The Beach – 2016 – In Photos – Part 3

The final leg of our beach trip included a stop in Asheville before two additional days of driving to get home.  We enjoyed an evening dinner picnic at a rest stop in western North Carolina before pulling into Asheville:
DCIM100MEDIADJI_0015.JPG DCIM100MEDIADJI_0006.JPGUpon arrival in Asheville, Lula was quick to find a little treasure in the woods on Oak Lane:
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Visiting (and meeting new) family down the road: 160528 170 160528 173 160528 194 160528 199 160528 207 160528 239 160528 212 160528 224 160528 236 160528 238

Thanks to Paul and Jenny, rather than getting trapped in holiday weekend bumper-to-bumper traffic in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, which was our original thinking, we instead took a brief detour into Pisgah National Forest the morning we left Asheville.  Specifically, our destination was a peak along the Appalacian Trail:  Max Patch
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The 15-20 minute hike up was just the ticket for some restless legs.  The view from the top was unparalleled on this trip:

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Standing on the USGS marker at the top: 160528 292 DCIM100GOPROGOPR9883. 160528 295 DCIM100GOPROGOPR9908.

For a lunchtime break, we stopped at Cumberland Mountain State Park in central Tennessee for a picnic:
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We stumbled upon a park ranger giving a presentation to several other kids about snakes native to the region: 160528 333

The last overnight stay of our trip was at a hotel in Paducah Kentucky — and one last chance for a swim before getting home:

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Day 10 of our trip took us through southern Illinois — including a lunchtime stop at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Preserve in south-central Illinois.  What a gem!  We took a great hike through the woods to a spectacular waterfall along an underutilized and overgrown trail — just the kind we love!  It was a great midday stop to help the trip last just a little longer before the last leg of driving brought us home. 160531 033 160531 038 160531 082 160531 102

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