Blue Ridge Parkway Wildflowers/Shrubs and Ferns

Dear Blog Friends/Family,  As most of you know,  from June 16-18,  2020,  George and I took a little trip to the Pisgah Inn,  on the Blue Ridge Parkway, near Asheville,  North Carolina.   This past week,  I went through all of my pictures from that trip,  and picked out pictures of some of the beauty all around us that week to share with you... 

Hope you enjoy this set of pictures.  I have them divided into 4 groups or 3 pictures each:  Mountain Laurel,  Ferns and Greenery,  Rhododendrons,  and Flame Azaleas.  

I cannot seem to find a way to put a 'caption' with my pictures with this new Blogger program,  so the caption (if I could write one) would tell you that the picture above is a beautiful MOUNTAIN LAUREL.  Does anyone know how to put in captions with your pictures?

Here's another picture of the Mountain Laurel.. Can you count how many blooms are on that bush????  Me neither!!!! ha ha

Here's a close-up of one of the tiny Mountain Laurel blooms.  Mountain Laurel starts out a medium pink color,  and as it opens,  it turns more whitish with pink... They are so beautiful!

Wouldn't you like to be here and take this wonderful hike with us?  As I walked this path,  I felt like I was in Heaven on Earth.. The ferns (AND the smell,  AND all of the greens around us) were awesome!!!!

Have you ever taken time to check out ferns up close and personal?  So intricate and amazing!!!!

When taking time --as we hike-- to look at the interesting beauty all around me,  I found this little patch of some kind of tiny little ground-cover around the mossy area..  Does anyone know what this is????  It was so beautiful!

As we headed further up the mountain,  we encountered these gorgeous Rhododendron blooming at the higher elevations of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  It is truly amazing to see all of the different wildflowers in bloom at different elevations and at different times of the year.  

We have Rhododendrons blooming in our yard in May ---but never this many blooms!!!!  So gorgeous!

I got closer to these Rhododendron blooms for a better picture.   When the sun is shining,  the colors of the Rhododendron blooms seem more pink and less lilac/purple (as in the two pictures above)...We didn't see a lot of sunshine when we were there this year --but the flowers were still gorgeous.

One of my all-time favorite Wild Flowers is a FLAME AZALEA....The orange color is so perfect to blend in with the green around it...

Here are the Flame Azaleas a little closer!!!  Aren't they just awesome?

 Here's one more picture of the vivid colors in the Flame Azaleas.  

I hope you enjoyed all of the gorgeous blooms from the Blue Ridge Parkway in June of 2020.

Have an awesome week!!!!!

Hugs,

Betsy💝💛💚💕

Come with us and get some Exercise!

Want a little exercise????  Join us on a couple of short HIKES.

 Dear Friends/Family,   When we were at Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway west of Asheville, NC (from June 15-18),  we took time every day to get some exercise.   Today,  I'm featuring what we did on June 17.   Hope you enjoy our hikes!!!

First of all,  we have to get there!!!!!  We count on our pretty Prius to take us on our journey!!!! NOW-- Think back to June 17, 2020 (which is the day we were there)!

It's a little CHILLY and DRIZZLY this morning --so don't forget to bring your Rain Jackets!!!

We drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway heading east from Pisgah Inn.  We stopped at an overlook and took a SHORT hike on the Mountains to Sea Trail  (which is a LONG trail from Clingman's Dome in the Smoky Mountains all of the way to the Outer Banks,  NC)...

Along that trail,  George is waiting for me to take pictures of the beautiful Mountain Laurel in bloom  (which will be another post).

A smiling old woman --who is enjoying being out in nature on the Mountains to Sea Trail!

We then hopped back in our Prius and headed east of Asheville along the Blue Ridge Parkway to visit an absolutely beautiful waterfall, not too far from Mt. Mitchell.  This was the beginning of that trail.

Isn't this creek gorgeous?  The 1.2 mile (.6 each way) to the waterfall was a nice hike up an old logging road.  I always love hearing the sound of rushing water when we hike in the woods.   Are you still with us????

George is anxious to see that waterfall.   (We had seen it a couple of times --many years ago.)

My first view of that amazing cascade, named Roaring Fork Falls.  My waterfall book says that we are at an elevation here of 3,080 feet and that the cascade is about 45 feet high.

You should hear the sound of that rushing water.    I would love to put up a tent and just stay here all night....

I sat on a rock while George took pictures with his tripod.   Such incredible beauty!!!

Here is one of George's awesome pictures of Roaring Fork Falls.  I love the 'silky' water! 

This is another of George's photos --but this one is zoomed in a bit (so that you can see how much water was flowing down that cascade).  

Like we always do,  we used the tripod to get some pictures of us together...   

I hope you enjoyed our two hikes today!!!!!  Do you feel better now that you got some exercise?  Hope you are hungry!  After our marvelous day,  we were ready for some dinner... SO--we drove into Asheville --and ate at one of our favorite restaurants,  The Moose Cafe.....They have the best home-made biscuits with their home-made Apple Butter.... YUM!!!!

Well,  I guess it's time to head back to Pisgah Inn and have some hot tea on the balcony.... Want some?

The hike is over --and we are now (7/13/20)  'back to the grind' at home!!!!!  Hope your week is GREAT...  I get my yearly Mammogram tomorrow and then on Wednesday,  George visits our Eye Doctor (to hopefully get help for his failing eyesight)....

Hugs,
💚💕💚Betsy💚💕💚