Train Rides and White Water Rapids

Sandy and I have taken four scenic train rides.  The first two were in Alaska and they were outstanding.  The third was outside of Yosemite and it was a bust.  The fourth and possibly the last one was today's ride on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in nearby Bryson, NC and it was a real ho-hummer. 


Not helping the picture taking aspect of such a train ride was the cloudy weather and the dirty train windows.  After all, people take this train ride to view the scenery.  


But I managed to get a few interesting photos to share.

A man-made lake in the mountains.

A gravel mine and stone quarry that has been in continuous operation since before the Civil War.


But the best is saved for last when we stopped for lunch alongside of the Nantahala River.  A couple miles upstream we saw a white water rapids identified as a class 6.  So based on how those looked I am going to guess that where the following photos were taken had to be a class 5.  We saw a man in a small Kayak that had kind of an unusual shape (at least to me who has never plunked his butt in a kayak).  I thought it looked short and stubby.  I was able to find a photo of one on line and it was described as being for fun and for beginners.  What this guy was doing was certainly something a beginner would not do.


So here are the seven sequential photos of what I thought was a pretty amazing performance. 

Tomorrow or Thursday we plan to visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.  Until then.........