Matt & Emily and their mother Cathy are visiting on their Spring Break. Besides helping with some of the tasks related to the renovation of our mountain house and exploring the creeks, they’ve joined us for a trip into Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s too early in the season to head to the top of Clingman’s Dome but we did get to poke around the Oconoluftee Farm Museum talking to some of the costumed interpreters, watching the blacksmith at work, and learning that forsythia is locally known as “yellow bells”. Of course we had to take a little time for skipping stones across the surface of the Oconoluftee River before heading to Mingus Mill. There we learned this water powered mill uses a steel turbine instead of a wooden water wheel to turn the millstones that grind the grain beforee heading out to the path alongside the mill race.
Entrance Great Smoky Mountains National ParkThe Blacksmith at workHaystack at the Mountain Farm MuseumSkipping Stones into the Oconoluftee RiverPerched on a rock in the middle of the Oconoluftee RiverChicken on a Fence Millrace at Mingus Mill Stylin’ at Mingus MillUpstream from Mingus Mill
Queen Mary 2’s arrival in the Port of Dakar, Senegal was heralded in the local press and greeted with ceremony. Our own excursion took us on a coach journey through the streets of the capital city to visit a Wolof village and the shore of Lake Retba, the salty lake famed for an intense pink color.
Today’s safari adventure transported us out into the Dorob National Park to have up close encounters with little creatures that are well adapted to the extreme heat and lack of water in the Namib Desert.
With a UNESCO World Heritage Site, two national parks, dozens of museums, and hundreds of tours offered in the Cape Town area there is more than plenty to do. For our two day visit we opted to concentrate on African wildlife visiting the Aquila Private Game Reserve and the Boulders Beach Penguin Colony for a wonderful chance to these fabulous animals in their own habitat.
0 Comments