Rain or Shine??????? A Visit along the Highland Scenic Highway, West VA

Me standing at one of the overlooks;  I loved the Red Spruce trees which grow well in higher elevations.

Holy Cow--it's August!!!  Is it just ME --or is time flying????  Schools are already starting in Tennessee in certain places...  Mercy Me----Slow down World!!!!! ha

Today,  I'm sharing a wonderful scenic drive that George and I took on June 24, 2014 while we were there for a few days celebrating our Anniversary in the beautiful state of West Virginia.   We visited here after we had been to the waterfalls. (Click HERE for that post.)  We drove along the Allegheny Highlands in the Monongahela National Forest traveling on the highest major road way in West Virginia,  known as Highland Scenic Highway 150.  We took the 22 mile stretch of Highway 150 from the Cranberry Glades area to US 19 north of Marlinton.

The drive along this stretch of road took us to an elevation of over 4500 feet.  In fact, most all of the drive was over 4000 feet in elevation.   This road would remind you of the Blue Ridge Parkway and/or Skyline Drive in Virginia, with overlooks all along the way on both sides...  While driving north,  the Cranberry Glades and Wilderness was to the west and the Appalachians were to the east.

BUT--for us,  it was not just the drive on this beautiful road/area.  It was, on this particular day, ALSO the WEATHER... Rain was ALL around us --and we were so lucky that we didn't get wet where we were. But we got some fantastic Rain/Sunshine photos... Hope you enjoy this special scenic road trip through our pictures today!!!

Dark clouds in the sky ---but sunshine was peeking through!!

George standing next to Mrs. P  (our wonderful Prius)

Oops---Rain is NEARBY...  Still love those Red Spruces!!

Beautiful Red Spruce (see how much I loved them? ha)---but note also the BLUE sky --among all of the dark clouds around us!!!

We took a walk along a boardwalk --and I loved seeing these ferns and wildflowers.

OH MY----Rain is getting closer;  "Run to the Car,  George".... (It still missed us!)

I love this picture since it shows both RAIN and SUNSHINE....  (Photographers LOVE these kinds of days!!!!  We had so much fun..)

We made it down to the Williams River.  I read that this river is wonderful for trout fishing!!!

I caught George getting a shot of the Williams River!

I loved seeing all of the WILDFLOWERS along that scenic road.   See the BUTTERFLY????

Wooooo--This "Puff Ball" was gorgeous and HUGE.  It may be in the Dandelion family--but was MUCH larger and prettier... Beautiful!!!!  (Do you know what it is?)  UPDATE:  Thanks to Furry Gnome,  this is called Goatsbeard.  You can read his description in the comment section.

More gorgeous Wildflowers blooming all along our way

I also love this 'rain' photo--and I'm sure the Wildflowers love that water!!!  (NOTE--we did not get wet!!!  Amazing!)

More flowers;  more butterflies;  AND LOTS of rain in the distance!!

Beautiful views,  sunshine,  shadows,  and gorgeous skies-----what else could we  want???

I hope you enjoyed seeing these 'weather' photos... I hope you clicked on them for enlargements. We were truly in that area at the right time!!!!  To think that we saw so much rain on all sides of us ---yet it stayed away from us... We probably could never have a photo session like this again if we tried!!!!! What a fantastic day ---and SO SO SO many photos to share!

Here's a map showing you the entire area (Falls of Hills Creek AND the Scenic Road 150).  I got this map from the internet.

Hope you enjoyed this scenic drive. For more information about this area,  click HERE.  I'd love to be here in Autumn to see the Fall colors.  We highly recommend this area to ALL.  West Virginia is a gorgeous state.

Have a wonderful week/weekend.

Hugs,

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