Category: 2021

Week long drive through Blue Ridge Parkway and Smokey Mountains – Oct 2021

In October of 2021 we embarked on a weeklong trip going from Hagerstown Md to Gatlinburg Tennessee. In this blog I am going to touch on the highs and lows along with a few photos. It is impossible to put every detail in a short blog. So here we go.

The trip started with meeting up with our great friends Bill and Kelly who also own a Miata. We met them about 20 miles down the Blue Ridge Parkway. We drove together on the parkway until we came to a closure on the road around Roanoke Va. At that point we got off the parkway and drove country roads until we got to their house were we spent the night. From there we made our way back to the parkway and to Linville Falls where we stayed the night at Linville Falls Lodge. It was a very well kept quaint place to stay. Highly recommend it. Also recommend to take the hike to Linville falls, it is not a bad hike and the view is great.

We stopped at Grandfather Mountain right off the parkway at milepost 305. It is worth the stop. Going up the mountain has wonderful views of the forest. there is an animal preserve where you can see animals that are local to the area. Then you drive up to the top of the mountain where you can see the valley below and stand on the edge of the mountain. The view is wonderful.

We made several stops off the parkway including the town of Mt Airey which is the town depicted as Mayberry in The Andy Griffith show. If you are a Andy Griffith fan it is worth the trip. We eventually made our way to Ashville NC. We took a full day to see the Biltmore. We loved the Biltmore tour and the village located on the grounds a few miles from the mansion. We stayed 2 nights in Downtown Ashville. To be honest we did not like the Downtown area of Ashville and when we go back we will stay either at the Biltmore hotel or somewhere out of town. The Biltmore was amazing and highly recommend it to anyone passing through the Asheville area. It does take an entire day to see most of it but it is worth the time.

After Ashville we went into the Smokey Mountains stopping at a couple places to hike. Including Clingmans Dome. It was a foggy and cloudy day. By the time we got to the top it was fully cloud covered and you could not see more than 20 ft and there was a cold 50 mph wind. From pictures at the bottom and others if it is clear, it is worth the uphill walk. If it is cloudy and foggy, skip it. We stayed for 2 nights in Gatlinburg Tn. We stayed at a downtown hotel called Bearskin Lodge. It was a very nice rustic hotel. Highly recommend it. From there you could walk to the downtown area. There was a craft show at the Gatlinburg civic center that we went to and picked up a few things. Everything we ended up buying for the entire week we had to make sure we could fit it into the car. We passed on a few things during the trip that if we had another car we would have bought.

While in Gatlinburg we drove up to Pigeon Forge to go to the Titanic museum. It was a nice museum that took you through the history of what happened to and on the titanic. The only complaint we had was the the audio information segments in each room could have been longer and more informative. There are several great restaurants in Gatlinburg. We were only there for 2 days but we really enjoyed Breakfast at Crocketts 1875 Breakfast Camp and dinner at The Park Grill. Highly recommend both. We also had bbq at Bones BBQ Joint. It is a couple blocks above the civic center so alittle off main street but it was very good with a nice rustic Gatlinburg atmosphere.

We left Gatlinburg to start the trek back North. Our destination for the day was Snow Shoe resort in West Virginia. By mostly back roads it was about a 7 hour drive. The scenery was nice along the way. One thing you have to always consider when on back roads is gas and food. We have been in situations that both are very limited. For this 7 hour drive we managed ok. We had to go past Cass Railroad to get to Snow Shoe so we stopped. Unfortunately we missed a train getting back by about 30 minutes. After looking around we headed to Snow Shoe that is only about 20 minutes away. As we drove up the mountain the fog got denser and denser. By the time we got to the top visibility was only a few feet. Unfortunately on top of the mountain stayed fogged in for 2 days. The morning we left was a clear day with no fog and only a few clouds in the sky.

We had never been to Snow Shoe resort. It was a surprise to us as how nice it was. Our hotel was at the Mountaintop Village that is a area that has shops and restaurants. While at Snow Shoe we took a horse ride at Autumn Breeze Stables. We have come to really enjoy Horse riding at locations with great Scenery. We have done it in Alaska and the Grand Canyon also. We have never been disappointed. We really liked the conversation with the handlers and guides at Autumn Breeze. The trail was a little more adventurous than the others which made it nice also. Also while in Snow Shoe we took a ski lift ride down to a the lake and walked around. It is amazing how peaceful the forest can be when you are above it looking down.

We left Snow Shoe to start the 6 hour trip home. We only stopped at one location other than food and gas. We took the Cavern tour at Smoke Hole Caverns in West Virginia. It was a nice tour and recommend it if you are in the area. It took about 45 minutes.

Some photos:

Tips and lessons learned

1. If your a Miata owner you understand this but packing for a week long trip is a science and has to have some thought put into it. We brought enough clothes for about 4 days with the expectation of washing clothes at around 4 days in. There is no way we could have brought enough for 8 days. This also leaves you a very little space for things that you may purchase along the way. I stress the term very little.

2. The Blueridge parkway is wonderful. We ended up spending 3 days going the length of it. We could have easily spent a 4 th day doing more hikes and seeing small communities off the parkway.

3. As mentioned above we were disappointed in the downtown of Ashville. There was a tremendous amount of homeless people in the downtown area. There was not a real touristy area, it was just a medium size city downtown area. Would not recommend staying downtown unless there is something you need to be close to for convenience.

4. Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge area was great. We are already planning a trip back. The 2 days we spent there was not nearly long enough.

5. Snow Shoe Resort in West Virginia was way better than we imagined it would be. Doing the planning for the trip we were just looking for someplace to split the drive from Gatlinburg to Hagerstown. It turned out to be great, even though the weather was not great. This is another place we will go back for a long weekend and do sight seeing in the area.

6. We took the trip wanting to look at the leaves changing. The first week in Oct was about 2 weeks to soon. Next time we will plan on mid to maybe even late Oct. The risk is, the later in the season you get the temperature will not allow for Top Down Days. We will need to plan carefully.

Raystown Lake PA – July 2021

Our next Top Down adventure in the Miata was a few days at and around Raystown Lake in Pennsylvania. Raystown is the largest lake in PA and about a 2 hour drive from Hagerstown Md. We have found that if you go to places at times other than Friday and Saturday the crowds are less and it is easier to get around. We did our trip over 3 days, Sunday thru Tuesday in July 2021.

We planned on doing several things while there along with looking at the lake area for future family trips and getaways. We stayed at the Lake Raystown Resort. They have several different options including small to medium cabins and Yurts. There is a minimum nights to stay in these so we stayed at the Lodge which is a group of 3 buildings with Hotel style rooms. You can rent pontoon boats and jet skis for the day from the resort but this trip we did not do that. If you have a boat they rented slips both short term and long term. The resort and accommodations were very good. We drove up on a Sunday morning stopping at Bedford Village on the way. This is a planned 18th century historic replica of a town. They have relocated old cabins, stores and other buildings to this site. There are interrupters on site that will give demonstrations, talks, tours and answer questions. The crowd was light so we easily made our way around the village. It was a step back in time for about 2 hours. We would recommend that if you are in the area and have never been there, it is worth the stop.

The rest of the day we made our way to Lake Raystown Resort. The weather was a little hot but not to bad with the AC on and the top down. Of course we set the GPS to avoid highways and had a great ride through the country and mountains. When we arrived we mainly drove around the resort to explore seeing the different types of cabins and alot of RV camping. Most of the cabins and RV spots were full however there was little traffic and we could explore easily.

The next day we traveled about 90 minutes to Penn caverns. The route we took went through a valley of farm land. We went by mile after mile of corn, soybean and other things we did not know what they were. The size and qty of farms was fascinating. We speculate that they are there to support the Dairy farmers that supply milk to Hershey, there are also several canning companies in this area of Pennsylvania that may get produce from here.

We did not know exactly what to expect at Penn caverns but it turned out to be the highlight of the weekend. The Cavern tour was by boat. The Boat captain and tour guide gave a great 60 minute tour of the caverns.

They also had an animal safari that is done by Bus. The 90 minute tour took you past about a dozen different types of animals including Bison, Deer, Black Bear, Elk, Coyote, Fox and others. We did get to see a new born bison that was born within 2 hours of our tour. The bus made several stops so the tour guide could get off the bus and get the animals to come out so we could see them. We also got off the bus at one point to see a couple different animals.

We were lucky that an antique car tour was passing through and stopped at Penn Caverns. We took a few moments to look at the 30+ cars that were parked in the lot. We highly recommend Penn Caverns if you are in the area. Cost was a little high but the facility and all the tours were very nice. We ended up spending about 4 hours here in total.

On the way back toward the Lodge we stopped at Brookmere Winery for a tasting and to purchase some wine. They had a lot of good options so if passing by with the top down stop by. Tasting was also free. Definite plus.

Our next stop was Trough Creek State park. We took a short hike on the Balanced Rock trail. It really went to a large rock that seemed to be balanced on the top of the hill. It looked like it could fall at any time, however the sign says it has been this way for a few thousand years. After the balanced rock and trail we found a gravel road that went through the state park and forest. For about 45 minutes on this road we looked for wildlife, mainly hoping to see a bear, but we did not. We saw a deer and a squirrel but that is about it. In the 45 minutes only saw 2 other cars.

On Tuesday we checked out of the hotel and headed to Fort Roberdeau. It is a county run park with a remake of the Revolutionary fort that sat in the same spot around 1776. the fort was approved by George Washington to mine lead for the war effort. It was not that successful of an effort due to the lack of miners available at the fort and other issues. We were there when the fort opened and had a great walk through the fort and time with the Fort interpreter afterward with a lot of questions. We thought this was worth the trip and would recommend it.

We did have a secondary agenda going to this lake. we are looking for places with cabins or houses to rent for a family weekend gathering that we try to do each year. Unfortunately the cabins at the resort seemed to small to be really comfortable. The website says they sleep up to 8 but based on the size outside it would be a tight fit for that many.

One complaint we had was the lack of a variety of restaurants around. We did find Woody’s Bar-B-Q which was very good. After the fort, the interpreter at the fort recommended Spruce Creek Tavern which was also good. It just seemed that the options were limited. Most of the land on the lake at Raystown is owned by the Army Corp of Engineers, so there are virtually no private homes on the lake. The only real options to have lodging on the lake is the resort. There are other options close to the lake.

We both really enjoyed the couple days around Raystown Lake. There are more things to do at and around the lake so I can foresee another trip in the future to do the things we missed.

Maryland Creamery Trail – Summer 2021

We have discovered that Maryland has a Creamery Trail that encompasses 10 on the Farm Creameries. Three of them are very local to us and a couple more are only a couple hour drive. This sounded like a Top Down Day adventure that we could not pass up. Our plan is to visit as many as we can this summer and fall.

At the end of each visit we will rate the ice cream aspect of the visit. We will be looking for unique flavors, creamy texture along with the atmosphere of the place you get the ice cream. We will comment on the other aspects of the visit but that will not be part of the rating. The scale will be from 1 to10.

Our first Creamery adventure was to Rocky Point Creamery in Point of Rocks Md. As usual we took almost all 2 lane highways to get there. We passed through Boonsboro and Brunswick to get to Point of Rocks. Rocky Point Creamery has a very nice building with seating inside which was great on the day we went because of the 92 deg outside. They also have picnic tables outside with a small play area replicating farm equipment that looked fun if I were 50 years younger.

I would recommend 2 scoops it was just about the right amount, plus you get to try 2 different flavors. We both had 2 scoops so we got to taste 4 flavors total. In all they had about 20 different flavors. Our choices were Peanut butter swirl, Lemon cupcake, Butter Pecan and Carelmoo. All of them were very good. The one I liked the best was Carelmoo. All of them were very very creamy. I guess the freshness of the Ice cream kept at the right temperature helps keep it smooth. For sure recommend Rocky Point Creamery as a Top Down Day. On the way home we went through Middletown and Boonsboro however toward the end of the trip home rain caught up to us so our Top Down Day ended.

The Scale rating for Rocky Point Creamery is an 8

In mid July 2021, Our next creamery was South Mountain Creamery outside of Middletown Md. It is pretty close to home, with only about a 20 minute drive time goes by quick. The ride was nice on country roads and up and down the mountains of Maryland. If you have kids this is the place to go. You can see calves, pet goats, play in the large playset and see cows up close. If you go at the right time you can see the cows being milked.

The creamery part of South Mountain Creamery could use an update. The general store where you can get farm made and grown products could use an update. It is in the end of a barn with little room, no seats and a concrete floor. A nice clean air conditioned place that had good displays of local goods along with the items they make on the farm could go a long way looking like a real general store.

As far as the ice cream, it was good but it was very similar to dozens of places that serve hand dipped ice cream. You could go to any place that sold hand dipped Hershey’s ice cream and get pretty much the same thing. On the East coast a Hershey Ice cream sign in front of a small store means they have hand dipped Hershey ice cream. Not sure if that is consistent in other parts of the country.

Our rating for South Mountain Creamery is a 4.

It is now the beginning of September. We had a goal of going to most of the creamery’s on the Maryland Creamery trail but that probably is not going to happen all in 1 year. We did our third Creamery on a sunny, cool Saturday in Sept. We went to the Woodbourne Creamery at Rock Hill Orchard in Mt Airy Maryland.

The drive was was nice with the top down. It was the first day in a while that the AC did not even have to be on. With temps in the high 70’s it was almost perfect. The creamery is in a small building right off of Ridge Rd outside of Mt Airy. The line was long when we pulled in and were worried that we would be standing for a while. However the line moved very quick. The setup they have takes orders at one window while you pick up at another. By the time we walked up to the second window our ice cream was ready.

