DAy trip and a wonderful Surprise

Okay, here it is, She is smiling holding 3,856,423 calories. All from Bloggers in Wisconsin, that will remain nameless, namely Dar and Mel. (Okay so everyone thinks they are good. BUT I did suggest that she cut them in squares and roll them in powdered sugar to disguise the chocolate.

Oh what a trip we had today. I hope Mel's was as successful. This is just one shot of the many views we had today of the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC, near Virginia.

However the short part that was on the Blue Ridge Parkway was an eye opener. The ice and snow last winter took it's toll. YOu could see where hundreds of trees had fallen across the road.

But the parts of the Parkway that is lined with split rail fencing is so enjoyable to see.

After passing through Jefferson, NC we followed a great paint job. Too much paint or too much pressure, but safer, because you cannot miss the yellow lines.

We only made it to one State Park. Here Evelyn and Sherry are at the beautiful entrance.

Inside was the surprise of the month. Among the staff was a blogger some of you know. She has a super Blog and usually posts some great pictures of the Blue Ridge.

http://brboomer.blogspot.com/

YEP! what a joy to meet live and in person the excited and exciting BR BOOMER! She is as captivating in person as on her blog. She is also very knowledgeable and directed us to the interesting displays of the visitors center.
I was thrilled to learn more about the New River. Sherry and I have tried to learn as much about the river as possible after reading the book, "Follow the River" or "The Long Journey home." The displays and movie at the Visitors center gave us a little more insight.

We were looking for 'Shatley Springs' and the BrBOOMER, gave us good directions. We said good by and let her get back to work (Some folks need to do that to help the rest of us know where we are!). We drove thru their great RV camp ground. It has full hook ups, seldom seen at STate or Nat'l parks.

I stopped so Don & I could get as picture of this old house. Don and I are both fascinated by old cars, old buildings and old barns.

WE saw many Christmas tree farms. This was the perfect shot for us, the old barn and Christmas trees.

AS far as youcan see, Christmas trees. A booming business in the mountains now. It is safer than moonshining.

A quick shot of the New River as we crossed it for the fourth time.

We found Shatley Springs, and on the way in passed this small log house.

This is the old Restaurant at Shatley Springs, we decided to eat lunch.

It all started in 1890 at the discovery of a spring that hundreds, then thousands of folks declared the water contained secret healing qualities.

I drink some ever time I am there. That seems like about every ten or fifteen years. The restauant is a family style eating place. To be honest the quality seems to have dropped since we last were there. (Funny, many years ago we were there and ran into Sister Shirl and her Husband Jim, FAR FAR off her stomping grounds of the city of Charlotte.)

On the rail leading out of the restaurant I caught this Robin with a worm it was taking to the baby robins.

Oh yeah, and for you Vermonters and Wisconsinites WE HAVE CHEESE in the mountains of NC. This Cheese Store represents the factory which is in West Jefferson. I took the advice of DAR and this time tried the curds. Now they weren't warm, but they were good. I love the bland taste of these. We bought some Mountain Cheddar (sharp) a bag of Curds (no weys) and the chocoholic bought 2 pieces of Chocolate. Then we were off.

Headed back throught the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains by way of Boone and Blowing Rock.

BAck home we enjoyed coffee and a block of the cake cookies from picture #1. With all my griping, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Good!!!!

Thanks for going with us and, Brboomer, if you get a chance to read this, meeting you rivaled the pleasure of the mountain drive. Thanks for the smiles and help.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

Something you may not know:

Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1, so named because it was the first paved road anywhere.