Virginia is for Lovers.... of History!

Williamsburg, VA  April 22 - 27, 2013

After the blow-out ordeal we arrived safe and sound at the Williamsburg RV park.  It is a nice wooded park, but it is older so the roads are very narrow and the sites are small.  We managed to get into a site right by the office which is very handy from a laundry perspective.  We were grateful for the hook-ups and the ability to shower!  Miciou was grateful for being allowed outside once again as we didn't let her out in the Love's parking lot.  We got all settled and all of our laundry done and getting dinner prepared when there was a knock on our door.  It seems someone complained about our cat being out without a leash!  This is a new one.  It turns out that an older woman is terrified of cats.  Unbelievable!  Poor Miciou has to be kept inside again.

We use our first day to drive the Colonial Parkway from Jamestown, thru Williamsburg all of the way to Yorktown.  It is a beautiful road and we are very excited about the museums at each location.  We read all of the historical markers along the way and drove the Historic Jamestown loop.  We took the dogs on a great little hike out to the water where Zoe managed to pick up her first tick!  Ewwww.
Williamsburg is a great little city and we love the Virginia roads and houses.  Trees everywhere and very pristine.

We decide to tour the museums in their historical order so we start with Jamestown the first permanent British settlement in the Americas.  The museum is fabulous!  It includes a 30,000 sq ft gallery, a re-created Powhatan Indian Village complete with Indians, replicas of the ships sailed by the settlers, and a replica of James Fort complete with settlers.  The gallery is broken up by time-period starting with 1607 when they landed and moving through to just before the revolution.  We interacted with Powhatan Indians weaving baskets, flint nappers making spearpoints, tanning hides, making pottery and carving out canoes.  We walked through their reed covered houses and ceremonial circle.  We then toured the ships and talked to the crew members.  In the fort we watched the settlers cooking meals, blacksmiths forge iron, and soldiers load and fire weapons.  We were having such a good time we barely noticed the hundreds of school kids on field trips - yeah right.  We then went to the Jamestown National Park where the actual James Fort has been discovered and is currently being excavated!  They have found many preserved artifacts that were thrown into an abandoned well and therefore are highly preserved.  We learned about the woman responsible for saving the area from destruction and all about the real John Smith - a fascinating man who is responsible for much of the documentation existing about the land and times.

Powhatan reed covered house.  Not all T-pee's are created equal

Replica's of the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery that sailed to Virginia in 1607

Peg talking rocks and minerals with the "flint napper"

How many Indians have you seen with red hair?

Excavation site of the actual "James Fort".  Archeologists were on site digging

We forgo Colonial Williamsburg which is a kind of historical amusement park and very expensive and headed to Yorktown to visit the Yorktown Victory Center.  I am sure we both learned all of this stuff back in school, but neither of us remembers any of it.  They had an entire gallery dedicated to the Declaration of Independence.  They also had these great displays showing how the Revolution affected all of the different people in the era:  women, children, Indians, slaves etc.  It was fascinating.  We also learned all about the decisive battle won at Yorktown and the brilliance of George Washington.  Outside the museum they have an entire army encampment set up with a redoubt complete with artillery, a surgical tent, and camp kitchen.  They have interpreters everywhere demonstrating and interacting.  We watched a cannon being loaded and fired - so loud and very cool.  We walked through a 1780's farm where they had a full kitchen garden, cooking cabin, tobacco barn and dwelling.  Everything very authentic.  We then headed over to the actual Yorktown Battlefield and visitor center where they have the actual tent used by George Washington!  We drive the battlefield and really get a sense of the battle.  Another great day filled with history and learning. 

Re-enactment of loading and firing a cannon.  Women did work the cannon lines

Revolutionary war doctor/physician.  Some of the stuff on that table was scary, especially the dental tools

Single family garden

Colonial house with table set, all plates, utensils etc..are from the period

Our last day is Calcite's fourth birthday so we decide to find something that she would enjoy especially after being locked in the trailer for two very long museum days.  We find that York River State Park is ten minutes away and what a find.  Miles and miles of trails that follow the York River and surrounding countryside.  It was a fabulous day topped off by a walk along Fossil Beach so named for the thousands of fossils lining the shore.  Peg was in geologist heaven, Calcite and Zoe were in canine heaven running in and out of the water. Calcite had a great birthday hike.  It was a great way to finish our visit to Williamsburg. 

