The Trip: 1998
Points East: New Orleans, Firhope,
Smokey Mountains, Fedyk family & Niagara Falls
July 1, 1998 - July 3, 1998


July 1, 1998 Wednesday
Tis was a wonderful summer vacation. Kathleen and I began by driving east. Because we had left College Station so late in the day, we spent our first night camped along the way at a city park in Lafayette, La. It could have been it miserable night, but we were traveling in our newly purchased 1997 Coleman Laredo pop-up tent trailer. That first night in Lafayette was very hot, but we turned on the air conditioner before retiring, and by morning we were very glad to have blankets. The a/c really worked, it was COLD!

July 2, 1998 Thursday
The next day we drove on into New Orleans and setup camp in a private campground on the East side of the Mississippi. We spent two days exploring New Orleans and visited many areas around Bourbon street and the fabulous new Aquarium of the Americas.

July 4, 1998 Saturday
We drove from New Orleans, through Mobile, AL to the town of Fairhope and the home of my  college friends, Dave & Judy Hale. Dave & Judy are sailors and own their own sailboat. They have a 4th of July family tradition to sail out into the middle of Mobile Bay and watch the fireworks displays put on by communities all around the bay. They were kind enough to invite Kathleen  and I along. It was a fabulous night, and the Hale family and friends and a wonderful lot! Friday night Kathleen and I spent aboard the Hale sailboat. It was quite a nice, romantic night for Kathleen and I.

July 5, 1998 Sunday
The next few days were a blur, We drove North out out Fairhope and headed for the Appalachian Mountains. We spent several days exploring the area of the Southern Appalachians where I had been stationed while working for the Park Service a few years before. We visited the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest (which I have visited many times and still believe to be a magical place), Nantahala National Forest, Comanche National Forest, the Appalachian Mountains National Park. We rafted on the Chatooga River in a five man raft and I kayaked the Nantahala River while Kathleen was taking a 3 day kayaking class through the Nantahala Outdoor Center.

I had begun my kayaking with a class through NOC, and they have some of the best instructional staff in the U.S. I had hoped that Kathleen could benefit from their instruction also. Unfortunately, the week we were there was also the Junior National Kayak Championships. There were young kayakers from across the nation visiting the area and several were signed up in the same 'beginner' class that Kathleen was in. The class instructors tried to compromise and teach to both the beginner and advanced level in one class. This turned out to be very discouraging to Kathleen. We had a private room at the NOC hotel, and ate at their restaurant. The accommodations and dinning were excellent, I just wish the instruction had been a more pleasant experience.

July 11, 1998 Saturday
I had a number of things in this area which I wanted to visit. One was the Folk Art Center located on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I had been expecting a museum of primitive folk art, quilts, hand carved toys and such. I had most assuredly not expected to seer one of the finest displays of fine art I'd ever seen! This is a fabulous museum of art. We mentioned to one of the docents that we were very surprised and pleased by their wonderful museum, and he told us that this very weekend was the annual show of the Southern Highland Craft Guild in the convention center of nearby Asheville, NC. We immediately drove over and were thrilled by a fabulous show of weaving, glass blowing, wood turning, ironwork.... it was wonderful! We bought a few pieces (including a piece of 'garden art' which is still a part of the cacti garden in front of our house).

It was difficult to leave North Carolina, but we were due in Pennsylvania to visit Kathleen's younger sister's family. We drove up to Hershey, Penn. We stayed with the Fedyk's for about a week. During this time we went to another Art show that was absolutely fabulous, HersheyPark (which specializes in a collection of 10 great roller coasters!) and The Crayola Crayon Factory (which turned out to be more of a store than a real factory).

