Finishing up and off we go

Friday was the final day of classes at the JCC Folk School. For many, it was a busy day of getting projects finished before the student exhibition at the end of the day. Our class was fairly relaxed, as we had had plenty of time to do our projects, and all of us had moved on to turning extra platters or bowls.

At 4:30 PM, everyone headed over to the Keith House to put some of their work on display. It was truly amazing to see the work that had been done, especially because most of the courses were introductory classes. Here's a sampling of some of the student projects:

Weaving

Basketry

Pottery

Blacksmithing

Enameling (applying colored glass to copper plate)

Metalsmithing

Woodburning

Woodworking (shaker boxes)

Making Felt Dolls

Woodturning (my class)

Watercolor (these are Christa's)

Saturday morning we ate breakfast, said our goodbyes, and hit the road. Now, in order to find our way home, because we'd taken a detour through Gatlinburg on the way down, I just went to google maps and asked for the most direct route. Google sent us north via Route 129. Little did we know...

The north-south Route 129 through the Smoky mountains on the North Carolina-Tennessee border includes an 11 miles stretch of the most twisted, contorted roadway in the world. A magnet for motorcyclists, it is called "The Dragon's Tail." There are 318 turns within that 11 miles stretch, much of it we could not take at more than 20 miles per hour. Have any of you ever driven this road? It's the only time I ever got car sick while driving. Check out the route:

http://www.dealsgap.com/images/dgMapL.jpg

After a return to Berea Kentucky, and an overnight stay in Tipp City, Ohio on Saturday night, we arrived home last night. As Dorothy said, there's no place like home.