Today we left Asheville on our last day of our adventure. Even though we were in thick-as-pea-soup fog, we decided to take our chances and visit Mount Mitchell. What a good decision that was.
At first, driving through the Blue Ridge Parkway was quite hairy, as the fog allowed only about 25 feet of visibility and the sun frequently blinded us through it. However, we finally left the fog. Feeling glad for the weather, I innocently looked out my window to see the mountains. I saw the spectacular breakthrough of clear sky, as we suddenly rose above the clouds. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, or even had imagined.
Every peak of the mountains stuck out of the bed of clouds like islands in an ever-extending sea. The only thing you have ever seen close to it is looking at clouds from an airplane above it, except that this time the earth and the sky are inter-mingling. It’s hard to put into words what this was like, so I will use pictures.
After this awe-inspiring view, we finally ascended to near the top of Mount Mitchell. We drove to the campground near the summit that we infamously stayed 4 years ago, and hiked up to the top of the mountain through beautiful meadows and boreal forests. It reminded me of Mirkwood in the Lord of the Rings. Each coniferous tree trunk was thickly covered in moss, and the ground was littered with lichens, stumps and jutting rocks. The interesting thing about this is that only 100 or so lower feet in elevation, all you would see is dormant deciduous trees and normal leaf litter on the ground. This is a truly exclusive biosphere.
We drove home with great pictures and memories of those crazy views. What a way to finish off a trip!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Day 22 (November 23rd)
Today, we left the our cabin in the mountains, and went to Tallulah Gorge. Here's a little history overview.
Tallulah Gorge is the Tallulah River's water-carved canyon. It's an incredible monstrosity of over 600 feet deep with partially forested walls of quartizite. Until the turn of the 19th century, it was completely unchanged by man. Many stories were written by europeans and indians alike about mysterious powers of the thundering waters. It surged its way over a series of plummeting cataracts, night and day.
The first (somewhat crazy, in my opinion) person to tightrope walk it did so in July 24th 1886 and drew a crowd of 5000. Known as Professor Leon, many watched the man walk across the gorge on a tightrope. Close to the center, one of his guylines broke and he nearly fell to his imminent death. Luckily, he caught his spare cable, sat on it for 25 minutes and then completed the walk.
In 1905-1909 many rich men bought land around the gorge and formed the Georgia Power Company. They made the gorge dam which opened in September 1913. This slowed the water flow to a trickle and killed most of the tourism. Soon, the thunder of water became moaning of wind in the Gorge.
On July 18, 1970 63 year old Karl Wallenda duplicated Prof Leon's tightrope walk in under 40 minutes with two headstands, dedicated to his family members in a car crash and 'The Boys in Vietnam'.
Just before the turn of this century, the state of Georgia and the Georgia Power Company began a unique partnership with plant to allow more water to be released from dam for scenic considerations, termed 'Aesthetic Flow'.
Today there is a continuous 35 cubic feet/second of water flowing into gorge, except for scheduled days where only 12 cubic feet/second flowing for hiker exploration at the bottom. In tourist season (memorial-labor day) on weekends it is increased to 200 cubic feet/second. On 5 weekends per year, it's increased to 500-700 cubic feet/second for high speed kayaking.
Back to our trip. We walked past some of the stunning scenic overlooks, and down to the Gorge Floor via several hundred steps. Even with a mere 35 cubic feet per second, the flow is pretty amazing. We walked up the stairs again, took a look at the massive dam, and hopped in the car to head back to NC.
We decided not go home because we would not arrive until very late, so Dad booked us a hotel in Asheville.
Tallulah Gorge is the Tallulah River's water-carved canyon. It's an incredible monstrosity of over 600 feet deep with partially forested walls of quartizite. Until the turn of the 19th century, it was completely unchanged by man. Many stories were written by europeans and indians alike about mysterious powers of the thundering waters. It surged its way over a series of plummeting cataracts, night and day.
The first (somewhat crazy, in my opinion) person to tightrope walk it did so in July 24th 1886 and drew a crowd of 5000. Known as Professor Leon, many watched the man walk across the gorge on a tightrope. Close to the center, one of his guylines broke and he nearly fell to his imminent death. Luckily, he caught his spare cable, sat on it for 25 minutes and then completed the walk.
