North Carolina

After 3 months of essentially staying home (other than for family visits to MO and trips to see granddaughters), I was really itching for a driving trip. We started by spending nearly a week on the North Carolina coast just north of SC with our 2 yr old granddaughter and her parents. Luckily we were there about 2 weeks before Hurricane Ian hit.

It was her first real visit to a beach and ocean (other than as an infant) and initially she was afraid of the noise of the crashing waves as well as the constantly moving water. So at first we just took long walks on the beach enjoying the lack of crowds at shoulder season -

All too soon, she was entranced with walking at the water’s edge and popping bubbles -

Moving on…

…Steve and I headed diagonally across the state (from the SE corner to the NW corner) to try driving the Blue Ridge Parkway again in better weather. We were here 3 years ago in the early spring and literally got fogged out.

Our first stop was the friendly town of Boone, so we could hike Grandfather Mountain. This is in a state park with several trails as well as a privately owned attraction with a “Mile High Swinging Bridge”. We’ve done enough high swinging bridges in our travels to date, that we took a pass on paying to hike. We hiked just about 8 miles with over 2,200 ft of elevation gained. The name of our trail was “Profile” Trail, and here is the eponymous view:

Along the way we enjoyed a number of flowering plants, including this beauty from the Impatiens family - Pale Touch-me-not:

As we climbed higher, we happened upon a small clearing at the perfect moment…

… the moisture in the air was captured by the sun’s rays. This was so ephemeral that literally less than a minute after I clicked the shutter, there was only brightness from the light, but no definite rays shooting down.

Red fungi among the leaf litter sure caught our attention…

… but then we reached the top of Calloway Peak and thoroughly enjoyed the vistas given to us…

… on this picture-perfect day.

On our way back down, we happily observed fungi colonies…

… along with the numerous shades of green and the quartz veining on this rock -

The next day we hopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway and pulled over at nearly every overlook to take in the ranks of hills that seemed to stretch forever -

Of course we stopped at Cascade Falls, which was just off the side of the road -

We also saw valleys or hollows where mist was trapped or just rising -

We crossed into southern Virginia as the afternoon wore on, and enjoyed some reflections at a roadside pond…

… as well as at Mabry Mill -

I really should have had Steve hanging out the window and waving goodbye, to signal the end of this post. Ah well, I’m sure you can easily imagine him doing that!