"Happy Birthday to me".  Come on Zoe hurry up!

Gastropods, Pelecypods and Turitella's  Oh My

What a beautiful day

Coming soon.... Misty Mountain, VA and the Shenandoah Valley

What Would Opie Do?

Mt. Airy, NC  April 18 - 20, 2013

We decided on a stop in Mt. Airy, NC based on a fellow campers recommendation and we needed a stop between Cherokee and Williamsburg, VA anyway.  Mt. Airy is the town where Andy Griffith grew up and what he based the town of Mayberry on in the Andy Griffith Show - is everybody whistling?  We arrived at the Mayberry Campground which was very nice with a couple of fishing ponds and some great open grass areas.

We drove into the historic downtown where we saw the house Andy Griffith grew up in, main street complete with Opie's Candy Store, Floyd's Barbershop, Snappy Lunch Counter, and Wally's Service Station.  The candy store was really fun as they had all of the candy from our childhood.  I stalked up on chocolate covered pretzels my new favorite thanks to Eileen (not as good as hers).  We went to the Andy Griffith museum where we they have a great collection of personal and TV artifacts from his entire life.  They even had one of the starts from the show there signing autographs.  It was fun and we both wanted to go home to sit watch old re-runs.

South Hill, VA April 20 - 22, 2013

Fourteen miles over the Virginia state-line a tire on Suni blew.  And I mean blew!  I was driving and I didn't feel or hear a thing - no wobble or lack of control.  I just felt a little tug and when I looked at my gauges everything was fine but when I looked in my mirror tire shrapnel was blowing.  I slowed down and pulled to the shoulder as soon as possible.  Luckily there was a large enough shoulder to hold us.  Thankfully we had just purchased Good Sam's Roadside Assistance plan which had been recommended to us again and again by Bev and finally by our new friends Don and Sue who said "it's not a question of if you need it, it's when you need it".  We called them right away and they said we could expect our savior within 50 minutes.  Robert from Smiley's Truck and Diesel showed up as promised and went to work to change our tire.  Unfortunately when the tire blew it took some of Suni's siding with it!  UGH more body damage!  When Robert gets the spare on he tells us we have a bigger problem.  The spare is wobbling on the axle so it seems we have a problem with our bearings and we shouldn't drive on it.  He gives us the choice of removing the spare and driving on three tires or leaving it on.  We decide to leave the tire on and limp one mile down the highway where there is a brand new Love's Truck Stop.  We park Suni in a back corner where Robert promises that they will be back on Monday morning to evaluate the situation. 

So we get to spend two nights surrounded by 18-wheelers!  We were a little worried about our fresh water supply as we only carry about 1/3 of a tank unless we know we are going to need it.  I had also not so brilliantly decided not to dump our black and grey tanks before we left Mt Airy since we were only there two nights; so we had to be very conservative with our water usage.  As crazy as it sounds this was the first time since our travels began that we were nervous about our safety.  Two women sitting in a truck stop parking lot.  So we got out the wasp spray and bear spray, locked up everything tight as a drum and went to bed.  Needless to say we had nothing to worry about.  Not only is Love's a safe haven, but we were able to fill our propane tanks, buy diesel exhaust fluid and fill our truck without ever having to leave the parking lot.  They even had a grass field for Calcite to play ball.

Bobby from Smiley's showed up promptly a 10:00 and was able to get us fixed up right there in the parking lot.  We drove into town and purchased a new tire so we would still have a good spare;  he called Napa Auto Parts out to deliver the grease he needed to repack our bearings and he checked the other three tires one of which was also loose.  We were all set to get back on the road.

Let's be honest and praise God for protecting us in so many ways on this crazy adventure:  breaking down within a mile of a safe haven on a road with room for us (that is rare), having Good Sam to assist us and having the damage be limited.  Thank You God and Bobby Smiley!  

Coming soon.... Williamsburg, VA

 

Living the Dream

Cherokee, NC    April 11 - 18, 2013

We left Atlanta with much anticipation as we were both very excited about our visit to the Great Smoky Mountains and our first time in the Appalachians.  We arrived at the Happy Holiday Campground and were very pleasantly surprised.  It is a beautiful place with a river and a pond, situated right at the base of the mountains and since it has only just re-opened from winter there are only a handful of people there.  We were in RV heaven.  As we check-in we find out that highway 441 the thorough-fare from Cherokee to Gatlinburg, TN has been closed for four months due to a landslide back in January.  This drive was recommended to us by my cousin Mark as one of the most beautiful drives in America and the reason we chose this destination!  Oh well it is such a beautiful spot we both consider just staying in Cherokee and forgetting about our move to Panama – just kidding sort of.

