Tunnels, Alice and the Blue Ridge Parkway

April 26, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

After spending several days in the Great Smoky Mountains we were looking forward to driving from the mountains to Asheville, NC on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I had been on the Blue Ridge Parkway in northern Virginia growing up so being back on this parkway was very special. We stopped to take a picture by […]

Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

April 22, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

The highest elevation in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is Clingmans Dome standing at 6,643 feet above sea level. This peak straddles two states and is the tallest peak in Tennessee and the third tallest peak in North Carolina. Clingmans Dome is also the highest peak on the 2,174 mile Appalachian Trail that runs […]

Fitness Life By Design

April 21, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

When we started our Van Life By Design website and blog, our mission was to write about and photograph our travels in our Sprinter van Alice and other travel related topics. This is still true. Gail is also interested in writing about exercise and fitness, healthy eating and other lifestyle topics so we have launched […]

Spring in the Smoky Mountains

April 18, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

We visited the Great Smoky Mountain National Park recently when the forest in the lower elevations of the mountains was coming to life. The week we were there, the renewed plant life in the forest introduced me to more shades of green than I had ever seen in one place. It’s interesting what one notices […]