Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Day 30 - 5th June 2012

Photograph 1 - Daniel Boone crossed through here??? Wow!!! Just north of Blowing Rock, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photograph 2 - Mabry Mill, one of the most picturesque views we have taken, along the Blue Ridge Parkway just inside Virginia.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photograph 3 - Can't help placing another picture of Mabry Mill - with guess who?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photograph 4 - One of the many lookdowns along the Blue Ridge Parkway - somewhere near Rocky Knob, Virginia.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photograph 5 - Our first visit to Wal-Mart located in Roanoke, Virginia.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photograph 6 - Roanoke Hotel in Virginia.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As you can see above we are having problems with lining the narratives for each photograph. In the end we believe readers can work out which narrative is aligned with each photograph. Now, on with the main story. We left sunny Blowing Rock at 9am and tried to see the famous Rock as in their namesake. To reach this prominent feature that actually is a large overhanging piece of granite into the mountain void we had to go through a private residence and pay $6USD. It was the only way we could see the Rock and the owner also runs a souveneir shop on his premises. As you can guess we did not see the famous Blowing Rock and continued north. Our GPS goes crazy when we are on the parkway, no satellite connections up here. In fact young Charlotte-Jane tells us to bear right. Stupid women we did not see any bears at all. The journey to Roanoke in Virginia is 150 miles and the scenery is repetitious - when we see one view from one lookdown we seen them all. However, the highlight of our days journey was the Mabry Mill. How picturesque is this place? A perfect postcard view it was. As you can see from the above pictures it was worth stopping. The mill is still working making grist, for woodworking and even blacksmithing (sharpening tools etc). About a further one hour drive we reached Roanoke and stopped at the local Wal-Mart. Wow - what a store! They sell just about everything - jewellery, groceries, and all sorts of household requirements. The prices are about one third to one half the prices you would pay in Australia. After our Wal-Mart experience we checked in to our hotel, did some washing at the nearby laundrymat and walked to the centre of Roanoke for dinner. We'll need to leave early tomorrow to finish off our Blue Ridge Parkway experience and head for a place called Charlottesville enroute to the US capitol. From Charlottesville we will travel through the many battlefields sites of the American Civil War and need to reach Washington DC by 5pm to hand back our Mustang. We'll be sad to hand this great pair of wheels back it has been a good experience driving such a high performance vehicle. Also tomorrow we fly out of Washington DC at 9pm and head back to Vegas. It will be a 5 hour journey on Bare Bones Airlines (US Airways) arriving there at 11pm (they are three hours behind). So the next time you'll hear from us will be in VEGAS! Cheers.

No comments:

Post a Comment