Pine Mountain State Resort Park -June 19-21, 2013

Pine Mountain State Park Lodge,  Kentucky

We took a short vacation to Kentucky in June to celebrate our Anniversary.  We spent two nights at the Pine Mountain State Park Lodge and two nights in Corbin.   We absolutely LOVE this lodge and restaurant ---and will return in October to see the Fall Leaf Colors with friends.   Today,  I will share a little of this beautiful state park lodge with you.  I hope you can visit this area sometime since there is SO much beauty around here to enjoy!  The photo above shows the front entrance to the lodge.  Be sure to enlarge the photos for bigger pictures.

George sitting on the lodge porch. 

This is another view of some of the rooms at the lodge.

Here I am sitting on one of the little benches around the grounds... This is a wonderful place just to come and relax ---and maybe even read a good book!!!!

Another view of the grounds around the lodge

This is George standing outside of our room.   We were in the last building on the left of the lodge/restaurant --and loved our room.  It was quiet and we had a great view from our back porch.

Here  was our view looking at the woods/mountains while sitting on our back porch.

Our back porch;   We loved sitting out there doing our daily devotions and just enjoying the quietness around us.  Our room had a king bed,  flatscreen TV,  microwave and frig  (all the conveniences of home!)....

We're on our way to breakfast at the delicious lodge restaurant.  Our building was the last building you can see in this photo.  We ate breakfast at the lodge both mornings and one of the evenings we were there. The food was delicious.

Here we are in the restaurant.  Look at our VIEW from the big picture windows in the restaurant.   There's FOG in the valley below.  (We saw fog in the valley BOTH mornings when we went to breakfast.   SO gorgeous!)

Look what else we enjoyed while having breakfast.    They have bird feeders (on pulleys) near all of the windows of the restaurant... You can imagine how much I loved that... This is a cute picture of a NUTHATCH eating upside down...   I loved watching not only the FOG --but also the BIRDS while we ate breakfast.

Here's one more photo from the lodge restaurant that morning of the FOG in the Valley below.   One of the people working at the restaurant  took us to another place in the lodge where we could open the windows and take photos of the fog and mountains WITHOUT the glass glare!  Wasn't that nice of them to do that?

WELL---we didn't get paid anything to promote this place,  but we just love it so much that we want to tell the world how much!!!!!  While at the state park,  there are lots and lots of things to do.  Besides the lodge,  this resort park has cabins for rent.  They offer picnicking,  hiking,  nature studies,  swimming,  golf and many other options.  For more information about this state park,  click HERE.

We took several great hikes while here --and even saw one small waterfall (Honeymoon Falls)...  It's just a great place to take a vacation!

Have a great Wednesday and now pop over to my Photo Blog (click HERE)  to see a photo from one of our hikes in that park.

Hugs,

Emoticons

DayLilies in our Yard 2013---Part II

SPANISH GLOW DAYLILIES

Here's Part II of some of the 44 different DayLily varieties in our yard this year...  IF you missed Part I,  click HERE.   Today I'll share with you 14 more.   Above is a favorite (in the Road Flowerbed).  Spanish Glow has bloomed and bloomed... Most of our Daylilies are re-bloomers ---so we hope to see them bloom again in the Fall.  Be sure to click on the photos for enlargements.

JANIS BROWN DAYLILIES

ELEGANT CANDY DAYLILIES

WINEBERRY CANDY DAYLILIES

CARLOTTA DAYLILIES  (one of our late-bloomers)

SPELLBINDER DAYLILY

SILOAM PLUM TREE DAYLILY

BAMA BOUND DAYLILY

STRAWBERRY CANDY DAYLILIES

PRAIRIE BLUE EYES DAYLILIES

DARING DECEPTION DAYLILY

CAROLYN CRISWELL DAYLILY

JOAN SENOR DAYLILY

HUSH LITTLE BABY DAYLILIES

Hope you enjoyed seeing more of our colorful Daylilies... Daylilies are such happy little flowers to have and they take very little maintenance.. Yes,  the blooms only last a day--but with each bush, you get LOTS of blooms...  Some are early-bloomers,  some bloom mid-season and some are late bloomers.. SO--you have color in your yard for a long time.  AND--if you get RE-bloomers,  they'll bloom again in the Fall --and do it all over again!!!!!  Neat, huh????

