Day 8

We started off the day with a Gettysburg tour. It's about time that we got some real educational value on this trip. I love learning.. HA. But it was a very thorough tour and I DID actually learn some new things. We got to see where the battle actually took place and to picture the whole ground covered in bodies along with seeing the cemetery. Then we drove to Mitchelville, Maryland, right outside of Washington D.C. and went to a six flags amusement park and ended the night with an amazing Italian restaurant.

Day 8

Day 7

Well I knew there would be one of these days that consisted of just driving. But we entertained ourselves with multiple various activities. Just see for yourself, go slideshow for this one.

Day 7

Day 6

Today we started driving the Blue Ridge Parkway which is a 400 mile road along the crest of the Appalachian Trail. There are many trees, overlooks, and..thats about it, on this road. It is very beautiful though. The sight of the mountains just to the right of you never gets old. We also stopped by the town of Mt. Airy or "Mayberry" as some Andy Griffith watchers might call it. My dad is very into this town and got quite excited which was cute and as for me I just know the theme song.

Day 6

Day 5

We drove to Clingman's Dome today, which is the highest point in the Smokey Mountains, standing at about 6,650 feet. When we got there we had to walk up a paved road that claimed to be .5 miles, but since it was going upwards seemed much longer! I for one, was panting. Great Smokey Mountain National park is the #1 most visited national park in the US, even before Yellowstone. After the park we drove through North Carolina again to Tennessee to the wonderful place of Dollywood! They had the best wooden roller coaster I believe I have ever been on. I was air born for most of the ride. They also had some amazing little food shops with red potatoes, BBQ, and warm cinnamon buns. We can't tell if we are eating more or exercising more? After waddling into our hotel room I'm starting to believe the first one.

Day 5

Day 4

We finally got our ribs! We went to a local Georgian restaurant called Johny's and it was amazing with its specialty vinegar barbecue sauce and all. So that was the beginning of our day, the rest of the day went a little more "un-smooth". After about four hours of driving in the morning we got to Amicalola State Park, the beginning of the Appalachian Trail. After asking three different people whom each gave us different directions, we found out that we had to go back out of the park and drive 45 more minutes. Now you must know that me and my dearest father are not the best at remembering directions. So we spent a good two hours on the same road looking for the little sign that would read "Springer Mountain this way." Well we finally found it with the help from the locals and got to do our mile hike up to the official start of the Trail! It was exciting. Getting out of the park was a different story. Our GPS was apparently over-heated and kept wanting to send us in circles. FYI for the future: Don't go on gravel roads with wire and large rocks that say Dead End/WARNING/Private Property with your low slung car.

Day 4

Day 3

Today we realized it's harder to get ribs in North and South Carolina then you would assume. We tried three places that were rated very greatly for their amazing BBQ and they were either boarded up or "out of ribs". One coincidentally was open every day besides Tuesday.. But other than that, I GOT TO DRIVE TODAY! (That's for you, Mom.) It was quite an experience. Our GPS told us to take the ferry over the bay to get where we were going so I got to drive onto the boat. I also ran over a black snake? Quite random and scary for the driver.  So besides those attractions we went to Raleigh, North Carolina and Columbia, South Carolina.
P.S. Click on the picture albums for enlargement and a greater multitude of photos with captions.
P.P.S. Check out the video from yesterday. ;)

Day 3

Day 2

We spent this lovely (or so we thought) day in Williamsburg, Virginia, the home of Busch Gardens. This amusement park has been rated #1 as the most beautiful park for the past 25 years and it sure was! It had a very different (clean) feeling then yesterdays. It seems that it was more about the experience than the number of rides at this one. Our favorite ride was the Griffon, when you're approaching the 90 degree angle drop it stalls you there for a couple seconds before dropping. SCARY. So the rides were quite spectacular and for some reason we have been really lucky with the "line" situation. They haven't been any! This was also the first day we got annoyed with each other and this will be the only count you will get because I'm already starting to lose track. Anyhow it started down pouring near the end of the day and they wouldn't let us leave the park? Who does that? But we got home eventually after two hours and I enjoyed the rain and the re-rides the whole day so it was a good one.

Click below for video. Day 2 From Day 2

Day 1

Alright. I'm considering today as the first day of our long and exciting trip. Two days ago my dad picked me up after my amazing mission trip, in Annapolis, Maryland. So we stopped at the capital and went to Chick and Ruth's Diner which was great and served pickles for appetizers! Today and yesterday we stayed in Doswell, Virginia in a hotel that was right next to King's Dominion amusement park. Our favorite ride was the Intimidator 305 which was how many feet the highest point was. I blacked out every time we went on it (which was about 10). We finished off the day with a rib joint called Ronnie's, located in Richmond in the middle of nowhere in a trailer home. Sadly they were out of ribs but I must say they had the best pulled pork I have ever had. Don't judge by the location. Great start to our trip!

Day 1

WELCOME.

I, Abby Krumrie will be using this blog to keep a record of our long and amazing trip through the Appalachian mountains. Now usually when we say this people are astonished that we will be hiking the whole trail in 1 month. But not to be confused, we are driving! (I wanted to hike it but he wouldn't let me..) And nonetheless it will still be quite as amazing. Come here every day as I will post pictures and videos of that days attractions, a detailed description of what we saw and interesting things said in the car. With us in the car for the majority of the day, I hope we can handle it.. Our journey begins on July 24th. So return to see all of the FUN that will be happening!