2015 Day 8 - Blue Ridge Mountains to Charlotte

I am sure if it was just Keith and I we could have spent a couple of days exploring the mountains, but not really the thing to keep two teenagers entertained and today we were heading to the city of Charlotte for another theme park - Carowinds.

We had a buffet breakfast back in the Lodge's main building,  Keith even managed to make his own waffle! Then after a stop in the gift shop, we walked back to our rooms to pack up again.

The hotel was getting ready for a wedding that was due to take place on the lawn by the lake - a very romantic setting.

I had seen on the map there were some waterfalls 3 miles back that we had missed yesterday, and i thought that might be nice to do first this morning.  Hmmm not such a good idea, it said 0.6 miles,  should be ok! It didn't say 0.6 miles downwards!!! We did reach the top of the cascade but you couldn't really see much and we were all worried about going too much further because we realised how tough it was going to be to get back up.  It was hard, there was no air movement and it felt very humid, we were all hot and sticky by the time we hot back to the car.  With air con on full we set off south towards Roanoke, about 20 miles away.

the wedding taking place at Peaks of Otter Lodge as we drove back past

Although the sun was out it was very hazy and the views were not as good as yesterday.  With no major points to stop at we decided to head off on to the interstates to Charlotte, North Carolina.

It was quite a long drive and we arrived at our next hotel just after 4pm, we did get held up in some traffic for about half an hour just gefore Charlotte.

After checking in, and giving Keith a bit of a break, we drove the short distance to Carowinds, we had brought a 2 day ticket with the intention of spending a couple of hours wandering around the park (we have fast pass again tomorrow).  It was very busy, longish queues for all rides, so after taking some photos, we left about 8.30 and went to Applebees for dinner.

Carowinds is a sister park to Kings Dominion that we visited on Wednesday, and there looks to be some interesting rides to do tomorrow, especially their new coaster Fury 325 which is, yep!, 325ft high!

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2015 Day 7 - off to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia

Although we had a free breakfast included again Stephen had said he would like to go to IHOP.   So with much arm twisting (not!) we packed the car up and headed up the road to the nearest one.  Yum, cooked breakfast with american pancakes, or in my case crepes!!

Feeling full we headed north west out of Williamsburg back towards Richmond.  We saw a Walmart and decided to stop to buy a polystyrene coolbox, some drinks and food for a picnic lunch.

It took about 2 hrs to get to the top of the Blue Ridge Parkway, at Rockfish Gap.  If you head north from here the road is through the Shenandoah Mountains, but we were heading south. We stopped at the tourist info hut at Rockfish and spoke to a lovely lady who gave us maps and an info book and pointed out good places for walks!

large model of the mountains in the tourist info centre

We stopped at Humpback Rock where we found lots of picnic tables tucked under the shade of the trees.  It was very peaceful with only a couple of other people and some butterflies.  We ate our giant "lunchables", crisps and drinks and headed off again.

Rockfish Gap was mile marker 0 and our hotel was at mile marker 86.  We stopped at  a lot of the overlook areas to take in the views.  It was beautiful, huge and awe inspiring.  The sun was shining and it was easy to see where the mountains got the name blue ridge from, the mountains in the distance wherever you look are different shades of bluey green.

The road itself was really quiet, with dappled shade and plenty of opportunities to enjoy the view.  I think the highest place we stopped at was 3300ft.  I am sure the photos won't do it any justice.

We didn't see much wildlife,  apart from butterlies and birds of prey soaring above us, but Keith and I did both shout when we drove past a lump in the road that looked like a snake.   Keith saw it move out of the way in his rear view mirror from the following motorbikes.

It did take us longer than we expected to reach the hotel, but after about 4 hrs to dp 86 miles we pulled into Peaks of Otter Lodge.   It looked very rustic and in the middle of nowhere, but was clean and comfortable with wifi! Our rooms were on the first floor with balconies overlooking the lake, with 3 mountains surrounding us.

Our rooms were top floor in the block furtherest away

We had dinner in the main building, again overlooking the lake.  I had the seafood buffet, the others ordered from the menu.

Walking back to our rooms we spotted more fireflies - magical.  Keith and I sat on the balconies and watched the lake as the sun set.  A very special setting, and definitely shouldn't be missed if in the area (book well in advance tho as it gets booked up).