Happy Holiday Campground

 

                                     

 

                                                Trout stocked river right behind Suni!

 

Eastearn Bluebird that loved our truck.

There is so much to do and see it is hard to decide what to do first.  We drive to the south side visitor center and pick up pamphlets on the geology of the area (guess who is so excited), day hikes and the map for alternate routes to Gatlinburg.  We figure we will just drive both sides of the road up to the landslide and see 90% of it.  They only have two trails open to dogs – one at each visitor center so we took the dogs on a beautiful 3.5 mile hike along the Oconaluftee River.  Then we drove highway 441 as far as they would let us.  All of the trees were starting to bloom with new leaves in every shade of green imaginable and the red buds and dogwoods were popping with vibrant colors.  Thanks Mark!

                                     
                                            See why they're called the Smoky Mountains

 

 

We use our next day to drive the long way around to Gatlinburg, TN and see the other side of highway 441.  Gatlinburg is a very tourist oriented town with all of the usual shops and attractions.  It was crawling with people but did have a lot of personality.  We took the dogs on the other hike which was great once we got past all of the park headquarters' buildings and maintenance equipment.  There were remnants of old logging houses along the Little Pigeon River.  We then drove to the highest point in the Smokies forgetting once again to bring jackets and it was freezing at the 6643 ft. elevation.  But we were really there to see some metamorphosed sandstone and conglomerates that had beautiful purple quartz pebbles in it.  They were also streaked through with fantastic white quartz dikes (now, now, now…stop that).  The metamorphism occurred due to the heat created during plate convergence/uplifting of the Smoky Mts.  Geologists have named about 20 different “formations” of rocks in the Great Smoky Mts., lots of really cool rocks everywhere.  I guess you can tell Peg wrote that section!  We also made a stop at an entrance to the Appalachian Trail.  We had hoped to hike a section, but we were not prepared for the cold and the dogs were not allowed so we will have to try again somewhere between here and Maine.

                                                     
                                        
                                                          Beautiful every way you look

                                        
                                                  I don't look ready for the Appalachian Trail
.
                                                 
                                                          Remnants of a logger's house

 The next day was very stormy so we decided to use it for chores and shopping.  The newest revelation in our RV adventures is the value of Wal-Mart.  This is a store I used to avoid at all costs.  Now I drive 30 miles to the nearest one so I can get my haircut, change the oil in my truck and stock up on $3 wine and $5 DVD's!  Wonders never cease, this is life on a budget.  This Wal-Mart happened to be in a town called Sylva – what a cute town.  We had trouble finding the Wal-Mart because it turns out Nadine (our GPS) doesn’t work very well in the mountains.  She doesn’t know up from down.  In this case it was serendipitous because we really enjoyed being lost in Sylva.

We decided to make the drive to Chimney Rock State Park via the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We knew we were taking the long way, but it was worth it.  What an amazing drive.  They literally cut this road through all of the mountains.  There are these tunnels with signs telling you to turn your lights on.  Well the BAT’s lights usually come on automatically so I didn’t worry about it.  Let me tell you they do not come on fast enough and it was pitch black inside these tunnels.  SCARY!  I came to a full stop in the tunnel because I could not see a thing.  This was in an attempt to turn my lights on.  Apparently I did not communicate this fast enough to Peg who was screaming like her life was over.  I think I heard  "holy shit, is anyone behind you"?  No, there was not and it was all under control, but you know what, the passenger does not always know that.  Peg has almost killed me a hundred times! :)  Pay back is a bitch. :)  I did turn on my lights after that.  We could not help but to notice that many trees at all elevations appeared to be dead or dying.  We were there at “bloom out” time so everyone should have been showing some color.  Being the inquisitive types that we are…inquiring minds must know “what the hell is happening to all the trees?”  Turns out, there is a problem.  At the highest elevations the Fraser Firs are being destroyed by an exotic insect from Europe.  The pesky Balsam Woolly Adelgid came to North America on nursery stock.  In 45 years it has killed most mature Fraser Firs in the park, once the home to 75% of all Fraser Firs in the world.  Then at about 3,000 feet the Hemlock Forest is being destroyed by the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid which is native to China and Japan.  They are releasing a natural predator beetle that feeds only on the Adelgid and will hopefully help save a portion of the forest.  This beetle does not like the Balsam Woolly Adelgid unfortunately.  But wait…there’s more!  At ground level the Pine and Oak Forest is being destroyed by the Southern Pine Beetle.  If fire is suppressed, the pine beetles increase and impacts of their predation multiply.
                                  
