The parks, part 4

We went a bit out of our way south to see about some caves and some more "mountains." Due to poor timing we didn't actually descend into the caves. We had read that you could do a self-guided walk in the first major section, but that is apparently only true on very busy weekends, not weekday evenings. So we saw an exhibit of the caves, which was impressive and where we learned that it was called "mammoth" due to it being the longest cave system in the world, and that the end still has not been found. Cool. But no spelunking or photos.

Instead we had a lovely dinner where we received a recommendation for a short waterfalls hike on our way out of town the next day.

It was one of a few state parks that we ventured into on our trip--we mostly found these to be good (if fee driven) lunch spots. We didn't linger over the falls too much, even though I think Joe was ready to jump in at any moment--even our leisurely approach to the east didn't lessen the impact of being in high percentage humidity again.

Instead we headed towards the Great Smoky mtns. To be honest I was less interested in this park than many others because it seemed primarily focused on driving to restored homestead sites. And it was, but there were also bears. Bears.

Following the smokies, we did a bit of the Shenandoah, which was quite pretty, even outside of its fall glory. And then we descended into the city. I think the monuments in DC are considered national parks as well, but we didn't do any reminiscing at those.

The next day we used the vehicle to complete some errands that would have been otherwise cumbersome on foot and also revisited a couple of our favorite vineyards west of town.  And then we relinquished the vehicle and took to the metro to see how much we remembered of the museums and the mall.

Here I am again, in the city. I think I'm getting a handle on the whole urban commute again....