In 1905-1909 many rich men bought land around the gorge and formed the Georgia Power Company. They made the gorge dam which opened in September 1913. This slowed the water flow to a trickle and killed most of the tourism. Soon, the thunder of water became moaning of wind in the Gorge.
On July 18, 1970 63 year old Karl Wallenda duplicated Prof Leon's tightrope walk in under 40 minutes with two headstands, dedicated to his family members in a car crash and 'The Boys in Vietnam'.
Just before the turn of this century, the state of Georgia and the Georgia Power Company began a unique partnership with plant to allow more water to be released from dam for scenic considerations, termed 'Aesthetic Flow'.
Today there is a continuous 35 cubic feet/second of water flowing into gorge, except for scheduled days where only 12 cubic feet/second flowing for hiker exploration at the bottom. In tourist season (memorial-labor day) on weekends it is increased to 200 cubic feet/second. On 5 weekends per year, it's increased to 500-700 cubic feet/second for high speed kayaking.
Back to our trip. We walked past some of the stunning scenic overlooks, and down to the Gorge Floor via several hundred steps. Even with a mere 35 cubic feet per second, the flow is pretty amazing. We walked up the stairs again, took a look at the massive dam, and hopped in the car to head back to NC.
We decided not go home because we would not arrive until very late, so Dad booked us a hotel in Asheville.
Day 21 (November 22nd)
Today was a boring, dreary, irksome, vexing, rainy day. We had originally planned to visit Tallulah Gorge for a large water release and kayaking exhibition, but Mom decided an hour and a half drive (each way) was not worth it in the pouring down rain. We did a decent amount of homework, and then left for a movie at the ‘North Georgia Premium Outlets’. This was pretty fun as we could get out the cold, wet, and didn't require using our brains!
Day 20 (November 21st)
Today went to Amicalola Falls.
Amicalola means tumbling waters in Cherokee, falls are highest in Georgia at 729 feet. Park is the southernmost entry to the AT (with the AT approach trail). Located in GA gold belt. 604 steps and a lot of steep uphill paths to top of falls.
Later in the day, we went to Dahlonega. Dahlonega means 'precious yellow color' in Cherokee. 1828 white men first discovered gold literally on the floor of the forest. This resulted in the Trail of Tears. Between 1838 and 1861 the US gov operated a mint there. Manufactured 6 million dollars in per YEAR todays coins (which is 115 billion dolars today). Complete set of gold coins in city hall vault at gold museum, today worth 6 million. City Hall bricks had flecks of gold. So much gold at the time that little flakes didn't matter to them. Estimated 20% gold in GA Mountains has been removed. Like all mining, it destroys all ecological habitat to access it. Talk about dangerous processing.
Amicalola means tumbling waters in Cherokee, falls are highest in Georgia at 729 feet. Park is the southernmost entry to the AT (with the AT approach trail). Located in GA gold belt. 604 steps and a lot of steep uphill paths to top of falls.
Later in the day, we went to Dahlonega. Dahlonega means 'precious yellow color' in Cherokee. 1828 white men first discovered gold literally on the floor of the forest. This resulted in the Trail of Tears. Between 1838 and 1861 the US gov operated a mint there. Manufactured 6 million dollars in per YEAR todays coins (which is 115 billion dolars today). Complete set of gold coins in city hall vault at gold museum, today worth 6 million. City Hall bricks had flecks of gold. So much gold at the time that little flakes didn't matter to them. Estimated 20% gold in GA Mountains has been removed. Like all mining, it destroys all ecological habitat to access it. Talk about dangerous processing.
Day 19 (November 20th)
Today Mom, Greta and I packed up from Atlanta to head for the mountains, the last major segment of our trip. But first, we drove just east of Atlanta to Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain is a bare granite pluton (humongous solid hunk of rock) in the middle of the piedmont. This makes it a spectacular view. We hiked up the backside of the mountain, which was a somewhat difficult hike up steep sections of bare rock. The view was spectacular, even from only halfway up the mountain.