This really has been a holiday of contrasts so far, from the bustling hot humid city, to theme parks and coasters to the peace and beauty of the mountains.  Looking foward to the rest of it.

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2015 Day 6 - Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Another park day!  After another complimentary breakfast at the hotel we set off at about 9 for our next park, Busch Gardens at Williamsburg.  We arrived in the car park just after 10 and quickly did the sun cream.  The sun was shining, beautiful blue sky and the temperature was due to be about 87 with humidity reasonably high again.  With tickets pre purchased online we headed straight for the turnstiles and bag search, then found the kiosk to exchange for our prepaid fast passes, these were valid once per ride.

With the rides still quiet, and a bit of a false start following the park map, we joined the normal queue entrance for Apollos Chariot, a hyper coaster with a first drop of 210ft and only lap bar restraints.  We were straight on the ride and it was very good, so good we went straight round and on again. The others all went on the ride next to Apollos Chariot, Tempesto.  I chickened out and sat in the shade to watch.  They quite liked it but Keith said it was odd.  There is only one car at a time, which is launched forwards and up, but then rolls back through the station before going forwards again up and into first a large then a smaller loop twisting and turning as it goes (you'll need to look it up online or wait for pics, its hard to explain!)

Apollos Chariot lift hill to left, Tempesto on right

Keith and Sarah had a ride on Tradewind, a spin ride, before we moved on the to the next section of the park, Oktoberfest.

Vetbolten, is a coaster based on the german Autobahn snd the Black Forest.  The first launched part zooms you into a dark indoor section, after a few left and right turns and drops it pauses, then the whole track drops 18ft.  We hadn't warned Sarah about that!  :)  it then launches again out into the woods and pauses on a creaking, grianing bridge before sweeping down into some fast turns hhen back to the station.  Fab ride.

Also in this section was a 3d ride similar to Spiderman at Universal, called Curse of Darkastle.

Next area was Germany, not sure why this was different (actually park is meant to be based on Europe but they obviously couldn't resist putting American flags and things all round the park, quite funny really!).  Another coaster calling, this time Alpengeist, a hanging coaster, agreat ride that didn't disappoint.  We are certainly finding loads of great coasters.

Across a small river and into "France" where we found Griffon.  A large dive coaster like Sheikra in tampa.  Awesome ride.

The next area housed Lorikeets Glen, yeah feeding the birdies!  Armed with 2 pots of nectar we headed in, they didn't seem keen at first, but we did eventually find a couple of interested birds and spent a good 15 mins or more enjoying their antics.

Up until now we had just joined the normal queues, but the park was getting busy so after a few more small animals we carried on to Europe in the Air, a simulator ride that doesn't quite achieve the success of Soarin' but was ok, and used the fast pass.

We decided to reverse our route and reride the coasters using fast passes.  Unfortunately Griffon was experiencing problems so we carried on back to Alpengeist.  Heat was now getting to Sarah and I so we sat this one out and let the boys go ahead.  Next was a ride we had missed on our first round, The Loch Ness Monster.  Verdict on this one wasn't so good, an old corkscrew ride with plenty if head banging - glad I opted out then!

We made our way back to Verbolten where we all had another go.  I really wanted to ride Apollo's Chariot again but really felt I'd done enough, so being bag lady again, I let the others go on.  Unfortunately just before they boarded someone on a previous train had thrown up so the ride was closed while they cleaned it up and sent the cars round empty half a dozen times.  At least they had managed to get out of the blazing sun and into the station to wait.  Eventually they got their turn and returned happy!

Tempesto didn't have a fast pass queue and was half hr wait, so we decided to call it a day.  It was half five and we were struggling to even walk in the heat.

Sarah, Stephen and I decided it was time for a water ride ...

The boys got some drinks and took the tram back to the parking lot and Sarah and I headed for the shops, air con and retail therapy = happy girls. After spending some dollars, we too grabbed some drinks and headed back to the car.

Our hotel was only a few miles away in Williamsburg.  Stephen asked if there was an Applebees anywhere near, a quick google and we found one less than a mile away.   Great choice, superb food and a lovely waitress.

Looking forward to a break from the coasters as we head tomorrow for the Blue Ridge Mountains.


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