damp from the mist.

Then we headed back to the parks namesake...Chimney Rock. Chimney Rock is a large stone formation that stands out from the hillside. It's a great view of the valley below from the top of the rock.

One of the things we could see well from the top of Chimney Rock was Lake Lure, which is where some of the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed.

These give you a better sense of what Chimney Rock looks like from further away.

From Chimey Rock, we drove up towards eastern Tennessee, specifically the Pigeon Forge area, where we visited Dollywood for a few hours in the afternoon. (If you get your tickets after 3:00 PM, they can also be used for the next day.)

So we enjoyed a few hours before heading into town to check into our hotel.

In the evening, we attended Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede, which is a dinner show in an arena with a lot of horse related entertainment. The main thrust of the evening is the Civil War, so they have the audience seated in North and South sections. (We were in the north!) Steve and Anne actually got picked out of the audience to take part in a competition that was one of many pitting the North against the South. We were in a race on Hobby Horses and our team won, so we were awarded medals for our efforts. (We won't talk about Steve's victory lap in the middle of the arena after the race!)

It was a long day, but a fun one!

Griswold 2010 - Day 15

Day 15 was wonderful in every way. We started the day with a brief drive to Smoky Mountain National Park. After getting some advice from the Visitor Center, we headed for Laurel Falls, which we found at the end of a 1.3 mile hike. (...and of course the return 1.3 made it a 2.6, which still wasn't bad.)

Later on in the day, we were able to see a couple of black bears, one of which you see laying down here.

We enjoyed a lot of beautiful things and views and the weather was spectacular, ranging in the low-70's to mid-80's. We ended the day at the park with a hike up to this overlook on top of the largest peak in the park. The 360 degree view from this tower was amazing!

In the end, the Smoky Mountains lived up to their name...they were "smoky", but they were lovely.

Tonight we're in Asheville, NC and we'll be moving on in the morning.

Griswold 2010 - Day 14

We began day 14 with a relatively short drive to the Chattanooga area. There were a lot of low hanging clouds and fog over the Chattanooga valley, since it rained heavily there the day before. We decided to give the moisture time to burn off, so we headed for Ruby Falls, which is a cave tour that ends with a view of the underground falls.

The tour itself was no big deal. We've been to much more impressive caves before. Ruby Falls, however, did not disappoint. With healthy rainfalls in the area over recent times, the falls were full and beautiful.

They were tasty too! (Okay...since we were warned that the water is filled with high levels of magnesium, which can flush out one's system, so to speak, there was no real drinking!)

After Ruby Falls, we headed up onto Lookout Mountain, where we visited Rock City. There were parts of Rock City that were beautiful and/or historic...

...while there were other parts that were whimsical or silly.

All in all though, it was a lot of fun.

From Rock City, we headed into Chattanooga to get some lunch, before heading up to the top of Lookout Mountain on the Incline Railway. Once on the top, we visited the Battles for Chattanooga Museum, which told the story of the Civil War engagements in and around Chattanooga and featured an electric map which assisted in telling the tale. From there, we walked to Point Park, which gave us a great view of Chattanooga from high above the city. As we were leaving the park, rain started moving in, so we headed back to the Incline Railway and rode it back down to our car. After a quick ice cream stop, we headed out of Chattanooga.

As we headed East out of Chattanooga, we ran into periods of torrential rain, which made navigating some of the state roads that wound through the East Tennessee hills quite challenging. Eventually though, we made it to the last stop of the day, the World's Largest Ten Commandments, outside of Murphy, NC. It was still pouring when we arrived, but we took some pictures from a sheltered area, before the rain finally stopped.

Since the rain stopped, Steve and Anne braved the many stairsteps up to the top of the hill and onto the large bible itself. They were only a little winded (HA!) when they triumphantly finished the task.

From there, it was time to head for the hotel. More to come!

Griswold 2010 - Day 13

We began day 13 by braving Atlanta during the morning rush hour. Since our drive wasn't too long, it wasn't too bad. We got to the Georgia Aquarium a little before it opened, so we walked around the Olympic Park before heading to the aquarium.

The Georgia Aquarium was amazing...and huge. They had one large tank as long as a football field, big enough to house the 6 whale sharks that they hope to have eventually at full adult size. They now have 4 juvenile whale sharks, one of which is about 22 feet long. (They eventually reach over 30 feet in length. It was an enormous tank.

There was even a part of this tank that we could walk under, viewing the various aquatic animals from below, which was a very interesting sensation. All in all, the aquarium was a great experience.

From the aquarium, we went out for a brief lunch and then headed to the World of Coke. The World of Coke is all about Coke, from it's beginnings to its changes (New Coke!) and from it's manufacturing to its advertising.

The tour ended with a chance to taste Coke products from around the globe. We had a great time filling up on all of these products, though the musical burping afterwards was borderline painful.

We left the World of Coke just in time to brave the evening rush hour, which was a lot more painful than the morning rush hour. Everything we'd hurt about gridlock in Atlanta was true. Yuck!

Griswold 2010 - Day 12

We spent day 12 heading north, towards the metro Atlanta area. This took most of the morning. Our stop for the day was Stone Mountain, which features large carvings in the mountain side of confederate heroes Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. We took a distant look at the mountain...

...and then we boarded a sky ride that took us past the face of the mountain and onto the top.

We chose to ride up, for not only the fun of the ride, but also because the temperature was in the upper 90's. We did bring our hiking sticks with us though...

...and we all hiked down the mountain.

When we left Stone Mountain, we spent the night in the suburban Atlanta area, all ready for the next day's adventures.

Griswold 2010 - Day 11

We began with a drive from Pensacola, FL to Waycross, GA, to see the Okefenokee Swamp. While there, we took a swamp tour.

We of course saw a number of these critters, American Alligators.

We also saw things like these Egrets, as well as sandhill cranes, an Ibis, some cooter turtles and more.

We also paused a short time to get out of the boat and walk on this "Swamp Prairie", which are small amounts of swampy, grassy area in the middle of swamps. They are firm enough to stand on, though we sunk in a bit.

This guy was sunning himself and then ate some fish while we watched.

As we left the Okefenokee Swamp, this land tortoise was crossing the road in front of us. He was surprisingly fast for a tortoise, but we still took care not to run him over.

From there, it was on to our hotel for the evening. Tomorrow, we start heading north.

Griswold 2010 - Day 10

We began Day 10 (Friday, July 9) in New Orleans. We started the day with a little walking around the French Quarter...at least as much as we could stand on a very hot and humid day.

From there, we moved on to a relatively new museum, the Insectarium, which is a museum dedicated almost entirely to insects. (There are also some spiders and other critters)

We even saw a really big critter, a New Orleans Hornet.

After some lunch, the afternoon's activity was a ride on the Creole Queen, a paddle wheeler that took us on a short journey down the Mississippi to the Chalmette Battlefield, the site of the Battle of New Orleans from the War of 1812.

After the Creole Queen, we left the New Orleans area and headed towards the Florida panhandle. We made one quick stop to check out this Hurricane Katrina memorial in Biloxi, MS.