5-6-08 (Tuesday): We didn't get our WiFi back up yesterday, as hoped, but it's back now, so here's the post I promised you. It's mostly pictures taken as we hiked some of the local roads. We were off yesterday and took a nice ride and a couple of hikes, too. So this blog is kind of a mish-mash of fun times.

There are lots of great hikes and rides on country roads right here where we live. The campground is located on a very old (100+ years) farm. The owner's family bought it in the 1940's, and the campground was built in the 1970's after a fire destroyed the hay barn. Their son, Bob, and his wife, Joan (pronounced like JoAnn), now run the campground and live right across the street in a pretty new home almost on the top of the mountain. This 100-year-old apple grove lives in their front yard and is visible from the campground. Can't wait for a taste of the heritage apples!
We have spent some time trying to find places for Wiley to fish. One of the campers told us about the little brook at the foot of our entrance road. We found a spot to park and Wiley fished. I hiked this great dirt road to the top of the mountain (almost a mile), admiring the wild flowers and the views. There were a few gorgeous homes perced precariously here and there. It sort of made me want a house again, but then I'd have to look at the same view all the time instead of having a new view whenever we feel like it!This old, abandoned house sat near a quiet place on the brook. It had some beautiful old outbuildings. Next time we go back here, I'm taking my sketch pad!

We're off work Mondays through Wednesdays. On our first day off, we took the Blue Ridge Parkway south for a few miles and stopped at Moses H. Cone Park. Cone was a very wealthy denim manufacturer.

His mansion is now an Appalachian craft center with some really beautiful musical instruments, quilts, rugs, jewelry and pottery. Can you believe that's a quilt?! It seemed to glow from within.

I just had to include this close-up so that my daughter-in-law, Heather, could see the stitching. She's done some beautiful quilts.

We browsed through the store and then walked about five miles on the carriage roads that Cone built for his guest's walking and riding pleasure. They have a very gentle grade and the walking was quite pleasant.

We enjoyed many of the same wildflowers that we've been seeing around here. These fiddlehead ferns made me think of fairy glens.

There were also lots more trilliums in bloom. We've now seen 3 varieties of trilliums--the red Wake Robin, a pure white one, and this one with the red center.

We only saw this one iris. I'm not sure if it was a wild iris, even though it was out in the woods.

Toward the end of our hike, the carriage road followed alongside a little brook with some small waterfalls. We even had to ford the brook at one point. What fun!

Our destination on this walk was the old apple barn. It was very well kept up, but you couldn't go in it.

We had a pleasant lunch in Blowing Rock, which is the town that Jan Karon modeled her fictional town of Mitford after. My sister, Jan, and mother-in-law, Mag, and I really enjoy Karon's novels.

We had been pretty footsore after hiking five miles, but we got our second winds over lunch and decided to drive a little further to Linville Falls. Rather than trying to type a lot of information about the falls, here's a link that will give you all the scoop: Linville Falls.

I guess my feet weren't in such bad shape after all, because I hiked all three trails mentioned at this site while Wiley fished. The mountain laurel were in bloom and the views of the falls and Linville Gorge were breathtaking.

Wiley caught a very large brown trout in the pool below the upper falls, so our day was complete!

I have lots more pictures (and great memories), but I've run out of time and energy. Besides, we want to go out and make some more memories today! So I'll bid you farewell and hope you have a great day. See you next time!