The first five Daylilies I pictured are all in the Road Flowerbed  (along with Wild Horses,  Fooled Me, Custard Candy and South Seas--which I featured in the last DayLily post).   The other 9 are in the Side Flowerbed (which runs along the upper side of our home ).  The other Daylily in this Side Bed is Rosie Meyer (which I featured in my last post).   There were two which did not bloom (Red Volunteer and Brigade).  Maybe they will next year.

Can you pick a favorite today?  Out of this group,  my favorites this year are Spanish Glow and Spellbinder...BUT--they all are gorgeous, each in its own way!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.  We did and are looking forward to another great week.  Can you believe that it's almost AUGUST????  I celebrate my 71st birthday a week from today....  YIPES.... It can't be!!!!!!

Hugs,

Emoticons

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway June 26 and 27, 2013

View from Tanbark Ridge Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway (elevation 3175')

As you can tell from my header photo this month,  George and I went to North Carolina from June 26-29.  We went to see son Robert and family (near Burnsville).    BUT--as we always do when we travel,  we see other things along the way... This time we spent part of two days driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway (which we always LOVE to do).   The first day we visited the Craggy Gardens area --and hiked to the top of the mountain where they have lots of Rhododendrons.  That post will come later. 

Today's post will show you some of the beauty along the Blue Ridge Parkway itself.  All of the photos through Craggy Gardens were taken on June 26.  The other ones were taken on the 27th.   Hope you enjoy our Parkway photos.  IF you have a chance to visit the Blue Ridge Parkway,  we highly recommend this particular area.  (Click on the photos for enlargements.)

Betsy loves the Blue Ridge Parkway

The Pinnacle --from Lane Pinnacle Overlook

See that mountain peak in the middle of the picture?  That is the Pinnacle --and the elevation there is 5,230 feet.  I took the picture from  Lane Pinnacle Overlook at an elevation of 3,890 feet.

George at Craggy Gardens

There is seldom a time when we come to Craggy Gardens (elevation 5,500 feet) that we don't see fog... We saw it both days we were there this time... But--we love visiting there  especially in summer  (this road is closed in winter) --when the temperatures are quite low... It was about 59 degrees when we were there.  FELT wonderful on a hot, summer day!

Craggy Gardens Visitor Center

Here you can see the FOG on the top of the mountain....

George took this picture of me at the sign for the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center. You can see one of the tunnels along the parkway from this photo.

Us on the Blue Ridge Parkway,  June 27, 2013

The next morning we saw some more of the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway.  Here's a photo of us wearing our new Cumberland Falls MOONBOW shirts.  Aren't they pretty?

At the Bald Knob Overlook (4,500 feet)

At the Green Knob Overlook at 4,560 feet

These next photos (this one plus 3 more below)  were all taken from a favorite overlook of ours,  the Green Knob Overlook... The views were fabulous--even though it was quite cloudy and overcast.

At the Green Knob Overlook  (where one can see several directions)

Another one from the Green Knob Overlook (4,560 feet)

One more from the Green Knob Overlook.

The sun was trying to peak through --and it showed some pretty shadows and colors on the mountains.

Taken from the Laurel Knob Overlook (4,602 feet)

Again,  you can see the sun shining on some of the mountain ranges below.  It was a nice day to be on the Parkway!

Finally,  here's one more photo of George and me taken that day along the Blue Ridge Parkway... I couldn't decide which of the two photos of us I liked the best,  so decided just to include them both.  The Blue Ridge Parkway is a beautiful place for pictures!!!!

Hope you enjoyed the photos today --and hope you get to visit the Blue Ridge Parkway sometime.  Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

Hugs,

Emoticons