Well hello there Storytime Peeps! I'm glad to see you again after a few days. I am back home, safely tucked in my T@Bport. We took the long way home today and cruised the Parkway down to Highway 441 instead of taking that twisty-turny Highway 16. It's certainly a more beautiful and less stressful drive home! I waved goodbye to Pod when I turned off in Wilkesboro to head to Newton. We had a grand time camping beside each other this week. It's a trip I look forward to every summer.
I've got a little Story to tell you today about the Saturday cruise that the folks took on Highway 88. Both Momma Sharon and Uncle Rob said it was GREAT! In fact, Pod got to blog a little bit about it last evening. Since his Camper Dad did all the driving, he left it up to Mom to snap the photos. She did her hanging-out-the-window thing and had a great time.
Route 88 runs from Jefferson over to Tennessee and that was the Road of the Day yesterday. I understand that it's pretty popular with motorcyclists because it's full of mountainside-twisties and long sweeping curves. Throw in some great scenery and you have the makings of a fun day trip.
The first interesting thing that the folks saw was a small power plant - the 1931 Sharpes Falls Hydro-electric plant. The dam is only 150-feet wide and harnesses the power of the North Fork New River. Momma Sharon thought it would make a very cool house!
I think that my Camper Mom would like to go back up there and cruise 88 in the Miata with the top down. She saw lots and lots of places to stop and just as many more things to get a snapshot of. Who knows, it might be a day trip in the fall.
The real destination of the day was a visit to Elk Knob State Park. They had to leave Route 88 and turn to the left on Sutherland Road. The views were beautiful and thankfully it was a perfect weather day to enjoy them.
Elk Knob is one of the newest North Carolina State Parks. It was saved from developers wanting to build housing in the late 1990s. It features one of the highest peaks in the high country at 5,520 feet. There are lots of hiking trails, with more trails being developed. They try to stay open in the winter for cross-country skiing (the only NC park to do this). They have primitive, backcountry campsites too.
Since it was lunchtime, you can predict what came next. Yep, the last picnic of the week! Every single lunch item was pulled out of the Yeti and Aunt Trisha's picnic bag. You never saw such a conglomeration of stuff going on sandwiches. 30 minutes later, it was pretty much all gone!
Afterwards, Levi took them back down to the new Visitor Center to see if there were stickers for Uncle Rob (he and Mom like to get all "stickered up"). There were indeed stickers to be had, but what really got them excited was the NC State Park Passport book. Oh great . . . something else for her to collect!!
They made one last stop for photos down at the entrance before turning left on Meatcamp Road to head home to me and Pod.
So that gets you caught up on Saturday's adventure and the last full day of our Parkway Camping Trip. I've got a bunch of Stories left to tell, so please stop by this week for Story Hour compliments of me, Splash, the traveling T@B. Until then, always remember . . .
"Peace, Love, & Great Roads"
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