road trip summary

within 2782.2 miles [4477.5 km] between august 6 and august 16, 2008 we crossed 7 states [louisiana, mississippi, tennessee, north carolina, georgia, florida, alabama] and visited several places:


new orleans [la] - jackson [ms] - memphis [tn] - nashville [tn] - crossville [tn] - pigeon forge [tn] - smoky mountains [tn, nc] - cherokee [nc] - atlanta [ga] - savannah [ga] - lake city [fl] - homosassa springs [fl] - crystal river [fl] - tallahassee [fl] - alligator point [fl] - st. george island [fl] - port st. joe's [fl] - mexico beach [fl] - panama city beach [fl] - okaloosa island [fl] - dauphin island [al] - new orleans [la]


Größere Kartenansicht


besides line dancing, climbing on waterfalls, playing in olympic fountains, snorkelling in the wild, diving for keys and lingering along lonely beaches i got to see somewhat exotic animals:


owls, bats, manatees, black bears, hermit crabs, butterflies, wild pigs, baby clams [and a humming bird right after our returning].

we had fun!

2008/08/10 across the smokies

after going through pigeon forge and gatlinburg - 2 disgustingly touristy cities - we arrived at the northern side of the smoky mountains.

we started hiking [or rather walking] to the laurel falls, which were beautiful, but too crowded with people. to enjoy pure nature we went off the trail and wandered through the woods.

fascinated by flaura and fauna and highly motivated from the wild hiking, we climbed onto the meigs falls. we did not take pictures as we got quite wet, but facing my fears was hard, but totally worth it.

this road..

..took us to the border between tennessee and north carolina, where - once again - we watched the sunset.

further up, at Clingsman's Dome at an altitude of 2,o24 meter, we finally found out, why the smokies have their name.

watch the sunset..

disappear.

that's what the view is like, when clear:

on the south side of the smoky mountains, right by cherokee, we visited the mingus falls with an altitude of 55 meters.

2008/08/08 entering the smokies

on our way to the smoky mountains we past by crossville to visit the cumberland plateau. to our wonderment we saw masses of people selling their stuff along the street..

..which was not due to bad economy but part of the world's longest yardsale from alabama to ohio [654 miles].

the park itself was wonderful, too.

as our time was limited we 'hiked' along the river through the woods of the smoky mountains' foothills. beautiful!