Just thought I would mention me and my family are going to go vactioning through the eastern US. We are leaving (or plan to anyway) Oct 24th and going through East Texas, through Arkansas, stop a dimond mine there, then to Tenesee and visit a (very distant related) aunt that lives there. Vist the Smokey and Blue Ridge Mountains, then go to our great nations capital, Washington DC! Thats the plan anyway..

It would be awsome to meet some of you folks that live up that way, but I doubt my family would go for it :D ;)

Have fun Iron-Ranger!! It sure sounds like it'll be a lot of it! [img]smile.gif[/img]

ah, nothign like a cross-country roadtrip... I'd do the same thing If I lived in the States every once-in-a-while :D

Where's the diamond mine in AR? I'm going to northern Arkansas next week.

In Franklin NC, you can mine for rubies & sapphires -- used to be on highway 441 just north of town, but I think you'd have a better chance of getting rich at the Harrah's Casino in Cherokee NC.

It's a little early for fall colors in NC -- *maybe* at higher elevations like on the Blue Ridge Parkway -- but Virginia might look pretty nice this time of year.

Have fun, take lots of pictures, & post 'em so you can share with us...

<font color="#cc3399">Hey IR let me know when you will be in DC [img]smile.gif[/img] Maybe I can play tour guide [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

I went through the smoky mountains this summer with my family and it wasn't all that great. The place is polluted and you can't see anything because there's a constant haze all over the place. Hopefully fall will be better for ya.

Vulcan Rider: The diamond mind is near a town called Murfreesburrow. Its in south east Arkansas.

Magik: Its hard to say when exacly I will be in DC...As we dont realyl have a delibrate schedule..We estimate we will be there around the 27th or 28th, not sure though.

Hope you have a great time Iron Ranger! Wow that is some vacation, you are going on a real TRIP! [img]smile.gif[/img] Try to take time out to visit the Zoo or the Museums in D.C., both are really cool (but crowded, especially the museums). Zoo is really nice, really BIG, (if you do it be prepared to walk and walk and walk, sometimes uphill too! Definitely a trek, but they have every darn animal you can think of to see, and some you never even knew of LOL. They have food stands here and there (ice cream and pretzels and snacks) in the zoo and a restaurant, but the restaurant is usually packed with a line to get in, but maybe it depends on what day you go, yall may luck out. Just remember, there is a little convenience store across the street from the Zoo, sells great hotdogs! That's where I always go if I want to eat when I go to the Zoo, saves me money, and there are benches to sit and eat outside of the convenience store, pigeons to toss bun pieces to LOL, and the dogs are just darn good!) ;)

Then you can just walk back into the Zoo and "resume" your animal perusal :D

LOL, thanks for the recomendation LZ. I will try and convince my family to stop. Hey, I walked around the San Antonio zoo, I think I can handle most other ones :D

<font color="#cc3399">The smokey haze of the "Smokey Mountains" is NOT pollution. Those mountains got their name when the place was first settled. From what I understand the haze is a gas that the local plants and trees give off. Silly buggers down there thought it was pollution and started a huge program of replanting a few years ago...and the air quality kept getting worse and they didn't figure it out for like 2 years. [img]smile.gif[/img] just some useless trivia :D </font>