                                                       Scary pitch black tunnel

Three hours later we finally arrived at Chimney Rock.  We were really excited because the glossy propaganda said…”We love dogs so bring yours to the park”.  Say no more to us, we are on our way.  There is a 404 foot waterfall and an elevator that takes you to the top.  It is a 535 million year old monolith of diorite granite; with miles of trails all ecologically and geologically diverse.  We couldn’t wait!  We arrive, ready to go.  CLOSED!  Working on roads within the park and gee, they just are not quite finished.  The park ranger was nice enough to tell us about a small hiking area on old logging trails down the road so we did squeeze in a little hike.  We also loved the town of Chimney Rock.  It sits on a river with great views of “The Rock”.

                                         

                                       

                                               View of Chimney Rock from outside the park

 I was very excited to see Asheville after our friends the Crouch’s had told us how much they loved it.  Since we only had one day, we decided to take yet another trolley tour.  We think it is the best way to see a lot in a short amount of time.  This one took us through all of the old neighborhoods, the Grove Inn area, Biltmore Village and the River Arts District.  It is a great city with musicians playing on street corners, old buildings being revitalized and very dog friendly.  The guide told us that Asheville was one of the few cities that didn’t default on their debts from the depression.  They tightened their belts and kept the city budget under control.  This slowed their growth, but it actually saved all of the historic buildings because the city didn’t spend the money to tear down and rebuild.  So now they make it a practice of recycling old buildings into new purposes.  It is a great city with a very Austin vibe – their motto is “Altitude not Attitude”.  We had wanted to see the Biltmore, but it was $60 per person to tour and this was definitely not in the budget!  After the trolley tour we walked downtown and tasted some local beers out on a patio.  I know I say this a lot, but another great day.

                                         

                                                 

  We had set aside the last day as a dog day which means finding hikes where they are allowed.  There were some beautiful trails along the Blue Ridge Parkway so we made our way back up there to spend our last day in the woods.  As we drove the clouds starting rolling in and a few raindrops hit the windshield much to our surprise as the weather man said it was supposed to be beautiful.  We pulled into a visitor center lot and the storm clouds were literally rolling over the top of the mountains, into the parking lot and down into the valley with lightening all around us.  It was the coolest weather phenomena I have ever seen, but needless to say not hiking weather.  We drove back down the parkway and returned to the dog friendly hike in the Smokies.

                                    
                                                                  Storm blowing in - crazy rain.

Coming soon… Mayberry, NC – to see Andy, Opie and Aunt Bee              

Aquarium, Coca-Cola and Gone with the Wind

Atlanta, GA  April 7 - 11, 2013

The traffic from Charleston to Atlanta was phenomenal as it seems we are traveling on yet another end of Spring Break.  We arrived at Jones RV Park to find that the office was closed on the weekend and there was no indication that they knew we were coming.  A couple that arrived just before us informed us that they are "full up" and they were told to park in overflow right there at the entrance.  We walk around to find that there are a few sites open so we picked one and pulled in hoping that our reservation was good.  The next morning when I went over to check-in they had no record of our reservation, but said they had plenty of space.

