September 1, 2023

Post Tropical Storm Idalia it was cool, clear and breezy here in Raleigh. We were lucky and didn't even lose power with this storm. I was thinking, kite flying! Here I am at the Big Field in Dix Park. My kite is a free gift souvenir from an American Cruise Lines trip we took down the Mississippi River years ago. The Cruise Director said he got a case of them as a regular shipment from the Home Office. He thought they must be inexpensive. The tag says made in China. It is a parafoil design kite from Premier. It is very similar to this linked one. I can't find exactly what I have in what I think should be the right price range. It just rolls up, and the string spool and all fit right in the storage sack at a size and weight about like a partial roll of toilet paper. I love this kite! Best souvenir ever! Even though Clay was not thinking what I was thinking, he still drove me over and helped me launch my kite after lunch.

 Clay was thinking something else entirely. He was thinking, Zebra Cake! Maybe because his early birthday present of a replacement cheap propane grill is still sitting in the kitchen area waiting for a new outdoor cover to arrive. He saw this cake made from scratch on a YouTube chef channel but it was really heavy. I pointed out that he could do a smaller and lighter version with cake mix and a tub of frosting for us. Success! He used half a yellow and half a chocolate cake mix and saved the rest for another day. Perfect. 

Sunflowers in bloom at Dix Park

 Its mid July here in Raleigh, so the sunflowers are in bloom at Dix Park.  

The plants were not tall as in previous years, but all the flowers were a sight to see. We were there right around noon on a hot day early in their blooming season. There were very few people around.

We did see a few butterflies around .

Here is Debbie in the field.

 

Synchronous Fireflies!

It is that time of year again. The annual lottery for this year's tickets was April 8 to May 10. This is at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park outside Gatlinburg, TN. On May 10th (our anniversary!) I entered a date and an alternate date avoiding weekends. The next day, we learned we had won for June 7. Yeah, after these COVID-19 pandemic years of not traveling, we are finally hitting the road. We last entered the lottery in 2021 and did not win. We did not enter in 2022 because I was recovering from surgery on my left heel. I have finally ended physical therapy for that and this year's brain surgery, so this was our year. 

Tunnel (1 going west, there are 2 going east)

All these I-40 tunnels curved!

Bad news was the weather. There was a front blowing down from the North with Canadian wildfire smoke and rain all day Wednesday. We both thought, we shouldn't go, but did not say it because we didn't want to disappoint each other. Clay booked and prepaid a non-refundable reservation. I figured we were sleeping in that $180 a night room no matter what happened with the firefly viewing.

Tennessee had no Visitor's Center!

It rained heavily as we left the Triangle. It misted all day. We drove up in about 6 hours on Wednesday. It took about 5 hours on I-40 to reach the Tennessee border. We must have already been in National Forest or Park land since TN did not have a Visitor's Center. We got off the Interstate shortly after and took all tiny curvy roads so the last 20 miles or so took over an hour.  Coming home the last 30 miles or so took over an hour or 2 because of stop/start traffic from Chapel Hill to Raleigh on I-40.

Slow-going coming up here at the end.

Park Vista DoubleTree

Park Vista interior from 14th floor

Panorama from our #1417 balcony

We checked in to the Park Vista DoubleTree by Hilton. It sat about a 1/4 mile above the 3-ring circus that is Gatlinburg. It is a circular-shaped 15-story tower. We had a 14th floor park view room, so other than driving through town to get to and from we avoided the town of Gatlinburg. We checked a radar weather forecast for Gatlinburg and it looked like rain would be heaviest after 8:30 to about 10pm but it did not extend very far south of town. Excellent for us!

We ate an early meal of appetizers at Firefly's Lounge in the hotel and set off for the park around 6:15. It won't be dark until closer to 9pm. But our ticket is dated and timed. We have to check in between 6 and 8:15pm. Parking is first come/first served so we wanted to get there earlier rather than later. The ticket says that you must present it for scanning the QR code and present a photo ID matching the name. Clay was trying to get his license out of his wallet as we turned right at the Sugarlands Visitor Center. (Not advised. Have your ID and wallet out before you start driving!) Here we saw maybe a dozen total wild turkeys on both sides of the road. As we just passed the driveway to the VC parking lot, Clay handed me his wallet and told me to get his license out. I looked down to take it, then he slammed on the brakes and said, bear. It was literally one front paw on the road by the right front bumper and it backed up as we inched ahead. It was pretty big as it was eye level with my window. We almost hit a bear! No photos because Clay's phone was plugged into the car for GPS. We didn't even think about a photo until we were too far down the road and an oncoming SUV had stopped as the bear crossed the road from R to L and was visible in their lane by now. (I should also point out, that no one ever looked at or asked for the QR code or ID! We spelled the last name and confirmed the first and she checked us on her list, wrote the number of people in the car and off we were sent.) 

Etiquette sign

We wound up in the Appalachian Clubhouse parking lot. ( If you put Appalachian Clubhouse in the map's search window, it will show where we were.) This was convenient to the Jakes Creek trail viewing area. It was not as close as the Jakes Creek Trailhead parking lot, but had the advantage of a building with toilets and running water (not port-a-potty).  In any event, the closer lot was full when we arrived and we were the first car to park by the clubhouse. Looking at the map, we walked between the 2 lines of black dots to the Jakes Creek trailhead and walked a few minutes before setting up overlooking the creek. Walking uphill, that was on our right. It turned out the majority of the fireflies were in the heavy woods to our left. Easy enough we just turned our chairs! We really lucked out with the weather. It misted but no heavy rain. No thunder heard. The ground wasn't even muddy!

We made it! About 3000 feet roundtrip.

Bob's waiting.

The synchronous firefly display was amazing and crazy! It was magical and just unbelievable. We were both so glad we sucked it up and went. We got no photos even though we tried with the phone set to no flash and night setting and the phone inside a red cellophane bag they were handing out. The flashlight and camera flash etiquette around us was so atrocious that no one noticed us because we were following instructions and trying not to disrupt the fireflies. Here are some park service photos. Here is a YouTube video. 

Morning view from #1417 balcony

We left the park about 10:15pm. Clay took a shower. It was after midnight before I got to bed. We slept in a little comfortably late and checked out around 10:15am. The weather had cleared overnight and we did have some good views! A bear (?) had pooped on the aisle where we parked the car last night! We got that photo.

That big poo wasn't there last night.