I wanted to follow up on my vacation and put this thread to rest. We flew into Atlanta and the flight was ok, still shell-shocked that Uber charged us $75 for a 10 minute drive to the airport. Once we arrived in Atlanta, we picked up a rental car and went to a local hotel for the night. Big mistake for us, since this hotel was in the heart of Atlanta's ghetto. The next day, we drove 60 miles east and spent the day and night with my "other half's" nephew and family. He is a staunch conservative, who bought a beautiful Colonial house, which sits on 5 wooded acres of land, and we played on his Ranger UTV for several hours. The next morning, we drove to Savannah, Ga for a few days. We stayed on the water front, had some really great seafood, and paid for the hop on-hop off tram, so we walked the entire city until my knees gave out, then we would take the shuttle for a few miles again.
From there, we went to Myrtle Beach. We got the tour of the town on a horse and carriage. The next day, it was raining, so we drove to Williamsburg and stayed two days and toured Newport News area. We hit the maritime museums, the military museums, and spent the day at Colonial Williamsburg. Two days later, we drove to Arlington, DC, and watched the changing of the guards, toured the Arlington House, saw JFK's burial spot, and other prominent figures.
We then drove to St. Mary's College and walked the Grotto, then went to Philly and walked the town, saw the Liberty Bell, the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and saw the statue of Rocky Balboa and the steps made famous from Sylvester Stallone movies.
We headed west looking for the Amish and went all over Lancaster, looking for Amish built stuff, but in 3 hours driving we only saw one girl driving an Amish buggy on a country road. We stopped at several places and saw some Civil War history, and stopped in Roanoke, Va. for the night. Yep, another ghetto! We went down the Blue Ridge Highway and thru New Market, and Harper's Ferry, but I was never able to find a parking lot to park at, never found the tram, place looked closed down, and I was so furious we got the heck out of there.
We Stayed a few days in Asheville, NC, which is a really beautiful town, but no parking for less than $5 per hour. Yes, a college town and tourist trap. Lots of hippies and homeless, but beautiful country.
We headed north, over the hill to Gatlinburg, Tn, and was surprised at how fun it was. We took the Anakeesta (?) ski lift to the top of the mountain, walked the tree bridges, the rope lines, the observation decks, and walked the entire town. This was the highlight of our trip, and had a great time. We pulled out the following day, and went to Stone Mountain, Ga. it was drizzling, but the rude money taker told up to park "over there" and walk to the top of the mountain. We parked and started walking, and walking, and then the granite got very slippery. I fell on my knees, which put me down for 30 minutes, since my knees were reconstructed using titanium. I had to be helped down to the bottom of the hill, bloody and sore, before realizing that the other side of the mountain had a tram to the top of the hill, but at this point, I was hurting too bad to do anything besides take a picture and leaving. (this was the biggest waste of time!). We left there and went to Warm Springs, Ga, where FDR lived and died. It was a very interesting spot in the middle of nowhere, but for a history buff like me, I loved it!
From there, we went back to the nephew's house in Loganville, Ga, for the last two days, before flying home.
All in all, it was a fun trip, but 15 days in a rental car, living out of a suitcase, was just too long, We drove 4000 miles, through 9 states and Washington DC. The top of the highlights were the Grotto at St. Mary's, the Changing of the guards at Arlington, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee, along with the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the greenery of North Carolina, and the Southern Charm will not be forgotten.
