So I thought I would look back two weeks, re-set the date to July 4, and pick up from there in describing an activity-filled trip we took for our 39th Anniversary.
Fourth of July in Bryson City: we drove here yesterday and spent the night at the Relax Inn, which is clean and family-owned and, according to its website, is both "biker-friendly" and has the "biggest pool in Bryson City." We decided it must have been the only pool in Bryson City: Its main attraction for us was proximity to the start of the Firecracker 5-K, a race that we have both run many times before and planned to run this morning.
We were up at an early hour and I went outside to assess the rapidly-building July heat and humidity. Some of our friends were rubbing shoulders with 55,000 other runners in the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta this morning, so it was nice to be able to run with only 272 runners, who spread out quickly as the gun went off, crossing the railroad tracks and continuing up one side of Deep Creek and back again. It is a relatively level course and the sun was still low in the sky, so conditions were good. I was so proud of Martha, who once again came in first in her age group in a time of 28:36, a full three minutes ahead of the second-place finisher. This humble blogging runner did not fare as well, however, in the ten-year age groups - I am 69-1/2 year old.
The afternoon was spent recovering, walking from one end of Bryson City (where temperatures had risen into the 90s), and waiting for the special treat that Martha had planned for dinner: a barbeque dinner aboard the "Freedom Train" on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad. departing from the depot in Bryson City, going out to the trestle over Fontana Lake, and then back again.
The railroad embankments for the first part of the trip are dense with kudzu, that famous "vine that ate the south," which was introduced from Japan in 1876 and now flourishes in nearly the entire South. It is our most noteworthy invasive species, and in many parts of the South it is seen rising up utility-pole guy wires, climbing trees, forming huge topiary monsters that hang over the highway, and in some cases completely engulfing abandoned buildings. The view out the window:
But then the track slowly climbed out of the jungle of green and we had some fine views of fields and kudzu-free woods. This little outbuilding proclaimed, presumably for the benefit of train passengers, that "Thieves Will Be Shot."
A small herd of horses was frolicking in the beginning of a cool evening, perhaps excited by this long lumbering passenger train blowing its whistle at all the crossings.
Finally, we reached Fontana Lake, created by the construction of Fontana Dam in the 40s for the purpose of providing power for ALCOA aluminum, which was needed in World War II, we learned from our entertaining and informative guide. House-boats were anchored here in quiet coves, and deeds for the land that was long-ago flooded were passed on from generation to generation.
So we sat on a historic trestle and watched the sun set and ate a surprisingly delicious barbeque dinner (for a train, after all), and then slowly began the trip back to Bryson City.
As we came into the depot, we could see families all along the way, in yards and in parking lots, cooking out and sitting in lawn chairs, waiting for the impressive fireworks display that we, too, were able to take in just a few minutes after disembarking.
A memorable Independence Day! And an eventful beginning to a three-day anniversary trip.
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