Greener Pastures: Kathryn and Bonnie go to the mountains!

Kathryn has treated me to a beach vacation for the last several years. This year we decided to split the "sister time" between the beach and the mountains. This is our mountain trip. We stayed in this little cabin.

This is back of the cabin, with Kathryn standing by the lichen covered tree. And rock.

We spent a lot of time sitting on this porch.

Here is the view from the porch. It was afternoon, and the shade was moving across the view.

This is looking out at the road from the driveway.

It was really very cozy and comfortable. The living room.

The master bedroom was upstairs. I brought my own sheets and blanket, in case you're wondering about the decor.

Looking down from the loft (the master bedroom). Look at the teeny tiny little kitchen!

This is the view from the living room.

There was a little breakfast room/sun room added on.

There was an additional patio, too.

The view from the auxilliary patio. We didn't hang out on this patio at all. Our needs were better served by the smaller one that faced the mountain view.

When I rented the cabin, I expected that we'd spend time in this little area - playing Scrabble, drinking coffee and tea... But we didn't. It was on the wrong side of the house to get the view.

These steps led up to the main floor of the house from the parking area. They were strangely shallow.

This is the indoor stair case, which led down to the lower level (where the only bathroom was). They were hideously - insanely - steep! We had to descend and ascend one step at a time, facing sideways. I'm not kidding. The only real downfall of the cabin was these ridiculous stairs.

This was a little den area in the lower level (by the bathroom). Off this den was also a small bedroom holding a set of bunk beds which I did not photograph. Odd...

Bathroom. Cute tub. Hard to step out of.

Having unpacked and looked around the cabin and the yard, we were now ready to begin our explorations.

This is the yard, by the way.

We stopped at a million scenic overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Here we are at one of them.

See Kathryn waaayyyy out there? She's taking a picture of the red bush - close up!

A trail led off one of the overlooks. So we followed it! (Wonder what MST stands for?)

The trail led to this little cabin. How cute!

It was in the middle of the woods, which had a lovely bit of sunlight peeking through.

More driving scenery.

Back at the house, this is the road the house is on. Just down there is the Blue Ridge Parkway!

This is looking UP the road. Very steep. My poor car complained a little bit, but made it every time.

Seeing we had a fireplace, we proceeded to build a fire.

It was toasty warm. We ate cheese and crackers, chatted, and just generally enjoyed being there and in each other's company. We had a really nice evening.

And the moon was full...

Next morning was bright but very cool. Sunrise was lovely from the patio.

Today we headed out to grandfather mountain. Our plan was to catch some breakfast on the way - maybe in the town of Blowing Rock. This was not be. No breakfast was available. There is an ordinance barring fast food in Blowing Rock and the one breakfast place we saw had a line for miles. So we picked up gas station snacks and drove on out. This is the viaduct on the Blue Ridge Parkway. (A viaduct is a bridge over land, for your information....)

We made it to Grandfather Mountain around 10-ish. Good thing, too, because there was a little bit of a wait. Not bad. Maybe 10 minutes in line.

After a 2-1/2 mile ride up to the top, we arrived at the parking area for the Mile High Swinging Bridge. We decided it made the most sense to do that first, then see all the other sights on the way down. This is the view from the parking area up top.

Here we are - a mile up! Actually, the drop from the bridge is like 80 feet, but the altitude of the bridge itself is over a mile. It's a suspension bridge so it swings and sways with the wind. As you can see, the wind was plentiful.

That green marker says Kathryn is one mile up!!

This is the view back after you cross the bridge. Kathryn's peering pensively off into the distance...

Here is Kathryn talking on the phone.

Sitting on the edge. See our shadows?

To all who did not believe she would do it - here is the proof!

As we left the topside parking area, we began to get an inkling of just how wise we'd been to arrive early. This was the line of traffic waiting - stopped and waiting -- to get into the parking area of the bridge. As we left, they let one car through. I can't imagine how long these people waited. I felt mildly guilty for taking as long as we did on the bridge and in the gift shop. So we proceeded on down.

About halfway down GF Mountain is a wildlife park. Here's Kathryn by a sign in the park.

Otters! Shy little devils, but they finally came around to be photographed. We could hardly see the cougar - only after much encouragement and explanation from a persistent and slightly annoyed fellow tourist. (Annoyed that the thing was apparently invisible to us, while he could see it perfectly!)

Kathryn spent a lot of time walking ahead of me. There she goes!

While I was waiting out the otters, Kathryn spent several minutes trying to find the bald eagles in their enclosure. Unfortunately, she did not see this sign until later. :)

Bears! We did see the bears!

Little beggars.

Something tells me that many people ignore this sign.

The bear enclosure.

On seeing the line at the actual entrance to GF Mountain - where earlier we had waited - oh - maybe 10 minutes - we were EXCEEDINGLY GLAD we had arrived early. I bet many of these people never did make it in the park that day. Here is a link to the video if you want to experience the long line as we did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkW6CyON-TE

Back on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we stopped to have another view of Grandfather Mountain.

The is the site of the Brown Mountain Lights. Mysterious lights appear here and scientists are still at a loss as to what causes them.

Darn bicyclists.....

We stopped at the viaduct on the way back to snap some pictures. Lovely color here.

Here's Kathryn!

Various views from the viaduct.

A scenic overlook overlooking a lake! Now that's different.

This was one of my favorite overlooks. Little bridge...

Calm lake.

Trail leading.....

Nowhere.

Finally we headed back toward Blowing Rock. Because we didn't plan properly (we foolishly thought we'd dine out for most meals) we had to hit the grocery store again. The traffic in Blowing Rock was INSANE!

This is one of three overlooks on the road to our little cabin.

This is the second.

Way to wear the sign, Kathryn!

This is the third overlook heading up to our cabin.

Next day we packed up and headed back into Blowing Rock. There is a place called "The Blowing Rock". Who knew? Naturally, we had to go see it. It was less than impressive in scale. See the brochure Kathryn's holding up? It makes it seem as though the rock is huge. It is not, as you can plainly see.