Let’s go to North Carolina!

Since we are less than a day away from the Blue Ridge Parkway, we decided to take a little vacation in the middle of our vacation and go see the Smoky Mountains!

First stop in Tennessee!  Don backed the truck up so I could get this picture.

While still in Tennessee, we went through…

Today, we travelled on a lot of roads that looked like this.

And we saw several of these signs:

So we had a discussion about the above sign and I wondered why the sign didn’t say, “SLOW DOWN AROUND CURVES AND STAY IN YOUR LANE!”  And then we met a pickup flying around a curve OVER the centerline.  Once past, we smelled it.  BRAKES BURNING!  We said a quick prayer that he would make it safely to the bottom of the mountain and not kill anyone as we had just passed a group of kids headed to the river rapids.

We stopped at the Ocoee River.

So beautiful.  For us, all the architecture in the world can not top this.  God is the Master Artist.

This was the site of the 1996 Olympics.

The water is released from the dam only twice a month which causes the water to rise to eight or ten feet depth.  The river floaters are thick here on those weekends.

Back on our trek to….

Coming out of Murphy, NC, we can see the Smoky Mountains ahead.  Soon we will be on top of that.

But first, it’s time for our picnic in Andrews, NC.  The rest area was so nice and God (Thank You!) even provided a gentle breeze under the trees for a nice lunchtime.

The view from our picnic table… “running” water.

As soon as we entered North Carolina, we begin to see lilies all along the highway.  The rest area was no exception.  Lilies everywhere and they are one of my favorites.

Magnificent.

Stomachs full, our mission continues.  Getting closer.

We are now in the Nantahala National Forest and off the interstate.  A river, not sure which one, is flowing right along the highway, so we stop.

Float after float.  Lots of screams and laughter and fun for these folks.

The beauty in between river riders.

The spot where I stood to take pictures of the river revelers.

A historical marker at this site.

I love this picture!

We departed Waynesville on a highway, not the Blue Ridge Parkway, with the intention of ending our day in South Carolina.  According to our plan, we found the Parkway going up the mountain and took it.

I took almost 300 pictures, so I have really condensed my “album” for this blog post.  The scenes from the Blue Ridge were gorgeous.

These flowers were everywhere and so pretty.  A lady at one overlook said she thought they were rhododendrons.

More wild mountain flowers.

We traveled through two of these.

Notice the dead trees.  I sure hope this is not going to destroy the forest.

So, we traveled about sixty plus miles and found ourselves back on the same interstate headed toward, Waynesville… again!  We had traveled in a big circle!  We laughed and said, “Isn’t it great that we are so flexible.”  So we headed to Asheville, NC for the night.

We found a very reasonable and very nice motel with a Carrabba’s Italian restaurant just around the corner.

We shared a combo meal, which was plenty and so delicious, and we also shared this beautiful lemon bread pudding.  I really have no adequate words to describe it.  Thanks to our waitress, Heather, for recommending it.

Before turning in for the evening, the sunset was beautiful.

We were very tired and very grateful for the wonderful day we had. 

Tomorrow… South Carolina.