Every trip to the USA starts with a plane arriving

This was our

Some flowers at Roan Mountain

The mushrooms just are so nice

The Rhododendron gardens the place is known for

And among the Rhododendron there are some other things growing too.

From below they just look like a maze

The view from the lookout was actually really nice this time.

Some flowers clinging on to the rocks.

We did some day trips. Susanna at the wheel

On these kind of highways it's somewhat boring

Our goal. Klingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The dead trees and the clouds giving it a special feeling

Some flowers here too.

The park is just beautiful.

Some old barn in the distanse

The visitors-centre

Back in the days this was the main power source

But then you only hat it for these stones

The mill was really important

This was the car we rented. Just two sizes bigger then the one we ordered

Susanna getting ready for dinner

Connie borrowing Susanna's hat

Connie and Markus landlord Row

The pool at Connie and Hamel's

Some of the flowers Connie grew. First the Yellow one

The the pink ones

They just look amazing

Do you see the pool monster

Some orange ones

And some more pink

The pool and the house by night

Tiki-torches light up the outside

Hamel likes helicopters

This one he showed us how it flies. Not really easy to take a picture of it actually flying

The sky on fire

Jonesborough's main street

This is the oldest town in Tennessee

This is one of the oldest houses in the town

This one too. It was a major stop on the way to Chattanooga

This town truly shows American pride.

I just love these entire wall kind of signs

Then we went to the Appalachian caverns

The entire area is undermined with caverns and caves like this one.

Many rock formations just kick-starts your imagination.

This is some special place.

You see some openings.

But most of the time you barely see the fish in the water

The guide was kind and took our picture.

The we took to the higher regions again.

There isn't really a lack of airports along the way

Modern housing areas are built like this

Oh, it was Markus who flew us.

This is the more traditional way of building towns over here

We flew over an old railroad yard.

This station actually looks like it has some kind of passenger service.

The plane we flew in

The moon over the Atlantic

The beach is just magical in the night

As long as you look out to sea, the skyline of Myrtle beach by night.

The beach by day

We really enjoyed these waves

Back in east Tennessee it was time for bowling

Down the lane they go

You see the different styles

Ah, that was close

Been driving past this place a few times now

This is the last steam locomotive that was in commercial use in the USA

Just a detail of it.

One of the ET&WNC's narrow gauge carriages

They did carry a lot on them

And a typical caboose

At the historic site Sycamore Shoals they have a museum and a park.

This is the frontier fort that was built by the first settlers.

The Watauga

Some gees swimming in the calm waters

But at the Shoals the stream is more rapid

The water dances down the river.

Just across a rock

It's not that deep here.

The tree that was just meant to be climbed on.

Some driftwood

The shores are beautiful

And filled with wild life. Squirls and mosquitoes.

Downtown Elizabethton

The nice old houses and gardens

The main bridge into downtown

The covered bride that Elizabethton is famous for

The rocks in the river are placed there by purpose to lessen the effect of erosion.

This was an evening when they had a car show.

There were some really old ones.

A really red car

The railway line to Elizabethton

There is plenty of life when all the cars come

This one had the nicest blue.

Our flight back from Atlanta

We had a short layover in Amsterdam