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Phew! We’re back in the ATL after almost 3 months on the road. With 2 nights of prodding and planning under our belt in Cherokee, we spent one last night on the road camping at Moccasin Creek State Park just off Lake Burton in North Georgia. A little canoing the next morning helped ease our way into civilization.
After a stop at Mall of Georgia’s Apple Store (yee haw), we finally made it ITP Friday night and spent the weekend trying to readjust to the domestic life. Never fear, the Right Brain Stimulus Plan will continue in a new form, but before we get too far we’d like to recount our adventure for you in our favorite format … bulleted lists!
Stats:
- 82 days on the road
- 13,000 miles on the car
- 3 oil changes
- 4 new tires
- 25 nights camping
- 10 National Parks
- 2 countries
- 30 states
- 2 provinces
- Countless friends and family
Places we visited, with links to the respective blog post:
- Fayetteville, AR
- Dallas, TX
- Galveston, TX
- Big Bend National Park
- Marfa, TX
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park
- Gila National Forest
- Grand Canyon National Park
- Vegas, baby!
- Upland/Los Angeles, CA
- Big Sur, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- Redwood National Park
- Portland, OR
- Mt. Ranier National Park
- Seattle, WA
- Glacier National Park
- Yellowstone National Park
- Devils Tower National Monument
- Black Hills National Forest
- Badlands National Park
- Minneapolis, MN
- Upper Peninsula MI/Porcupine Mountain State Park
- Marquette, MI
- Fairbank Provincial Park (Quebec, CA)
- Montreal, CA
- Burlington, VT
- Newport, RI
- New Jersey/NYC
- Block Island, RI
- Eastern Shore of Maryland
- Norfolk, VA
- Shenandoah National Park
- Blue Ridge Parkway
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park
- Cherokee, NC
- Lake Burton, GA
We’d like to thank all our readers for their continued support throughout this journey. Also, thanks to all of y’all who graciously opened your homes to these two weary travelers as well as the one home that opened its doors to Ms. Fluffaluffagus. And thanks in advance for your continued support in the new chapter unfolding before us!
The last few days have been spent winding down the Blue Ridge Parkway, counting down the last week of our journey. We stopped in at the Blue Ridge Music Center just in time for the Friday afternoon bluegrass jam. Unfortunately, neither of us currently play the fiddle or guitar so we weren’t able to join in.
Jammin, Blue Ridge style
Later that afternoon we set up camp at Doughton Park by Bluffs Lodge, hiking a 6 1/2-miler the next morning (was supposed to be 4 miles, woops) before heading off the parkway a bit to Damascus, VA and the Iron Mountains. The next morning we hiked another 4 miles or so on the Iron Mountain Trail and, after a quick lunch in the mountain biker’s haven of Damascus, resumed our slow wind to the Smokey Mountains via Asheville, NC.
A view from the bluffs
What's that off in the distance?
Awww ... look at the baby fluffies!
After moteling it up in Asheville, Liz caught a quick yoga class that totally kicked her butt after all the hiking (ouch). We continued on the BRP and set up camp for one more night just within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park border, highlighted by a rainstorm and nightmarish shrieking owls. This morning we caught one more 4-mile hike before hitting up our favorite pancake joint in Cherokee, NC. We’re spending the next few days here holed up in our hotel room, in planning mode for our imminent return to Atlanta. We will certainly arrive in style!!!
