Day trip to Cooler Climes - Part 2 of 2

 Since the restaurant was closed in Little Switzerland (where we'd planned without checking to eat lunch) we researched a restaurant about 10 miles away in Spruce-Pine, which was open and served us lovely sandwiches. 

I was distracted just a bit when we parked and I saw this - a real cutie!

It was great having made-to-order sandwiches. And the air conditioned dining room was also welcome. But I now want to take a bit of a detour from our main goals, and show you something I discovered (which I think is neat). (I'm easily diverted!)

When looking down the various long hallways to the Ladies Room, 

I discovered this...

And upon looking up, I saw the bottom of the dumb waiter! You don't run into one of these (which apparently is in working order) every day going to the Ladies!

We drove around downtown Spruce Pine, but didn't see any stores that caught our attention. This is rare with my two friends...they love to browse in gift shops. But anything of that nature was carefully hidden behind sad old looking maybe empty storefronts. I knew there was a gallery somewhere, because once I'd brought some mugs to display there. But I couldn't find it.

So then we decided to come home all the way on the Blue Ridge Parkway. That's a long drive! But even though it's just 2 lanes, there are only a few overlooks to stop at. The worst problem was caused by bicyclers, who of course had right of way, and there never ever were any passing places. The whole road is twists and turns. But our fearless driver, Teresa, was able to see far enough around the bikers to pass them safely each time.

The temperature outside our car was 69 F at one point!

We did see an accident...where we suddenly came around a curve and saw a huge wrecker on the other side of the road, with a crane cable going over the side of the mountain to pull up a car...which we couldn't even see. There hadn't been any warning coming our direction (south), but a policeman had stopped the traffic going up the Parkway...until we passed by. I saw a few brake skids on the road going off the side towards the drop-off. It wasn't mentioned on the evening news 3 hours later so hopefully everyone was alright. This was the first Parkway accident I have encountered through the years.

At one overlook we saw bare slopes where trees had been  harvested , and where probably some Christmas trees had been planted on the bare slope. Other areas just looked scalped of all vegetation, and I thought immediately of the erosion that would happen with the next hard rain.

The Black Mountains are known as the oldest mountains in America, showing as a "J" on the map of the Appalachians. Of course all the mountains in the western US are much younger, geologically speaking.

 

We drove on, and from the Craggy Garden's overlook (not at the bald at the top) we saw the Burnett Reservoir and the dam, which provides Asheville's water. A few miles later we passed the Folk Art Center. And soon we were home...talking about all our interests the whole day long. Teresa's granddaughter Madison was well behaved the whole time. 

Burnett Reservoir in the distance, with a bit of the Blue Ridge Parkway showing through the greenery.

Today's quote:

Blaise Pascal mathematician, visionary, said, “Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.” 

Day trip to Cooler Climes, Part 1 of 2

 Just go higher on mountains, and anyone knows it's cooler up there. So we did. The three adults and one grandchild tootled along to Little Switzerland. We had all the time in the world.

View from overlook at the Skyline Inn, Little Switzerland, NC

The Skyland Inn on US 226.

There used to be a small building on this site, see my blog HERE with before and after pics of the original Skyland Inn (and below just added to this post June 23, 2024).

An aerial view of the Inn and overlook where we were standing with an older photo to compare.

A post from 2014 about my first visit to the Little Switzerland Bookstore. HERE.

Two groups in front of the bookstore

But the restaurant is "always closed Tues and Wed." we learned. Why hadn't any one of us checked?

We wandered around the used book store...and I did succumb to some lovely cards that are just precious!

Romeo & Juliet

Cinderella

Laser cut cards that pop out caught my attention.

As we made different lunch decisions, I noticed a vining/tree that grew next to the bookstore entrance. Nothing gets past me!

Its roots are under the building.

And the top of it is all over the porch roof!

More photos of our lunch, and of the Blue Ridge Parkway trip home soon!

Today's quote:

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. 
We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."

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Monday Mural

Linking to Monday Murals

A well decorated retailing wall, with gravel on the slope above the mural, and kudzu (probably) growing across it and hanging down over the mural.  It faces a parking lot in Spruce Pine NC, where we recently visited. This community is a mining town, where much of the feldspar and the finest silica (for use in all technological devices) is mined still.