Visiting Dixie – Day 6 Part 2

I never ceased to be amazed at how great the parks were on our vacation! After visiting Natural Tunnel State Park in Virginia, we went back across the border and hit Bays Mountain, a city park in Kingsport, Tennessee.

This park had a bit of everything: a museum, a small zoo, a planetarium, a challenge ropes course, a lake with barge tours, hiking trails… Very cool!

We didn’t get to take a tour of the lake or do the challenge course but we did see the museum, the zoo, and watch a presentation/show in the planetarium. I think I learned more in an hour than Zack did in his entire college astronomy course… LOL

I never knew what the inside of a beaver dam looked like before

 

The rocks and minerals display in the hallway to the basement was very nice!

 

There were lots of local animals at the zoo…

If you are squeamish, look away! It was feeding time for the snakes!

   

The otter was much cuter than the snakes! ;o)

The wolves would not hold still but Chris did manage to get a few pics…

The owls were my favorites!

By the time we got out of the show at the planetarium, there wasn’t tons of time left. But we decided to hit some of the trails anyway.

First we walked along the lake to the dam…

Then to the footbridge…

We really wanted to go to the fire lookout and see the view!

But as you can see, it was a little too far away…

Fortunately, there was a second lookout much closer that we could make it to before the park closed! It was a steep climb up but made for very nice views along the trail!

   

Then we finally made it to the lookout… and more stairs!

I think the view was probably better about 20-30 years ago. :o(

All we were able to really see were trees and this sweet little farm!

All that hiking worked up quite an appetite! So we stopped for some authentic Tennessee BBQ at Pratt’s. How could a place with a 10-foot tall concrete indian not be good? We were right! The food was delicious!

     Then it was back to North Carolina for the night. But all that BBQ meant we needed a pit stop along the Tennessee border. So we stopped at a rest stop along the freeway.

 

  Yes, the REST STOP had fall decorations outside, quilts hanging on the walls, rocking chairs by a fireplace and travel brochures organized by region and in alphabetical order! Wow, Tennessee, you know how to make people feel welcome!

When we got into North Carolina we made another stop at a rest area to find out about hotels. Not quite as nice as Tennessee, but it was also VERY nice!

I think the PNW should be taking notes on how this should be done… ;o)