Alpine Coaster in Pigeon Forge, TN and Waynesville, NC

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Last night in reviewing our drive Tic discovered The Alpine Coaster in Pigeon Forge, TN.  We decided to park the coach at a truck stop and drive the Jeep to Pigeon Forge to ride this ride.

The ride is 1 mile long and you control how fast you go.  Anyone 56 inches and taller can ride a sled by themselves.  

I went first.  Because I was wearing slip on sandals I had to sit on them and ride barefoot.

Isabel is 2nd and Tic went last.  Of course Tic was taking the pictures so no picture of Tic.

This is the first part of the initial climb.

WOW!  This went FAST!  The ride was over in about 5-6 minutes.

Now drive back to the coach and on to Waynesville, NC.  Only about an hour to go.

Here is home at Pride RV Resort.  There are lots of amenities here.

For the first time in 4 days, we have cell service AND internet.  Neither our Verizon nor AT&T has been working.

Isabel has a lot of catching up to do.  She is back in her element.  It was hard on her to be without cell and internet for 4 days.

Look at this awesome cloud formation Tic saw this evening.  We are truly blessed to be privileged enough to enjoy so much of God's glory. 

Cumberland Mountain State Park TN

Crossville, TN Jun 25 - 26, 2016

This was to be a stopover on our way to our next destination, not meant for sight-seeing trips.  However, it was only about 5 miles from where we parked the RV, so a short investigative trip was made.

 The CCC built this dam/bridge to form a small lake.

 The view from the base of the bridge, upstream.

 The Canadian Geese are beautiful creatures.

 A small museum is located here describing the efforts of the CCC, the Big Deal and homesteads.  Also a restaurant with buffet.

Not too far away is the Homestead Museum.  Small admission fee.  For an additional fee, you can climb the tower.

Mammoth Cave, KY

Mammoth Cave, Park City, KY Jun 24 - 25, 2016

 We learned that it was advisable to make reservations ahead of time because the cave tours fill up rapidly.

 When we arrived to pick up our tickets from will-call, all the major tours were fully booked.  Good thing we were prepared.

 Hurry up and wait, and wait and wait!  We read that it would be 54 degrees in the caves and the tour was 2 hours.  So.... Nana insisted that we wear long pants and take sweatshirts.  It is so hot and humid today that Isabel and I are miserable while we are waiting.

 Listening to the ranger tells us how difficult the tour will be.

 Time to board the bus to the start of our tour, "Drips and Domes".

No camera flash permitted, so I chose those that came out best.

This is called Niagara Falls.

  We saw many interesting formations and enjoyed our tour greatly.  
We never needed our sweatshirts and could have been fine in shorts.  Oh well, Nana can be forgiven. 

On our ride back to the parking lot from the end of our cave tour, I learned there was a free ferry crossing the Green River.  Isabel informed me that she had never been on a ferry.  I decided that was something she needed to experience so after dinner we took off.

Wow, I think this is the smallest ferry crossing I've ever seen.  Oh well, Isabel and I are going and Tic is taking pictures.  It is so hot and muggy that the camera lens keeps fogging over.

We are mid-stream in about 1.5 minutes.  Whee what a ride -- NOT!

We've turned around and are coming back,  The ferry operator just laughted at us.  At least it was a new experience for Isabel and we had fun laughing.

Cumberland Falls, Corbin, KY

Cumberland Falls, Corbin, KY  Jun 22 - 24, 2016

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cumberland Falls, sometimes called the Little Niagara, the Niagara of the South, or the Great Falls, is a large waterfall on the Cumberland River in southeastern Kentucky. 
On average the falls, which flow over a resistant sandstone bed, are 68 feet (21 m) high and 125 feet (38 m) wide, with an average water flow of 3,600 cubic feet per second (100 m³/s). ^[2]
Under a full moon on clear nights, an elusive lunar rainbow or moonbow is sometimes formed by the mist emanating from the falls.^[3]

 ^{Park the Jeep, and walk to the falls.}

 

We won't stay for the moonbows, since the forecast is for rain tonight.

 Cumberland Falls behind us.  Mostly cloudy today, but the sun did peek through several times and we got to see rainbows in the mist.

A short video of the falls.

If you look closely you can see a rainbow close to the water. This is probably the best picture we got.

Well, we are basically in Corbin, KY, home of the Colonel Sanders, founder of KFC.  And there is a quaint little museum here that we had to visit in order to make Corbin a complete stop.

 Still "Finger Lickin' Good"

 He looks a little pale, probably needs to get out in the sun more and stop working so hard!  Hee Hee!

Natural Bridge - Stanton KY

Natural Bridge State Park - Jun 20 - 22, 2016



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Natural Bridge State Resort Park is located along the Middle Fork of the Red River, adjacent to the Red River Gorge Geologic Area and surrounded by the Daniel Boone National Forest. Its namesake natural bridge is the centerpiece of the park. The natural sandstone arch spans 78 ft (24 m) and is 65 ft (20 m) high. The natural process of weathering formed the arch over millions of years.

 We found a new RV park, still under construction that was only a few miles away.  Hardly anyone here.  (4 Guys RV Park).

 My granddaughter and I being silly!  We are part of the "wild things".

After review of the park on the Internet, we decided to ride the tram up and back down.  Tic only went one-way, so he could take the hike down, evidently a common thing to do.

Wheeee!
Sure beats climbing up.  Much faster too!

 A look back down at the start of the ride.  You can only see about 1/2 of the ride.

We are standing on the far left of the Natural Bridge.  Tic is at an overlook to take our picture.

Here we are, with Tic zoomed in on us.

From this point, we rode back down and then drove to the lodge.  We expect Tic to take some photos and then hike down to us.

 View at Lover's Leap

 The overlook where Tic stood to take the pictures of us.

Standing on the bridge, you can see how large it is.

 There is a staircase that leads under the bridge.  You must pass through this narrow passageway called "Fat Man's Squeeze".

The underside of the Natural Bridge.  There are two trails down to the lodge from this point.  Original and Battleship Rock trails.
By going back up the stairs to the top of Natural Bridge, there is a third trail called Balanced Rock.  (Over 600 steps)

 A view of the steps down to the lodge.  Walking down sure beats walking up.

 The Balanced Rock.  Those two trees are actually growing from the "rock".

 A cave on the way down.  Icy cold air blowing out.  Good place to cool down on a hot muggy day.

 Almost at the end of the trail.  It is time for lunch!