One of our adventures while Donna and Dave were here was a visit to Roan Mountain. Roan
Mountain (it's actually several mountains) is famous for its rhododendron. They also have one of
the last remaining stands of spruce and fir trees in the Appalachians and some balds (alpine-type meadows on the tops of the mountains) that are unique in that they're located so far south. It was kind of a drizzly day, but we walked the Peg Leg Mine trail, where iron ore was mined over 100 years ago by the Crab Orchard Mining Company.
There were lots of wild flowers in bloom on the trail. This is mountain laurel.
I think this is a wild geranium.
This is the creek that powered the mill on Roan Mountain.
Wiley is standing in front of the Peg Leg Mine on Roan Mountain.
This is some sort of terrestrial orchid. I think it's a showy orchis.
This is the mill wheel on Roan Mountain.
We had a fire almost every evening while Donna and Dave were with us. It was quite chilly. But at least there was no snow! Donna and Dave ran into a blizzard in Colorado the week before they visited us (in April)! At least I didn't need Dave's snow shovel while they were here.
Dave snapped this critter while he and Wiley were fishing. He thinks it ate the fish on his stringer! He thinks it's an otter. I think it looks like a mink. It's pretty cute anyhow!
After Donna and Dave left, Wiley and I went to Blowing Rock. It's a high cliff at the end of a canyon. The wind blows so hard that a handkerchief thrown over the edge is supposed to blow back to you. Naturally, we didn't try that. Legend has it that an Indian maiden's brave jumped off the edge and was blown back to her. We enjoyed the wildflowers along the trail a lot.
This is columbine.
This is flame azalea. This one was cultivated, but there are wild ones along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Some are orange and some are yellow--really unusual looking.
These mallards were enjoying a spot of sun. That water is still COLD!
This is a little piece of the New River that's not far from here (near the town of Todd). Wiley enjoyed a little fishing here one evening.
This barn is also close to Todd. The cattle were hightailing it toward the barn--must have been dinner time!We're headed out for dinner now, so I'm going to close. Hope you enjoyed sharing this beautiful area with us.
9 comments:
I want orange azaleas -- dozens of them. They are so beautiful and I've temporarily made them as my laptop background, even though I can't get the entire photo due to the size. I had to laugh, Joyce, when you mentioned that you're not posting often enough. Having worked with my daughter on the Indonesian blog, I know how time consuming it is to do this job. But, by all means, feel free to blog more often. T'would be lovely. How beautiful are the springtime flowers. Very relaxing pictures. By the way, I did add another comment to yours on the previous blog.
I'm in love with the flame azaleas, too. I tried to figure out how to make the pictures smaller, but my photo editing software is not working right. I did get the camera re-set, so the remaining photos should be okay. I set the columbine as my desktop background!
Really great pictures Joyce. I remember when those mountains fully bloom in the Spring, its like being in a Shakespere sylvan play setting. The colors are like physical entities. You mentioned one crab orchard. I remember one hillside of crab apple trees.(near Mt. Rodgers I think) When they bloomed the hillside was like a field of snow drifts. I don't mean to scold when you don't blog. I just miss it terribly when you don't. Troy
You paint a word picture that perfectly describes what we're seeing, Troy. And I know you weren't scolding. I love blogging, but I love the activities I blog about even more!
The next blog should be an interesting one--we just bought kayaks!
With such enticing descriptions of springtime in the Blue Ridge, I wonder what I'm doing here, walking on grass that crunches, and not there with you enjoying the beautiful vistas. Here in Ocala we need rain very badly. We've had a few showers and I know we'll soon be seeing those afternoon thunderstorms.
Yeah, I think it's a mink, too. I wasn't there, though. Dave was sure it was an otter. I enjoyed the pictures on that guy's blog. I wonder where on earth he lives that he's seeing so many?!
It has been awhile since I last dropped by your blog. I'm glad to see some new photos. What a beautiful area. We're entering the dry season here in California, and everything is starting to turn brown. I miss the green hillsides of the east coast.
Hi Mark - hope you're enjoying the new job. When you get a chance, drop me a line with your new phone number and e-mail address. Tom is coming for a visit June 13 and 14. Wish you were here, too!
I believe the "otter guy" took his pictures around Wellesley Island, one of the 1000 islands, in New York.
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