After this, we drove around to the bare face of a rock to see a carving of the Confederate Generals. About 50 feet tall and 100 feet wide, this is obviously no small feat. In fact, the man who carved Mount Rushmore started out here for practice. The carving depicts Robert E. Lee, ‘Stonewall’ Jackson and Jefferson Davis riding on horseback.
We drove out to the mountains, and checked into our cabin. It’s a 4 room Lincoln-log style cabin, just big enough to have privacy and small enough to feel authentic.
After this, we drove around to the bare face of a rock to see a carving of the Confederate Generals. About 50 feet tall and 100 feet wide, this is obviously no small feat. In fact, the man who carved Mount Rushmore started out here for practice. The carving depicts Robert E. Lee, ‘Stonewall’ Jackson and Jefferson Davis riding on horseback.
We drove out to the mountains, and checked into our cabin. It’s a 4 room Lincoln-log style cabin, just big enough to have privacy and small enough to feel authentic.
Day 18 (November 19th)
Today we took the subway and a bus to the Martin Luther King Birthplace. After navigating our way through several museums and historic houses, we finally found our tour group and headed for the house.
At the time, MLK lived in the comfortable middle-class in a roomy house. His father and grandfather were both pastors at the Ebeneezer Baptist church just down the road. He lived with his brother, sister, parents and Grandma. Occasionally, he would share rooms with a cousin or a guest as his father was a prominent minister.
As a kid, King loved to help his grandmother cook, but hated to do the dishes because he thought it was woman’s work. For punishment his parents made him bring in the coal from the yard. However, this punishment was not very effective because Martin enjoyed moving coal! He thought this was a real man’s job, because he got to lift heavy soot and get nice and dirty.
MLK also enjoyed ripping the heads off of his sister’s dolls and playing baseball with them. Obviously, this is before he learned the tenets of nonviolence!
After this, we watched several presentations on the rights’ struggles of the day, walked through a museum including several pieces of clothing he wore on prominent occasions. Finally, we visited King’s (and his wife’s) crypt.
Once we were finished, we waited for an hour for a bus, and then went for the High Museum of Art. We saw several original Leonardo Da Vinci sketches and sculptures of the day. We also went to an exhibit of Modern Art. Much of it looked painstakingly beautiful, like a 10’ x 14’ foot of layered painting depicting a starry night sky, and some of it looked over-appreciated, like a room full of 4 odd shaped canvases of plain colored paint. I guess my appreciation is just in the wrong place.
The other exhibit we saw there was full of stunning impressionist paintings (largely from the renaissance and post-renaissance). There were even a handful of Monet paintings (like one of the incredibly famous paintings of Notre Dame cathedral in fog).
At the time, MLK lived in the comfortable middle-class in a roomy house. His father and grandfather were both pastors at the Ebeneezer Baptist church just down the road. He lived with his brother, sister, parents and Grandma. Occasionally, he would share rooms with a cousin or a guest as his father was a prominent minister.
As a kid, King loved to help his grandmother cook, but hated to do the dishes because he thought it was woman’s work. For punishment his parents made him bring in the coal from the yard. However, this punishment was not very effective because Martin enjoyed moving coal! He thought this was a real man’s job, because he got to lift heavy soot and get nice and dirty.
MLK also enjoyed ripping the heads off of his sister’s dolls and playing baseball with them. Obviously, this is before he learned the tenets of nonviolence!
After this, we watched several presentations on the rights’ struggles of the day, walked through a museum including several pieces of clothing he wore on prominent occasions. Finally, we visited King’s (and his wife’s) crypt.
Once we were finished, we waited for an hour for a bus, and then went for the High Museum of Art. We saw several original Leonardo Da Vinci sketches and sculptures of the day. We also went to an exhibit of Modern Art. Much of it looked painstakingly beautiful, like a 10’ x 14’ foot of layered painting depicting a starry night sky, and some of it looked over-appreciated, like a room full of 4 odd shaped canvases of plain colored paint. I guess my appreciation is just in the wrong place.
The other exhibit we saw there was full of stunning impressionist paintings (largely from the renaissance and post-renaissance). There were even a handful of Monet paintings (like one of the incredibly famous paintings of Notre Dame cathedral in fog).
