Wildflowers along the Blue Ridge Parkway --June, 2017

Catawba  Rhododendron Bloom,   Craggy Gardens 

On our Anniversary Trip to Switzerland Inn along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina  (June 21-23, 2017),   we encountered some gorgeous blooms which I want to share with you today... Hope you enjoy seeing some of these beautiful wildflowers/shrubs.

We were a week or two late to see the Catawba Rhododendrons in full bloom in Craggy Meadows --but luckily we did see a few still blooming... 

Another picture taken while we were in Craggy Meadows showing the Catawba Rhododendron blooms AND some Wild Hydrangea blooms

Wild Hydrangea Bush 

Wild Hydrangea Bloom (close-up)

Another bush showing the Wild Hydrangeas in bloom along the Blue Ridge Parkway

One of my favorite blooms,  the Flame (or Flaming) Azaleas (I love this color.)   

A close-up picture of the Flame Azaleas  

One more picture of the Flame Azaleas --found along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina 

The Mountain Laurel was really showing off!

I took a gazillion pictures of the Mountain Laurel in bloom all around us!

More Mountain Laurel... WOW!

A close-up of the Mountain Laurel  taken in a different elevation along the parkway from the 3 pictures above;    As you can tell,  this Laurel was just beginning to bloom..  The ones above were at the end stages of their blooms.  Mountain Laurel starts pink and gradually turns white.

 And another favorite was seeing lots and lots of  Rosebay Rhododendrons (also called White Rhododendrons);   They are at lower elevations than the Catawba Rhododendrons.   These start pink and turn white (similar to the Mountain Laurel).

Seeing these Rosebay Rhododendrons was such a joy for me...  We don't see the white ones very often.   They are so gorgeous...

Here's a close-up of one of the Rosebay Rhododendron blooms...    Some people ask what the difference is between Rhododendrons and Mountain Laurel.  I always look at the leaves since Rhododendron leaves are much larger than the Mountain Laurel.  But their blooms are similar even though the Laurel is smaller.

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of the pretty blooms along the Blue Ridge Parkway in late June...  I had to do a little research myself to make sure I got the names correct....  You can click on this link  (click HERE) to see a great listing of wildflowers along the parkway during all seasons.

I had seen the Catawba Rhododendrons at Craggy before --but not sure if I have ever seen so many Rosebay Rhododendrons in bloom before.     AND--I never knew the name of the  Wild Hydrangeas until now.... See what I learn when taking pictures, then doing research, and then blogging????  Amazing....

Have a great week.

Hugs,

Our Anniversary Trip --June 21-23, 2017

Mr and Mrs George Emery Adams
Married for 16 wonderful years on June 23, 2017;
Picture taken on 6/21/17 at the summit,  Mt. Mitchell State Park,  North Carolina

This past Friday (June 23, 2017),  George and I celebrated our 16th Wedding Anniversary.   What a fantastic 16 years it has been!!!!   Hope we have many, many more together!

As you know,  the two of us LOVE to celebrate and LOVE to travel and hike.  SO---this year we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and stayed a couple of nights at a NEW TO US  resort,  the Switzerland Inn  (at Little Switzerland,  North Carolina).   Even counting all of the wonderful things we saw and did on this short trip,  staying at this resort was definitely the highlight of this week for me.  I'll do an entire blog post about the resort soon.

Another highlight this year  (which will also be featured in an upcoming blog post) was seeing the beautiful wildflowers in bloom, especially the Catawba Rhododendrons.   All I can say is WOW.

But TODAY ---I'm featuring Day ONE of our trip (June 21, 2017),  talking about and showing pictures of 3 amazing hikes we took.   First,  we hiked in the CRAGGY GARDENS area to the MEADOWS.   Most of their Rhododendron Blooms were gone for this year,  but we saw many more later on during the trip.  BUT--it's a nice hike and we enjoyed it.  THEN---we hiked to the CRAGGY PINNACLE.   And thirdly,  we drove to MT. MITCHELL STATE PARK and hiked to the summit. Needless to say,  we both got lots of exercise --and lots of 'floors'  (elevation numbers).

This day was the best weather-wise for us on this trip... Tropical Storm Cindy brought lots of clouds, fog, drizzle and RAIN to the area, but we never let a little rain stop us from having fun....  Hope you enjoy today's pictures.

Beautiful MOUNTAIN VIEW --from Craggy Gardens,  6/21/17

Sign at CRAGGY GARDENS along the Blue Ridge Parkway;  Elevation here is 5640 feet;

We hiked up to the CRAGGY MEADOWS area  (elevation is 5840 feet).

I took this picture of George in Craggy Meadows in front of some of the Catawba Rhododendrons still blooming.  This area is filled with blooming Rhododendrons in late May/early June ---so we were a little late this year.

OOPS----We are still in the Craggy Meadows area --but RAIN is coming,  so we had better get back on the trail down.....  (Seems like those clouds followed us around all day --but the rains stayed away from where we were.)

From the parking lot at CRAGGY GARDENS,  this is a view of our next hike to CRAGGY PINNACLE....   Want to hike up there with us????????

WE MADE IT......  Compare this picture to the previous one!!!!!  We are now looking down at the parking lot at Craggy Gardens --from the upper summit area of the CRAGGY PINNACLE.  Those clouds are still chasing us!!!!! ha....

One more thing to point out in this picture:   See the roof on the building near the top of that ridge (near the upper middle of the picture)??????  WELL---that is where we hiked when we were at the Craggy Meadows area which I talked about in the photos above.

Beautiful mountain views from the summit at CRAGGY PINNACLE  (elevation 5892 feet)

George at CRAGGY PINNACLE  6/21/17

Here's a girl who loves being on top of the world!!!!!!

I think the boy likes being on top of the world ALMOST as much as the girl.....  

We didn't have our Tripod with us up here  and nobody to ask to take our picture together --- so we just enjoyed taking pictures of each other while we were on that summit --with nobody else around!!!!

We made it (with the tripod) to MT MITCHELL STATE PARK and to the summit!!!!!    

Beautiful view from the summit at Mt. Mitchell State Park  (elevation 6684 feet)

One more picture from the summit at Mt. Mitchell State Park;  I love the evergreen/pine trees surrounding this area...

I'll close with another picture of us taken at the summit at Mt. Mitchell State Park--as we celebrated our 16th Wedding Anniversary this week..

As I said above,  there are more blog posts to come from this wonderful trip.... I hope you enjoy our travels as we share them with those we love......    Have a wonderful week my Friends/Family...  Blessings to all of you!

Hugs,