We used our first day to drive to Stone Mountain "Georgia's #1 Attraction".  Think enchanted rock on acid with an adjoining amusement park.  It is privately owned, but extremely well done.  The park surrounding the rock is 3200 acres filled with hiking trails, historic sites, museums and a few rides for the kids.  The centerpiece is a carving on the side of the mountain picturing Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson on horseback measuring 90' x 190' and 400' above the ground.  The carved surface is larger than a football field and is touted as the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world.  We never could find out was a bas-relief was but we know that whatever Mt. Rushmore is it isn't a bas-relief because Rushmore is bigger than this.  I guess we will figure that all out when we visit South Dakota.  It was quite impressive none the less..  The exhibit explaining the geology of the area and mountain made Peg proud.  We drove around the entire park and took several hikes.  It was a beautiful day.  Peg has more to say about Stone Mt (St. Mt.) as compared to Enchanted rock (Erock).  Ok, some of you out there may want to know that they are both Pluton's.  Intrusive igneous rock that is crystallized from magma cooling slowly deep within the Earth's surface.  Basically, a large bubble of molten rock (magma) that solidifies underground.  St. Mt. is larger than Erock and the granite is a different chemical composition than Erock making St. Mt. a different color.  St. Mt. lacks the microcline feldspar (pink stuff) and instead contains plagioclase feldspar (white stuff) so St. Mt. appears black and white instead of pink and white.  St. Mt. granite is called diorite, Erock granite is actually called Texas granite.  St. Mt. has smaller crystals than Erock, meaning the crystal size of St. Mt. is due to faster cooling.  Erock is very "chunky" and coarse grained.  Erock is about 300 million years older than St. Mt.  Erock is early Precambrian forming 900 million years ago and St. Mt. is late Precambrian forming 600 mya.  A. is telling me not to write a novel so I best quit here.  They are both very cool big ass rocks!

Stone Mountain

Cherry Blossoms are in bloom!

Hike in Stone Mountain

One of the reasons we came to Atlanta was to visit the Georgia Aquarium which claims to have the largest tank in the world and the only one to have whale sharks.  When we made the drive downtown we found out that we arrived just in time for the Final-Four.  It seems we have a knack for being in cities just in time for these huge sporting events without knowing it.  We were in New Orleans for Superbowl and Mardi Gras as you might recall.  After conquering the downtown parking challenge we entered the aquarium with much enthusiasm and were well rewarded.  They have several tanks with sea-life from different parts of the world, but their coup-de-gras is the huge tank containing three whale sharks, five different kinds of rays including the manta, at least four different kinds of sharks and what seemed like thousands of very unique and beautiful fish.  There is a walk-through acrylic tunnel and a large viewing area where we sat for a very long time enjoying the beautiful tank.  We also very much enjoyed the tropical tank which boasts the largest living reef exhibit in the world and the river tank with albino alligators and piranha, and the artic tanks featuring beluga whales and the very cute sea dragon.

Tropical Reef Tank

Whale Shark - not a whale or a shark just a huge fish

Buddha Frog!

Sea Dragon

On our last day in Atlanta we decided to take a trolley tour so that we could see everything the city had to offer.  Everyone on the tour was in Atlanta one their way to the Masters - another sporting event!  Too bad we aren't sports fans we would be in heaven.  It was a very nice tour that took us around the historical district, museums and midtown.  We saw the old Atlanta neighborhoods which have homes that are slowly being restored and are marked with a sunburst plaque on the front; corporate Atlanta including CNN, Coca-Cola and the Braves; the home and burial site for Martin Luther King Jr. and Loretta Scott King complete with the burning eternal flame; Centennial Olympic park; and Margaret Mitchell's house where she wrote Gone with the Wind.  It was a really well done tour and we feel we got to see all of Atlanta.

State Capitol

Margaret Mitchell's house she called "the dump"

Coming soon... Cherokee, NC and the Smokey Mountains!

South Carolina - Done!

Charleston, SC   March 30 - April 7, 2013

We made the turn into Lake Aire RV park and were pleasantly surprised by very thick woods surrounding a "lake".  It was a very secluded rv park with fairly large sites and lots of grass areas all around.  The park was very full as it was spring break in South Carolina... it seems that spring break goes on for two months here in the south.

Crazy ducks all around campground - Zoe loved it!

Our first full day was Easter Sunday.  After watching the kids in the park hunt for eggs - so cute - we decided to take a drive to downtown Charleston to scope it out and to plan our week long stay.  Downtown is on a peninsula and surrounded by water.  Much like Savannah the historic district is filled with very cool old homes and buildings and lots of museums.  We then took a drive out to Folly beach which is on James Island.  It is a busy beach/tourist town where we parked for 10 minutes so we could check out the beach and were rewarded with a parking ticket!  Ugh.

