Tourists follow me

I've led tours when I was quite a bit younger, around my school during the summers, when families would want to see what it was like.

Now I love taking friends for their first time to Mt. Mitchell on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I have many other neat places to go as well.  As my aging has kept me from hiking in the beautiful woods, at least there are many sites which are available to us drivers/minimal walkers.

 A rather low overlook close to home.  We tried to limit the places we stopped!

 At Craggy Gardens Picnic area, the day was absolutely perfect for looking for miles in every direction. And being Thursday before the big Labor Day weekend, it was vacant!

 The little visitors center at Craggy Bald is always a fun place to stop along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Just a glimpse of Burnett Reservoir shows behind all those leaves. The reservoir is low because the dam is being worked on.

We kept taking selfies, mostly with only half of my face!

Onward we went...Mt. Mitchell is next!

Craggy Gardens

 Burnett Reservoir (source of all water for Ashevile) really stood out well Oct 30, 2018, with most of the trees having none or brown leaves, and some green still on lower levels.

 Craggy tunnel of the Blue Ridge Parkway, where a lot of travelers passed through to go park on the other side of this ridge, where another parking area leads to a hike to the top of Craggy Gardens.

Rhododendron has all lost it's leaves, and the rocks show better on Craggy Mountain.  At the top there actually were some people looking down over the scenery.

Today's quote:

A bird is safe in its nest — but that is not what its wings are made for.

AMIT RAY

Craggy is the name for a reason

Well, it's probably because of the rocky outcrop above the rhododendron forest, where hikers get a great view of the Black Mountains and the various valleys and ridges...but this rhododendron certainly qualifies as craggy also.

Thought for the day:

Cherish all your happy moments: They make a fine cushion for old age.  Booth Tarkington

 

Maya

View of I-40 going toward Tennessee, Craggy Gardens Picnic area, May 21

Last Saturday, the life of Maya Angelou was given honors, for she lived nearby in Winston-Salem, NC.  maya-angelou-memorial-service-bill-clinton-michelle-obama-honor-icon

Her words will continue to inspire and educate many people.  Please read, or listen to her reading her own poetry, when you get a chance.  Her dramatic speaking is especially beautiful.  Inspiring.

Thought for the day:

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise