Road Trip - Part 5: Food!

Our trip started out with great promise with breakfast at a great diner in Decatur near Atlanta. Obviously, I was convinced that I'd be starving on our camping adventure....
Once we arrived at our campsite in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we started setting up our cozy little tent.
I know it looks like Daniel was doing all the work while I was lounging about, but that's only a little bit true.
Then we set about starting the fire, which took both of us to keep going and to get nice and hot so we could cook our dinner.

This is my favorite part about camping - the foil dinners we cook over the fire! We have made many combinations of these over the years, and this one contained Italian sausage, onion, potatoes and red pepper.
Delicious!! Most delicious!!!
Ok, this looks sort of disgusting, but Daniel swears it was good (I didn't try it) - it was a peach filled with goat cheese and cooked in the fire until gooey.

When we left the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, we stopped in Ashville, North Carolina, a very charming town.

We stopped for lunch at an excellent Cuban restaurant and then drove on to our next camping destination,

Shenandoah National Park. There our campsite was next to an old orchard and forest and we were visited by many deer. Even though we made a camp fire to keep the bugs at bay, that evening we cooked on our little camp stove.

I actually can't remember what we ate, but I am sure it was delicious!
But what I do remember is the most amazing ice cream at the visitor center. There was a sign for "Hand Dipped Blackberry" and I didn't know what it meant. When I asked Daniel, he promptly got in line and got us each an ice cream cone - happy, happy!

Then, in Winchester in Virginia, we found an Italian restaurant, Violino, run by a charming married couple from northern Italy. The food was to die for! I had the most delicious ravioli,

and Daniel (who looks like the cat that ate canary) had strawberry risotto (amazing!) with quail. Of course, we had to have an appetizer first and then dessert and then happily rolled back to the hotel.
The rest of our trip was spent with dear friends and of course eating is a big part of that. First, we enjoyed an excellent meal with a New Mexican flair,
then a most wonderful Lebanese feast,
and lastly, a delicious French meal!
But the best part in all of those were the good friends who shared the meals with us.


And here's to you all!

Road Trip - Part 4: Old Homesteads

Daniel and I both have a thing for old buildings, especially old farmsteads and, once again, we were not disappointed, especially in Great Smoky Mountain National Park, where we found this beautifully maintained farm.
We couldn't help ourselves with taking photos and even this small selection is rather large, so grab a cup of coffee and relax while I take you on a tour with us...

Don't you just love these swallows nests? We have a house down the road, on the water, with a similar creation.
The kitchen garden was beautifully maintained and looked like it was growing quite well.
The main log cabin - gorgeous!!
We saw quite a few of these on buildings. Does anyone know what they are?
Lots of firewood stacked nicely outside the house,
and the inside looked very nicely kept!


Isn't the underside of the roof amazing?

The cantilevered old barn was fascinating! Such interesting construction.

It was very airy on the inside.

Daniel went for a short hike up to the Appalachian Trail while I was relaxing and reading by the campsite, and found this old chimney
and then came upon this Appalachian Trail shelter. On the way, he got to talk with quite a few hikers who hike parts of the AT regularly. I think he's intrigued, especially when his knee is good as new again.
This particular homestead was in Cades Cove, a beautiful valley in the park.
Just look at that view!
There were also a number of old churches and interesting graveyards.

Another big farmstead, this one in Cades Cove. It was so interesting as this one sported a grain mill that was still working.
Just look at this grain mill that was still working. From when I was a child, I've been fascinated by watermills. For my German-speaking friends, do you remember the song:

Es klappert die Mühle am rauschenden Bach
Klipp-klapp - klipp-klapp
Bei Tag und bei Nacht ist der Müller stets wach
Klipp-klapp - klipp-klapp
Er mahlt uns das Korn zu dem kräftigen Brot
Und haben wir solches, so hat's keine Not

Klipp-klapp - klipp-klapp - klipp-klapp

It was one of my favorite childhood songs. I had a big song book with the most exquisite watercolor illustrations and I still remember the painting with this song!

Here is the sluice controlling the speed of the mill. We watched for a long time and checked out exactly how it all worked...

The living quarters were very simple, but the house had two stories and was quite roomy.
Daniel checking out the barn.


Now this barn was part of the Glen Burnie Historic House and the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, VA. Daniel's genealogy brought us here as he was trying to find out if his family was related to the founders of Winchester and the Glen Burnie estate.
It turns out that they aren't, but we still had a wonderful time touring the house and the beautiful gardens.






That evening, we ate an incredible meal at a Northern Italian restaurant, but that deserves another post. Stay tuned for Part 5: Food! Those of you who know how much I like to eat, can you believe that I waited until Part 5 to cover food?!

Thank you so much for traveling with us!!