They had about 16 flavors and you can get scoops in cups or cones along with milkshakes. We did scoops. Cindy ordered Marshmallow chocolate chip and Peach, The order got messed up and the peach was not under the chocolate chip. She settled for 2 scoops of Chocolate chip. I ordered Red Velvet and Peach. My order was correct. The mix up can be blamed on the Covid precautions. the person ordering is behind a clear plastic wall and we found it hard to hear her. I suspect it is hard for her to hear us.

All the flavors we had was pretty good. They had a good flavor and texture. They were a little creamy but not as creamy as Rocky Point Creamery. My favorite was Red Velvet, Cindy’s was her Marshmallow chocolate chip. They had lots of nice new tables with umbrellas to sit at and a play ground for the kids. We did not do this but you could also pick your own flowers and apples. the flowers were right behind the creamery building and tables. It was nice to look at the flowers while we ate our ice cream.

Our Rating for Woodbourne Creamery is a 6.

Ohio Amish Country – May 2021

Our next trip was to the Amish Country in Ohio. The Amish Country is a relatively small area in Northeast Ohio that has a concentration of Amish. The Amish try to stay true to there heritage and religion by working, farming and living life with few if any of the modern conveniences we take for granted. Both of our families have a farming background and even though we are not farmers now, it makes us respect, admire and a little understand the way the Amish live.

Our overall plan for this trip is to see our son and daughter-in-law in Cincinnati Ohio. For the trip we did a 2 day excursion through the Amish Country.

The beginning of our trip started in Hagerstown Md and got us to Moundsville WV where we stayed the night with Cindy’s mom. That part of the trip was top down part of the way but alot was interstate highway which is nice but it is not the back road slower pace top down that we enjoy.

After the night in Moundsville we took backroads the rest of the way to the 4 small towns we were planning on visiting. Plan was to start at Sugar Creek then go to Walnut Creek, Berlin and Millersburg. All are on Ohio Rt 39. Most things you will want to do in the Amish country is a short excursion off of Rt 39.

One very nice thing for top down driving is the option on Google maps to go no highways. It routes you to your destination using backroads, taking you through small towns and communities that you would not see otherwise. We did the rest of our trip to Amish Country and Cincinnati using this feature.

Our first stop was in the town of Sugar Creek. It is pretty much the gateway to the Amish. In reality our 2 days started when we arrived on Thursday around 11am and completed Friday around 11 am when we had to start the drive to Cincinnati. Due to limited time, we had to pick the things that we wanted to see and do carefully to maximize the time we had.

The Amish are famous for several things, one of them is their quality constructed furniture. There are a lot of furniture shops so we picked one basically at random. We went to Troyer Furniture right on Rt 39. It had very nice furniture and gave us several good ideas. SugarCreek is also home to the largest Cuckoo Clock. The clock show happens every 30 minutes. There were a few shops around the clock that we explored while we waited for the clock to cuckoo. One particular shop was called The Secret Garden Gift shop. It was one of most unique shops we have been to. It sells and is decorated by a lot of natural items. It is very much worth a few minutes to go in.

After we saw the 5 minute clock show we moved on to other things in SugarCreek including Breitenbach Winery and then headed to Walnut Creek. Another thing the Amish is famous for is their cheese. We went to Walnut Creek cheese which is basically a country store with all kinds of meats and cheeses along with other Amish made items. There are also a few shops associated with Walnut Creek Cheese that are worth looking through.

Eating in the Ohio Amish country is always a tough decision. Since we were around Walnut Creek at the time we wanted to eat a late lunch, we went to Der Dutchman restaurant. There are several restaurants in the area that serve what I would consider home cooking, meat and potatoes types of dinners. If you are looking for that type of food one of these are what you are looking for. The people are great and the food is good at a reasonable price. You can do a buffet or menu which ever meets your hunger needs.

For the night we stayed at the Berlin Resort. It was a very good choice for us. Everything was very clean and well kept. It has inside and outside activities, including a movie theater for kids and adults, pool, hot tub, outside sitting locations with a fire pit and more. They also give you a warm cookie when you check in.

The next day we went to a couple different places including Tis the Season, the largest Christmas shop in Ohio, Sheiyah market and Heini’s Cheese where usually during non covid times you can taste test about a hundred different types of cheese. You can also see them making cheese and if timing is right may be able to have a tour guide talk about the process.

