Leaving Nashville

We got up early yesterday morning to start home. But first we went to the Pancake Pantry to eat breakfast. This is a famous restaurant in Nashville where some country music stars have been known to eat .  We didn't see any stars but the food was very good.

Kelly discusses the menu with Dorothy.  Kelly had a dish called

Chocolate Sin. Crepes filled with ganache and topped with rasberry

and whipped cream.

We were at the restaurant by 8am and didn't have to wait very

long, but by the time we left the line was beginning to form.

It was already hot when we started the last leg home. It's usually

an eight hour trip but because of road work in Arkansas and many

comfort stops it became a 13 hour trip.

I-40 east of Little Rock became a parking lot for the better part

of an hour.

We are home.

Cherokee to Nashville

The morning we left Cherokee, North Carolina we drove around taking pictures.

We ate at Peter's Pancakes, one of the better meals we had on

the trip.

Bear statues are seen all over town, each one painted by a

different native artist.

This is a statue of Sequoia, the Cherokee leader

who invented the Cherokee alphabet. It was carved

from a single redwood log.

After checking into our hotel in Nashville, we visited the Lane

Motor Museum. It is a collection of European cars dating from

the 1920's to the present time. Some of the most unusual vehicles

we've ever seen.

We were not allowed to touch any of the vehicles, but they had

this one that anyone could touch and use for photos.

We went to the Wild Horse Saloon for dinner.

There was live country music.

Kelly, Marley, Hunter, and Jenna line dancing.

Standing in front of the Ryman Auditorium looking south.

Charlotte/Cherokee

We spent the night in Charlotte and were planning to visit the science museum Discovery Place (another surprise I had planned), but Hunter was feeling under the weather and Kelly thought it best to have him seen by a doctor. That took up most of the morning so we headed on to Cherokee.

I wanted Marley to see the Charlotte skyline because it was also

used in the Hunger Games movie as the the location of the Capitol.

We stopped along the way to have a burger.

At Cherokee we ate dinner at Granny's Kitchen, a buffet that

serves southern cooking such as pork chops, fried chicken, roast

beef, green beans, corn bread, biscuits, and vegetable soup.

This is the view from our hotel room.

New Bern

Today we visited New Bern, North Carolina. It's the second oldest city in North Carolina. It was founded in 1710. An activity I kept secret from the grand kids was ride on a small "tugboat". We went up the Neuse and Trent rivers, a two hour cruise.

We went under highway bridges.

And past channel markers with Osprey nests built on them. Most nests

had young birds in them.

This house belongs to the author Nicholas Sparks.

After the cruise we went to the birthplace of Pepsi-Cola at

this old soda shop.

Kill Devil Hills to New Bern

We left early this morning and drove down the Outer Banks through the Hatteras National Seashore.

Our first stop was the Bodie Island light house.

As you can see it is enshrouded in scaffolding.

For the first time in its 140 year history it is receiving

a full refurbishing.

This house was used in the movie Nights in Rodanthe

Cape Hatteras light house. The tallest in North America.

Hunter at the top of the lighthouse.  I gave my camera to Kelly

to take this picture. My legs are still sore from climbing stairs

at Biltmore mansion and Chimney Rock.

We took a ferry from Cape Hatteras to Ocracoke Island. That's

our car with the road atlas in the rear window.

There was a small air conditioned lounge for passengers.

After driving off the ferry at Ocracoke we drove the length

of the island to the next ferry dock. We arrived just in time to catch

the next ferry to Cedar Island.

We passed other ferries going in the opposite direction.

The Cedar Island ferry was bigger and had a nicer lounge. The

trip took 2-1/2 hours.

So we made it to New Bern this evening. I have something special

planned for the grand kids tommorrow.

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From Kitty Hawk to the moon in 66 years.

We all learned in school that the Wright brothers first flew a motor powered airplane at Kitty Hawk. But the first flight was from Kill Devil Hills.

Kelly and the kids at the memorial

I told the kids the photographer wasn't real but they didn't listen.

You can see our hotel and the Atlantic beyond from

the top of the hill where the memorial sits.