Blue Ridge Parkway

As promised, here are the pictures we took of our trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway last month.

Hey - what is a group of fall pictures without pumpkins?

There were several pumpkin patches, some much larger, but this one was the easiest to stop, dart off the parkway for a moment, and get pictures.

This was one of the better scenic overlooks.

There was a picnic area, where we had our lunch, and and observation tower.

The tower offered some terrific views.

This was taken early in our trip, well before we stopped for lunch and the pictures above.

We were still 'reasonably' close to Pilot Mountain.

I've always thought it looked like someone used a huge ice-cream scoop to scoop some out of the top and plop it over on the side. My OCD makes me wish I could flip that knob over into the dip and smooth it out.

This was taken quite a bit later.

The tallest peak in this picture, just off center to the right, is Pilot Mountain.

Unfortunately, some of the best photo ops were not where the scenic overlooks are.

The popularity of a couple of vistas has worn some decent parking areas into a couple of places though.

This was one where a few cars could pull off across the road from the view. Thankfully, the speed limit on the Parkway is 45mph, and most people drive even slower past the parts with good views, because we were standing at/on a stone retaining wall, a few feet from the road.

Same place. Ri had zoomed in for the picture above.

In other places there just wasn't a good place to stop, so if there wasn't any traffic behind us, we stopped right on the road and Ri took pictures out the van window.

Pilot Mountain is in this one too - way in the back, on the right side.

This was another such picture.

And another. I love this shot.

You should click on it to really appreciate all the beautiful colors.

It got to where I'd hit the brakes (if there wasn't anyone behind me), have Ri hurry up and snap photos while the younger girls were on lookout for traffic coming up behind us (my rearview mirror didn't always have the best view), and then take off when the girls started hollering, "Go, go, go!!!"

At one point I passed the view too quickly, slammed on the brakes, put it in reverse, had Ri, take a couple of pictures and then took off again as soon as someone came around the curve behind me while the girls yelled, "Hit the gas!!!" Perhaps it wasn't the best example of how you should drive, but it was a lot of fun, and we were never in danger. I'm sure glad we went up on a weekday; the Parkway was practically deserted. We'd have never been able to get away with that during busy weekend traffic.

And we couldn't resist a picture of this, taken on the way home.

From the do-it-yourself, camouflage paint job on the truck (you can just make it out if you click on the picture), to the barely contained, porta-john cargo, you just gotta love red-neck country. You'd also love the irony if you could hear my thick-as-molasses accent accuse someone else of being a red-neck. :D

BTW - There's Pilot Mountain again in the background.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. We sure enjoyed our trip up to take them.   

*All photos are property of my lovely daughter, Ri.