The entire day was top down with our Miata. There are alot of things we did not have time for that we would have liked to see, but due to our limited time we couldn’t. One other bad part is that there are a lot of shops that have a lot of unique and cool things. But with limited space in the miata, pretty much the only thing we bought was some cheese to take home. That just means that on a future trip to our sons house we may need to stop again.

From Berlin we drove through Millersburg and headed to Cincinnati looking at the Amish farm land and small towns along the way, all on back roads. It turned out to take about 1.5 hours longer than if we just got on the interstate but it was a sunny day and with some sun screen, the AC on and the top down, the drive was great.

Tips for the Ohio Amish country

  1. If you live close by and can go several times, you can see everything in a couple trips. For us we grew up about 2 hours away and had been there several times. If not close and you’re going for the first time you should stay 2 nights in the area in order to do everything that is interesting.
  2. Being Amish, a lot of places close at 5pm every day. Also not much is open on Sunday so plan accordingly.
  3. We mentioned this before but the Google maps no highways option is a great tool. We prefer under 50mph with the top down, along with the scenery and experiences you can have off the highway.

Shenandoah River State Park April 4 2021

The next trip we decided on was a day trip to a nearby Virginia State Park. Shenandoah River State park is about 90 minutes outside of DC and about the same from our home in Hagerstown Maryland. It is a few miles from the upper entrance to Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park.

The drive to the park was pleasant. We took back roads all the way. Luckily our Google maps has an option for no highways. It does a pretty good job of keeping you off of 4 lane highways.

This was our first time at the park. We found it be a nice park. It has cabins to rent and camping area for campers, motor homes and tents. Most of the park overlooked a U shaped part of the Shenandoah River.

The park has many trails, on the map none looked to difficult. We stopped at the park overlook and took the 1 mile Overlook trail to the visitors center. The visitor center was nice. It was a pleasant surprise to find open on Easter Sunday and during Covid.

The one complaint with the park is that there is not a lot to do inside the park that we found. The scenery was excellent, being at the edge of Shenandoah National Park but other than several trails and a large picnic area, there did not seem to be much else for the day visitor. It is more geared toward picnicking, camping and cabin rental. With alot of stuff to do in the local area it does make sense to stay in the park and do the many things at Luray Va and Skyline Drive.

After our visit in the park we started home on a different route than we came on. We stopped for supper at Paddy Irish Pub in Charlestown WV. It had a great atmosphere, food and service. We highly recommend it for anyone traveling through Charlestown.

Now that Spring is here we are looking forward to many more Top Down Days this year with the Miata.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is website_logo_solid_background.png

Cacapon State Park WV/PAW PAW Tunnel Md – Nov 2020

It was exceptionally warm on Thanksgiving weekend so we decided to put the top down and take a day trip. We decided on visiting Cacapon State Park in West Virginia. It is located not far from White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. With Top Down, seat warmer and heat on it was a very pleasant temperature to enjoy the open air.

We drove through the park, which in November did not have a lot of people around but there were a few. Most likely families that rented one of cabins for Thanksgiving. The park has over 30 cabins to rent. They also have rooms at the park lodge. The current park lodge is going through a renovation. It looks to be over half done and we suspect will be ready to open sometime in 2021.

The park in total is around 6000 acres. The roads of the park have recently been repaved so the drive through the park was a very smooth and comfortable ride. A portion of the road was closed for the winter so exploring the entire park was not possible.  We found that the park has several hiking trails so we took about an hour hike past the beach and lake area, through the woods, following a stream that feeds the lake. Did not see a lot of wildlife but we did see a frog and a wood pecker along the trail.

After looking around the park we decided we had enough time to go to the Paw Paw tunnel on the C&O canal. It is actually in Maryland. The C&O canal was originally a canal going from Cumberland Maryland to Washington DC. It runs a total of 184 miles. After nearly 100 years of moving supplies back and forth between Cumberland and Washington DC it is now a walking and biking path. Most of the 184 miles is open to the public and where portions are not open, detours are setup so that you can hike or bike from Cumberland to DC if you desire. The Paw Paw tunnel is part of the C&O canal, it took 14 years to build due to complications in the digging and massive cost overruns. You can walk into the tunnel but it has been closed on the far end of the tunnel for a couple years. The tunnel is 3,118 ft long, so it gets very dark inside the tunnel. Recommend you take a flashlight. It does give you a feeling of isolation when you get away from the opening. If your claustrophobic it is probably not the place for you.

As you could imagine driving around the area of White Sulphur Springs WV and Paw Paw Md are all country roads winding through trees, creeks and homes, up and down hills. Just the type of road that makes a Top Down Day magical.