Day 17 (November 18th)
Today we went to the the CNN Center. The building is part CNN-headquarters, part ritzy-hotel, part food court so it was certaintly a diverse experience.
The tour took us through several CNN control rooms, including the room with a projector showing the Anchor between ad-breaks taking instructions from the floor manager, and the teleprompter that he was reading from. My favorite control room was none other than the CNN floor, where the Anchors are recorded live in front of the desks of the support crew, also the same room from which the weather is broadcasted. It's amazing to see such famous people working on live TV from only a couple dozen feet!
We also visited the HLN floor room and the HLN broadcasting room, which had moveable walls and a plethora of mounted cameras and background TVs.
The tour finished up with a video of how reporters and news anchors came about reporting, and then we were let out into the gift shop. Greta and Mom dragged me into doing a mock reporting session in front of a teleprompting camera with a realistic CNN desk behind us. When we were nearly finished, a group of schoolkids walked up to the glass wall and started waving at us as if they thought we were the real thing! Wow, either we were pretty realistic or those kids were really dumb!
After this, we had some lunch and headed for the Coca-Cola Museum. Mom was originally a little but dubious about paying admission into a museum that was pretty much one big advertisement, but after only a few minutes she was confident it was better than the Georgia Aquarium.
After an animation on 'The Happiness Factory' (The 'behind-the-scenes' tour amd the animated movie about how a bottle of Coke comes out of a vending machine.), we walked past man dressed up very convincingly as a polar bear, through several exhibits on the process with which coke is made and the history of the product, and on to the highlight of the visit: the taste-testing room.
This room was where 64 different soft drinks by the Coca-Cola company worldwide are sitting out for free taste testing. Some were incredibly sweet, and some were terrible! The most notable was an Italian drink called Beverly which was absolultely disgusting! It's bitter rotten grapefruit tast pretty much summed up the sensation of gagging, all in one soft drink.
After this, we went through a 4D Multimedia movie about the secret formulat of coke. It was a little too gripping for me, as it had no mercy of shaking, spraying, smacking and poking you while you watched an innocent plotline about Coca-Cola. Mom really liked it, though.
The tour took us through several CNN control rooms, including the room with a projector showing the Anchor between ad-breaks taking instructions from the floor manager, and the teleprompter that he was reading from. My favorite control room was none other than the CNN floor, where the Anchors are recorded live in front of the desks of the support crew, also the same room from which the weather is broadcasted. It's amazing to see such famous people working on live TV from only a couple dozen feet!
We also visited the HLN floor room and the HLN broadcasting room, which had moveable walls and a plethora of mounted cameras and background TVs.
The tour finished up with a video of how reporters and news anchors came about reporting, and then we were let out into the gift shop. Greta and Mom dragged me into doing a mock reporting session in front of a teleprompting camera with a realistic CNN desk behind us. When we were nearly finished, a group of schoolkids walked up to the glass wall and started waving at us as if they thought we were the real thing! Wow, either we were pretty realistic or those kids were really dumb!
After this, we had some lunch and headed for the Coca-Cola Museum. Mom was originally a little but dubious about paying admission into a museum that was pretty much one big advertisement, but after only a few minutes she was confident it was better than the Georgia Aquarium.
After an animation on 'The Happiness Factory' (The 'behind-the-scenes' tour amd the animated movie about how a bottle of Coke comes out of a vending machine.), we walked past man dressed up very convincingly as a polar bear, through several exhibits on the process with which coke is made and the history of the product, and on to the highlight of the visit: the taste-testing room.
This room was where 64 different soft drinks by the Coca-Cola company worldwide are sitting out for free taste testing. Some were incredibly sweet, and some were terrible! The most notable was an Italian drink called Beverly which was absolultely disgusting! It's bitter rotten grapefruit tast pretty much summed up the sensation of gagging, all in one soft drink.
After this, we went through a 4D Multimedia movie about the secret formulat of coke. It was a little too gripping for me, as it had no mercy of shaking, spraying, smacking and poking you while you watched an innocent plotline about Coca-Cola. Mom really liked it, though.
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