We headed downtown again ready to park and walk Museum Mile.  Parking in the old cities has proven to be more challenging that backing Suni into an RV spot!  The parking garages have 7 feet of clearance, not enough for us, and the lots are not built for our massive truck.  We finally found a spot on the street with a parking meter that would fit us.  We headed for the Charleston museum which was the start of museum mile.  We followed our map as we walked through the very busy historic district reading about all of the old buildings and famous restaurants.  We wandered through the city market place with the thousands of Carnival Cruisers trying to decide if we should spend $50 for a little handmade sweetgrass basket to hold our keys.  We couldn't do it even though they are really pretty.  We then walked down the waterfront park through Rainbow Row where the old historic homes are painted pretty colors and to Battery Park.   It was really fun peering into the walled gardens and alleyways.  It is a great city and much older than Savannah.

Beautiful alley

Rainbow row

Historic home with the famous palmetto

The next day is dedicated to plantation row.  We decided on the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens which is the oldest and it turns out most popular plantation in the area.  After paying $15 each for the privilege of walking the gardens you enter $8 hell where you can pay individually to tour the house, the slave cabins, the nature trail, the swamp, the petting zoo etc.  Yikes!  We did take the house tour and the slave cabin tour.  The house was filled with the family's paintings, ceramics and furniture where generations of the Dayton family had lived until very recently and is still a family home as opposed to museum.  The slave cabins were fascinating.  They had three generations of cabins with the newest one being lived in until 1991 where the grounds manager raised 15 children!  The walls were covered with newspapers to try to insulate against the weather.  This family's slaves stayed on after the "war between the states" as paid employees and the descendants still work there.  The gardens were beautiful and they are known for the many, many types of Camelia bushes.

Plantation gardens

One of many camellias

Inside of slave cabins

                                      
                                                   Outside of slave cabins - a duplex no less

One room was all they had

Now for a dog day.... we drove to Edisto beach on Edisto Island and were pleasantly surprised to see they allowed unleashed dogs on the beach for the winter months!  Yippee!  Calcite and Zoe had a great time chasing seagulls and playing in the crazy surf.  It was a blustery day as there was a storm blowing in, but that is perfect for them since it keeps all of those pesky people off the beach.  On the way back we stopped at a seafood market to purchase the ingredients for She Crab soup a South Carolina must and at a roadside sweetgrass basket spot where we were able to purchase the perfect key basket for a discounted price because "business bery bery slow, too windy"  Yeah for us.

Edisto beach

As predicted the storm blew in and our tour at the Center for the Birds of Prey was cancelled.  They told us that the weather was supposed to be perfect on Saturday so we extended our stay.  We used the rainy day to get the rest of the ingredients for the She Crab soup.  The hardest to find was the crab roe (crab eggs) which is what makes it "she" crab.  It was delicious! 

Friday we drove out to an area called Patriots Point - home of the USS Yorktown.  Wow was it amazing.  They have taken the aircraft carrier and turned it into a Naval and Maritime Museum with a special section for a Medal of Honor Museum.  This is a fabulous museum dedicated to the many brave women and men that have received the Medal of Honor starting with the Civil War.  Very moving.  There were six different self-guided tours throughout the ship with displays of the various aircraft flown during all of the wars.  We even sat in the cockpit of a TF-9 Cougar, as well as peered into the windows of the Mercury and Apollo 8 space capsules.  We spent hours climbing up and down the hallways of this enormous ship.  Walking the flight deck gives you a whole new perspective of the difficulty of landing on the deck.  So fun.  We find ourselves constantly amazed by the blessings of this adventure we are on.

Flight deck

Now for the trip to the Center for the Birds of Prey.  For those of you that don't know, we are fascinated by raptors... hawks, falcons, owls etc.  This center was a dream come true.  We toured the 140 acre center with an amazing variety of birds mostly rehabilitating birds from the area, but also a great selection of raptors from around the world.  This is a five-star facility complete with an on-site hospital and huge cages where it is obvious that the birds health and welfare is the primary concern.  After the tour they hold a flight demonstration where a few select birds flew right over our heads from perch to perch collecting bits of meat from their trainers.  We got to see these birds up close and personal as they demonstrated the different ways the birds fly and hunt.  Can I just say it again... amazing.

Red Shouldered Hawk

Ural Owl

Hybrid Falcon

Baby ural owl!  Too cute.

Coming soon.... Atlanta, GA and Cherokee, NC