We took Kathleen's niece & nephew (Shannon & Michael) with us, across the state to Harrisburg, Penn. and the Crayola Factory. I had a fun time during one of the tours pretending to write with a permanent marker on Shannon's arm. The rest of the tour, the guide picked on me and used me as an example of how not to act. Actually, it was fun. After the tour was over, he came up to us, and upon learning that Kathleen was an art teacher, gave her a Crayola pin and samples of crayons. Though we were disappointed not to see the actual Crayola factory, this store, with all sorts of hands-on Crayola activity areas was still a lot of fun and we were very glad we included it.

One afternoon I left Kathleen & the Fedyks and drove over to Newark to visit my old college friend, Bill Goers, and his family. They treated me to a dinner of lobster and an evening of swimming in their pool with their two daughters. This vacations seems destined to include friends & family!

After our visit with the Fedyk family, Kathleen seemed to consider the trip pretty much over and was ready to start heading home. I, on the other hand, just wasn't ready to end this great trip! Instead of heading south and toward home, we headed north toward upstate New York and Niagara Falls.

I had visited Niagara Falls many years ago on one of our Brooks family vacations, but Kathleen never had. Our first night after leaving the Fedyk's, we stayed in a state campground on the shores of Lake Ontario. The lake was beautiful, but smelled like a sewer. We had no great wish to go swimming. That night, while I was straightening up things in the car, Kathleen busied herself with fixing dinner in the tent trailer. I came back just as Kathleen was opening the door to step out of the trailer. I called to her, stopping her from stepping down on a wild skunk that had just ambled out from under the doorway step of the trailer. I'm not sure with would have been worse, having the trailer sprayed by a skunk, or having Kathleen ! At least we could tow the trailer back to Texas, I'm not sure I could talk Kathleen into riding in the back of the pickup all that way.

We were still miles away when we saw the first sign of what we, at first took as smoke, in the distance. It turned out to be the spray from the falls, reaching far up into the sky! Kathleen was thrilled by Niagara Falls. We rode the 'Maid of the Mist' and hiked down the stairs on the U.S. side. I remembered doing both of these as a young child with the family. The stairs were fun. You hiked down right beside the American Falls. Before going down you were given heavy yellow raincoats. Most folks really bundled up tight, but Kathleen through hers open with 'wild abandon'! Of course, it helped to know that we had changes of clothes in the trailer.

After Niagara Falls, even I had to admit that I had had enough and was ready to start heading back toward Texas. Other than night camping, we made only one stop on the way home. We stopped at the Saturn Car Company and took a tour of the automotive plant. It was a simple tram tour through the plant, but it was fun and all the employees were friendly and waved as the tram passed by. My only real disappointment was that they didn't give out samples.

We drove late into the evening on our next to last day, and eventually stopped for the night at Caddo Lake State Park. I was disappointed to not be able to see more of the park, but was ready to get back on the road early the next morning and head to College Station, and home.

And here the journal ends.

1998	Points East: New Orleans, Firhope, Appalachian Mountains, Fedyk family & Niagara Falls
	Aquarium of the Americas
	Aquarium of the Americas
	Our dear friends, Dave & Judy Hale.
	Their sailboat.
	One of the 'magical places', Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest.
	I have tried on at least four occasions to get this shot. I think, this time, I finally got it!
	The flowers in the Appalachian Mountains were spectacular
	Especially the lillies!
	Commercial raft trip on the Chatooga River.
	Commercial raft trip on the Chatooga River.
	The Chatooga River.
	The Chatooga River.
	The Chatooga River.
	The Chatooga
	Kathleen, scouting the river.
	Bob, floating the river
	Kathleen, floating the river
	The Goers family: Bill, Pat, Erin & Kristen
	Bill Goers
	Erin Goers
	Niagara Falls
	Bob & Kathleen on the 'Maid of the Mist'.
	Kathleen on the 'Maid of the Mist'.
	Kathleen and 'friend'.
	Bob & Kathleen covered in heavy raincoats, below the falls (who is the inhibited one in this pair?).
	Kathleen on the Hurricane Deck.
	'Exposing yourself' to nature ?????
	Good thing we had dry clothes back at the car!